Leverage | Inverse Weekly: Crypto Leads Performance as Equity Flows Sour

Weekly Channel Summary

The Leverage | Inverse ETF channel currently manages approximately $150.2 billion in assets across 524 products from 24 different issuers. The segment faced a challenging week to start the year, recording net outflows of $1.37 billion. While long-term trends remain positive—with $3.14 billion in net inflows over the past year—the recent activity reflects a defensive shift as investors pared back exposure to levered equity strategies. Total channel AUM has grown significantly from roughly $90 billion at the end of 2024 to its current $150 billion level, though year-to-date flows are starting the period in negative territory at -$848 million.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

Performance across the channel was highly bifurcated this week, with significant divergence between risk-on themes and defensive hedges. The “action” was concentrated in specialized sectors and alternative assets. Energy led the way with a +3.29% week-to-date (WTD) return, followed closely by the Asia-Pacific Emerging region at +3.01% and Digital Assets, where Bitcoin-related products gained +2.64%. Conversely, the precious metals sector experienced a sharp correction; the Precious Metals underlying category tracker tumbled -6.03%, while Consumer Discretionary also lagged at -2.99%. This dispersion created a massive performance gap of nearly 50 percentage points between the single best and worst performing individual funds in the channel.

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

The single best-performing ETF this week was the 21Shares 2x Long Sui ETF (TXXS), which surged +29.06%. On the flip side, gold mining bulls were hit hardest; the MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN (GDXU) was the worst performer at -19.27%, followed closely by the ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ) which dropped -17.77%.

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The channel registered total net outflows of $1.367 billion this week. The Leverage | Inverse – Commodity category was the primary bright spot, receiving the most inflows at $104 million, bringing its total AUM to $5,176 million. While most other segments struggled, the Single Stock category showed the most resilience among the decliners with a relatively modest -$59 million outflow. The Leverage | Inverse – Equity category saw the largest liquidation by far, losing $1.281 billion in capital during the five-day period.

Category Flows Summary

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

The top ETF for inflows this week was the ProShares Ultra Silver (AGQ), which gathered $74 million as investors likely bought the dip in silver. On the outflow side, the ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) saw the largest capital withdrawal at $348 million, followed by the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares (SOXL) which lost $324 million.

Issuer League Table Update

ProShares and Direxion continue to dominate the Leverage | Inverse landscape, commanding 46.68% and 34.64% market share, respectively. In terms of weekly activity, T-Rex gathered the most net inflows at $76 million. Conversely, Direxion saw the largest capital retreat among top issuers, with $741 million in weekly outflows, followed by ProShares which saw $609 million leave its suite of funds.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow