List · ETFs
Inverse ETFs by Index: The -1x, -2x and -3x Funds Side by Side
The inverse ETF list below starts with inverse bond ETFs on Treasuries and high yield, then the stock indexes, sorted by multiple. Every fund on it targets that multiple for a single day, which matters as soon as you hold one overnight.
Short answer
Inverse ETFs on stock indexes: SH, SDS, SPXU and SPXS on the S&P 500; PSQ, QID and SQQQ on the Nasdaq-100; DOG, DXD and SDOW on the Dow; RWM, TWM and TZA on the Russell 2000. Inverse bond ETFs: TBF, TBT, TTT and TMV on 20+ year Treasuries, TBX, PST and TYO on 7-10 year Treasuries, SJB on high yield. Each targets its multiple for one day only.
Read the word “daily” in the fund’s objective before anything else. An inverse fund promises the opposite of an index’s move, times a multiple, for one trading day. It rebalances every evening. That reset is what makes the fund usable in a cash account, and it is also why holding one for three weeks gives a result that can look nothing like the index’s three-week move turned upside down.
Tickers, sponsors, benchmarks and multiples are listed as the funds state them. Before buying any fund, confirm its objective in the prospectus: sponsors sometimes change a fund’s multiple, index or name, and a reverse split can change its share count overnight.
Inverse bond ETFs
An inverse bond ETF gains when the bonds in its index fall in price. That happens when yields rise. The Treasury funds come in two maturity bands, 20+ years and 7-10 years, each offered at -1x, -2x and -3x, and ProShares also runs a -1x fund on high-yield corporate bonds, a market that answers to credit risk as much as to rates. Details are from ProShares’ and Direxion’s fund pages, October 2026.
| Ticker | Fund | Benchmark | Daily multiple | Inception (per sponsor) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TBF | ProShares Short 20+ Year Treasury | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index | -1x | Aug 18, 2009 |
| TBT | ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index | -2x | Apr 29, 2008 |
| TTT | ProShares UltraPro Short 20+ Year Treasury | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index | -3x | Mar 27, 2012 |
| TMV | Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bear 3X ETF | ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index | -3x | Apr 16, 2009 |
| TBX | ProShares Short 7-10 Year Treasury | ICE U.S. Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index | -1x | Apr 4, 2011 |
| PST | ProShares UltraShort 7-10 Year Treasury | ICE U.S. Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index | -2x | Apr 29, 2008 |
| TYO | Direxion Daily 7-10 Year Treasury Bear 3X ETF | ICE U.S. Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index | -3x | Apr 16, 2009 |
| SJB | ProShares Short High Yield | Markit iBoxx $ Liquid High Yield Index | -1x | Mar 21, 2011 |
ProShares lists swap agreements on the index with large banks as the holdings, and Direxion describes its bear funds as getting their exposure through derivatives, so each fund carries the risk that a counterparty fails to pay. Direxion’s risk disclosure for TMV and TYO adds that either fund can lose its entire value in one day.
How do yields and duration move these funds?
Duration, stated in years, is the bond market’s measure of rate sensitivity: a bond’s price changes by roughly its duration times the change in its yield, in the opposite direction. Long bonds have the longest durations. So a quarter-point rise in yields knocks far more off a 20+ year index than off a 7-10 year one, and an inverse fund on the long index gains more that day, before its multiple is even applied.
Three times the opposite of the index’s two-day move would be a 0.03% gain. The -3x fund is down 0.09%. Each day’s percentage applies to a new starting value. On quiet days the gap stays tiny, but bond prices can swing hard around inflation reports, jobs data and Federal Reserve meetings, and a week of large back-and-forth moves in a long-bond index widens the gap fast enough that a -3x holder can be right about the direction of yields over the week and still end it with less money.
Who uses inverse Treasury ETFs?
Mostly people with a short time frame. A holder of long Treasuries or a long bond fund might buy TBF to offset a few days of rising yields without selling, perhaps to avoid realizing a gain. A trader expecting a hot inflation print might hold TBT or TMV through the release and sell the same day, and both of them get their rate exposure in an ordinary brokerage account or IRA, with no futures account and no short sale.
What else can you do about rising yields?
Shorten your duration. Move money from a long bond fund into Treasury bills or short-term Treasuries. Rate sensitivity drops, with no reset and no derivatives. Treasury futures give a short position without a daily reset. They need a futures account, carry margin calls and must be rolled before expiry. Puts on a long-Treasury ETF cap the loss at the premium paid.
On taxes, ProShares’ fund pages note that funds structured as registered investment companies must distribute substantially all of their income and capital gains at least once a year under IRS rules. Whether a given fund reports on Form 1099 or a Schedule K-1 is set out in its tax documents, so check the sponsor’s tax page for each fund before buying, including TMV and TYO on Direxion’s site. Gains on shares held a year or less are short-term. Situations differ.
S&P 500
| Ticker | Fund | Index | Daily multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| SH | ProShares Short S&P500 | S&P 500 | -1x |
| SDS | ProShares UltraShort S&P500 | S&P 500 | -2x |
| SPXU | ProShares UltraPro Short S&P500 | S&P 500 | -3x |
| SPXS | Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3X | S&P 500 | -3x |
SDS sits in the middle of the ProShares S&P 500 family. SDS set against puts on an S&P 500 fund compares reset drift with time decay, the most each can lose and the approval each needs, while a sideways month in SDS worked session by session shows the fund ending lower when the index goes nowhere, and when to close or resize.
