Skip to main content

ProShares ETFs - why trading volume makes a difference

ProShares has a diversified lineup of ETFs that allows investors to adopt various strategies based on individual sectors, market-cap, desire to be long or short, etc.

Of the 64 ETFs currently offered, it is clear that some are more popular than others. This popularity is translated into trading volume.

Why volume matters --

The greater the volume, the smaller the bid/ask spread tends to be. Higher spreads are like a hidden fee that subtracts from investor returns. This is especially of concern to short-term traders.

On a related note, an investor might ask if this is a liquidity issue. Is it related to the liquidity of the stocks that make up the ETF? According to IndexUniverse.com, research shows that it is the liquidity of the ETF, and not the liquidity of the underlying components that really matters.

Lower volume can be associated with higher expense ratios. The heavier trading volumes associated with larger funds implies that these ETFs can spread their expenses over wider ownership bases.

The greater the volume, the closer the ETF seems to track its associated index. This effect seems to especially come into play with the ultra ETFs that are supposed to generate 200% of the change in their associated index on a daily basis. The smaller the volume, the more inconsistent the ability to achieve the 200% move. For non-leveraged ETFs, this effect can manifest itself as a divergence between the price
of the ETF and its net asset value (NAV).

Below we present a table listing all but two of the ProShares ETFs and their average daily volume (shares traded) as calculated over the last two years or the life of the fund, whichever is less.

SymbolNameAverage Daily Volume
QIDUltraShort QQQ20042421
SDSUltraShort S&P50010640286
TWMUltraShort Russell20004337620
QLDUltra QQQ4171179
SKFUltraShort Financials3778876
UYGUltra Financials3778258
DUGUltraShort Oil & Gas3703700
DXDUltraShort Dow302454753
SSOUltra S&P5002368347
FXPUltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 252260873
SRSUltraShort Real Estate892856
EEVUltraShort MSCI Emerging Markets563881
DDMUltra Dow30528774
UWMUltra Russell2000475894
MZZUltraShort MidCap400451919
SMNUltraShort Basic Materials390431
SHShort S&P500174924
DIGUltra Oil & Gas162924
DOGShort Dow30157933
TBTUltraShort Lehman 20+ Year Treasury156322
MVVUltra MidCap400123451
EFUUltraShort MSCI EAFE104662
PSQShort QQQ100591
UREUltra Real Estate81689
USDUltra Semiconductors65585
MYYShort MidCap40064646
SDDUltraShort SmallCap60060777
ROMUltra Technology52511
RWMShort Russell200043922
PSTUltraShort Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury40535
SJHUltraShort Russell2000 Value40356
SKKUltraShort Russell2000 Growth39434
REWUltraShort Technology37704
EUMShort MSCI Emerging Markets33837
SDPUltraShort Utilities28313
SCCUltraShort Consumer Services27736
UYMUltra Basic Materials27550
EWVUltraShort MSCI Japan24811
SSGUltraShort Semiconductors24423
SIJUltraShort Industrials17818
UKFUltra Russell1000 Growth17312
SAAUltra SmallCap60014532
SZKUltraShort Consumer Goods13972
EFZShort MSCI EAFE12423
UKKUltra Russell2000 Growth11173
UPWUltra Utilities10043
SDKUltraShort Russell MidCap Growth9104
SFKUltraShort Russell1000 Growth8403
SJLUltraShort Russell MidCap Value7639
SBBShort SmallCap6007392
UVTUltra Russell2000 Value7349
UKWUltra Russell MidCap Growth6863
UXIUltra Industrials6775
SJFUltraShort Russell1000 Value6667
RXLUltra Health Care6507
UGEUltra Consumer Goods4853
RXDUltraShort Health Care4822
UVGUltra Russell1000 Value4665
UCCUltra Consumer Services4264
UVUUltra Russell MidCap Value3433
LTLUltra Telecommunications1596
TLLUltraShort Telecommunications368

ETFS missing from table: Short Financials (SEF), Short Oil & Gas (DDG).

