Shorting ETFs is expensive. You need to borrow the shares from someone in order to re-sell them, and you pay them for the privilege.<p>Futures work on margin with relatively low fees so if you wanted leveraged short exposure to the US market that&#x27;s what you&#x27;d naturally trade.<p>One of the posters below who describes buying a put and selling a call at the same strike is describing a roundabout futures trade. The put&#x2F;call method would have far higher transaction costs, though.