DOG vs ZVOL

DOGBProShares Short Dow30

ZVOLBVolatility Shares Volatility Premium Plus ETF

In short

DOG The plain-vanilla short on the Dow: DOG aims to deliver the inverse of the index's move each day, with no 2x or 3x bolted on. Running since 2006, and ProShares bills it as the only -1x ETF built on the Dow.

ZVOL Short volatility, but further out the curve. ZVOL takes daily inverse exposure to mid-term VIX futures instead of the front month, aiming to monetize the roll premium in those contracts, and it pays out monthly.

Stated mandate

DOG DOG seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to the inverse of the Dow Jones Industrial Average's daily performance.

ZVOL The Fund seeks daily results, before fees and expenses, corresponding to the S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures Inverse Daily Index.

Why people hold it

• DOG 0.95% net of a waiver through September 30, 2027 (1.00% gross), which sits near the typical fee among leveraged and inverse funds.
• Sticks close to its daily inverse target, one of the tighter implementations in its peer group.proshares.com
• Actively traded for an inverse fund, so getting in and back out is rarely the hard part.
• Live since 2006, so the mechanism has run through the financial crisis, 2020 and every tape since.

• ZVOL Most short-vol trades crowd the front month. ZVOL works the mid-term end of the VIX curve, the fourth through seventh contracts, which move less violently than the nearest ones.sec.gov
• Income is the point, not a byproduct: continuously rolling short VIX futures is expected to produce a volatility premium or roll yield, which the fund declares as a monthly dividend.sec.govvolatilityshares.com
• A registered 1940 Act fund, with futures exposure held through a wholly owned Cayman subsidiary rather than a bare commodity pool.sec.gov
• Sits in the upper half of the inverse and leveraged funds we grade, with a risk profile calmer than most of that crowd, thanks to the mid-term contracts and single inverse exposure.

Worth knowing

• DOG The target resets every day. Hold longer than a day and the result depends on the path the Dow takes, not just its direction.proshares.com
• If the waiver lapses after September 30, 2027, the fee steps up toward the 1.00% gross figure.
• The Dow is 30 price-weighted names, so this is a short on a narrow, old-school slice of the market rather than the broad tape.proshares.com

• ZVOL The mandate resets daily. Hold past one day and returns compound, so results can drift well away from the inverse of the index, and a volatility spike cuts against the position.volatilityshares.com
• Fees run above the neighborhood: 1.42% versus a 1.21% median for bear and leveraged funds. SVXY does short-vol at 0.95%, though from the short-term end of the curve.
• It is a small, thinly traded fund, so limit orders earn their keep. The issuer also expects part or all of each distribution to be return of capital rather than new profit.volatilityshares.com

Full DOG profile⁠

Full ZVOL profile⁠