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This is known as volatility drag or beta slippage, which causes leveraged ETFs to lose value in choppy markets.
Leveraged ETFs (LETFs) are designed strictly as daily trading tools. However, a subculture of retail investors, quantitative traders, and FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) enthusiasts hold funds like TQQQ (3x Nasdaq-100), UPRO (3x S&P 500). For instance, between 2010 and 2021, (one holding TQQQ long-term yielded staggering gains of over 10,000%.
Spot $XRP ETFs also under pressure
Spot $XRP ETFs have also endured a difficult 2026 due to the poor state of the broader market.
The approval and rollout of spot $XRP ETFs in late 2025 represented one of the industry's biggest regulatory milestones. They have attracted $1.5 billion in cumulative initial inflows as institutional and retail investors gained regulated access to $XRP without managing wallets or private keys.
$XRP entered a prolonged correction that weighed heavily on every major spot ETF. As of August, all leading products have posted year-to-date losses exceeding 40%.
The Bitwise $XRP ETF manages approximately $304 million in assets under management despite falling roughly 43.2% year-to-date. Canary Capital's XRPC, with nearly $248.9 million in assets, has lost about 40.4%.
Despite these declines, spot ETFs continue to see rather healthy (albeit modest) inflows.