What happens if leveraged ETF goes to zero?
As a result, they can tend toward zero. Before this happens, leveraged ETFs can undertake a reverse stock split, creating higher-priced shares but reducing the number of ETF units outstanding. Ultimately, if the share prices drop low enough and there is no demand for a reverse split, the ETF may be delisted.
But can a leveraged ETF go negative? No. If you own a leveraged ETF you can't lose more than your initial investment amount. You would never be liable for more than you invested; in a sense, the amount you could lose is capped.
Leveraged ETFs amplify daily returns and can help traders generate outsized returns and hedge against potential losses. A leveraged ETF's amplified daily returns can trigger steep losses in short periods of time, and a leveraged ETF can lose most or all of its value.
If qqq is down 33 percent then tqqq goes to zero. In 2000-2003 qqq was down 75% which almost guarantees tqqq going to zero. That's not how it works. TQQQ leverage resets daily, so a 33% drop in QQQ over say the span of a month does not mean TQQQ goes to zero.
This longer-term underperformance results from ill-timed rebalancing and the geometric nature of returns compounding. The author uses the concept of a growth-optimized portfolio to show that highly levered ETFs (3x and inverse ETFs) are likely to converge to zero over longer time horizons.
Leveraged ETFs are risky investments. 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.
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.
No. A leveraged ETF cannot have a negative price.
The Bottom Line
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.
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.
Can ETF go to zero?
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.
Using leverage can result in much higher downside risk, sometimes resulting in losses greater than your initial capital investment. On top of that, brokers and contract traders often charge fees, premiums, and margin rates and require you to maintain a margin account with a specific balance.
One, TQQQ's use of debt and swaps amplifies the potential gains, but also risks and expenses. This is why TQQQ has an expense ratio near 1%, which is quite high for an ETF. As a result, investors are taking on quite a bit of risk but also are paying quite a high fee (relatively) to hold this exposure.
In a typical leveraged ETF, your risk is limited to your principal (what you invested plus gains/losses.) So a fund can go to zero in which case you lose your entire investment, whether you may loose more than that is another question and depends on your fund. You will need to read the prospectus to figure this out.
Re: Investing 100% into TQQQ
Don't hold it long term for anything more than your “play money”, which for those that even allow for “play money” in their IPS is no more than 5%. The biggest risk is a sideways choppy market. You will get killed from the volatility in that environment.
Historically, SQQQ decays around 7-8% per month, though this would likely be around 4-5% per month during a flat market such as that experienced so far this year.
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.
BMO has launched the first quadruple leveraged ETN fund that tracks the S&P 500. The fund will trade under the ticker symbol "XXXX" and seeks to generate four time the S&P 500's return on a daily basis. The launch come as bullishness rise among investors and Wall Street predicts more gains to come in 2024.
As should be clear by now, leveraged ETFs are not meant for long-term investing. If you want to enter a short position on the NASDAQ, here are your options: Short the index directly (though you need to keep an eye on risk and margin to avoid margin calls, as bear market rallies are very real and very vicious)
- ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) ...
- Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL) ...
- ProShares Ultra S&P 500 (SSO) ...
- Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X Shares (TMF) ...
- Direxion Daily Energy Bull 2x Shares (ERX) ...
- ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (UVXY)
What is the most aggressive ETF?
The largest Aggressive ETF is the iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF AOA with $1.82B in assets. In the last trailing year, the best-performing Aggressive ETF was AOA at 18.26%. The most recent ETF launched in the Aggressive space was the iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF EAOA on 06/12/20.
| Symbol Symbol | ETF Name ETF Name | % In Top 10 % In Top 10 |
|---|---|---|
| SPXL | Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3X Shares | 48.55% |
| FNGU | MicroSectors FANG+™ Index 3X Leveraged ETN | 100.00% |
| SQQQ | ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ | 112.13% |
| TECL | Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3X Shares | 71.62% |
Maintaining a constant leverage ratio allows the fund to immediately reinvest trading gains. This constant adjustment, called rebalancing, is how the fund is able to provide double the exposure to the index at any point in time, even if the index has recently gained 50% or lost 50%.
Leveraged Assets
The risks scale up faster than the leverage, with the 3x leveraged ETF showing more than four times the standard deviation of returns. Simultaneously, the returns scale up slower than the leverage, with the 2x ETF only outperforming by 26%, and the 3x ETF even lagging the unleveraged index.
However, because of the structure of leveraged ETFs, the recommended holding period is from intraday to only a few days. Moreover, if the index drops, the TQQQ will lose 3x as much as the QQQ.
