Research/Research note
Every 3x ETF on the market launched before 2020. So 3x came back as something else.
All 51 US ETFs that seek 3x the daily return of an index launched before 2020. A rule adopted in October 2020 caps new funds at 2x. Since then the new 3x products have been ETNs (exchange-traded notes), and the new 3x products the SEC approved last week are not funds at all.
What is being compared
Every US-listed product that seeks 3x or more the daily return of what it tracks, long or short: 51 ETFs and 41 ETNs, 92 in all, about $114.3bn. Launch dates and assets are as of October 8, 2026.
An ETF here is a fund registered under the 1940 Act. An ETN is a bank's unsecured note that pays an index's return: the holder owns the bank's promise, not a share of a fund.
What changed in 2020
Rule 18f-4, adopted October 28, 2020, limits a fund's value at risk to 200% of that of its reference portfolio, which in practice caps a new leveraged fund at about 2x. Funds already operating above it on that date could keep their leverage, as long as they never change their index or raise their exposure. Today's 3x ETFs are those ETFs, frozen in place.
When each 3x product launched
One dot per product, sized by assets. Hover for the name, click to open the product's page. The line marks the rule.
The 51 that kept their 3x
All 51 come from Direxion and ProShares and launched between November 2008 and November 2019. They hold $101.4bn, and TQQQ and SOXL hold more than three fifths of it.
ETNs filled the gap
A note is not a fund, so the 200% limit does not reach it. 40 3x and 4x ETNs have listed since the rule, all from BMO's MicroSectors and MAX ranges, 18 of them this year. SPYU, launched in December 2023 under the ticker XXXX, seeks 4x the daily S&P 500; no other listed product goes above 3x.
And it is one bank. All 41 ETNs are issued by BMO, under its MicroSectors and MAX names. Every new 3x product listed since 2020 is a promise from the same bank.
Who stands behind 3x
Products by issuer, ETFs against ETNs. Hover or tap a segment for its count and assets.
FNGU, NRGU and BNKU date from new BMO notes launched in February 2025. The FNGU ticker earlier belonged to an older FANG+ note, which BMO called for redemption in 2025.
Trying for 4x and 5x
The filings and the answer
From the 5x filings in October 2025 to the 3x approval this month. Tap an event for its source.
Volatility Shares filed for 5x ETFs on single stocks, crypto and an S&P 500 ETF in October and November 2025, 39 filings in all. In December SEC staff told nine issuers to fit the rule or withdraw. 4x filings from VegaShares, Roundhill and ProShares followed. In March the SEC asked issuers to hold off on launching their proposed high-leverage ETFs. No ETF above 3x is listed.
The other door
On October 2, 2026 the SEC approved six 3x products for listing on Cboe: gold, silver, bitcoin, ether, crude oil and natural gas. They are series of the VS Trust, sponsored by Volatility Shares, and they hold futures, not the gold or the coins. The SEC's order describes them as products "not regulated under the 1940 Act". An amendment filed October 7 names them GLDU, SLVK, BITH, ETHK, OILY and NATX. None is trading yet.
Same label, two wrappers
A 3x ETF beside one of the new 3x products
From TQQQ's summary prospectus of September 28, 2026 and the VS Trust's amendment of October 7, 2026. The two cost lines are different measures, shown as each filing states them.
| TQQQ, a 3x ETF | BITH, a new 3x product | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily target | 3x the Nasdaq-100 | 3x bitcoin |
| Legal form | Fund registered under the 1940 Act | Commodity pool, not a registered fund |
| Holds | Swaps and futures | Bitcoin futures on the CME, plus cash |
| Investor protections | Those of a registered fund | "Shareholders do not have the protections" of a 1940 Act fund |
| Tax | Tax is owed on the distributions it pays | Taxed as a partnership with a Schedule K-1; tax can be owed without a sale or a cash payout |
| Stated yearly cost | 0.78% expense ratio, after a fee waiver that runs to September 2027 (0.94% before it) | 1.98% return needed to break even* |
| Status | Trading since February 2010 | Approved for listing, not trading |
* The return BITH must earn in its first year just to cover its costs, as its filing estimates it: a 1.85% management fee, 0.40% in brokerage and futures fees and 0.45% in other expenses, less 0.23% collected in creation and redemption fees and 0.50% of expected interest on its cash. TQQQ's 0.78% is its expense ratio alone.
By the trust's filing, each new product must return between 0.33% a year (gold, silver) and 2.78% (ether) just to cover its costs. Bitcoin is 1.98%.
What the label does not say
A fund frozen since 2020, a bank's note and a commodity pool can all say 3x. The daily target is the same. Who owes you the return, which rules protect you and how you are taxed are not.
The same finding, in motion
Same 3x on the label. Different structure underneath.
The limits
This is about structure, not performance: it says nothing about returns. Legal statements come from the SEC's adopting release for Rule 18f-4, its October 2 order, the VS Trust filing and press accounts of the SEC's letters, all linked in the text or the timeline. The new products' terms are from a preliminary prospectus and may change.
Method
Set: US-listed products whose names state a daily target of 3x or more, long or inverse, listed in the US on October 8, 2026. Launch date: the inception date of each product. Filing counts: SEC EDGAR full-text search for "five times (5x) the daily" and "four times (4x) the daily", counted as filings, not funds.