A reader has asked: Who are the top2X and 3X short, inverse ETF’s for Spy and QQQ. Thanks, Tom
Answer: We covered the inverse ETF space in this guide to short and inverse ETFs which I hope you will find useful. As to which are the best-leveraged inverse ETFs on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices we need to think about we define best before we can answer that question perhaps the best metric to use are AUM or Assets Under Management for the ETFs in this space.
Inverse ETFs ranked by size
If we rank the 2 and 3 times levered inverse ETFs by the size of the funds we find two clear winners in the shape of SQQQ and SDS inverse ETFs from the Proshares stable.
| Symbol | ETF Name | Inverse Ratio | Total Assets ($MM) | YTD returns |
| SQQQ | ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ | -3x | 1574.04 | -79.64% |
| SDS | ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 | -2x | 1105.78 | -36.29% |
| SPXU | ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 | -3x | 909.94 | -57.24% |
| SPXS | Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares | -3x | 754.8 | -57.26% |
| SDOW | ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 | -3x | 536.19 | -52.63% |
| QID | ProShares UltraShort QQQ | -2x | 287.85 | -60.88% |
Data from ETDB.com
Inverse ETFs ranked by returns
However, if we look at things from a returns perspective we might take a different view, here are the same names but this time they ranked by 4-week performance instead.
| Symbol | ETF Name | 4 Week |
| SPXS | Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares | 4.43% |
| SPXU | ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 | 4.14% |
| SDS | ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 | 3.48% |
| SDOW | ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 | 3.27% |
| QID | ProShares UltraShort QQQ | 0.88% |
| SQQQ | ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ | 0.22% |
Data from ETDB.com
What we need to bear in mind here is that leveraged and inverse leveraged ETFs are short term trading instruments with daily resets which are not designed for longer-term strategies.
Inverse ETFs ranked by expense ratios
Finally, we could rank the inverse ETFs in terms of their expense ratios or costs and their respective ratings on these metrics again we get a different pecking order.
| Symbol | ETF Name | ER | Expenses Rating |
| SDS | ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 | 0.89% | A- |
| SPXU | ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 | 0.91% | A- |
| SQQQ | ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ | 0.95% | C+ |
| SDOW | ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 | 0.95% | C+ |
| QID | ProShares UltraShort QQQ | 0.95% | B- |
| SPXS | Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares | 1.08% | B+ |
Data from ETDB.com
Given what we have said about the short-term nature of these products cost may not be your top consideration unless of course, you have a very active trading strategy where you will frequently be opening and closing positions and crossing the spread.
I hope that helps answer your question, Tom, though I suspect that I may have raised a few more.
