Why shouldn t you hold a leveraged ETF?
A leveraged ETF uses derivative contracts to magnify the daily gains of an index or benchmark. These funds can offer high returns, but they also come with high risk and expenses. Funds that offer 3x leverage are particularly risky because they require higher leverage to achieve their returns.
Because leveraged single-stock ETFs in particular amplify the effect of price movements of the underlying individual stocks, investors holding these funds will experience even greater volatility and risk than investors who hold the underlying stock itself.
While a traditional ETF typically tracks the securities in its underlying index on a one-to-one basis, a LETF may aim for a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio. Leverage is a double-edged sword since it can lead to significant gains, but can also lead to significant losses.
The daily rebalancing of leveraged and inverse ETFs creates a situation that for periods longer than a day or two the return of a leveraged or inverse ETF will deviate from the margin account benchmark.
The two major risks associated with leveraged ETFs are decay and high volatility. High volatility translates to high risk. Decay emanates from holding the ETFs for long periods.
Leveraged ETFs decay due to the compounding effect of daily returns, volatility of the market and the cost of leverage. The volatility drag of leveraged ETFs means that losses in the ETF can be magnified over time and they are not suitable for long-term investments.
Yes. But it is not something I would recommend for the average person. Note: Most leveraged ETFs (such as TQQQ) are only designed to accomplish the stated leveraged objective on a daily basis. These funds are clear in their acknowledgment that returns may lag their stated objective over a longer period.
TQQQ seeks daily returns that are three times those of the QQQ (before fees and expenses.) QQQ experiences smaller price fluctuations and is considered to be less risky than TQQQ. Therefore, QQQ is best suited for long-term buy-and-hold investors, while TQQQ is better for active taders.
ProShares explicitly cautions in the summary prospectus for TQQQ that if the index it tracks approaches a 33% loss at any point during the trading day, investors could lose their entire investment. This warning is not just standard boilerplate language; it underscores a very real risk.
In other words, you could potentially be liable for more than you invested because you bought the position on leverage. But can a leveraged ETF go negative? No. If you own a leveraged ETF you can't lose more than your initial investment amount.
Is it OK to hold SQQQ overnight?
While the Fund has a daily investment objective, you may hold Fund shares for longer than one day if you believe it is consistent with your goals and risk tolerance. For any holding period other than a day, your return may be higher or lower than the Daily Target.
Direxion launched its first leveraged ETFs in 2008. In November 2008 the company was the first to offer ETFs with 3X leverage, a move that was copied some months later by its competitors ProShares and Rydex Investments.
Most leveraged and inverse ETFs reset each day, which means they are designed to achieve their stated objective on a daily basis. With the effects of compounding, over longer timeframes the results can differ significantly from their objective.
Investors can hold the ETF for longer than a day, but returns can vary significantly from 2x exposure over longer periods. That's because the ETF resets its leverage daily. In oscillating markets, the leverage reset can significantly erode returns.
By some estimates, returns generate up to 74% less rebalancing by leveraged and inverse ETFs once capital flows are taken into account. As a consequence, the potential for these types of products to exacerbate volatility should be much lower than many claim.
ProShares UltraPro QQQ is the most popular and liquid ETF in the leveraged space, with AUM of $21.9 billion and an average daily volume of 67.3 million shares a day. The fund seeks to deliver three times the return of the daily performance of the NASDAQ-100 Index, charging investors 0.88% in annual fees.
The largest ETF in the leveraged space, the ProShares UltraPro QQQ aims to track the daily performance of the Nasdaq Composite with three times leverage.
Key Takeaways. Leveraged ETFs aim to exceed the return of the index or other benchmark that it is based on. Relying on derivatives, leveraged ETFs attempt to double or triple the changes in the benchmark. The constant rebalancing of leveraged ETFs creates higher costs, which eat into the investors' returns.
For most standard, unleveraged ETFs that track an index, the maximum you can theoretically lose is the amount you invested, driving your investment value to zero. However, it's rare for broad-market ETFs to go to zero unless the entire market or sector it tracks collapses entirely.
Historical data shows that leveraged ETFs can experience significant losses during market downturns, and negative returns can accumulate over time. Indicators suggest that a bubble may be forming in the Nasdaq-100 and that a recession could be on the horizon, making investing in TQQQ too risky.
What's the longest you should hold TQQQ?
While the Fund has a daily investment objective, you may hold Fund shares for longer than one day if you believe it is consistent with your goals and risk tolerance. For any holding period other than a day, your return may be higher or lower than the Daily Target. These differences may be significant.
Pay attention to the impact of volatility decay！ When investing in leveraged ETFs like TQQQ, investors need to be aware of the impact of volatility decay. For example, in a volatile market, if the Nasdaq 100 Index drops by 10% in a day, TQQQ will drop by approximately 30%.
TQQQ is not designed for long term holding. TQQQ is essentially exposing yourself to 3X the risk. Putting $10K into TQQQ is like putting $30K into QQQ. And, due to the way the ETF works, it will underperform during sideways and down markets, sometimes significantly (like all of 2022).
The QQQ ETF offers investors big rewards during bull markets, the potential for long-term growth, ready liquidity, and low fees. QQQ usually declines more in bear markets, has high sector risk, often appears overvalued, and holds no small-cap stocks.
Theoretically, any investment, including QQQ, can experience a decline in value and potentially become worthless. However, it is important to note that QQQ represents a basket of established companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, which makes the likelihood of it going to zero highly improbable.
