ProShares announced the availability of eight (8) new Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) today designed to give investors leveraged and inverse exposure to various commodities and currencies. This marks the first time such products are available in the ETF format. There are other exchange traded products, known as Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) that provide leveraged and inverse exposure to various commodity and currency markets. However, ETNs are bonds and as such carry a risk of default from the issuer; a lesson that holders of Lehman backed ETNs learned the hard way last month.
The eight new ETFs from ProShares are Ultra DJ-AIG Commodity (UCD), UltraShort DJ-AIG Commodity (CMD), Ultra DJ-AIG Crude Oil (UCO), UltraShort DJ-AIG Crude Oil (SCO), Ultra Euro (ULE), UltraShort Euro (EUO), Ultra Yen (YCL), and Ultra Short Yen (YCS).
ProShares also indicated that four additional ETFs designed to provide leveraged and inverse exposure to gold and silver would be available soon. No specific dates were given for the start of trading of Ultra Gold (UGL), UltraShort Gold (GLL), Ultra Silver (AGQ), and UltraShort Silver (ZSL).