AGQ vs QLD

AGQCProShares Ultra Silver

QLDAProShares Ultra QQQ

In short

AGQ Silver with the volume turned up. Since 2008, AGQ has aimed to double silver's daily move using futures and swaps instead of bullion, and ProShares bills it as the only ETF built on 2x the Bloomberg Silver Subindex.

QLD The 2x dial on the Nasdaq-100. QLD aims for twice the index's daily move, half the dose of the 3x crowd, and it has been running that playbook since 2006. The multiple resets every session.

Stated mandate

AGQ The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, corresponding to twice the daily performance of the Bloomberg Silver Subindex. It obtains this exposure through futures and swaps rather than directly holding silver.

QLD The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, equal to twice the daily performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index.

Why people hold it

• AGQ ProShares bills it as the only ETF targeting 2x the daily move of the Bloomberg Silver Subindex, a mandate it has run since December 2008.proshares.com
• Fees run 0.95% a year, below the median for leveraged funds, which is notable for a strategy built on futures and swaps.
• Actively traded, which matters for a tool designed to be used day by day rather than parked.
• Sits among the stronger implementations in a crowded leveraged-bull field.

• QLD Costs 0.89% net of a waiver through September 30, 2027 (0.96% gross), below the leveraged-bull category median and under Ultra stablemates ROM (0.93%) and DDM (0.95%).
• Hits its stated daily 2x mark with very little drift, one of the tighter implementations among the roughly 100 leveraged bull funds in its group.
• A multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, so entering and exiting rarely means hunting for the other side of the trade.
• Trading since June 2006, which makes it one of the longest-running leveraged equity funds on the US shelf rather than a recent product-shelf experiment.

Worth knowing

• AGQ The 2x target resets each day, so multi-day results can drift well away from twice silver's move, and choppy stretches chew value even if silver ends flat.proshares.com
• It is a commodity pool, not a 1940 Act fund, so shareholders get a Schedule K-1 at tax time instead of a 1099.proshares.com
• Exposure comes from silver futures and swaps, not metal in a vault, and the fund is not built to pay income.

• QLD The 2x objective covers one day only. Hold longer and daily resets plus compounding can push results away from twice the index's move over that stretch, in either direction.proshares.com
• Magnification runs both ways: a down day in the Nasdaq-100 lands on shareholders at roughly double size, same as an up day.
• Cheap for geared exposure, still well above a plain unleveraged Nasdaq-100 tracker. The waiver is set to lapse September 30, 2027, after which the 0.96% gross rate applies unless renewed.

Full AGQ profile⁠

Full QLD profile⁠