Over the past few years one of the worst places to be is in an ETF that is short the precious metals as they have been among the worst performers since inception.  However, we all know that what goes up usually comes down especially when it comes to commodities so they will have their day in the sun.


PowerShares and ProShares both offer Exchanged Traded instruments that are inversely correlated to the price of gold.  The only Short Gold ETF is from ProShares and is a 2X Short or Leveraged Inverse ETF.

GLL – Proshares Ultra Short Gold ETF is designed to move inversely to the price of gold with 200% leverage on a daily basis. If gold falls 1% on a given day then the goal of GLL is to rise by 2% before fees and expenses. There is a 95 basis point (0.95%) annual expense ratio which is standard for all the ProShares leveraged ETF products.


PowerShares offers 2 ETNs one that is a straight inverse (no leverage) and the other a 2X inverse.

DGZ – PowerShares DB Gold ETN

The only non-leveraged one is the DGZ inverse Gold ETN from PowerShares has an annual expense ratio of .75% (75 basis points) which is the same as the other PowerShares Gold ETN products. This ETN is designed to rise by 1% on a given day when gold prices fall by 1% (before fees & expenses).

DZZ – The 2X leveraged Short Gold ETN from PowerShares has the same annual expense ratio but will rise 2% (before fees and expenses) on a given day that gold prices fall by 1%.

Despite the difference in structure between the Short Gold ETF and ETN they have had very similar results when measured over the same period of time.

GLL Double Short Gold ETF Vs. DZZ Double Short Gold ETN

Source: Short Gold ETF