Description

The investment seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times the inverse (-2x) of the daily performance of the U.S. dollar price of the Australian dollar. The fund obtains short exposures to its benchmark through futures contracts on its underlying currency. It may also invest in forward contracts if the market for a specific futures contract experiences emergencies (e.g., natural disaster, terrorist attack or an act of God) or disruptions (e.g., a trading halt or a flash crash) or in situations where the Sponsor deems it impractical or inadvisable to buy or sell futures contracts.

Statistics (YTD)

What do these metrics mean? [Read More] [Hide]

TotalReturn:

'Total return, when measuring performance, is the actual rate of return of an investment or a pool of investments over a given evaluation period. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions realized over a given period of time. Total return accounts for two categories of return: income including interest paid by fixed-income investments, distributions or dividends and capital appreciation, representing the change in the market price of an asset.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the total return of -11.9% in the last 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (91.2%)
  • Compared with SPY (30.8%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of 5.2% is lower, thus worse.

CAGR:

'Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some element of the business, for example revenue, units delivered, registered users, etc. CAGR dampens the effect of volatility of periodic returns that can render arithmetic means irrelevant. It is particularly useful to compare growth rates from various data sets of common domain such as revenue growth of companies in the same industry.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the annual return (CAGR) of -2.5% in the last 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (13.9%)
  • Compared with SPY (9.4%) in the period of the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) of 1.7% is lower, thus worse.

Volatility:

'Volatility is a rate at which the price of a security increases or decreases for a given set of returns. Volatility is measured by calculating the standard deviation of the annualized returns over a given period of time. It shows the range to which the price of a security may increase or decrease. Volatility measures the risk of a security. It is used in option pricing formula to gauge the fluctuations in the returns of the underlying assets. Volatility indicates the pricing behavior of the security and helps estimate the fluctuations that may happen in a short period of time.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (21%) in the period of the last 5 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 16.1% of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar is lower, thus better.
  • Compared with SPY (17.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 6.4% is lower, thus better.

DownVol:

'Downside risk is the financial risk associated with losses. That is, it is the risk of the actual return being below the expected return, or the uncertainty about the magnitude of that difference. Risk measures typically quantify the downside risk, whereas the standard deviation (an example of a deviation risk measure) measures both the upside and downside risk. Specifically, downside risk in our definition is the semi-deviation, that is the standard deviation of all negative returns.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the downside deviation of 10.8% in the last 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15%)
  • During the last 3 years, the downside deviation is 4.2%, which is smaller, thus better than the value of 12.3% from the benchmark.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio was developed by Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe, and is used to help investors understand the return of an investment compared to its risk. The ratio is the average return earned in excess of the risk-free rate per unit of volatility or total risk. Subtracting the risk-free rate from the mean return allows an investor to better isolate the profits associated with risk-taking activities. One intuition of this calculation is that a portfolio engaging in 'zero risk' investments, such as the purchase of U.S. Treasury bills (for which the expected return is the risk-free rate), has a Sharpe ratio of exactly zero. Generally, the greater the value of the Sharpe ratio, the more attractive the risk-adjusted return.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) over 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar is -0.31, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.54) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (0.4) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of return and volatility (Sharpe) of -0.12 is smaller, thus worse.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio measures the risk-adjusted return of an investment asset, portfolio, or strategy. It is a modification of the Sharpe ratio but penalizes only those returns falling below a user-specified target or required rate of return, while the Sharpe ratio penalizes both upside and downside volatility equally. Though both ratios measure an investment's risk-adjusted return, they do so in significantly different ways that will frequently lead to differing conclusions as to the true nature of the investment's return-generating efficiency. The Sortino ratio is used as a way to compare the risk-adjusted performance of programs with differing risk and return profiles. In general, risk-adjusted returns seek to normalize the risk across programs and then see which has the higher return unit per risk.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The excess return divided by the downside deviation over 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar is -0.46, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (0.76) in the same period.
  • Looking at excess return divided by the downside deviation in of -0.19 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.56).

Ulcer:

'Ulcer Index is a method for measuring investment risk that addresses the real concerns of investors, unlike the widely used standard deviation of return. UI is a measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns in prices from earlier highs. Using Ulcer Index instead of standard deviation can lead to very different conclusions about investment risk and risk-adjusted return, especially when evaluating strategies that seek to avoid major declines in portfolio value (market timing, dynamic asset allocation, hedge funds, etc.). The Ulcer Index was originally developed in 1987. Since then, it has been widely recognized and adopted by the investment community. According to Nelson Freeburg, editor of Formula Research, Ulcer Index is “perhaps the most fully realized statistical portrait of risk there is.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the Downside risk index of 38 in the last 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar, we see it is relatively higher, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (9.33 )
  • Looking at Downside risk index in of 3.64 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (8.89 ).

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown measures the loss in any losing period during a fund’s investment record. It is defined as the percent retrenchment from a fund’s peak value to the fund’s valley value. The drawdown is in effect from the time the fund’s retrenchment begins until a new fund high is reached. The maximum drawdown encompasses both the period from the fund’s peak to the fund’s valley (length), and the time from the fund’s valley to a new fund high (recovery). It measures the largest percentage drawdown that has occurred in any fund’s data record.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum drop from peak to valley of -49.8 days of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar is lower, thus worse.
  • Looking at maximum drop from peak to valley in of -15.3 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus better in comparison to SPY (-22.4 days).

MaxDuration:

'The Maximum Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. It is the length of time the account was in the Max Drawdown. A Max Drawdown measures a retrenchment from when an equity curve reaches a new high. It’s the maximum an account lost during that retrenchment. This method is applied because a valley can’t be measured until a new high occurs. Once the new high is reached, the percentage change from the old high to the bottom of the largest trough is recorded.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 1209 days in the last 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
  • Compared with SPY (375 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 741 days is greater, thus worse.

AveDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Avg Drawdown Duration is the average amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs), or in other terms the average of time under water of all drawdowns. So in contrast to the Maximum duration it does not measure only one drawdown event but calculates the average of all.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the average days below previous high of 593 days in the last 5 years of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (122 days)
  • During the last 3 years, the average days under water is 369 days, which is higher, thus worse than the value of 114 days from the benchmark.

Performance (YTD)

Historical returns have been extended using synthetic data.

Allocations ()

Allocations

Returns (%)

  • Note that yearly returns do not equal the sum of monthly returns due to compounding.
  • Performance results of ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.