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Looking Deeper Into the Pitfalls of Short Sector ETFs

By Eric Oberg

About this article:
Please note that this article was revised on Friday, Dec. 26. Eric Oberg's two-part article on short sector ETFs attracted a tremendous response from RealMoney readers. Oberg worked in fixed income, currencies and commodities for Goldman Sachs for 17 years before retiring as a managing director. His skeptical view of short sector ETFs proved to be an eye-opener for many readers. In Part 1 of the article, Mr. Oberg demonstrated how, even if you are spot-on in your bearish call on the market, a short sector ETF can work against you and actually give you worse returns than a long position. The fatal flaw of short-side ETFs, he said, is that "the daily rebalancing of the portfolios in combination with the market volatility and the leverage ... has eaten into the returns of what appeared to be a savvy bet." In Part 2, he explained how short sector...

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