Over the three months to September 28, 2026, 407 of 558 leveraged and inverse ETFs finished short of their own stated multiple. The median fund landed 4.4 points below what its name promises, with a median distance travelled by the underlying of 5.7% and median underlying volatility of 47%.
These funds are built to deliver their stated multiple over a single day, then reset and do it again the next day. Because each day's result compounds on the last, stringing days together does not produce the multiple times the period's move. The gap between the stated multiple and what a holder actually got tends to widen with how far the underlying travelled during the period, not simply with where it ended up. This shows across the one month, three month, six month, one year, and three year windows in the first table, and again in the volatility breakdown: funds tracking underlyings with 0% to 30% volatility carried a median difference of -1.9%, while those tracking underlyings at 80% volatility and above carried a median difference of -14.9%. The three-month window sits between those, with underlying volatility grouped from 17% at the low end to 94% at the high end across the four bands.
Fifty-four underlyings carry the same stated multiple from more than one issuer, and the second table shows what that produced. ETHA at +2x, tracked by four issuers against an underlying move of +64.6%, shows the widest spread: ETU finished closest to stated at +21.4 and ETHT furthest at +14.5, a spread of 6.8%. CPER at +2x, with two issuers against a +6.6% underlying move, produced a spread of 3.4% between CPXR at -2.2 and UCOP at -5.6. XRPR at +2x, three issuers against +38.0%, spread 3.2% between XRPT at -12.9 and XXRP at -16.0. Further down the table, IBIT at +2x, four issuers against +38.1%, produced a narrower spread of 1.7% between BITX at +2.9 and BTCL at +1.2, and FXI at +2x, two issuers against +7.8%, showed the narrowest spread listed at 1.4% between XPP at -1.9 and CCPX at -3.3. Same mandate, same trading days, same underlying, and still a spread between funds.
A reader can check any of these funds on the live desk by pulling up its stated multiple, its mapped underlying, and the difference between the two over whichever window they choose.