Stick to those ETFs in the top one third of this list and you will be able to avoid the the problems inherent in the less popular ETFs.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have liked using SRS over the last few weeks...

I have been using RSI (7 and 14) as an entry/exit point aid...
And a zig zag over the ETF to help with clearer buy/sell indicators...

Besides volume as a bid/ask spread "determiner" and reading the underlying DJIA or S&P, what other indicators are relevant in an ETF like SRS? Or for that matter any ETF?

I hope my question is clear.

Thanks.
shareinfoline said…
shareinfoline.com is India's leading and most comprehensive business and financial information website. The site provides quality information and analysis to its viewers.



We Provide Recommendations on Indian Shares (BSE, NSE & F&O) & Commodities. Our Share Tips are given with a view of 8-10 days and we are able to provide 80% result. Our Calls are given based on cash prices. you can take position in Cash as well as F&O. All Share Tips are given via sms and updations are made on website.



We invite you to become our member and get benefits from our exclusive Stock Market Tips. You can check our past performance to check our results.



No Website in India gives complete result of their share tips as "Past Performance" - But we provide complete "Past Performance" of our share calls which you can see in our Past Performance Page.

contact us at
91-9820011789

email share_infoline@yahoo.com
Priya said…
I have just checked this blog and I have found it to be very useful and informative. This blog will certainly help its visitors.

Indian share market has been volatile for quite some time now. But now it has started regaining a little ground. Which has helped in rebuiding the confidence of foreign investors in the indian share market.

indian stock exchange

Popular posts from this blog

Brazil - in a bubble or on a roll?

A couple of years ago, no one recognized the real estate bubble even though it was under everyone's nose. Now, analysts and bloggers are seeing bubbles everywhere they look. One of them, they say is in Brazil whose Bovespa stock market index has doubled in the last 12 months. Does the bubble accusation hold water? I don't think so and here are 7 reasons why Brazil is by no means a bubble economy: Exports have held up over the past year thanks to demand from China for Brazil's soya exports and iron ore. This was helped by the the Brazilian government's drive to improve trade links with Asia and Africa. Export diversification, spurred by a more active trade policy and increased focus on "south-south" trade under current president Lula, helped mitigate the decline in demand from OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries A "sensible" economic framework has been in place since the 1990's. This has included inflation

Thursday Bounce: Trend Busters, Swing Signals and Trend Leaders for July 9, 2009

This is a quick post to announce that we have published Thursday's Trend Leaders, Swing Signals and Trend Busters at Alert HQ . All are based on daily data. Today we have the following: 72 Swing Signals -- A couple of days ago we had 35 signals, today we have twice as many. Happily, we now have 65 BUY signals, a mere 4 SELL Signals plus 3 Strong BUYs. Whoo-hoo! 56 Trend Leaders , all in strong up-trends according to Aroon, MACD and DMI. There are 18 new stocks that made today's list and 60 that fell off Tuesday's list. 48 Trend Busters of which 5 are BUY signals and 43 are SELL signals The view from Alert HQ -- Talk about mixed signals. If you look at our Swing Signals list you would think the market was in the middle of a big bounce. BUY signals are swamping the SELL signals and we even have a few Strong BUYs. Yes, there's a good sprinkling of tech stocks and tech ETFs but the distribution is pretty broad-based with a good number of different sectors represented, eve

Unlock Stock Market Profits - Key #1

This is the first in an ongoing series of articles where I discuss what I feel are keys to successful investing. It is based on a post that provides a summary of the ten keys that individual investors should use to identify profitable stock trades. ( Click here to read the original post ) There are two basic steps to investing. First, you need to find stocks that seem to have some potential. Then you have to determine whether these stocks are actually good investments. There are many stocks that at first glance look interesting, but further research reveals that there are too many negatives to warrant taking a position. This first post in the series starts at the beginning: getting good investment ideas. Key #1: If something special is happening to a stock, it will be reflected in some kind of unusual activity in the markets. As individual investors, we will never be the first to know; however, unusual activity can be an early sign that allows us to follow the Wall Street professional