Another VIX ETF Bites the Dust: The "Stay Away From" ETFs

The list of silly ETFs grew by leaps and bounds last year, from the leveraged money-losing ETFs, to a number of volatility ETFs.

We track all leveraged ETFs live  here.

From Barrons "Speaking of over-engineered products, a Barclays Capital exchange-traded note meant to profit from rising stock-market volatility was put to rest Friday, after having fallen below the mandatory redemption price of $10. The iPath Long-Enhanced S&P 500 VIX Mid-term Futures ETN (ticker: VZZ) began life Nov. 30, 2010, at $30 a share and will be liquidated at $10, per the terms of the prospectus. This is a fine example of something that looks better on paper than in a portfolio."

"These VIX funds systematically sell nearer-term futures on the VIX volatility measure and buy more distant ones. And because the latter are almost always more expensive, the funds' net asset value steadily tends to erode. They are fine short-term trading instruments, but their inherent flaws as buy-and-hold investments illustrate how protection against abstract risks can't simply be downloaded to your online brokerage account."

Yikes!