Leverage & Inverse Update: Equity Bulls Dominate, Bitcoin Bears Bite

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Weekly Channel Summary

The Leverage | Inverse channel maintained its robust activity this week, ending with a total AUM of $136.5 billion across 489 funds from 26 issuers. The channel saw significant engagement, pulling in $35.6 billion in net inflows over the past 5 days. This strong weekly momentum contributes to a Year-to-Date flow total of $38.2 billion and a 1-Year flow total of $40.6 billion, highlighting sustained investor interest in leveraged and inverse strategies despite market volatility.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

Performance this week was mixed across the board. The Equity: Sector – Health Care category led the pack with a modest 1.85% return, followed by strength in Fixed Income categories like Government Long and Intermediate bonds. On the flip side, the Digital Asset: Cryptocurrency – Bitcoin category was the primary laggard, dropping -11.50%, while Thematic – Disruptive Tech and Information Technology also faced significant headwinds, falling -5.65% and -5.15% respectively.

Category Performance Snapshot

The table below breaks down the week-to-date performance of each category by its corresponding levered and inverse ETF implementations.

Category Levered: 2x Levered: 3x Levered: 4x Inverse: 1x Inverse: 2x Inverse: 3x
Commodity: Focused – Agriculture -1.84%
Commodity: Focused – Energy -3.87% 3.35%
Commodity: Focused – Industrial Metals -1.57%
Commodity: Focused – Precious Metals -1.79% -1.79% 1.84% 1.37%
Digital Asset: Cryptocurrency – Bitcoin -22.95% 12.37% 25.36%
Equity: Emerging Large Cap -6.82% -10.14% 3.58% 7.19% 10.96%
Equity: Global Ex-U.S. Large Cap – Blend -5.59% 2.86% 5.67%
Equity: Region – Asia-Pacific -6.78% -15.29% 6.75%
Equity: Region – Asia-Pacific Emerging -6.88% -6.03% 3.67% 7.37% 11.29%
Equity: Region – Eurozone -4.96% -7.47% 5.01%
Equity: Region – Latin America -6.98% -6.24% 7.31%
Equity: Sector – Communication Services 0.87%
Equity: Sector – Consumer Discretionary -4.86% -4.21% 1.17% 4.77%
Equity: Sector – Consumer Staples 1.55% -1.56%
Equity: Sector – Energy -5.81% -4.16% 1.59%
Equity: Sector – Financials -3.14% -2.85% 1.59% 0.07% 4.86%
Equity: Sector – Health Care 3.13% 6.43% -3.31% -6.72%
Equity: Sector – Industrial -3.35% -7.07% 3.35% 5.49%
Equity: Sector – Information Technology -11.12% -16.82% 11.69% 17.58%
Equity: Sector – Materials -1.09% 0.81%
Equity: Sector – Real Estate -0.34% -0.58% 0.20% 0.31% 0.43%
Equity: Sector – Utilities -1.58% -2.41% 1.62%
Equity: Thematic – Disruptive Tech -8.98% -14.08% 2.39% 10.20% 15.09%
Equity: Thematic – Evolving Consumer -4.83% -10.94% 10.55%
Equity: Thematic – FinTech -14.57% 7.78%
Equity: Thematic – Industrial Revolution -9.49%
Equity: Thematic – Infrastructure 3.26%
Equity: Thematic – Midstream & MLPs -0.48%
Equity: Thematic – Multi-Sector -9.38% 4.48%
Equity: Thematic – Natural Resources -13.37%
Equity: Thematic – Precious Metals -8.33% 7.58%
Equity: U.S. Large Cap – Blend -3.06% -7.28% 1.52% 3.94% 7.17%
Equity: U.S. Large Cap – Growth -8.73% -9.31% 3.19% 5.74% 9.49%
Equity: U.S. Small Cap – Blend -2.16% -2.66% 0.80% 1.42% 1.63%
Fixed Income: Taxable – Government Intermediate 1.41% 2.14% -0.63% -1.30 -2.01%
Fixed Income: Taxable – Government Long -0.25% 1.92% -0.54% -1.15% -1.81%
Fixed Income: Taxable – High Yield 0.12%
Fixed Income: Taxable – Preferred Stock -2.44%

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

Individual ETF performance was highlighted by ETHD (ProShares UltraShort Ether ETF), which surged to the top spot. Conversely, the UXRP and XRPT took the hardest hits, ranking as the two worst-performing funds for the week.

