A recent Odd Lots podcast segment with Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal spotlighted a story that has quietly reshaped market structure in 2026: the explosive growth of leveraged exchange-traded funds. An analyst on the segment walked through why the raw dollar figures matter less than the trajectory, and why the daily rebalancing mechanics embedded in these products have begun to influence how the broader market behaves during selloffs.
The analyst had previously called the trend “terrifying,” then softened the framing on air. “The number itself is actually not enormously terrifying at all,” the analyst said, adding that “the asymptotic growth of the AUM over the past few months has been somewhat sensational or just, it’s just meteoric.” The concern is less about the current stockpile of assets and more about how fast it got there, and what happens the next time volatility spikes.
How Big Is “Meteoric”?
According to the analyst on the Odd Lots segment, U.S. leveraged ETF assets under management jumped from roughly $120 billion in early April to more than $200 billion at the peak. The Asia Pacific figure was even more dramatic, expanding from around $12 to $13 billion at the start of the year to $50 to $55 billion, more than tripling in a matter of months.
The composition of that growth differs by region. In the U.S., the expansion has been driven largely by price performance rather than a flood of new shares. ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:UPRO), the 3x leveraged S&P 500 fund, is up 25.29% year to date and 55.23% over the past year. ProShares UltraPro QQQ (NASDAQ:TQQQ), the 3x Nasdaq-100 vehicle, has returned 45.38% year to date and 81.32% over the trailing year, carrying a gross expense ratio of 0.82%.
Korea is the opposite pattern. The analyst noted that Korean AUM growth has come from huge share creation on top of meteoric share price rises, meaning retail buyers are actively piling in, not just riding markups.
The Daily Rebalancing Problem
A 3x leveraged ETF has to reset its exposure at the end of every trading day to maintain that target. When markets drop, the fund has to sell futures or swaps to reduce exposure. When markets rise, it buys more. The analyst on the segment described a scenario in which a 10% drop in the underlying index forces more than $10 billion in mechanical selling to keep leverage on target.
That mechanic is why long-term holders often see “leverage decay,” where a choppy sideways market erodes returns even when the underlying index ends flat. Buy high, sell low, every single day.
Negative Gamma and Market Structure
The bigger issue is what all that forced flow does to market gamma. Covered-call and overwriting ETFs, which sell options for income, provide “long gamma” that tends to dampen volatility. Leveraged ETFs behave like the opposite: they add “short gamma” or “negative gamma,” because their rebalancing amplifies moves in whichever direction the market is already going. The analyst’s point on the podcast was that the leveraged cohort has now grown large enough to overwhelm the long gamma from overwriting products, tilting the market’s net gamma profile more negative overall.
Translation for retirement-focused investors: when the next selloff arrives, the “forced sellers at 3:50 p.m.” crowd is meaningfully bigger than it was a year ago.
What To Watch Next
The VIX closed at 16.90 on July 8, 2026, below the trailing 12-month average of 18.08. That is well off the peak of 31.05 hit on March 27, 2026. Complacent market, growing leveraged pool. The FRED VIX series is the cleanest place to track the fear gauge if you want a real-time proxy for when rebalancing friction will start to bite.
For long-term investors, the takeaway is structural awareness rather than a call to action. Leveraged ETFs are designed as one-day trading vehicles. Their popularity has crossed a threshold where their end-of-day flows now shape the character of intraday moves, particularly on down days. That is a variable to factor into risk budgeting, especially heading into earnings season or any macro catalyst that could relight the March volatility spike.
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