# SSO ETF: fees, returns, drawdowns and holdings

> What SSO holds, its 0.84% yearly fee, returns by year, its worst drop, and which Tactfolio strategies hold it. Updated daily.

ProShares Ultra S&P500 (SSO) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) run by ProShares. This fund aims to return 2 times the S&P 500's return for a single day, using stocks plus swaps and other contracts. It charges 0.84% a year. From June 2006 to October 2026 it returned about 15.6% a year, and its worst drop was −84.7%.

Written by [the Tactfolio research team](https://tactfolio.com/about/editorial-policy). Fund facts checked October 16, 2026. Prices through October 16, 2026.

## Key points

- Expense ratio: 0.84% a year (about $84 on $10,000).
- Started trading on June 19, 2006.
- Last close: $69.25 on October 16, 2026.
- Return over the last year: 27.0%.
- Worst drop since 2006: −84.7%.
- 1 Tactfolio classic strategy holds it.

## How has SSO done since 2006?

From June 2006 to October 2026, SSO returned about 15.6% a year. The S&P 500 returned about 11.3% a year over the same dates. Say you put in $10,000 at the start. It would have been worth about $190,396 at the end, with every dividend reinvested.

| Period | SSO | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 month | 2.4% | 1.5% |
| 3 months | 2.1% | 1.9% |
| 6 months | 15.5% | 9.3% |
| Year to date | 20.3% | 12.8% |
| 1 year | 27.0% | 16.8% |
| 3 years, per year | 36.9% | 22.0% |
| 5 years, per year | 17.2% | 12.8% |
| 10 years, per year | 23.8% | 15.4% |
| Since 2006, per year | 15.6% | 11.3% |

Periods longer than a year show the return per year (CAGR). Prices through October 16, 2026. Figures use daily closing prices adjusted for splits, with dividends reinvested. They do not include taxes or the cost of buying and selling. Past results do not tell you what will happen next.

## SSO returns by month and year

SSO rose in 155 of its 245 months (63%). Its best month was April 2020, at 25.2%. Its worst was October 2008, at −34.9%.

| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Full year |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 (part) | 2.4% | −2.2% | −10.4% | 21.4% | 10.3% | −2.8% | −0.6% | 4.9% | −1.2% | −0.1% |  |  | 20.3% |
| 2025 | 4.7% | −3.1% | −11.7% | −4.1% | 12.2% | 10.0% | 4.0% | 3.5% | 6.7% | 4.1% | −0.2% | −0.4% | 26.2% |
| 2024 | 2.5% | 9.9% | 6.0% | −8.6% | 9.6% | 6.6% | 1.6% | 3.9% | 3.7% | −2.5% | 11.5% | −5.4% | 43.5% |
| 2023 | 12.2% | −5.6% | 6.7% | 2.6% | 0.3% | 12.6% | 6.1% | −4.0% | −9.8% | −5.0% | 18.3% | 8.7% | 46.7% |
| 2022 | −10.6% | −6.3% | 7.1% | −17.4% | −0.5% | −16.7% | 18.7% | −8.7% | −18.4% | 15.7% | 10.1% | −11.8% | −39.0% |
| 2021 | −2.3% | 5.3% | 8.9% | 10.6% | 1.1% | 4.4% | 4.7% | 5.9% | −9.4% | 14.3% | −1.7% | 8.8% | 60.6% |
| 2020 | −0.4% | −15.5% | −29.8% | 25.2% | 9.2% | 2.9% | 11.7% | 14.3% | −8.0% | −5.4% | 22.5% | 7.4% | 21.5% |
| 2019 | 15.7% | 6.2% | 3.4% | 7.7% | −12.8% | 14.1% | 2.5% | −4.0% | 3.6% | 4.0% | 7.1% | 5.7% | 63.4% |
| 2018 | 11.2% | −8.1% | −5.5% | 0.2% | 4.4% | 1.0% | 7.1% | 6.2% | 0.9% | −14.0% | 3.1% | −17.7% | −14.6% |
| 2017 | 3.5% | 7.8% | 0.0% | 1.8% | 2.5% | 1.0% | 4.0% | 0.3% | 3.8% | 4.5% | 5.9% | 2.4% | 44.4% |
| 2016 | −10.4% | −0.6% | 13.7% | 0.6% | 3.2% | 0.2% | 7.4% | 0.1% | −0.3% | −3.7% | 7.2% | 4.0% | 21.3% |
| 2015 | −6.2% | 11.4% | −3.4% | 1.8% | 2.3% | −4.1% | 4.2% | −12.5% | −5.5% | 17.4% | 0.6% | −3.8% | −1.2% |
| 2014 | −7.2% | 9.1% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 4.4% | 4.1% | −2.9% | 7.9% | −2.9% | 4.4% | 5.5% | −0.8% | 25.5% |
| 2013 | 10.3% | 2.2% | 7.4% | 3.9% | 4.5% | −3.1% | 10.4% | −6.1% | 6.5% | 9.1% | 5.8% | 5.1% | 70.5% |
| 2012 | 9.0% | 8.5% | 6.7% | −1.6% | −11.4% | 7.3% | 2.5% | 4.6% | 4.9% | −4.2% | 0.9% | 2.1% | 31.0% |
| 2011 | 4.3% | 6.9% | −0.4% | 5.7% | −2.4% | −3.7% | −4.2% | −12.8% | −13.9% | 21.8% | −1.6% | 1.9% | −2.9% |
| 2010 | −7.5% | 6.1% | 12.4% | 2.8% | −16.1% | −10.9% | 14.1% | −9.3% | 18.4% | 7.6% | −0.4% | 13.9% | 26.8% |
| 2009 | −16.5% | −21.1% | 14.6% | 20.3% | 11.2% | −0.6% | 14.5% | 7.4% | 7.1% | −4.3% | 12.3% | 3.7% | 47.2% |
| 2008 | −12.9% | −5.4% | −3.1% | 9.3% | 2.4% | −16.3% | −2.5% | 2.3% | −19.6% | −34.9% | −17.0% | −1.0% | −67.9% |
| 2007 | 2.1% | −4.6% | 1.9% | 8.6% | 6.2% | −3.8% | −7.0% | 1.1% | 7.8% | 2.1% | −8.5% | −3.0% | 1.1% |
| 2006 (part) |  |  |  |  |  | 2.7% | 0.5% | 4.3% | 4.7% | 5.5% | 3.4% | 2.5% | 25.9% |

