Leveraged Gold Miners Soar 29% as Broad Equities Face Selling Pressure

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Weekly Channel Summary

The Leveraged & Inverse ETF Channel comprises 572 ETFs across 25 issuers, representing approximately $149.54B in Total AUM. Weekly flows saw net outflows of -$439M, contributing to a Year-to-Date flow of -$3,866M. However, looking at the 1-Year timeframe, the channel maintains positive net flows of +$525M.

This Week’s Performance Leaders and Laggards

This week’s performance was marked by significant divergence, particularly favoring commodities and precious metals over digital assets and specific equity sectors. The ‘Equity: Thematic – Precious Metals’ and ‘Commodity: Focused – Precious Metals’ categories led the channel, posting strong week-to-date returns of +8.95% and +5.42%, respectively. Conversely, risk-on assets such as ‘Digital Asset: Cryptocurrency – Bitcoin’ lagged with a -3.11% decline, alongside ‘Equity: Sector – Financials’ dropping -1.95%. The action was heavily concentrated in leveraged gold and silver products on the upside, while inverse gold miners and regional bank products suffered severe drawdowns.

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by Weekly Performance

Highlighting individual extremes, the single best-performing ETF was GDXU (MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN), soaring an impressive +29.05%. On the other end of the spectrum, the two worst-performing ETFs were GDXD (MicroSectors Gold Miners -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs) and ZSL (ProShares UltraShort Silver), plummeting -24.46% and -23.39% respectively.

Ticker Fund Name WTD Performance
Top Performers
GDXU MicroSectors Gold Miners 3X Leveraged ETN +29.05%
AGQ ProShares Ultra Silver +25.21%
JNUG Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares +20.54%
KORU Direxion MSCI Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares +20.26%
QPUX Defiance 2X Daily Long Pure Quantum ETF +18.94%
Bottom Performers
GDXD MicroSectors Gold Miners -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs -24.46%
ZSL ProShares UltraShort Silver -23.39%
DPST Direxion Daily Regional Banks Bull 3X Shares -21.42%
JDST Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 2X Shares -17.85%
DUST Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 2x Shares -16.29%

Analyzing the Weekly Flows

The channel experienced overall net outflows of -$439M this week. However, the ‘Leverage | Inverse – Single Stock’ category bucked the trend, taking in the most inflows at +$440M across its $27.34B in AUM. ‘Leverage | Inverse – Crypto’ also gathered a respectable +$48M. The heaviest outflows dragged on the ‘Leverage | Inverse – Equity’ category, which bled -$828M from its massive $108.51B asset base.

Category Flows Summary

Category Fund Count AUM 5 Day 30 Day 90 Day YTD 1 Year
Leverage | Inverse – Single Stock 309 $27,343M +$440M +$3,211M +$4,706M +$3,381M +$10,941M
Leverage | Inverse – Crypto 22 $3,331M +$48M +$582M +$1,063M +$628M +$4,574M
Leverage | Inverse – Fixed Income 15 $3,973M +$20M -$687M -$1,153M -$975M -$2,214M
Leverage | Inverse – Commodity 16 $6,378M -$119M +$429M +$2,141M +$1,406M +$2,289M
Leverage | Inverse – Equity 191 $108,513M -$828M -$2,476M -$12,088M -$8,306M -$15,064M

Top & Bottom 5 ETFs by 5-Day Flow

From an individual product standpoint, KORU led the pack in absolute asset gathering, raking in +$244M. Heavy selling pressure was evident in broad market and tech exposures, with SSO and TQQQ suffering the top two highest outflows, losing -$298M and -$241M respectively.

Ticker Fund Name 5-Day Flow
Inflows
KORU Direxion MSCI Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares +$244M
OILD MicroSectors Oil & Gas Exp. & Prod. -3x Inverse Leveraged ETN +$133M
BOIL ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas +$100M
ZSL ProShares UltraShort Silver +$41M
SPXS Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3x Shares +$33M
Outflows
SSO ProShares Ultra S&P 500 -$298M
TQQQ ProShares UltraPro QQQ -$241M
SOXL Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares -$201M
QLD ProShares Ultra QQQ -$169M
AGQ ProShares Ultra Silver -$159M

Issuer League Table Update

ProShares and Direxion remain the undisputed titans of the Leveraged & Inverse space, controlling 46.62% and 34.70% of the market share, respectively. Despite their dominance, both experienced significant outflows this week. GraniteShares was the standout winner for asset gathering, collecting +$488M in weekly inflows, while ProShares bore the brunt of the channel’s redemptions, seeing the largest net outflows of -$984M.

Top 5 Issuers by AUM

Brand Fund Count AUM AUM Market Share
ProShares 107 $69.74B 46.62%
Direxion 124 $51.91B 34.70%
REX Microsectors 19 $7.98B 5.33%
GraniteShares 39 $7.87B 5.26%
Tradr 63 $2.86B 1.91%

Top & Bottom 3 Issuers by 5-Day Flow

Brand 5-Day Flow
Inflows
GraniteShares +$488M
REX Microsectors +$143M
Defiance +$88M
Outflows
ProShares -$984M
Direxion -$215M
Tradr -$4M

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.