SRTY Dividend: Yield, Schedule, and What to Expect

SRTY holds what is in -3x daily Russell 2000, collects the income those holdings generate, and distributes it to shareholders on the schedule the fund sets, most often quarterly, net of its 0.95% fee. The yield you see is trailing distributions divided by price, so it drifts as both change: a falling price raises the quoted yield without a single extra dollar being paid out.

ProShares UltraPro Short Russell2000 (SRTY) is a geared inverse exchange-traded fund from ProShares that seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, equal to negative three times (-3x) the daily performance of the Russell 2000 Index, a benchmark of roughly 2,000 U.S. small-cap stocks. The fund pursues this exposure primarily through swaps and other derivatives rather than by holding the underlying companies, so its reported portfolio is mostly cash, money market instruments, and swap positions rather than equities. SRTY launched on February 9, 2010 and carries a high expense ratio of about 0.95%, well above plain index ETFs, reflecting the cost of running a leveraged derivatives strategy. Assets under management are small and tend to swing with trader interest, generally in the tens of millions to roughly the low hundreds of millions of dollars during early 2026. The defining feature of SRTY is its daily reset: the -3x objective applies to one trading day at a time, and returns over any longer period depend on the path the index takes, not just its start-to-finish move. In choppy or volatile markets this daily compounding, combined with the high fee, typically causes the fund's value to bleed lower over weeks and months even if the Russell 2000 ends flat or modestly down. SRTY is designed for sophisticated traders who actively monitor positions and use it for short-term directional bets against small caps or as a brief hedge, and it is generally unsuitable as a long-term holding.

• Approximate yield: Variable and not a meaningful part of the thesis; distributions, if any, come from interest on cash collateral and change with short-term rates (early 2026).
• Versus the market: the S&P 500 yields around 1.2%.
• Schedule: set by the fund, most often quarterly. ProShares publishes the exact ex-dividend and pay dates.
• Fee: the 0.95% expense ratio comes out before you receive anything, so the yield above is already net of it.

A large share of SRTY's distributions are usually qualified dividends, taxed at long-term capital-gains rates rather than as ordinary income, provided the holding-period tests are met by both the fund and you. Some portion can still be ordinary, and REIT or option-income components generally are. ProShares's annual 1099 shows the actual split. Inside an IRA, Roth, or 401(k) none of it applies while the money stays in the account. Full detail is in how dividends are taxed. This is not tax advice.

If income is your goal, compare SRTY against dividend-focused funds. See the best dividend ETFs roundup and best ETFs for monthly income, or analyze how SRTY's income fits your real portfolio in Walnut.

The bottom line: at an approximate Variable and not a meaningful part of the thesis; distributions, if any, come from interest on cash collateral and change with short-term rates yield, SRTY is a growth-first, low-yield fund. If income is your goal, dedicated dividend funds pay more; SRTY is the wrong tool for yield and the right one for total-return -3x daily Russell 2000 exposure. If total return is the goal, the yield matters less than cost and what it holds. Treat the figure as a moving snapshot, not a fixed rate, and verify the current yield with ProShares.

• What is SRTY? (holdings, cost, performance, and the themes it covers)
• Is SRTY a buy? (what you are buying, the case for it, and what to weigh)