ProShares UltraPro Short 20+ Year Treasury

ProShares UltraPro Short 20+ Year Treasury (TTT) uses swaps and futures contracts to seek three times the inverse (-3x) of the daily return of the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. It is a short-term trading tool for betting that long-term Treasury prices will fall, which usually happens when interest rates rise. Its exposure resets daily, so returns over longer periods can differ sharply from -3x, and it costs 0.95% a year.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, TTT returned +32.6%, 2nd of 7 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +25.6%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2023 (-11.1%); its best was 2022 (+150.2%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 49.6% (Oct 19, 2023 to Sep 16, 2024), not yet recovered.

As of Aug 31, 2026, most of the fund sat in cash, Treasury bills and money-market holdings (71.32% of net assets), with its inverse exposure coming from 8 swap and futures positions rather than from owning the stocks outright.

• Over the three months to Aug 31, 2026, investors withdrew a net $3.6M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: -2.88%, +15.58%, -1.77%.

TTT's target is the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index from ICE Data Indices: fixed-rate U.S. Treasury bonds with more than 20 years to maturity, weighted by market value and reset monthly. Inflation-linked bonds and Treasury bills are excluded. Long bonds fall in price when interest rates rise, and TTT aims to move three times as far in the opposite direction each day.

TTT gets this exposure through derivatives rather than bonds. ProShare Advisors uses a mathematical approach to pick swap agreements (contracts with large banks that trade payments based on the index) and futures. Spare cash goes into Treasury bills, repurchase agreements (short-term loans backed by securities) or a ProShares money market ETF. As of August 31, 2026, about 71% of its $16.8 million in net assets was cash, alongside eight derivative positions led by total return swaps.

The fund rebalances daily to reset its exposure to -3x. Over longer periods, compounding can pull returns far from -3x, especially when bond prices swing back and forth. In a prospectus example, if the index fell 20% in a year with 25% volatility (a measure of day-to-day swings), the fund might gain about 34%, not 60%; at 50% volatility, it might lose about 56%. If the index nears a 33% gain within a day, holders could lose everything.

• TTT charges 0.95% a year, versus an average of 0.95% for the similar funds below (1st of 3, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.75% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• The fee includes a 0.3% waiver from the adviser, which may end.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $97 in the first year and $1,485 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

TTT resets its -3x inverse exposure every day, so returns over months or years can stray far from that target, and the prospectus warns that a large one-day rally in long-term Treasuries could wipe out the investment.

TTT has helped in some downturns and hurt badly in others. It launched in 2012, after the 2008 crisis. In the first quarter of 2020, as long-term Treasury prices rose, it lost 54.28% and ended 2020 down 53.94%, its worst calendar year from 2016 through 2025. During the 2022 bear market it rose 142.1%, despite a 28% dip midway. It fell 49.6% from an October 19, 2023 peak to September 16, 2024, and had not recovered by October 27, 2026. Withdrawing cash after such a drop locks in the loss.

Its trailing 12-month yield was 8.23% as of October 27, 2026, paid quarterly, but that income rides on a very volatile price. It costs 0.95% a year ($1,485 in costs over 10 years on $10,000 in the SEC's standard example). Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should weigh the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by leveraged/inverse funds on the same index (treasury), same direction.