“futures”
?
But all my money is in 401K and ROTH. I don’t believe I can trade futures, which are distinctly different from options.
I do trade index options and equity / stock options, but for betting on the indexes, at least the leverage with the ProShares ETF’s is conveniently clear: either 1X or 2X, and now others offer the 3X. That is cut and dry. Options are not. Those ETF’s are just managed collections of shorts and option positions anyway.
My big regret about the options is that obviously I should have just bought the waay out-of-money puts ahead of the big October fall off the cliff. I knew that crash was coming (as did others on here). Many of those out-of-money puts on the indexes were initially priced at $0.10 to $0.50 and some ended up paying even 50:1 returns. Ahh, hindsight is 20:20.
So, yes, there are defnitely situations where it is more efficient to bet with market instruments OTHER than the ProShares ETF’s.