ProShares Launches Pair Of Geared Biotech ETFs
ProShares, the world’s biggest purveyor of inverse and leveraged ETFs, rolled out a pair of leveraged and inverse ETFs targeting the biotechnology industry, as it aims to take advantage of one of the brightest spots in the U.S. economy.
The Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology (NasdaqGM: BIB) seeks to double the daily returns of the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, while the UltraShort Nasdaq Biotechnology (NasdaqGM: BIS) is designed to deliver twice the inverse of the index’s daily return.
The new ETFs join a ProShares lineup of 95 inverse and leveraged ETFs, the largest one of which is the ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury ETF (NYSEArca: TBT). That’s the single largest leveraged and inverse fund, with about $4.68 billion in assets as of this week. Leveraged and inverse funds are designed for more hands-on, risk-tolerant investors, as long-term returns can vary widely from daily objectives.
The annual management fee on all of the Bethesda, Md.-based company’s ETFs is 0.95 percent.
The Nasdaq Biotech Index has risen by more than half since global stock markets bottomed in March 2009, compared with the Nasdaq Composite Index’s gain of more than 90 percent in the same period.