Each month runs from the last close of the month before. The first month counts from the first close.

## How risky is SSO compared with the S&P 500?

Measured from October 2021 to October 2026, on the days both traded.

- **Beta 1.97.** When the S&P 500 moved 1% in a day, SSO tended to move about 1.97%.
- **Correlation 1.00.** SSO mostly moved with the S&P 500.
- **Up and down months.** In months the S&P 500 rose, SSO rose 187% as much on average. In months it fell, SSO fell 214% as much.

| Measure | SSO | S&P 500 (SPY) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Return per year | 17.1% | 12.8% |
| Volatility | 33.8% | 17.1% |
| Worst drop | −46.7% | −24.5% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.64 | 0.79 |
| Sortino ratio | 0.92 | 1.15 |
| Calmar ratio | 0.36 | 0.52 |

Volatility is how much the price swings in a year. The Sharpe ratio is return per unit of volatility, the Sortino ratio counts only the falls, and the Calmar ratio is the return per year over the worst drop. Higher ratios mean more return for the risk taken.

## Is SSO above its 200-day average?

SSO closed 8.6% above its 200-day average on October 16, 2026. A rule that holds SSO only above that average would hold it today.

- Its 50-day average is 10.5% above its 200-day average.
- It closed 4.3% below its highest close of the last 52 weeks.

A moving average is the average close over the last so many days. Trend rules such as [the 10-month moving average strategy](https://tactfolio.com/strategies/faber-10-month-moving-average.md) hold a fund only while it is above one. You can [build that rule for SSO](https://tactfolio.com/builder) and backtest it in a minute.

## What was SSO's worst drop?

A drawdown is how far a fund falls from its last high point. SSO's worst fall was −84.7%, from October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009. It got back to that high on October 22, 2013. On October 16, 2026 it was 4.3% below its highest close.

| Drop | Started | Bottom | Back to the high | Fall took | Recovery took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −84.7% | Oct 9, 2007 | Mar 9, 2009 | Oct 22, 2013 | 17 months | 4.6 years |
| −59.3% | Feb 19, 2020 | Mar 23, 2020 | Sep 2, 2020 | 33 days | 5 months |
| −46.7% | Jan 3, 2022 | Oct 12, 2022 | Mar 1, 2024 | 9 months | 17 months |
| −36.6% | Sep 20, 2018 | Dec 24, 2018 | Jul 2, 2019 | 3 months | 6 months |
| −35.2% | Feb 19, 2025 | Apr 8, 2025 | Jul 3, 2025 | 2 months | 3 months |

Big drops are normal for some funds. They matter because selling during a drop locks in the loss.

## What does SSO hold?

This fund aims to return 2 times the S&P 500's return for a single day, using stocks plus swaps and other contracts. It resets every day, so over weeks or years its results can be very different from 2 times the index, and losses can be large. It is built for daily moves, not as a plain long-term index fund.

