Over the three months to September 23, 2026, 417 of 557 leveraged and inverse ETFs finished short of their own stated multiple. The median fund landed 4.6 points below what its name promises. This is not a defect in any single fund; it is what daily reset products do. Each of these funds delivers its multiple over one trading day, then resets and starts again. String enough days together and the results compound rather than add, so a fund's return over a quarter is not simply its multiple times the underlying's move over that quarter. The gap between stated and delivered tends to widen with how far the underlying travels during the period, not with where it ends up.
Looking across holding periods shows the pattern is consistent, even if the numbers move around. Funds held one month showed a median difference of −1.7%, three months −4.6%, six months −10.7%, one year −9.0%, and three years −2.0%. The median distance travelled by the underlying (not its net move, but the total ground covered) rises across most of these windows too, from 2.1% at one month to 39.5% at three years. The relationship is not a straight line, but the broad tendency holds: more movement beneath the fund, more separation from the stated multiple.
The three-month breakdown by underlying volatility makes the same point plainly. Funds tracking underlyings with volatility of 0% to 30% (median 17%) show a median difference of −1.9%. Funds tracking underlyings with volatility of 80% and above (median 94%) show a median difference of −17.7%. The share of funds finishing short of stated also climbs through these bands, from 107 of 170 to 103 of 120.
Where more than one issuer runs the same mandate on the same underlying, the same days produce different results. Fifty-four underlyings carry an identical stated multiple from more than one issuer. On ETHA at +2x, four issuers tracked an underlying that moved +69.5%, with ETHU closest to stated at +24.5 and ETHT furthest at +18.0, a spread of 6.5%. On CPER at +2x, two issuers split by 3.9%. On XRPR at +2x, three issuers spread by 3.5%. Further down the table, spreads narrow: EWZ at +2x split by 1.8%, and CBRS at +2x, despite large negative differences from stated on both sides, showed the smallest spread in the table at 1.5%. Same mandate, same underlying, same calendar days, and still a measurable gap between funds meant to do the identical job.
Readers can pull up any fund named here on the live desk and check its own difference from stated multiple, its distance travelled by the underlying, and how it compares with other issuers running the same mandate over the same days.