NUGT vs UYG

NUGTDDirexion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X ETF

UYGAProShares Ultra Financials

In short

NUGT Gold miners with the volume turned up. NUGT aims for 200% of the daily move of the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index, a veteran way to press a view on mining shares without margin or an options account.

UYG Listed in January 2007, a year before the banking crash, UYG targets 2x the daily move of the financial stocks in the S&P 500. A veteran of the leveraged shelf, priced at 0.93% with no fee waiver propping that number up.

Stated mandate

NUGT The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 200% of the performance of the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index.

UYG UYG seeks pre-expense daily results equal to 2x the daily performance of the S&P Financial Select Sector Index. It is designed to provide magnified financials-sector exposure on a daily basis.

Why people hold it

• NUGT One ticker, 2x daily exposure to a global gold-miners index. No margin account, no options chain, no borrow to arrange.direxion.com
• Trading since 2010, making it one of the longest-running leveraged miner funds around. It has traded through several full gold cycles.
• Actively traded and among the better-traded names in the leveraged cohort, which matters for a tool built to be entered and exited quickly.
• The index reaches globally, not just US-listed miners, so the basket follows where the gold digging actually happens.

• UYG One of the originals: on the tape since January 30, 2007, still running the same mandate of 2x the daily performance of the S&P Financial Select Sector Index.proshares.com
• At 0.93% with no waiver doing the work, it sits near the median fee of its leveraged peer group and level with sibling ROM (0.93%). QLD is 0.89%, but net of a waiver through September 30, 2027.
• The whole sector in one ticker: banks, insurers and capital-markets firms from the S&P 500, roughly 80 names, geared daily.proshares.com
• Stands in the top tier of the leveraged bull funds we grade, a group of close to a hundred tickers.

Worth knowing

• NUGT Leverage resets daily. Hold longer than a day and results can drift well away from 2x the index's move over that stretch, especially in choppy markets.
• At 1.13% a year, the fee runs above the typical leveraged fund's, and it applies whichever way gold moves.
• Doubling a mining index puts this among the more volatile funds even inside a leveraged peer group. Position size does the heavy lifting here.

• UYG The 2x target is a one-day target and resets each day. Over longer holds the result comes from compounding daily moves, and in choppy markets that can land well off twice the index's return for the period.proshares.com
• One sector, doubled. Financials move with rates, credit conditions and deal flow, and UYG amplifies that daily swing in both directions.
• It changes hands less than the headline leveraged funds, so the spread is worth a look before you place an order.

Full NUGT profile⁠

Full UYG profile⁠