It tracks the S&P 500.

| Fact | SSO |
| --- | --- |
| Full name | ProShares Ultra S&P500 |
| Issuer | ProShares |
| Expense ratio | 0.84% a year |
| Started trading | June 19, 2006 |
| Tracks | S&P 500 |
| Type | Leveraged, ETF |
| Facts checked | October 16, 2026 on the [ProShares fund page](https://www.proshares.com/our-etfs/leveraged-and-inverse/sso) |

## What is the SSO expense ratio?

SSO charges 0.84% a year. An expense ratio is the yearly fee a fund takes to run itself. On $10,000, a 0.84% fee comes to about $84 a year. Of the 162 ETFs on Tactfolio, 1% charge more.

You never get a bill for it. The fund takes the fee out of its own value a little each day.

## Which Tactfolio strategies hold SSO?

One classic strategy holds SSO at least some of the time. Each is a set of written rules you can open, test and copy.

- [Leverage Rotation Strategy 2x (LRS with SSO)](https://tactfolio.com/strategies/leverage-rotation-strategy-2x.md), by Michael Gayed and Charles Bilello, 2016

## Test SSO in your own rules

Tactfolio is a platform where you build rules-based investing strategies, backtest them on decades of real prices, share them, and run them automatically in your own Alpaca account. Open the [builder](https://tactfolio.com/builder), add SSO, and see how a rule such as "hold it only above its 200-day average" would have done. Strategies run on daily prices and hold US stocks and ETFs only.

## The details

Prices come from Tactfolio's stored daily prices for SSO and SPY. Each close is adjusted for splits, and dividends are reinvested on the day the fund pays them out. CAGR is the steady yearly return that turns the starting value into the ending value. Volatility is the yearly standard deviation of daily returns. Beta and correlation compare daily returns with the S&P 500 over the same dates.

Fund facts come from ProShares. We checked them on October 16, 2026. Read [what a backtest simulates](https://tactfolio.com/docs/backtests.md) and [how to read drawdown and CAGR](https://tactfolio.com/docs/concepts/reading-a-backtest.md) for more on these measures.

## Research and test it

- [Leveraged ETFs](https://tactfolio.com/learn/leveraged-etfs): How a leveraged ETF works, why the daily reset makes long-term returns drift, a two-day 2x and 3x example, and what regulators warn.
- [Leverage](https://tactfolio.com/learn/leverage-explained): What leverage is, how to work out a leverage ratio, and how 2:1 and 10:1 change gains and losses.
- [Leverage calculator](https://tactfolio.com/trading-tools/leverage-calculator): See your effective leverage, what a 1% price move does to your account, and the move that would wipe it out.
- [ETF screener](https://tactfolio.com/screener.md): A free ETF screener for 162 US-listed funds. Filter by type, issuer and fee, sort by returns or worst drop, and compare funds side by side.
- [ETF expense ratio](https://tactfolio.com/learn/etf-expense-ratio): What an ETF expense ratio is, how the fund charges it, and how 0.03% vs 1% adds up over 10 and 30 years, with real fund examples.
- [Backtest a portfolio](https://tactfolio.com/trading-tools/backtest-portfolio): Backtest a portfolio of US stocks and ETFs. Enter tickers and shares, pick when to rebalance, and get the results with a link to share.

## Common questions

### What is the expense ratio of SSO?

SSO charges 0.84% a year, according to ProShares as of October 16, 2026. That is about $84 a year for every $10,000 you hold.

### When did SSO start trading?

SSO started trading on June 19, 2006. It is run by ProShares.

### What does SSO track?

SSO tracks the S&P 500. This fund aims to return 2 times the S&P 500's return for a single day, using stocks plus swaps and other contracts.

### How much has SSO returned per year?

From June 2006 to October 2026, SSO returned about 15.6% a year with dividends reinvested. Its worst drop was −84.7%. Past returns do not tell you what it will do next.

### Is SSO above its 200-day moving average?

On October 16, 2026, SSO closed 8.6% above its 200-day moving average. This page updates after each US market close.

### Which strategies use SSO?

One of Tactfolio's classic strategies hold SSO, including Leverage Rotation Strategy 2x (LRS with SSO).

## Sources

- [ProShares: ProShares Ultra S&P500 fund page](https://www.proshares.com/our-etfs/leveraged-and-inverse/sso)

> Not financial advice. Tactfolio is a research and automation tool. It is not a broker or a financial adviser. This page is for education only. Backtests are hypothetical. They show how rules would have done on past prices, not how they will do. All investing involves risk, including losing the money you put in. These funds reset daily. Held for longer, their returns can differ a lot from the multiple in their name.