'No One Cares' – Over 20 Leveraged ETFs Shut Down In April, Including Crypto's LMBO And REKT

• More than 20 leveraged and inverse ETFs shut down in April, including crypto-linked funds LMBO and REKT, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said.
• Balchunas said most of the closed “baby 2x ETFs” were less than a year old and were pulled after failing to attract investor interest.
• LMBO gained about 34% over the past year before shutting down, while REKT fell more than 31%, though both funds managed relatively small asset bases.

More than 20 leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were reportedly shut down in April, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said on Tuesday.

Balchunas noted that including crypto-linked products Direxion Daily Crypto Industry Bull 2X ETF (LMBO) and Direxion Daily Crypto Industry Bear 1X ETF (REKT), as issuers pulled underperforming funds less than a year after launch. "A slew of baby 2x ETFs closed in April, most under one year old,” Balchunas wrote, noting that the ETFs were stopped because “no one cared.” 

The closures included the LMBO and REKT, which offered double or inverse bets on stocks of Bitcoin (BTC) miners, blockchain companies, and decentralized finance firms. Both ETFs were built for day traders making quick leveraged bets, but they failed to attract sufficient investor assets, prompting Direxion to shut them down.

Bitcoin’s price was trading at $76,393, up 0.1% in the last 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BTC remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, as chatter stayed at ‘normal’ levels over the past day.

According to data, LMBO had declined about 34% over the past year before shutting down, while REKT was down more than 31% over the same period. Despite the moves, both funds managed relatively small asset bases.Both ETFs stopped trading on April 10.

ETF Graveyard Keeps Growing 

Direxion and AXS Investments, the major issuers of leveraged trading products, accounted for most of the April closures, alongside Tidal Investments and Volatility Shares. Beyond crypto, the shutdown list included leveraged bets on individual companies and sectors like Nvidia (NVDA), AMD (AMD), DoorDash (DASH), Boeing (BA) and Shopify (SHOP). "The closures are dwarfed by the dozens of 2x-ers that launch every month," Balchunas said.

These leveraged ETFs use borrowed money and derivatives to double, or reverse daily market moves. They're built for day traders making quick bets, not long-term investors, and they can lose money fast when markets move against them.

The crypto-focused leveraged ETF boom has diverged. While products like LMBO and REKT failed to gain traction, leveraged ETFs tracking Strategy (MSTR), like Defiance Daily Target 2x Long MSTR ETF (MSTX) and T-Rex 2X Long MSTR Daily Target ETF (MSTU), and GraniteShares 2x Long COIN Daily ETF (CONL) have survived and continue to trade. 

Strategy’s price was trading over $166, down by 0.03% during the morning trade. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around MSTR stayed in the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it moved to ‘normal’ from ‘low’ over the past day.

Read also: Senator Warren Reportedly Slams OCC Crypto Bank Approvals For Ripple, Coinbase, Paxos, And Trump’s World Liberty Financial

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