MZZ vs SVXY

MZZCProShares UltraShort MidCap400

SVXYBProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF

In short

MZZ A 2006-vintage bear trade on mid-cap America: MZZ aims to deliver two times the inverse of the S&P MidCap 400's daily move, one trading day at a time, while most inverse funds point at the big large-cap indexes.

SVXY Short volatility, half dose. SVXY targets one-half the inverse of a VIX short-term futures index each day, a deliberately de-tuned take on the short-vol trade, and it has run that mandate since 2011.

Stated mandate

MZZ The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, equal to two times the inverse of the S&P MidCap 400's daily performance.

SVXY SVXY seeks daily results equal to one-half the inverse of the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index. Its objective is measured daily, so returns over longer periods can differ from the stated daily target.

Why people hold it

• MZZ Most inverse funds aim at the S&P 500, the Dow or the Nasdaq-100. This one targets the S&P MidCap 400, a benchmark built to measure 400 mid-sized US companies.spglobal.com
• Launched in 2006, part of the original ProShares leveraged and inverse lineup, and still running the same daily -2x mandate nearly two decades later.
• Sibling MYY tracks the same index at -1x; MZZ doubles the daily dose for the same 0.95% net fee (waived through September 30, 2027 in both cases).
• At 0.95% net of a waiver through September 30, 2027, the fee sits near the median for leveraged and inverse funds, in line with ProShares stablemates like PSQ and RWM at 0.95% net.

• SVXY The half-strength design is the whole idea: a -0.5x daily target rather than full inverse, so a jump in VIX futures lands with half the force of a one-for-one short.proshares.com
• 0.95% a year sits below the typical leveraged and inverse fund, and among that crowd this is one of the stronger implementations in its peer group.
• Launched in 2011 and actively traded, so it has a long operating history and a working market for getting in and out.

Worth knowing

• MZZ Exposure resets daily. Held longer, each day's return compounds, and ProShares' own filings say results over longer periods are unlikely to be a simple -2x of the index.sec.gov
• That 0.95% is net of a waiver through September 30, 2027; the gross ratio is 9.03%, so the waiver, not scale, is doing the heavy lifting on cost.
• One of the smaller and more thinly traded names in the lineup, so spreads and order type matter more here than with the headline inverse funds.

• SVXY The objective resets daily. Hold longer and compounding takes over, so results over weeks or months can look nothing like half the inverse of the index.proshares.com
• It is a commodity pool holding VIX futures, not a basket of stocks. Reporting and tax treatment follow different rules than a standard equity ETF.proshares.com
• Pure price vehicle with no distribution stream, and volatility spikes arrive fast, which is exactly what a short-vol position is on the wrong side of.

Full MZZ profile⁠

Full SVXY profile⁠