GraniteShares has terminated its 2x Long LCID Daily ETF (ticker: LCDL) after the fund lost roughly 92% of its value since launch. As of July 14, the ETF's net asset value had fallen to negative $0.0156, while shares still traded at $0.2876, creating a wide disconnect between market price and actual holdings.
A leveraged bet gone wrong
The ETF launched on April 22, 2025, promising twice the daily return of Lucid Group stock. But leveraged single-stock ETFs reset daily, and over longer periods, volatility decay erodes returns. If a stock drops 10% one day and rises 10% the next, a 2x fund loses money instead of breaking even. That dynamic, repeated over volatile trading sessions, drove year-to-date losses above 91%.
The fund carried an expense ratio of 1.15%, with gross expenses potentially reaching 4.67%, further compounding losses.
Part of a broader cleanup
LCDL is not the only ETF GraniteShares is winding down. The firm previously announced liquidations of BULX, ETRL, and MSDD, with final trading days around June 18. The LCDL termination continues a pattern of single-stock leveraged products being shelved after their math stops working.
Lessons for investors
The LCDL blowup underscores warnings from financial advisors that leveraged ETFs are not buy-and-hold instruments. Their prospectuses state they target daily returns, and performance over longer periods can deviate significantly from the expected multiple. The negative NAV shows market price had completely decoupled from underlying value, meaning buyers at that price were paying for an empty shell.