SMN vs SVXY

SMNCProShares UltraShort Materials

SVXYBProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF

In short

SMN The only -2x ETF pointed at the S&P 500's materials sector: chemicals, miners and packagers, flipped and doubled, reset every single day. A trading tool that has been listed since 2007, not a set-and-forget hedge.

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

SMN The fund targets daily, pre-expense performance equal to negative two times the S&P Materials Select Sector SM Index.

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

• SMN ProShares bills it as the only -2x materials ETF, so geared inverse exposure to the S&P 500's chemical, mining and packaging names runs through this one ticker.proshares.com
• 0.95% net of a waiver through September 30, 2027. That sits near the category median and level with ProShares stablemates PSQ and DOG, both 0.95% net under waivers to the same date.
• Listed since January 2007, so the daily-reset machinery has run through nearly two decades of commodity cycles. Long life for a geared inverse fund.

• 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

• SMN The -2x target applies to a single day. Hold longer and each day's return compounds, so the result can land well away from -2x the index's move over that stretch.proshares.com
• A small fund and thinly traded, which can make the cost of getting in and out matter more than the expense ratio.
• That 0.95% is a capped figure, not the raw cost: the gross ratio is 6.56%, with the waiver running through September 30, 2027.

• 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 SMN profile⁠

Full SVXY profile⁠