Themes Affiliate Applies for Single-Stock ETFs

Leverage Shares is looking to grab a sizeable piece of the fast-growing category.

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Jeff_Benjamin
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Wealth Management Editor
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Reviewed by: etf.com Staff
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Edited by: James Rubin

Upstart ETF issuer Themes ETFs hopes the name recognition of its European affiliate, Leverage Shares, will help the firm grab a sizeable piece of the fast-growing single-stock exchange traded fund market.

Themes is applying to be the asset manager on 13 single-stock ETFs that will be branded as Leverage Shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Leverage Shares, which introduced its first leveraged exchange traded product on the London Stock Exchange in December 2017, will be entering one of the fastest growing segments of the ETF market and competing against issuers that have already established footholds in the single-stock ETF category. That category has grown to $7.4 billion since debuting two years ago.

Leverage Shares is indirectly affiliated with Themes ETFs, a Greenwich, Conn.-based issuer that has introduced 13 thematic ETFs since entering the market in December 2023.

Jose Gonzalez, the chief executive of both Leverage Shares and Themes, confirmed that the Leverage Shares ETFs will be “mostly managed by Themes,” but that the plan is to leverage the Leverage Shares brand in the U.S. market.

Gonzalez, who co-founded GlobalX, left that company shortly after it was acquired by Mirae Asset Management in 2018 to lead Leverage Shares, which was created as a European unit of New York-based GlobalX. When Gonzalez’s non-compete expired in 2023 he helped launch Themes ETFs.

The June 5 filing includes 11 single-stock exchange-traded funds that offer two times the exposure of popular stocks including Nvidia Corp., Tesla Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc., many of which are already represented in leveraged and inverse single-stock ETFs.

According to a report in the Financial Times, more than $5 billion of all single-stock ETFs is concentrated in strategies offering leveraged long and inverse exposure to Nvidia and Tesla.

In addition to replicating some existing ETFs on the market, the filing also includes first-time single-stock ETF exposure to British semiconductor company Arm Holdings, Dutch microchip manufacture ASML Holding and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

The full lineup also includes leveraged exposure to Advanced Micro Devices, Boeing Co. and Coinbase Global Inc., as well as inverse exposure to Nvidia and Tesla.

Single-Stock ETF Category Skyrockets

“The leveraged single-stock ETF category is quickly becoming oversaturated,” said Nathan Geraci, president and founder of The ETF Store in Overland Park, Kans.

However, he added, the appeal is that “the space can be highly lucrative for issuers given the hefty fees charged.”

Geraci cited as an example the 1.15% expense ratio of the $3.2 billion GraniteShares 2X Long NVDA Daily ETF (NVDL).

“If an issuer can offer a leveraged ETF on the right stock at the right time, it’s like hitting the lottery business-wise,” he added. “I do think the Leverage Shares brand itself can be leveraged to attract investors because it speaks perfectly to the product offering, unlike the branding of some competitors.”

The Leverage Shares filing does not include fees for the ETFs.

Jeff Benjamin is the wealth management editor at etf.com, responsible for coverage related to the financial planning industry. This includes writing, hosting podcasts, webinars, video interviews and presenting at in-person events.


Jeff is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years’ experience covering the financial markets. He has won more than two dozen national and regional awards for his reporting. He most recently worked as a senior columnist at InvestmentNews where he wrote about investment products and strategies, as well as the broader financial planning industry. Prior to that, Jeff worked as an analyst at Cerulli Associates where he researched and wrote reports on the alternative investments industry. Jeff also worked as a money management reporter at Dow Jones Newswires, where he covered the mutual fund industry.


Based in North Carolina, Jeff is a former Marine and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Central Michigan University.