Shorts, Rejoice: Double-Inverse ETFs To Begin Trading Thursday

The double-inverse versions of the new ProShares ETF family are due to start trading on the American Stock Exchange Thursday. Several things:

* My source for that information was ProFunds chief executive Michael Sapir. So we’ll skip the usual health warning on scheduled Amex launches.
* The four new products are designed to return twice the inverse performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400 and the Nasdaq 100; i.e. if the Dow is up 1 percent, these ProShares lose 2 percent (plus whatever you get taken for on the spread. They do, after all, trade on the stock exchange equivalent of Rick's Cafe).
* When the double-long ProShares were launched Jun. 21, the market obliged, with the Nasdaq 100 jumping almost 1.6 percent, and the S&P 500 almost 1 percent. Past performance etc etc, but consider yourself warned. Another dire portent for the superstitious: Thursday is the 13th.

Here are the tickers for all the recent ProShares launches (corrected from earlier version, based on the AMEX site: press release 1, press release 2):

1x Short the NASDAQ-100 (PSQ)
1x Short the S&P 500 (SH)
1x Short the S&P MidCap (MYY)
1x Short the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DOG)

2x Long the NASDAQ-100 (QLD)
2x Long the S&P 500 (SSO)
2x Long the S&P MidCap (MVV)
2x Long the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DDM)

2x Short the NASDAQ-100 (QID)
2x Short the S&P 500 (SDS)
2x Short the S&P MidCap (MZZ)
2x Short the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DXD)

Comments

[parity:]

What happens with the short interest rebate (net of dividends) or if they are using futures, the implied interest earned in contango.

2006 Jul 11 09:32 AM

[Daniel Winter:]

Did Proshares announce the symbols for these new double short ETFs yet? Surely, they must have been assigned already if they truly start trading on Thursday.

2006 Jul 12 02:35 AM

[Internet2k4:]

DOG, MYY, PSQ and MYY are not "2x" but "1x" inverse their respective indices, and they are already trading on Amex (as per earlier discussions.) On July 4 Roger Nussbaum indicated their was no launch date for the double-shorts yet:

etf.seekingalpha.com/a...

2006 Jul 12 04:07 PM

[Daniel Winter:]

Greg, can you confirm the 2x (DOUBLE!) ETFs will launch Thursday? Any idea about the ticker symbols for those?

2006 Jul 12 07:17 PM

[Elliott:]

AMEX has it posted on their website: trading in the double-short ETFs begins July 13, 2006, with these symbols:

* UltraShort Dow30 ProShares (DXD)
* UltraShort MidCap400 ProShares (MZZ)
* UltraShort QQQ ProShares (QID)
* UltraShort S&P500 ProShares (SDS)

2006 Jul 12 11:54 PM

[Daniel Winter:]

Great, thanks a lot for the heads up.

2006 Jul 13 02:20 AM

[Daniel Winter:]

The corrected version of the article lists the ULTRA PROSHARES (which are 2x the "positive" performance, not 2x inverse) as being inverse. They are not. The correct ticker symbols for the ultra short ones (2x inverse) are the ones James posted in the comment above.

2006 Jul 13 02:25 AM

[SeekingAlpha Editors:]

Daniel and James, thanks for the corrections!

2006 Jul 13 02:40 AM