Ticker Fund Name WTD Performance
Top Performers
ETHD ProShares UltraShort Ether ETF 27.84%
ETQ T-Rex 2X Inverse Ether Daily Target ETF 27.47%
SBIT ProShares UltraShort Bitcoin ETF 23.11%
BTCZ T-Rex 2X Inverse Bitcoin Daily Target ETF 23.02%
BERZ MicroSectors Solactive FANG & Innovation -3X Inverse Leveraged ETN 19.81%
Bottom Performers
UXRP ProShares Ultra XRP ETF -27.80%
XRPT Volatility Shares Trust XRP 2X ETF -27.74%
XXRP Teucrium 2x Long Daily XRP ETF -27.61%
ETHT ProShares Ultra Ether ETF -24.87%
ETHU 2x Ether ETF -24.70%

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The channel attracted a massive $35.6 billion in net inflows this week. The Leverage | Inverse – Equity category was the clear favorite, bringing in $34.6 billion with total assets standing at $98.8 billion. Leverage | Inverse – Crypto also saw significant action with $820 million in inflows, while the Leverage | Inverse – Commodity category saw the largest outflows, shedding $37 million.

Category Flows Summary

Category Fund Count AUM 5 Day 30 Day 90 Day YTD 1 Year
Leverage | Inverse – Equity 192 $98,780M $34,631M $34,032M $28,590M $24,947M $24,703M
Leverage | Inverse – Crypto 18 $4,905M $820M $1,309M $3,895M $4,780M $5,648M
Leverage | Inverse – Single Stock 247 $24,002M $185M $2,378M $3,902M $9,129M $11,504M
Leverage | Inverse – Fixed Income 14 $5,151M $15M ($168M) ($1,087M) ($1,148M) ($1,696M)
Leverage | Inverse – Commodity 18 $3,665M ($37M) ($282M) $109M $481M $427M

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

In terms of individual fund flows, TQQQ (ProShares UltraPro QQQ) dominated inflows, while SOXS (Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares) and PSQ (ProShares Short QQQ) saw the heaviest outflows.

Ticker Fund Name 5-Day Flow
Inflows
TQQQ ProShares UltraPro QQQ $14,102M
SQQQ ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ $7,996M
QLD ProShares Ultra QQQ $4,866M
SSO ProShares Ultra S&P 500 $3,044M
SDS ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 $1,121M
Outflows
SOXS Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares ($110M)
PSQ ProShares Short QQQ ($86M)
SARK Tradr 1X Short Innovation Daily ETF ($51M)
UGL ProShares Ultra Gold ($40M)
YANG Direxion Daily FTSE China Bear 3X Shares ($34M)

Issuer League Table Update

ProShares and Direxion continue to dominate the landscape, holding the top two spots for market share. ProShares led the way in asset gathering with a staggering $34.3 billion in weekly inflows, while Volatility Shares experienced the largest weekly outflows.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Brand Fund Count AUM AUM Market Share
ProShares 107 $63.54B 46.54%
Direxion 115 $47.95B 35.12%
GraniteShares 38 $7.70B 5.64%
REX Microsectors 19 $6.18B 4.52%
Volatility Shares 6 $3.13B 2.29%

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow

Brand 5-Day Flow
Inflows
ProShares $34,343M
Direxion $792M
GraniteShares $171M
Outflows
Volatility Shares -$50M
Azoria -$1M
VistaShares -$1M

For a deeper dive into these trends, access our FREE, in-depth Thematic ETF reports in the right side panel of this page.

Disclosures

This material is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice. All investments, including ETFs, involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Investors should consider their investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing.

This analysis was developed by the team at ETF Action. We leverage advanced AI tools to assist in the drafting and refinement of our content, based on our expert prompts, direction, and final review.