Leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds promise a stated multiple of an underlying index or asset for a single day, then reset and do it again the next day. Over the three months to Sep 25, 2026, that daily reset produced a wide gap between what the label says and what holders actually received. Of 553 such funds, 415 finished short of their stated multiple. The median fund was 4.7 points off, with the underlying having travelled a median distance of 6.2% and shown median volatility of 46% over the period.
Because the multiple applies each day and compounds, a fund's result over three months is not simply the multiple times the underlying's overall move. The gap tends to widen with how far the underlying travels along the way, not with where it settles at the end. This pattern holds across holding periods in the data: at one month, 490 of 680 funds were short of stated, with a median difference of −1.7% against 2.2% median distance travelled. At six months the median difference was −9.6%, at one year −9.5%, and at three years −1.4%, though the three-year sample includes fewer funds (123) with a much larger median distance travelled (39.0%) and lower median underlying volatility (18%).
The volatility relationship shows up directly in the third table. Funds tracking underlyings with 0% to 30% volatility had a median difference of −1.8% from stated, with 108 of 176 short. That gap grows through the volatility bands: −4.3% for the 30% to 50% band, −10.1% for 50% to 80%, and −18.2% for underlyings at 80% volatility and above, where 94 of 109 funds finished short.
The data also lets holders compare funds chasing the identical mandate. 54 underlyings carry the same stated multiple from more than one issuer, and even with the same target and the same trading days, results diverge. The ETHA +2x trade, tracked by four issuers against an underlying move of +70.8%, showed a spread of 6.4 points between the closest fund to stated (ETU at +28.2) and the furthest (ETHT at +21.9). Smaller but still measurable spreads appear elsewhere: CPER +2x funds spread by 4.0 points, XLK +2x by 2.5, and STX +2x by 2.4. At the narrower end, KWEB +2x funds spread by 1.7 points and IBIT +2x funds, tracked by four issuers against a +40.5% underlying move, spread by 1.7 points between BITX at +4.5 and BTCL at +2.8.
Readers working from the live desk can check any individual fund's current difference from its stated multiple, the underlying's distance travelled and volatility over their chosen window, and the spread against other funds tracking the same underlying and multiple.