ProFunds Group launched on Wednesday the first exchange-traded funds in the U.S. to provide short or leveraged exposure to gold or silver.

Last week, ProFunds made a splash when it launched the majority of the new 200% inverse and leveraged commodities and currency ETFs on the NYSE Arca. Those ETFs covered the DJ-AIG Commodity Index, crude oil, the euro and the yen—offering 200% long and short versions of each.

The new ETFs take aim squarely at the existing PowerShares Deutsche Bank-branded exchange-traded notes, which offer similar inverse and leveraged exposure in the ETN format, and at a lower expense ratio (see related story here).

PowerShares DB also has ETNs targeting gold, double long and short, and base metals double long and short, though no double long or short silver ETN.

In announcing the new gold and silver ETFs, however, ProShares notes that they are the first such investments "in the U.S." That's because in Europe, ETF Securities has 200% leveraged gold and silver exchange-traded products, and 100% short gold and silver portfolios.

The ProShares UltraGold (NYSEArca: UGL) and UltraShort Gold (NYSEArca: GLL) will also take aim at the existing PowerShares DB ETNs. The expense differential is the same as in the earlier launch, with ProShares ETFs charging 95 basis points versus the PowerShares DB ETNs' 75 basis points.

Ultra Silver (NYSEArca: AGQ) and UltraShort Silver (NYSEArca: ZSL) come into a market that only has traditional long silver products: the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV), E-TRACS UBS Bloomberg CMCI Silver ETN (NYSEArca: USV) and PowerShares DB Silver ETF (NYSEArca: DBS).

While commodities as a whole have been beaten down for much of the year, gold was among the best-performing asset classes through the investor flight to safe havens over the past few months, and in November, was among the best ETF categories.

ProShares, however, is most likely not going after any short-term opportunities here—other than U.S. investors shying away from ETNs like the PowerShares DB metals portfolios, due to their unsecured credit nature. The opportunity is to extend its lead in long and short ETF investing into the popular gold and silver asset classes, where there is clearly a product gap in the U.S. ETF market to exploit.

The iShares' Silver Trust has more than $2 billion in assets. ETF Securities in Europe has amassed more than $6 billion in assets across its lineup of exchange-traded portfolios, which focus heavily on commodities and metals, though not only in leveraged and inverse formats.

The prospectus for the new ProShares can be found here.