Shorting SPY outright is the other common route. SDS next to a SPY short sale compares the margin, the borrow and dividend costs, the short-sale price test after a 10% drop and the most each position can lose.
Nasdaq-100
| Ticker | Fund | Index | Daily multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSQ | ProShares Short QQQ | Nasdaq-100 | -1x |
| QID | ProShares UltraShort QQQ | Nasdaq-100 | -2x |
| SQQQ | ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ | Nasdaq-100 | -3x |
Between the -2x and -3x Nasdaq funds, holding time decides. QID next to SQQQ works a one-day move and a run of days through both. If the aim is protection for a portfolio full of technology names, sizing a QID hedge estimates the Nasdaq-100 exposure first and then the dollars.
Retirement accounts cannot sell short. Holding QID in an IRA covers broker limits, the wash-sale trap that ties a taxable sale to an IRA purchase, and sizing a hedge without margin.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
| Ticker | Fund | Index | Daily multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| DOG | ProShares Short Dow30 | Dow Jones Industrial Average | -1x |
| DXD | ProShares UltraShort Dow30 | Dow Jones Industrial Average | -2x |
| SDOW | ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 | Dow Jones Industrial Average | -3x |
The Dow is weighted by share price. That changes how its bear funds react to one expensive stock. SDOW compared with DXD and DOG explains that and who each multiple suits. Before holding the -3x fund for more than a session, read a week of SDOW resets worked day by day, which runs a trending week and a choppy one side by side.
Plan the way out first. SDOW exit rules set a stop from the Dow’s average true range, a time stop and a nightly drift check against -3x the index since entry.
Russell 2000
| Ticker | Fund | Index | Daily multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| RWM | ProShares Short Russell2000 | Russell 2000 | -1x |
| TWM | ProShares UltraShort Russell2000 | Russell 2000 | -2x |
| TZA | Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X | Russell 2000 | -3x |
| SRTY | ProShares UltraPro Short Russell2000 | Russell 2000 | -3x |
Small caps swing harder. The multiple matters more here. RWM against TWM and TZA puts the same index at all three multiples, and hedging small caps with RWM sizes a hedge for a stock portfolio step by step. The two -3x funds look interchangeable on paper; TZA next to SRTY shows where they differ, and the risk checks for TZA cover sizing for a one-day rally before you buy.
Owners eventually ask what the fund holds and what it means at tax time. RWM holdings and taxes reads the daily holdings file column by column and explains the Form 1099 treatment, and a TZA reverse split follows the share count, cost basis and listed options through Direxion’s 1-for-10 consolidation.
Which multiple fits which use?
Match the multiple to the holding period. A -1x fund is the closest thing to a hedge you can hold for a while and still recognize. Decay is smaller at -1x. It never disappears.
A -2x or -3x fund is a tool for a day or two. At -3x a 5% index rally in one session costs the fund about 15% that day, so size it by the dollar loss you can accept on a bad day and treat the position as something to watch during market hours. If you cannot watch it, use a smaller multiple.
Why does the daily reset matter?
Take a hypothetical index at 100 and a -1x fund at 100. On day one the index rises 10%. On day two it falls 9.09%, which brings it back to where it started.
The index is flat over two days. The fund is down 1.82%. Nothing went wrong: the fund hit its target each day, and the loss comes from compounding a -10% day and a +9.09% day on different bases. At -2x or -3x the same path costs more, and a long run of back-and-forth days can grind a fund down even when the index ends near where it began.
The leveraged ETF decay calculator runs any path you enter. For the full argument on holding periods, read inverse ETFs reset daily, and the definition of volatility decay covers the arithmetic behind it.
What are the alternatives to an inverse ETF?
Other trades bet against stocks too, each with its own kind of cost.
- Buy puts on an index ETF. Your loss is capped at what the puts cost, and there is no daily reset, though time decay and changes in implied volatility work against the holder every day the option is open.
- Short an index ETF in a margin account. You get exposure without a reset, but you pay borrow costs, owe any dividends, and your loss has no ceiling if the market rallies.
- Reduce your long exposure. Selling part of what you own cuts risk without adding a new position that has to be managed, and for many investors worried about a decline it is the simplest answer.
The page on ETFs for short swings compares these methods on a sized trade.
Questions traders ask next
Do inverse bond ETFs go up when interest rates rise?
They gain on days when yields on the bonds in their index rise, because those bond prices fall. The yields that count are the index's own, such as 20+ year or 7-10 year Treasuries. A Federal Reserve rate hike can arrive on a day when long yields fall, and then the fund loses.
Can you buy an inverse ETF in an IRA?
Usually, yes. Buying an inverse fund is an ordinary purchase, so it needs no margin and no short sale, which is why traders use them in cash accounts and IRAs. Some brokers restrict leveraged and inverse funds or ask you to acknowledge their risks first, so check your broker's rules for the account type.
What happens to an inverse ETF if the market goes up?
It falls by roughly its multiple of the index's daily gain. A -3x fund on an index that rises 2% in a day targets a 6% loss for that day. Over several days the loss compounds from each new closing value, so the total can differ from three times the index's total move.