This is not a long term playJust pull up a long term chart, 20yrs, all you see is down, down, down, and way way down.
Here's a simple example to explain why:
Pretend oil is $10 and an 2x ETF share is $10 also
If oil goes to $9 and then back to $10. That's -10% and then +11.11%.
So 2x ETF goes -20% and then +22.22%....... Now do the math on ETF share price
ETF goes to $8 and then to $9.78 !!!! NOT BACK TO $10.
You LOSE everytime it goes down and up. Oil stayed the same at $10 but your ETF just went to $9.78.
That's why the long term chart looks the way it is.
This is common knowledge now, but when these first came out, they didn't explain this clearly. They used the words Cantango, Backwardation, futures.... to confuse people and keep people in the dark about this simple fact.
Here's the math $10 * 0.20 = $2 so minus $2 so ETF goes to $8
$8 * 0.2222= $1.7777 so plus $1.78 so ETF goes to $9.78