Leveraged, Inverse and VIX ETFs Grow

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. (TheStreet) -- A number of leveraged and inverse ETFs attracted capital at a fast clip last month, including ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500(SPXU Quote) and iShares DB Gold Short ETN(DGZ Quote). SPXU saw $72 million net flow into the fund and finished July with $69 million in assets. DGZ saw net inflow of $31 million and finished the month with $44 million in assets.

Aside from the leveraged and inverse ETFs, here are the ETFs with the largest inflows as a percentage of assets. iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN(VXX Quote) saw $273 million flood into the fund as it grew to $408 million in total assets. Market Vectors Brazil Small Cap(BRF Quote) had net inflows of $59 million, while $34 million poured into iShares Peru(EPU Quote). Market Vectors Indonesia(IDX Quote) gathered $27 million in assets, while iPath DJ UBS Nickel ETN(JJN Quote) and iPath DJ UBS Sugar ETN(SGG Quote) each attracted $7 million in assets.

Other notable growers were Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Growth(MGK Quote), which saw assets grow to $494 million after gaining $203 million in net inflows. ProShares UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 25(FXP Quote) added $117 million and closed July with $270 million in assets.

ETFs seeing major outflows as a percentage of assets were led by Direxion Daily Financials Bull 3X(FAS Quote). It went from $1,771 million in assets at the end of June to $1,041 million at the end of July after suffering a $984 million outflow. On a percentage basis, but far less in terms of nominal dollars, iPath DJ UBS Cocoa ETN(NIB Quote) saw its assets fall 50% after $2 million left the fund. ProShares UltraShort Silver(ZSL Quote), PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage(PBJ Quote) and PowerShares Dynamic Banking(PJB Quote) rounded out the bottom five.

Repeating the findings from yesterday's article on the funds with the largest inflows and outflows, it's obvious that bearish investors are finding a use for the inverse ETFs as well as short-term VIX futures-tracking VXX. That fund rolls the first and second month VIX futures contracts. VXX declined as the market rallied, sending shares down 45% from $113 at the end of March.