Bears block party

Holding inverse ETNs, particularly the ultra sort, can be hazardous to one's trading account. Overnight, the readjusting that goes on can swoop in and steal your profits. VXX declined 400,000% in the past year. OK, I'm exaggerating a bit, but it was painful for anyone who dared to buy VXX a year ago and simply hold. It's not a buy-and-hold vehicle and never was intended to be.

Today, though, was a win for bears and ETNs. Here's how the list I compiled a few months back did today:

BGZ +9.32%
DPK +10.28%
DRV +9.58%
DXD +5.24%
DUG +6.22%
EDZ +11.72%
EEV +7.97%
EFU 6.75%
EFZ +3.39%
EPV +7.47%
EUO +1.29%
FAZ +10.48%
FXP +7.96%
LHB +13.97%
QID +7.58%
SDS +6.07%
SKF +7.44%
SMN +8.33%
SRS +6.13%
TMF +3.49%
TWM +7.54$
TYP +10.89%
TZA +11.25%
VXX +9.26%
ZSL +2.73%

The time to commit to these inverses was before today, of course. Getting in now is perilous considering the news today from China, Europe, Venus, the Dark Star and beyond isn't any worse than it has been in the past months. None of it was really unexpected. If the market bounces tomorrow or Thursday (first day of the new quarter), that won't be a shocker.

But keeping a close eye on all these inverse ETNs and the movement is key. Know the pulse before entering.

Spanish fly? To Euro or not to Euro

To short the Euro, that is. While gold (GLD) sold off a bit recently and bounced today — consolidation and nothing more — the Euro showed weakness today and renewed concerns, fears and panic among those long FXE.

EWP (iShares MSCI Spain) also took a hit, as did STD (Banco Santander), as I wrote earlier.

The winners today were DRR (Market Vectors Double Short Euro), EUO (ProShares UltraShort Euro) and DPK (Direxion Developed Markets Bear 3x). I'd never heard of DPK, but it fits nicely in this environment. Europe won't be down forever, but for now, it's a slow, painful process.

Maybe this is the bottom for the Euro and Spain. After all, it was the government of Spain that took action over the weekend. Yet, the numbers are massively bearish, particularly unemployment. Spain and Euro-related stocks, ETFs and ETNs have been on a roller coaster, and it gets steeper before it flattens out.

EWP is lightly traded (235k shares today), but made a nice comeback at the close, unlike most Eurozone and Euro-related titles today.

EWP vs. EUO, DPK, DRR

1 day (5-minute bars)

EWP vs. EUO, DPK, DRR

10-day (15-minute bars)

EWP vs. EUO, DPK, DRR

1 year (daily)

EWP vs. EUO, DPK, DRR

2 year (weekly)

Not so long ago — Dec 2008 — Spain had a very potent top