ProShares Short S&P500SH

ETF Research and Analysis

by Michael Rawson, CFA

Suitability
ProShares Short S&P500 is an expensive and risky bet against the S&P 500. Traders can use this fund to place short-term bearish bets or as hedge, but investors would probably be better served to reassess their asset Read more

Bull Case

Allows individual investors to hedge their U.S. large-cap exposure for lower cost than borrowing to fund a short position.

A position in this fund cannot possibly lose more money than was invested in it, unlike a traditional short position, which makes this fund safer to use than shorting the index. Read more

Bear Case

As equity prices mostly tend to rise over time, and crashes are impossible to predict, this fund would be an unwise gamble if used on its own instead of as a hedge.

The SEC has voiced concerns regarding the suitability of leveraged and inverse ETFs, and these products are ripe for misuse.

High trading volumes in leveraged and short ETFs suggest that they are being used as speculative instruments. Read more