On Thursday, five and a half years after filing for SEC approval, ProShares finally launched the first batch of ETFs that double magnify short exposure to well-known market indexes.

Traded on the American Stock Exchange, the UltraShort family amplifies the inverse of the NASDAQ, S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and the DJIA twofold.

ProFunds Group, a leader in indexed mutual funds, manages the ETFs. ProShares' chief economist, William Seale, said the new offerings developed as a natural product extension and happen to be making a timely debut.

"Bad [market] news is coming down the pike, so they should be successful straight out of the box," Seale said.

Used to hedge portfolios or to bet against the market, these sophisticated products are best suited for the savvy investor. While the risk of tracking errors has raised concerns among potential buyers, Seale said that indexes are "tracked extremely tightly," so he doesn't anticipate significant deviations.

The new ETF family includes: UltraShort QQQ Proshares, which returns double the inverse of the NASDAQ-100 Index; UltraShort S&P500 ProShares, which returns double the inverse of the S&P 500; Short MidCap400 ProShares, which returns double the inverse of the S&P MidCap 400; and UltraShort Dow30 ProShares, which returns double the inverse of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. 

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