The Week in Leverage | Inverse ETFs: $3.2B Inflows Amid Extreme Dispersion

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Weekly Channel Summary

The Leverage | Inverse ETF channel currently consists of 572 ETFs across 24 distinct issuers, representing $145.02 billion in total Assets Under Management (AUM). The space saw robust activity over the past week, attracting a substantial $3.20 billion in net inflows. This recent surge has helped offset earlier outflows, bringing Year-To-Date (YTD) flows to -$533 million, while the 1-Year flow picture remains solidly positive at $2.06 billion.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

Performance across the Leverage | Inverse channel exhibited extreme divergence this week, driven by volatile action in commodities and specific equity themes. The Commodity: Focused – Energy category was the clear standout, surging 25.80% for the week, while Digital Asset: Cryptocurrency – Bitcoin also posted positive returns of 3.74%. In stark contrast, Equity: Thematic – Precious Metals plunged, logging a -12.16% return, followed by significant weakness in Equity: Emerging Large Cap -8.00%. This vast dispersion highlights the risk-on/risk-off pockets driving the levered markets right now.

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

At the fund level, the MicroSectors Gold Miners -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs (GDXD) led all peers with an explosive 42.32% weekly gain. On the flip side, the Direxion MSCI Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares (KORU) and the MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN (GDXU) suffered severe drawdowns, plummeting -44.93% and -35.84%, respectively.

Ticker Fund Name WTD Performance
Top Performers
GDXD MicroSectors Gold Miners -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs 42.32%
JDST Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 2X Shares 28.19%
EDZ Direxion Daily MSCI Emerging Markets Bear 3X Shares 27.82%
DUST Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 2x Shares 27.41%
SOXS Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares 25.87%
Bottom Performers
KORU Direxion MSCI Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares -44.93%
GDXU MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN -35.84%
MEXX Direxion Daily MSCI Mexico Bull 3X Shares -25.98%
JNUG Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares -24.94%
NUGT Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2x Shares -24.31%

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The Leverage | Inverse channel took in $3.20 billion in total net flows this week. The Leverage | Inverse – Equity category dominated the landscape, absorbing the lion’s share of new money with $2.94 billion in inflows to bolster its $105.16 billion AUM base. Single Stock ETFs also saw healthy interest, pulling in $168 million. No major category saw net negative flows this week, though Fixed Income saw the most tepid activity with just $3 million moving into the space.

Category Flows Summary

Category Fund Count AUM 5 Day Flow 30 Day Flow 90 Day Flow YTD Flow 1 Year Flow
Leverage | Inverse – Equity 191 $105,162M $2,936M $428M -$7,023M -$5,288M -$12,846M
Leverage | Inverse – Single Stock 318 $26,573M $168M $1,121M $4,647M $3,449M $9,836M
Leverage | Inverse – Crypto 22 $3,437M $61M $346M $994M $700M $4,695M
Leverage | Inverse – Commodity 16 $5,993M $33M -$197M $2,187M $1,571M $2,316M
Leverage | Inverse – Fixed Income 15 $3,859M $3M -$351M -$1,067M -$964M -$1,944M

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

Looking at individual funds, the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares (SOXL) was the runaway leader, raking in a massive $1.75 billion. Conversely, other levered and inverse strategies saw major redemptions. The ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares (SOXS) experienced the heaviest liquidations, losing -$364 million and -$112 million, respectively.

Ticker Fund Name 5-Day Flow
Inflows
SOXL Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares $1,750M
KORU Direxion MSCI Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares $524M
PSQ ProShares Short QQQ $227M
SQQQ ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ $204M
SCO ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil $168M
Outflows
TQQQ ProShares UltraPro QQQ -$364M
SOXS Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3x Shares -$112M
UGL ProShares Ultra Gold -$82M
ZSL ProShares UltraShort Silver -$79M
BITX 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF -$40M

Issuer League Table Update

The issuer landscape remains highly concentrated, with ProShares and Direxion controlling the top two spots at 47.04% and 34.43% market share, respectively. Direxion absolutely dominated the flow sheet this week, gathering an impressive $2.28 billion in net new assets. Conversely, USCF sat at the bottom of the league tables with modest outflows of -$1 million, as broad outflows were largely absent across the channel’s top brands.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Brand Fund Count AUM AUM Market Share
ProShares 107 $68.24B 47.04%
Direxion 124 $49.94B 34.43%
GraniteShares 39 $7.66B 5.28%
REX Microsectors 19 $7.35B 5.07%
Tradr 63 $2.64B 1.82%

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow

Brand 5-Day Flow
Inflows
Direxion $2,275M
ProShares $471M
Defiance $136M
Outflows
USCF -$1M
DB $0M
ETRACS $0M

For a deeper dive into these trends, access our FREE, in-depth Leverage | Inverse 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.