ETF Pulse — Shorting Volatility and Reverse Splits

Last week was a busy week in the U.S. ETF marketplace. Here’s a quick snapshot of recent activity:

ProShares Launches New VIX Short-Term Futures ETF

The ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (NYSE:SVXY) was launched last week. SVXY is a VIX ETF designed for bears because it aims for daily inverse or opposite performance (-1x) to the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index. It charges annual expenses of 0.95%.

For VIX bulls, ProShares also offers a 2x daily leveraged fund called the ProShares S&P 500 Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures (NYSE:UVXY), along with 1x exposure to Mid-Term VIX Futures (NYSE:VIXM) and Short-Term VIX Futures (NYSE:VIXY).

New Small-Cap ETFs from Russell

Russell Investments launched four small-cap ETFs on the Nasdaq. Each fund is designed to provide investors with access to specific investment strategies that mirror the way equity managers tend to invest.

“We created these unique products to answer a very specific need in the market”, said James Polisson, CEO of Russell’s global ETF business. “Sophisticated investors now have an investment vehicle that provides them with focused exposure in the small cap asset class beyond the strict classification by sector and style.”

The four ETFs listed are based on corresponding and newly launched Russell U.S. Small Cap Investment Discipline Indexes. The new suite of small-cap ETFs consists of the following:

• Russell Small Cap Aggressive Growth ETF (NASDAQ:SGGG)
• Russell Small Cap Consistent Growth ETF (NASDAQ:SCOG)
• Russell Small Cap Low P/E ETF (NASDAQ:SCLP)
• Russell Small Cap Contrarian ETF (NASDAQ:SCTR)

The annual expense ratio is 0.45% for these particular Russell ETFs, and the company now offers a total of 21 ETFs in the United States, along with two in Australia.