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Are Concerns About Leveraged ETFs Overblown?

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Abstract

Leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been heavily criticized for exacerbating volatility in financial markets because it is thought that they mechanically rebalance their portfolios in the same direction as contemporaneous returns. We argue that these criticisms are likely exaggerated because they ignore the effects of capital flows on ETF rebalancing demand. Empirically, we find that capital flows substantially reduce the need for ETFs to rebalance when returns are large in magnitude and, therefore, mitigate the potential for these products to amplify volatility. We also show theoretically that flows can completely eliminate ETF rebalancing in the limit.

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  • Ivan T. Ivanov & Stephen L. Lenkey, 2014. "Are Concerns About Leveraged ETFs Overblown?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2014-106, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2014-106
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    1. Itzhak Ben‐David & Francesco Franzoni & Rabih Moussawi, 2018. "Do ETFs Increase Volatility?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(6), pages 2471-2535, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Baumann, Michael Heinrich & Herz, Bernhard & Baumann, Michaela, 2018. "Exchange-traded Funds, Investment Strategies, and Financial Stability," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181542, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Mark Egan & Alexander MacKay & Hanbin Yang, 2022. "Recovering Investor Expectations from Demand for Index Funds," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(5), pages 2559-2599.
    3. DeVault, Luke & Turtle, H.J. & Wang, Kainan, 2021. "Blessing or curse? Institutional investment in leveraged ETFs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    4. Zhongjin Lu & Zhongling Qin, 2021. "Leveraged Funds and the Shadow Cost of Leverage Constraints," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(3), pages 1295-1338, June.

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    Keywords

    Leveraged ETFs; volatility;

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