From Bull to Bear: Sold ProShares Ultra, Bought UltraShort

Like many other investors, I have been enjoying the recent run-up in equity markets but have worried that it has been a bit overdone. It seems that every piece of news, good or bad, resulted in the market advancing. This is something that can't go on forever.

Yesterday afternoon, with QQQQ down about 1%, I pulled the trigger and sold the ProShares Ultra QQQ ETF (QLD) and bought the ProShares UltraShort QQQ (QID) again.

QLD was sold at $90.28 for a 2.7% gain over the course of under three weeks.

QID was bought at $48.39 and ended the day at $48.53 for a 0.4% gain.

If the mood of the market is going to change now that the enthusiasm of earnings season is over, bad news will be interpreted as bad news, not ignored. For a list of all the things wrong with the market these days, check out this post by Doug Kass.

Comments

[omooc:]

Where may a non-professional find out the components of QLD and QID? The sponsor of these funds only talk to professionals. omooc

2007 May 11 08:49 AM

[Malkiel:]

QLD (long) and QID (short) are the NASDAQ 100 index (QQQ) with hedging features built in to approximately double their price movement. I'm not familiar with the details of the "ultra" mechanism but the underlying value is the companies that make up the NASDAQ 100 index.

2007 May 11 10:52 AM