The Robinhood Crowd Loves This Exciting Oil ETF

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

This year, nearly every exchange traded fund related to crude oil is proving to be exciting. The often volatile commodity has been so turbulent that traders aren't in need of more excitement, but there are avenues for those that crave it.

What Happened

The Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp. & Prod. Bull GUSH is having its bouts with volatility, as is par for the course with leveraged energy exchange traded funds. GUSH attempts to deliver double the daily returns of the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index.

Confirming that this is crazy year in the oil patch, GUSH used to be a triple-leveraged fund, but amid spiking volatility, Direxion reduced GUSH's gearing to just 2x in March.

Why It's Important

Still, GUSH has plenty of fans, including some on the famed Robinhood app. As is being widely documented this year, Robinhood users, broadly speaking, are young and aren't afraid of risk. Their affinity for GUSH proves as much.

Currently, GUSH is in number 50 spot among the most widely held securities on the brokerage platform. That's not just ETFs. GUSH is the 50th-most held name among stocks AND ETFs. In fact, just two other ETFs are more widely held among Robinhood users – the controversial United States Oil Fund USO and the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil UCO, a doubled-leveraged play on oil futures.

Nearly 159,000 Robinhood accounts hold GUSH, according to broker data.

What's Next

Underscoring Robinhood users' flair for risk, more than 40,000 more accounts hold GUSH than feature position in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO, the next closest ETF to the Direxion fund on the Robinhood list.

GUSH is also more popular on the trading app than DraftKings DKNG and Penn National Gaming PENN – stocks that are beloved by younger investors this year.

How long the Robinhood crowd stands by GUSH remains to be seen. After all, the fund tumbled 14.29% on Wednesday and as fears about a second wave of coronavirus cases become reality, the Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp. & Prod. Bear 2X Shares DRIP – GUSH's bearish cousin – would likely come into style.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.