DB Crude Oil Short ETN

Company Profile

This ETN was delisted on April 11, 2019, and now trades over-the-counter on the pink sheets. As a result, shareholders should anticipate ultra-wide spreads, minimal trading volumes, and prices well above or below NAVs. SZO is, like most leveraged and inverse products, designed to provide -1x exposure to its index only with its monthly reset period. Investors holding it beyond the next monthly reset date will be subject to the effects of compoundinga dynamic that can cause the note`s performance to drift from its promised -1x exposure. The note`s index tracks a single futures contract on light sweet crude oil determined to be least influenced by contango. The index measures the changes in price of the oil futures contract, the returns from rolling those contracts over, and the cost of borrowing (collateral) as measured by the 3-month Treasury bill. Although its 75 bp fee is entirely reasonable compared with other inverse products, trading costs are of greater importance, since SZO is designed for round-trip intraday trading. To that end, the market for SZO is both shallow and wide, with very little trading volume, at too-wide spreads. Investors interested in inverse oil ETPs will find better liquidity in DNO or DTO.