March 14, 2020
I am asking the SEC to refrain from limiting access to leveraged and inverse ETFs. These instruments can be very useful to investors whether their portfolios are large or small. There are conservative and practical applications for leveraged ETFs within the framework of a periodically re-balanced portfolio. Leveraged ETFs have some significant advantages over futures contracts. In particular, the opportunity to invest in fractions of a contract. A very useful characteristic when using these products within a largely un-leveraged portfolio. Irresponsible use of these products is certainly possible but people can also choose to invest their entire portfolio in a single stock. Do we want to police everyone's portfolio in response to the possibility that someone might invest in only one stock? I think a much better approach is education. We should endeavor to inform investors of the risk associated with these highly volatile instruments.