Episode summary
Leveraged ETFs and Retail’s Rise, Plus a $20B Issuer Growth Story
ETF Prime
· · 53 min · Hosts: Nate Geraci, Simeon Hyman · Guests: Matt Markiewicz, Christian Magoon
Summary
Trader ETFs has built a fast-growing leveraged and inverse lineup by targeting self-directed traders rather than traditional advisors. The host said the firm has expanded from about $700 million in assets last March to $2.7 billion, helped by more than 60 single-stock launches and a focus on volatile names that can move enough to attract short-term traders. The guest said the biggest success has been the 2x long SanDisk Daily ETF, which gathered roughly $700 million in less than a month, while products tied to Western Digital have also drawn meaningful interest.
The discussion emphasized that education has improved as investors have become more familiar with daily-reset leverage, though the guest stressed that path dependency still matters and that these products are built for trading, not holding. He also explained Trader’s monthly and quarterly reset products as a way to reduce the decay problems of daily leverage, especially for tactical investors who want longer holding periods around earnings or volatile market events.
The second half focused on Amplify ETFs, which the host said has grown past $20 billion in assets and now has 40 ETFs. The guest said the firm’s growth has been driven by its “YieldSmart” approach, especially the DVO covered-call strategy and international and crypto-linked income funds, which aim to balance income with capital appreciation rather than chase the highest possible yield. He also highlighted new tokenization and stablecoin ETFs and said Amplify expects more launches in 2026, including possibly a new product category.
Key takeaways
- Trader ETFs said self-directed retail traders, not advisors, are the core buyers of leveraged single-stock ETFs, with heavy use on Robinhood, Schwab, Fidelity, E*TRADE and Webull.
- The guest said SanDisk has been the standout launch, with the 2x long SanDisk ETF gathering about $700 million in under a month because of extreme volatility and momentum.
- Trader’s monthly and quarterly reset ETFs are designed for tactical users who want less path dependency than daily-reset leverage products, especially around earnings and other volatile periods.
- Amplify said its DVO strategy succeeded by combining dividend income with tactical covered-call writing, while keeping yield below 5% to preserve upside.
- The guest said Amplify’s YieldSmart crypto and thematic income funds are meant to give investors income plus capital appreciation, rather than maximize yield at the cost of drawdowns.
- Amplify expects more launches in 2026, including filings in high yield and investment grade, plus potentially a new ETF product category.
Notable quotes
“we really focus on that self-directed market and I think having that focus has allowed us to really you know maintain a brand and you know kind of build our reputation within that audience”
“it really has gone to show that the traders, the short-term investors that are using single stock ETFs are attracted to the volatility”
“we have had you know probably the best uh uptake in these non-daily products with advi with it with raas and some advisors who are more tactical”
How the episode opens
I realize the perils of holding on to of these ETFs too long and the stocks aren't trending then, you know, investors may not have a return profile that's going to meet their expectations. All right, joining me will be Matt Maravich, head of product and capital markets at Trader ETFs, which the Trader brand has been around about a year and a half now, and already they're up to some 65 ETFs, approaching $3 billion in assets. They've been a really nice ETF success story.
And their focus is in the leveraged and inverse ETF categories. So specifically they offer leverage and inverse single stock ETFs. They also have leverage and inverse ETFs covering the Q's and SPY that reset on a monthly or quarterly basis which I think is a unique twist.
And then they have an inverse ARC ETF as well. And so Matt and I are going to discuss this growing lineup. We'll talk about exactly how and where Trader ETFs is finding success at the moment.
And then we'll touch on the importance of investor education around these products which everybody knows always like to talk about. So this should be an interesting conversation on a very hot category of ETFs right now. So I'll start there this week and then later I'll be joined by Christian McNun, founder and CEO of Amplify ETFs who they're now at 40 ETFs over 20 billion in assets.
Uh they actually grew assets by 70% last year. If you haven't been paying attention to Amplify, they just continue to rock it up the ETF leaderboard. But they have a unique suite of ETFs themselves that spans optionsbased strategies, uh thematic strategies, they have some core portfolio strategies as well.
And so Christian and I are going to have a fairly wide-ranging conversation around that ETF lineup and why it has been resonating with investors.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- leveraged etfs
- inverse etfs
- retail investor sophistication
- etf resets
- etf asset growth
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Tradr ETFs
- Amplify ETFs
Watch the episode
Watch “Leveraged ETFs and Retail’s Rise, Plus a $20B Issuer Growth Story” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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ETF Prime, this episode and its artwork belong to Nate Geraci. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
