The takeaway
MicroSectorsTM Oil & Gas Exploration & Production -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs shows a pronounced seasonal pattern over 5 years of data — strongest in April (+12.4%) and softest in July (−15.6%).
Right now
In July, the fund has fallen 0% of years, averaging −15.6%, roughly 17.8 pts behind the S&P 500.
The full picture
MicroSectorsTM Oil & Gas Exploration & Production -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs's most dependable month has been April, higher in 4 of 4 years; July has been its least reliable, up just 0% of the time.
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win rate % | ||||||||||||
| Median return % | ||||||||||||
| 2025 | ||||||||||||
| 2024 | ||||||||||||
| 2023 | ||||||||||||
| 2022 | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Month by month
The fund's clearest edge over the S&P 500 lands in April (+10.8 pts); it has trailed the market most in March (−18.7 pts).
“vs S&P” is MicroSectorsTM Oil & Gas Exploration & Production -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs’s average for a month minus the S&P 500’s average for that same month — isolating MicroSectorsTM Oil & Gas Exploration & Production -3X Inverse Leveraged ETNs’s own seasonal edge from broad market drift.
Reality check
Over the last 4 years, April has closed higher 100% of the time versus 100% across the last 5 years — the pattern is holding.
Figures are the typical (median) April return and how often it rose — the last 4 years versus the last 5(the heatmap’s default window). This verdict stays anchored to that 5-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 — April. It has closed higher in all 4 Aprils, a concentration the rest of the calendar can't touch.
Read it with one caveat: the average (+12.4%) runs well ahead of the median (+6.0%), so a handful of outsized years — not steady strength — do much of the lifting. That reliability comes with real swings, mind — even April ranges by 13.5% 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 — April has outpaced the S&P 500 by +10.8 points on average. Few peers keep such company in April — the typical stock clears it just 55% of the time.
It doesn't stand entirely alone — October and December have leaned firm as well, if less emphatically. At the other end of the calendar, July has been the soft spot — the weakest of 8 months that average a loss (−15.6%), and the edge isn't year-round — the fund has trailed the S&P 500 in March, July, and January. Its roughest month on record was a −40.8% May in 2022 — a reminder of how hard even a seasonal name can fall.
For a fund this dependable in April, the sharper question is the rest of the year — outside its strong stretch, the calendar gives far less to lean on. With a short 5-year record and returns that swing hard year to year, the signal is best held loosely.
Short answers on the fund's best month (April), its worst (July), and whether it really trades seasonally.
Yes, to a pronounced degree. Since 2021 its best month (April, +12.4%) has run well ahead of its worst (July, −15.6%) — the heatmap above shows how steady that gap has been year to year.
April has been the strongest, averaging +12.4% and closing higher in all 4 years on record since 2021.
It's the weakest, averaging −15.6% — 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