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ProShares Launches Leveraged Russell 3000 ETFs
Written by Matt Hougan   
Thursday, 02 July 2009 11:07

ProShares Advisors added two new exchange-traded funds to its ever-expanding lineup Thursday, with the launch of the ProShares Ultra Russell3000 (NYSEArca: UWC) and ProShares UltraShort Russell3000 (NYSEArca: TWQ) on the New York Stock Exchange.

The new ETFs are designed to deliver 200% and -200%, respectively, of the daily return of the Russell 3000 Index.

Like all leveraged ETFs, they are designed to be used primarily in short-term trading strategies. Due to compounding, the new ETFs will not deliver 200% and -200% of the long-term return of the index. In fact, the long-term return may differ both in magnitude and direction from a simple multiple of the benchmark return.

The funds are the first leveraged products to provide complete exposure to the U.S. equity market. ProShares’ other broad-market U.S. equity ETFs focus on individual size categories: the large-cap S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 or two small-cap indexes (S&P SmallCap 600 and Russell 2000). Rival DirexionShares offers 300% and -300% exposure to the Russell 1000, Russell Midcap and Russell 2000 indexes. Rydex Investments, which also offers leveraged ETFs, covers the S&P 500, S&P Midcap 400 and Russell 2000 indexes. But none, until now, had total market exposure to U.S. equities.

The new ProShares ETFs charge 0.95% in annual expenses.

In its press release announcing the news, ProShares added a new disclaimer regarding the impact of compounding on the long-term returns of the funds. The disclaimer reminds investors to “monitor holdings consistent with their strategies, as frequently as daily.”

The addition comes a few weeks after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a notice reminding broker-dealers of the special risks associated with holding leveraged and inverse ETFs for periods longer than one day.