List of Inverse (Short / Bear) ETFs
By Michael on Mar 15, 2007 in Stock Market
Today I started reading Michael Panzner’s newly released (and well-timed given the recent sub-prime mortgage drama) book Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes. Reading the potential for those four catastrophes got me thinking that at some point I may want to place some bearish bets in my IRA. Inverse ETFs are a good way to do that so I wanted to make sure I had a list of such ETFs at my fingertips when and if the need ever arose. So the following list is just for my possible future reference. Please let me know if I’ve missed any ETFs.
These were taken from the ProShares product page:
Short & UltraShort MarketCap ETFs:
| ETF Name | Ticker | Benchmark Index |
|---|---|---|
| Short QQQ | PSQ | Nasdaq-100 |
| Short Dow 30 | DOG | DJIA |
| Short S&P 500 | SH | S&P 500 |
| Short MidCap400 | MYY | S&P MidCap 400 |
| Short SmallCap600 | SBB | S&P SmallCap 600 |
| Short Russell2000 | RWM | Russell 2000 |
| UltraShort QQQ | QID | Nasdaq-100 |
| UltraShort Dow 30 | DXD | DJIA |
| UltraShort S&P 500 | SDS | S&P 500 |
| UltraShort MidCap400 | MZZ | S&P MidCap 400 |
| UltraShort SmallCap600 | SDD | S&P SmallCap 600 |
| UltraShort Russell2000 | TWM | Russell 2000 |
UltraShort Style:
| ETF Name | Ticker | Benchmark Index |
|---|---|---|
| UltraShort Russell1000 Value | SJF | Russell 1000 Value |
| UltraShort Russell1000 Growth | SFK | Russell 1000 Growth |
| UltraShort Russell MidCap Value | SJL | Russell MidCap Value |
| UltraShort Russell MidCap Growth | SDK | Russell MidCap Growth |
| UltraShort Russell2000 Value | SJH | Russell 2000 Value |
| UltraShort Russell2000 Growth | SKK | Russell 2000 Growth |
UltraShort Sector:
| ETF Name | Ticker | Benchmark Index |
|---|---|---|
| UltraShort Basic Materials | SMN | Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials |
| UltraShort Consumer Goods | SZK | Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods |
| UltraShort Consumer Services | SCC | Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services |
| UltraShort Financials | SKF | Dow Jones U.S. Financials |
| UltraShort Health Care | RXD | Dow Jones U.S. Health Care |
| UltraShort Industrials | SIJ | Dow Jones U.S. Industrials |
| UltraShort Real Estate | SRS | Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate |
| UltraShort Semiconductors | SSG | Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductors |
| UltraShort Oil & Gas (Note: Read this if you’re thinking of using DUG to short oil prices) | DUG | Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas |
| UltraShort Technology | REW | Dow Jones U.S. Technology |
| UltraShort Utilities | SDP | Dow Jones U.S. Utilities |
Short & UltraShort International:
| ETF Name | Ticker | Benchmark Index |
|---|---|---|
| Short MSCI Emerging Markets | EUM | MSCI Emerging Markets Index |
| Short MSCI EAFE | EFZ | MSCI EAFE Index |
| UltraShort MSCI EAFE | EFU | MSCI EAFE Index |
| UltraShort MSCI Emerging Markets | EEV | MSCI Emerging Markets index |
| UltraShort MSCI Japan | EWV | MSCI Japan Index |
| UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 25 | FXP | FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index |
And here are some inverse Gold ETNs (Exchange Traded Notes):
- DB Gold Double Short ETN (DZZ)
- DB Gold Short ETN (DGZ)
Tags: ETFs, Michael-J.-Panzner, Short Selling
19 Comment(s)
By sam on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
mike
i trade QID..but others have anemic volume!!
By Michael on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Sam,
Anemic may be an understatement for most of them. Liquidity will be a consideration when & if I look to buy any of these.
By DT on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Mike,
After the action of the last couple of weeks, CNBC talked about the QID a few times. Eric Bolling specifically mentioned it.
Thanks for the list. I think they’re great tools in a down market (especially the QID) to use as a hedge when trading if you’re trying to pick bottoms.
-DT
By mike g on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Mike or Sam,
Do you know if its possible to short QID?
From what I can see, shorting QID when the Naz is rallying yields a higher return than just being long on the regular Ultra.
By mdawsz on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Michael Panzer is fear mongering in order to make money and sell a book. I doubt he even understands the concept of shorting a stock to make money. The reviews of the book at amazon are also suspect at best. Falling for this stuff is hazardous to your wealth.
By Michael on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Yes, you can short QID or you could buy QLD, which is the Ultra QQQQ fund (2x QQQQ)
By Michael on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
mdawsz, that’s a surprising comment for sombody whose blog is called “Get Short!”
What’s up with that?
By mdawsz on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Read my about section. Going short is a tool, not my market sentiment. So many blogs are long only I needed a niche.
By Born2Code on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
just a quick note on the ultra’s. Due to their constructions they are meant to deliver double (or inverse double) the daily move and not the long term trend. So buying the QID in an IRA for the long term as a bearish hedge (or a bearish bet) may not deliver the expected results. The PSQ may end up delivering a better long term return than the QID in a prolonged bear market.
By Rahul on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Now that’s an idea. Last time I heard about inverse ETFs, I just skimmed over the idea due to lack of liquidity. But the idea that you can use it to effectively go short in accounts that don’t allow shorting…is quite cool.
Anyone know of sources to read about inverse ETFs (besides google search that is :-?
By Michael Panzner on Mar 15, 2007 | Reply
Mdawsz,
I don’t mind that you’ve made ignorant statements and baseless accusations, but the least you can do is spell my name correctly.
Michael
By john on Mar 16, 2007 | Reply
Mabe I’m missing something, but if your looking to go short why not just short a futures index directly instead of using an ETF?
By Joern on Mar 16, 2007 | Reply
What about “USPIX”? does that have an anemic volume?
Joern
By Mike O'Connor on Mar 16, 2007 | Reply
Michael,
I’ve just made a quick survey, using, in part, the links that you provided. Now hear this: the entire trading-fool blogosphere is set to go heavily short tomorrow, Friday (give or take one or two).
Whither go I, is the question?
By Michael on Mar 16, 2007 | Reply
Born2Code — that’s good info to know. Thanks for the heads up.
John — I’m pretty sure I can’t trade futures in my IRA.
Joern — USPIX is a mutual fund, and certainly another way to go. I don’t know what its volume is like.
Mike — You must be referring to Andy Swan’s post, eh? I think he may be a bit early. I’d wait until the Fed was out of the way… but what do I know???
By DANIEL PALOYAN on Mar 18, 2007 | Reply
is there an etf short the precious metal stocks?
By Michael on Mar 18, 2007 | Reply
not that I know of
By Tristan Yates on Apr 2, 2007 | Reply
My colleague and I just wrote another article you may be interested in: “Leveraged ETFs: A Value Destruction Trap?” It shows the perils of a fund trying to maintain constant leverage during a bear market, which is what the Ryder and ProShares ETFs do.
In order to maintain their leverage ratio, these funds buy lots of shares during a bull market, and then sell them all during a downturn, with devastating results which they just can’t recover from.
Here’s the URL:
http://etf.seekingalpha.com/article/31195
BTW if you have any questions about leveraged indexing, please let us know.
By Dennis D'Aoust on Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
This is one stratergy
At he close you buy both bull and bear.
At 10:00 depending on direction of market you sell one.
Before end of day you buy the one you sold in am.
Repeat until market gives no direction.