Silver’s Elevated Volatility Puts Spotlight on Leveraged ETFs

Silver’s volatility has been amplified by the growing popularity of leveraged exchange-traded products, making its price swings more violent than ever.

The metal’s sudden meltdown on Jan. 30 was accelerated by a sale of billions of dollars of silver by the largest such ETF tracking the metal, the 2x ProShares Ultra Silver ETF, known as AGQ, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.