What Is VIXY? ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF

VIXY is the ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, launched in January 2011. It holds a rolling position in short-term VIX futures to give exposure to expected near-term volatility in the S&P 500. It tends to spike when markets fall sharply and fear rises, which is why traders use it as a short-term hedge, but it is not designed to be held long term.

VIXY, listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange. The full name is ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, issued by ProShares. The name references the VIX, the widely watched index of expected S&P 500 volatility.

VIXY tracks the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index by holding the two nearest-month VIX futures contracts and rolling from the front month into the next month daily. It does not hold the VIX index directly (that is not possible) or any stocks; it uses futures plus cash collateral. Its value rises when short-term VIX futures rise, typically during market stress.

VIX futures are usually in a state called contango, where later-dated contracts cost more than near-dated ones. Because VIXY continually sells the cheaper expiring contract and buys the more expensive next one, it pays a roll cost every day. Over weeks and months this steadily erodes the fund's value, so VIXY has a strong structural downward drift even when volatility is stable. This is why it is a short-term instrument only.

0.96% per year (96 basis points), or $96 annually on a $10,000 position. That is high relative to plain index funds and reflects the cost of managing a futures-based strategy, and it comes on top of the much larger structural roll cost that erodes the fund over time.

No. VIXY holds VIX futures and cash collateral, not dividend-paying stocks, so it does not distribute an equity dividend. Its stated yield is 0%. Any interest earned on collateral is used within the fund and does not offset the roll-related decay.

VIXY trades like any stock during US market hours at major brokers including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, and Public. Because it is a volatility product with unusual behavior, it is intended for experienced traders. Walnut treats it as a short-term trading and hedging instrument rather than a portfolio holding, and it is not appropriate as a long-term position.

Approximately $197.59 million as of July 2026. VIX products tend to have modest and fast-turning asset bases because they are used for short-term trading and hedging, and because their structural decay works against long-term accumulation.

VIXY is not an investment in the usual sense; it is a short-term hedging and trading tool. Held for more than a few days it typically loses value due to the persistent cost of rolling VIX futures, and over long periods it has historically lost the large majority of its value. It can be useful as a brief hedge against a market drop. Walnut is not an investment adviser, and volatility products like VIXY are unsuitable for most long-term portfolios.

January 3, 2011. ProShares launched it to give investors an exchange-traded way to trade short-term VIX futures, following the introduction of the first VIX-based exchange-traded products a couple of years earlier.

Long-term holding of VIXY is generally a losing strategy. The daily roll cost from contango steadily drains value, and ProShares has periodically reverse-split the shares to keep the price from falling too low. Over the years, VIXY and similar products have lost the vast majority of their value across calm and volatile periods alike. It is explicitly designed for short holding periods.

No. You cannot invest directly in the VIX index, so VIXY tracks a portfolio of short-term VIX futures instead. Futures prices reflect expected future volatility, not today's spot VIX, and the daily roll introduces additional divergence. As a result, VIXY's returns can differ significantly from moves in the headline VIX number, especially over more than a single day.

VIXY typically rises when the stock market falls sharply and expected volatility jumps, since VIX futures spike during periods of fear and uncertainty. These moves can be large and fast, which is what makes VIXY useful as a short-term hedge. Outside of those spikes, however, the fund tends to drift lower because of its structural roll cost.

Both hold short-term VIX futures, but UVXY applies daily leverage (recently 1.5x) to that exposure, so it moves more in both directions and decays even faster. VIXY is the unleveraged version. Both are short-term instruments with strong downward drift, but VIXY's non-leveraged structure makes it somewhat less aggressive than a leveraged volatility product.

Put a few fields side by side: the expense ratio (fees compound over decades), the index or strategy it tracks, the top holdings and how much they overlap with what you already own, the dividend yield, and the AUM, liquidity, and bid-ask spread that affect trading costs. For index funds, tracking error (how closely it follows its index) and tax efficiency matter too. VIXY's figures are above; the full method is in Walnut's guide on how to compare ETFs.