AUM in Boost ETPs reached a record USD503 million at the end of August following a week of record trading volumes in short & leveraged ETPs.
European S&L ETPs in general saw record turnovers recently, led by S&L oil ETPs which experienced turnovers of USD266 million. Boost’s oil ETPs contributed 64 per cent of S&L oil trading in Europe, and 58 per cent of trading in S&L commodity ETPs overall. Boost also had the highest turnover in natural gas, gold and silver S&L ETPs. Over the last week of August, as WTI surged 29 per cent, Boost Crude Oil 3x Leverage Daily ETP (3OIL) rose by 101 per cent and AUM hit a record USD216 million.
The recent heightened volatility began as weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturer sentiment data triggered a dramatic collapse on the Chinese stock market with global equities quickly following suit. The slump in manufacturer sentiment deeper into contractionary territory also triggered fresh concerns over the global excess in crude oil. However, with the EIA reporting lower-than-estimated US oil production and with OPEC hinting at possible talks with producers, WTI rebounded sharply by 27 per cent in only three days on the back of this news.
Nik Bienkowski, Co-CEO of WisdomTree Europe, says: “Reaching the USD500m AUM mark signifies investors’ increased usage of the Boost platform for trading and hedging needs. The last week or so was a prime example of the usefulness of S&L oil ETPs in a volatile market. Most of the action was in oil. Boost’s 3x Leverage Oil (3OIL) and 3x Short Oil (3OIS) ETCs continued to demonstrate the best liquidity, with twice the turnover of any other S&L oil ETP, as well as the most favourable spreads. Our investors have been positioning bullishly in oil with positions being added as oil declined in prior sessions. Investors had over 82 per cent of oil AUM in (long) leveraged ETCs just before the price of oil rebounded 27 per cent over the last 3 days of August, with the price of Boost’s 3OIL rising 96 per cent and 3OIL AUM reaching a record USD216m.
“Boost’s total AUM more than tripled in the past year from USD130m to USD503m. Trading volumes have also been on the increase, topping USD3 billion in notional turnover in August having risen from just over USD500m the same time last year. This trend reflects the confidence of investors in Boost’s structure, the market-leading liquidity of the ETPs, a better understanding of the capital-efficiency short & leveraged ETPs offer, and a platform of many leading benchmarks in equities, commodities, FX and fixed income.”
