ProShares Short S&P500

ProShares Short S&P500 (SH) uses swaps and futures to seek the opposite (-1x) of the S&P 500's return each day, so it tends to gain when large US stocks fall. Its daily reset is built for short-term hedging rather than long holding periods: over the 10 years to October 27, 2026, it lost 74%. Its 0.88% expense ratio is higher than the 0.47% charged by Direxion's SPDN, which has the same -1x goal.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, SH returned -7.2%, 2nd of 6 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was -7.6% and its 10-year -12.7%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash, while stocks fell, it gained 42.3%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2009 (-27.0%); its best was 2008 (+38.6%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 94.7% (Mar 9, 2009 to Aug 13, 2026), not yet recovered.

As of Aug 31, 2026, most of the fund sat in cash, Treasury bills and money-market holdings (123.87% of net assets), with its inverse exposure coming from 11 swap and futures positions rather than from owning the stocks outright.

• Over the three months to Aug 31, 2026, investors withdrew a net $148.6M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +1.30%, +0.56%, -2.21%.

SH aims to return the opposite (-1x) of the S&P 500's move each day, before fees. S&P Dow Jones Indices runs that index. It covers 500 of the largest US companies, weighted by market value, and is reviewed every September with weight adjustments in March, June and December. SH does not own those stocks. Instead, ProShare Advisors uses a mathematical model to pick derivatives (contracts whose value is tied to an index or asset) that together should move opposite to the index.

The fund mainly uses total return swaps with major global financial institutions, which pay the fund when the index falls and cost it when the index rises, plus S&P 500 E-mini futures. Its cash sits in Treasury bills, repurchase agreements (short-term loans backed by government securities) or a money market ETF run by ProShare Advisors. On August 31, 2026, the fund held 11 swap and futures positions, repurchase agreements and no stocks.

The fund rebalances daily. When the index rises, the fund's assets shrink and it scales back its position; when the index falls, it scales up. Because of this daily compounding, results over longer periods can differ sharply from -1x the index, usually for the worse in choppy markets. Fees, financing costs and the risk that a swap partner fails to pay also weigh on returns.

• SH charges 0.88% a year, versus an average of 0.47% for the similar funds below.
• Of that, 0.75% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $90 in the first year and $1,084 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

Its daily reset and long record of losses, including 74% over the 10 years to October 27, 2026, make it a tool for brief hedges rather than a lasting holding.

SH has paid off in market drops. From market peak to low, it gained 92.3% in the 2008 financial crisis, 42.3% in the 2020 COVID crash and 28.7% in the 2022 bear market. Yet it lost money in every calendar year from 2016 to 2025 except 2018 and 2022, even 2020. Its worst year was 2009, down 27%. It then fell nearly 95% from March 9, 2009 to August 13, 2026 without recovering. Anyone needing cash in a bad year has to take gains before a rebound erases them.

Its trailing yield was 3.97% as of October 27, 2026, paid quarterly, yet it returned -7.2% over the same year. It charges 0.88% a year: $90 on $10,000 in year one and $1,084 over 10 years in the SEC's standard example. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by leveraged/inverse funds on the same index (s&p 500), same direction.