The takeaway
ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas shows a pronounced seasonal pattern over 10 years of data — strongest in December (+22.2%) and softest in August (−10.2%).
Right now
In July, the fund has fallen 60% of years, averaging −2.5%, roughly 4.6 pts behind the S&P 500.
The full picture
ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas's most dependable month has been December, higher in 8 of 10 years; August has been its least reliable, up just 10% of the time.
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Month by month
The fund's clearest edge over the S&P 500 lands in December (+21.2 pts); it has trailed the market most in April (−10.7 pts).
“vs S&P” is ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas’s average for a month minus the S&P 500’s average for that same month — isolating ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas’s own seasonal edge from broad market drift.
Reality check
Over the last 5 years, December has closed higher 80% of the time versus 80% across the last 10 years — the pattern is holding.
Figures are the typical (median) December return and how often it rose — the last 5 years versus the last 10(the heatmap’s default window). This verdict stays anchored to that 10-year window even if you zoom the chart, so it never disagrees with the badges above.
In plain English
The seasonal story is really one month's story — December. It has closed higher in 8 of 10 Decembers, a concentration the rest of the calendar can't touch.
The strength looks broad-based rather than freakish: its average (+22.2%) and median (+16.3%) sit close together, so no single blow-out year is flattering the figure. That reliability comes with real swings, mind — even December ranges by 35.3% from year to year, so any single year can land far from the average. Better still, that strength is the fund's own and not just a buoyant market — December has outpaced the S&P 500 by +21.2 points on average. Few peers keep such company in December — the typical stock clears it just 58% of the time.
It doesn't stand entirely alone — February, June, and July have leaned firm as well, if less emphatically. The weaker half of the year is plainer: August has been the soft spot — the weakest of 5 months that average a loss (−10.2%), and the edge isn't year-round — the fund has trailed the S&P 500 in April, August, and July. Its roughest month on record was a −63.9% November in 2018 — a reminder of how hard even a seasonal name can fall.
At its steadiest, December strung together 7 straight positive years. Reassuringly, the tendency has held its shape: the recent five years still track the years behind them.
For a fund this dependable in December, the sharper question is the rest of the year — outside its strong stretch, the calendar gives far less to lean on. With returns that swing hard year to year, the signal is best held loosely.
Short answers on the fund's best month (December), its worst (August), and whether it really trades seasonally.
Yes, to a pronounced degree. Since 2016 its best month (December, +22.2%) has run well ahead of its worst (August, −10.2%) — the heatmap above shows how steady that gap has been year to year.
December has been the strongest, averaging +22.2% and closing higher in 8 of 10 years since 2016.
It's the weakest, averaging −10.2% — historically a soft spot, though it still varies from year to year.
Explore
These names have the strongest July track records on record — a starting point for comparison.
Before you trade