## [# Single-Stock ETFs Boom, But Assets Stall](/sections/features/single-stock-etfs-boom-assets-stall)
# Single-Stock ETFs Boom, But Assets Stall
Single-stock ETFs have more than doubled in number over the past nine months, but assets have barely grown.
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[By Sumit Roy ](/authors/sumit-roy)
Apr 24, 2026
Edited by: ETF.com Staff
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Nine months ago, I [checked in on](https://www.etf.com/sections/data-dive/5-most-popular-single-stock-etfs-2025) the single-stock ETF market.
At the time, there were just under 200 of these funds, with a combined $36 billion in assets under management. Launches were picking up steam, and there was little reason to think the trend would stop.
It made sense. Single-stock ETFs are relatively cheap to launch, and every issuer had a shot at catching lightning in a bottle. If a stock got hot, investors might pile into the leveraged ETF tied to that name.
It fit perfectly with the boom in retail trading and the broader gamblification of markets.
Well, the pace hasn’t slowed. Today, there are just over 400 single-stock ETFs, representing almost 8% of all U.S.-listed ETFs.
But the interesting part is that assets have barely budged. Collectively, these funds now hold $37.5 billion, up only slightly from the $36 billion they had nine months ago.
That is striking. The number of funds has more than doubled, but the asset base has barely grown.
## Melting Ice Cubes
A big reason may be that many of these products are decaying assets.
That’s especially true for the leveraged funds that make up a large portion of the category. Over short periods, they can deliver eye-popping gains. But over longer stretches, volatility decay and financing costs can eat away at returns.
Usually, they are like melting ice cubes. Sometimes they melt slowly, sometimes they melt fast, but the direction of travel is usually not great if investors hold them long enough.
The [**Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (TSLL)**](/tsll) is a good example.
The fund debuted on Aug. 9, 2022, at $24.13 a share. Tesla stock was trading around $283 at the time.
Today, Tesla is around $376, up roughly 33%. TSLL, meanwhile, is down about 50% from its launch price. Its assets have also fallen to $4.6 billion from a peak of $8.6 billion.
Of course, not every single-stock ETF is leveraged. Many use options strategies layered on top of individual stocks. But plenty of those have faced their own version of the melting ice cube problem.
The [**YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF (MSTY)**](/msty), for example, now has around $1.2 billion in assets, down from a peak of $5.8 billion.
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## A Few Big Winners, A Long Tail
Leveraged, inverse, and options-based ETFs make up the bulk of the single-stock ETF universe by far. But the category is also includes other strategies.
One example is the [**Arm Holdings ADRhedged ETF (ARMH)**](/armh), which gives investors exposure to Arm while currency-hedging the stock’s ADR exposure.
Still, as with most ETF categories, assets are heavily concentrated at the top, and those are mostly leveraged and options-based funds.
The 10 largest single-stock ETFs account for 44% of the category’s assets, while the top 20 account for 58%.
TSLL remains the largest fund in the space, with $4.6 billion in assets. It is followed by the [**GraniteShares 2x Long NVDA Daily ETF (NVDL)**](/nvdl), with $3.7 billion. The [**YieldMax NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF (NVDY)**](/nvdy) has $1.4 billion, while MSTY and the [**Direxion Daily MU Bull 2X Shares (MUU)**](/muu) each have around $1.2 billion.
But there is also a sizable long tail. There are now 68 single-stock ETFs with more than $100 million in assets and 111 with more than $50 million.
So investors are clearly using these products. But the asset numbers also show their limits. Single-stock ETFs can launch quickly and gather assets quickly. The harder part is keeping those assets.
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[ Sumit Roy Senior ETF Analyst ](/authors/sumit-roy)
Sumit Roy is the senior ETF analyst for etf.com and author of (Don't) Invest Like a Pro. He creates a variety of content for the platform, including… [View Bio](/authors/sumit-roy)
Related Topics [Leveraged](http://www.etf.com/topics/leveraged)
[Inverse ETFs](http://www.etf.com/topics/inverse-etfs)