UPRO max drawdown: 97.6%
ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 (3x). From its 1999-12-31 peak, UPRO fell 97.6% to the 2009-02-28 trough and needed 9.2 years to make a new high (2019-10-31). Computed from 678 months of history starting 1970-01-31, including extended pre-ETF data where available.
3x daily S&P 500, the levered half of HFEA-style portfolios.
UPRO drawdown statistics
1999-12-31 peak to 2009-02-28 trough.
New high reached 2019-10-31.
Share of all months spent below a prior high.
Rolling year ending 2009-02-28.
For context, SPY (the S&P 500 baseline) had a maximum drawdown of 50.8% over the same kind of monthly-close analysis.
The biggest UPRO drawdowns on record
| Depth | Peak | Trough | Recovered | Peak to trough | Total underwater |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -97.6% | 1999-12-31 | 2009-02-28 | 2019-10-31 | 110 mo | 19.8 years |
| -87.2% | 1972-12-31 | 1974-09-30 | 1995-03-31 | 21 mo | 22.3 years |
| -62.7% | 2021-12-31 | 2022-09-30 | 2024-06-30 | 9 mo | 2.5 years |
| -60.4% | 2019-12-31 | 2020-03-31 | 2020-12-31 | 3 mo | 12 months |
| -47.5% | 1970-02-28 | 1970-06-30 | 1970-12-31 | 4 mo | 10 months |
Methodology: monthly closing prices, peak-to-trough on total return where available. History extends before the ETF's launch via documented proxy chains (index funds, indices, and academic series), the same data that powers BestFolio's strategy backtests. Educational information, not investment advice.
Drawdowns are the reason tactical strategies exist
Buy-and-hold UPRO means living through every number on this page. BestFolio tracks 46+ published TAA strategies whose whole job is cutting these drawdowns, with out-of-sample track records.