At a glance
KOLD charges 0.95% a year. It has $140.0M in assets. Over the past year it returned −8.8% with distributions reinvested (S&P 500: +11.5%); over three years it returned +8.1% a year. At its worst it fell 96.1% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and is still below its earlier high.
The short version
ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas (KOLD) is a commodity pool, a fund that holds futures contracts rather than natural gas itself. It aims for -2 times the daily return of a Bloomberg natural gas futures index, before fees, and is built for traders betting on short-term price drops. Its exposure resets every day, so results over longer periods can stray far from -2 times the index. Its annual fee was 0.95% for the period to June 30, 2026.
Price history
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KOLD -8.8% over the year to Oct 27, 2026, total return with distributions reinvested.
How it has behaved
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | Since start | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KOLD price data to Oct 27, 2026 | -12.0% | -8.8% | +8.1% | -12.3% | — | -12.4% |
- Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, KOLD returned -8.8%.
- Its 5-year annualized return was -12.3%.
- Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-88.6%); its best was 2023 (+249.8%).
- The deepest fall in its price history was 96.4% (Dec 6, 2021 to Aug 22, 2022), not yet recovered.
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | -12.0% |
| 2025 | -17.5% |
| 2024 | -11.3% |
| 2023 | +249.8% |
| 2022 | -88.6% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Before this security existed |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Not in the price data, which starts Oct 25, 2021 |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 91.8% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 96.1%, not recovered by the end of the data |
What's inside
The fund holds futures contracts and the cash and Treasury bills backing them, not the commodity itself; its net assets were $140.0M as of Jun 30, 2026 (per its 10-Q). As a commodity pool it files 10-Q and 10-K reports instead of N-PORT holdings reports, so there is no holdings list.
How it works
KOLD is one of sixteen series of ProShares Trust II, a Delaware statutory trust. Its sponsor, ProShare Capital Management LLC, also runs it as a commodity pool operator registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. KOLD does not own natural gas. It uses "financial instruments" instead. These are contracts such as futures, swaps and forwards, and their value comes from a Bloomberg index built to track natural gas futures contracts. ProShares warns that this index can move very differently from the price of physical natural gas, sometimes even in the opposite direction.
The fund aims for -2 times the index's return over a single day only, measured from one closing net asset value (NAV, the per-share value of its holdings) to the next. Over any longer stretch, the daily returns compound on each other, so the result can differ a lot from -2 times the index's return. It can even end up on the opposite side. ProShares says index volatility can matter as much as the index's direction, and it suggests holders monitor or rebalance actively.
Expiring futures have to be rolled into later contracts, and those trades can add to or subtract from returns. Large firms called authorized participants create and redeem shares in blocks of 50,000, and the price you trade at can differ from NAV. The fund made a 2-for-1 forward split on April 11, 2024.
What it really costs
- KOLD charges 0.95% a year.
Structure and tax notes
- Resets its inverse exposure every day. Over periods longer than a day, compounding means returns can differ sharply from -2× the index — usually worse in choppy markets. Built for short-term trading, not buy-and-hold.
- A commodity pool: it holds futures contracts (and the cash and Treasury bills backing them), not the commodity itself, and it is not a 1940 Act investment company, so it lacks some fund-specific investor protections. It is taxed as a partnership: investors get a Schedule K-1 rather than a 1099 and owe tax on their share of its gains each year, even without selling. Expiring contracts must be rolled into later ones, and the price gap between them adds to or takes from returns, so over time it can drift well away from the spot price of what it tracks. Besides the sponsor's fee, it pays brokerage commissions and other costs.
In a retirement portfolio
KOLD resets its -2x inverse exposure daily, pays no distributions and has lost nearly all its value in a single stretch, so it is built for brief trades, not long-term holding.
KOLD adds little to a long-term or retirement portfolio. Its price history here starts in October 2021, so it does not cover the 2008 or 2020 crashes. In the 2022 bear market, it fell 91.8% while stocks slid from January to October. Its worst calendar year was 2022, at -88.6%. Its deepest drop was 96.4%, from December 6, 2021 to August 22, 2022, and it had not recovered as of October 27, 2026. A gain of 249.8% in 2023 shows the swings run both ways. Over the year to October 27, 2026, its annualized volatility (a measure of how widely prices swing) was 111.2%. Someone who had to sell in a bad stretch could lock in near-total losses. It has paid no distributions and charges 0.95% a year. Past results don't predict future ones, and a plan needs to look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.
Who it may suit — and who should look elsewhere
May suit
- Experienced traders who want a one-day bet that natural gas futures will fall and who check their positions every day.
- Active traders who understand that the -2x daily reset makes results over several days drift, sometimes sharply, from twice the index's inverse.
- Short-term traders who don't mind tax filing with a Schedule K-1 and for whom the 0.95% annual fee matters little over a brief hold.
Look elsewhere if
- Buy-and-hold or retirement investors: it fell 96.4% from December 2021 to August 2022 and had not recovered by October 27, 2026.
- Anyone looking for income, since the fund has recorded no distributions to shareholders.
- Those who want simple 1099 tax forms or the investor protections of a 1940 Act fund; KOLD is a commodity pool taxed as a partnership.
Close alternatives
Matched by leveraged/inverse funds on the same index (the index could not be identified from the name).
No close alternatives found.
Questions investors ask
Is KOLD a good long-term investment?
KOLD is not designed for long-term holding. ProShares says it seeks -2 times the index's return for a single day only, and compounding can push longer-term results far from that. As of October 27, 2026, its five-year return was -12.3% a year, or -48% in total. Its deepest drop was 96.4%, from December 2021 to August 2022, and it had not recovered by October 27, 2026. ProShares describes funds like this as suited only to knowledgeable investors.
Does KOLD pay dividends?
No. KOLD has recorded no distributions, so it provides no income. Any return comes only from changes in its share price. Because it is taxed as a partnership, holders may still owe tax each year on their share of the fund's gains, even if they never sell and receive no cash. That makes it a poor match for anyone who needs a portfolio to pay regular income.
Does KOLD issue a K-1 for taxes?
Yes. KOLD is a commodity pool taxed as a partnership, so investors get a Schedule K-1 instead of the usual Form 1099. You owe tax on your share of the fund's gains each year, even if you haven't sold any shares. K-1s can make tax filing more complex. KOLD is also not an investment company registered under the 1940 Act, so it lacks some protections that regular mutual funds and ETFs have.
What is KOLD's expense ratio?
KOLD's expense ratio was 0.95% a year for the period to June 30, 2026. That is a sponsor fee paid to ProShare Capital Management LLC. The fund also pays brokerage commissions and other trading costs, which come out of returns. Rolling expiring futures into later contracts can add to or subtract from results too. Because of the daily reset, the fee is usually a smaller factor than compounding and volatility for anyone holding longer than a day.
What's the difference between KOLD and BOIL?
Both are natural gas futures funds in ProShares Trust II, but they bet in opposite directions. KOLD (UltraShort) seeks -2 times the index's daily return, so it aims to gain when natural gas futures fall. BOIL (ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas) seeks a leveraged multiple of the daily return, so it aims to gain when those futures rise. Both reset daily and are built for short-term trading. BOIL is a mirror-image bet, not an alternative to KOLD.