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In the fourth week of May 2026 ending on the 23rd, volume trends in Leverage Shares’ products across 3 exchanges across Europe – the London Stock Exchange (LSE), the Borsa Italiana (BITA) and Germany’s XETRA – told a consistent thematic tale in the midst of higher traded volumes in the 23-30% range in the month till date relative to April. The LSE in the United Kingdom experienced an aggressive acceleration, particularly in short Intel products and short Nasdaq-100 positions, the latter doubling to an eye-watering 51.7 million units during the week.
Italy mirrored the LSE’s sentiment albeit in a different manner: participation narrowed into highly concentrated single-stock bearish bets while volumes collapsed in the LS -5X Short Nasdaq 100. The -3x Short Intel (INTC) product posted an explosive 144.3% week-over-week acceleration to over 3.65 million units traded.
Germany witnessed a defensive rotation following the complete exhaustion of macro tech shorts. As bearish tech flow died, the LS 5x Long 20+ Year Treasury Bond absorbed volumes, emerging as the only dominant asset to display continuous, accelerating week-over-week inflows. Volumes in Week 4 dropped over a third after acceleration across the week. Overall, investors seemed to prefer to “wait and see”.
Momentum and RegimesIn the United Kingdom, the massive surge in the -3x Short Intel ETP (INTS) dominated in conviction throughout May. Paired with this is a strong conviction for opportunism potential in the massive stretch in valuations seen across practically the entire AI-relevant sector.
Websim is the retail division of Intermonte, the primary intermediary of the Italian stock exchange for institutional investors. Leverage Shares often features in its speculative analysis based on macros/fundamentals. However, the information is published in Italian. To provide better information for our non-Italian investors, we bring to you a quick translation of the analysis they present to Italian retail investors. To ensure rapid delivery, text in the charts will not be translated. The views expressed here are of Websim. Leverage Shares in no way endorses these views. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment, please seek financial advice. View the original at
Source: Leverage Shares analysis
But opportunism cuts both ways: the newly-launched 3x Long IREN ETP (IRN3) and the 3x Long Bitmine Immersion ETP (BMN3) registered very strong structural accumulation over a very short period based on strong institutional base building in crypto/AI plays.
The -5x Short Nasdaq 100 (QQ3S) deserves special attention. Week 4 saw a substantial portfolio gross-down, with absolute volumes doubling over Week 3. However, the pattern is a net slowdown relative to the accumulation seen in Week 2.
Meanwhile, Italy had some of these very same names pop up in the monthly leaderboard for Week 4 and – in some cases – nearly identical strength.
Source: Leverage Shares analysis
In Italy too, opportunism was prevalent at the other end, with a reasonably-sized uptick observed in the 2x Long Super Micro Computer ETP (SMCI). However, relative to volumes seen in INTS and SQQQ and the steady volumes traded in crypto-adjacent instruments such as the 3x Long Coinbase (3COI), SMCI’s volumes were modest and likely explainable as retail buying on historical lows.
Germany, however, bucked away from the surge in volumes seen in Week 4 in both London and Milan – despite numerous points of thematic similarity in conviction being expressed.
Source: Leverage Shares analysis
The massive acceleration into crypto-proxy 3COI seen throughout April are show signs of cool-off: volumes across May were a little under half that in the previous month. QQ3S indicated a massive surge in volumes in May until Week 3, wherein volumes massively retreated. Despite that, net volumes remain substantially higher than in April. Another instrument that showed a similar pattern was the -3x Short Germany 40 ETP (DAXS) which rose from near-zeros to massive volumes in the first three weeks of May before fading almost completely in Week 4.
Acceleration TrendsIn terms of volumes for the week, LSE traded eight times the volume that Italy’s BITA did which, in turn were 2 times that of what XETRA did. The difference is stark: LSE’s traded volume in INTS was greater than all volume in BITA. Applying a 30/70 weightage scheme between traded volumes in Week 4 versus the rest of May to calculate a combined Z-score reveal some themes continuing to resonate through May.
The LSE is the strongest picture of thematic acceleration:
Source: Leverage Shares analysis
Over at BITA, the concern over AI-relevant tickers’ overvaluation was writ large:
Source: Leverage Shares analysis
Joining the surge against AI-relevant names was the -3x Short ASML ETP (ASMS), wherein volumes spiked in Week 4.
The cratering of volumes skewed the Z-score charts over at XETRA:
Source: Leverage Shares analysis
A primary volume driver for May, QQ3S, saw volumes abruptly collapse from over 5.1 million units in Week 3 to about 1.9 million shares in Week 4. Unlike in LSE or BITA, additional volumes didn’t pile into other concentrated avenues of opportunity. Instead, capital seemed to wait.
Throughout the month, products on XETRA that experienced inflows in Week 4 had been absorbing capital gradually. One standout was TLT5: in Week 3, volume spiked 86% over Week 3 while Week 4 saw an accumulation pattern that was steadier.
Potential Trends This WeekTrends seem to indicate that London might continue to see increased volumes in IRN3 and BMN3 alongside other crypto-proxies while next-generation power plays represented by the 3x Long Oklo ETP (OKL3) and 3x Long NuScale Power ETP (SMR3) – also recent products – will also possibly be joining in to establish steady growth. Aggressive shorting against AI-relevant names are also likely to be in place.
Milan will likely remain a heavily concentrated, event-driven battlefield, with volumes pivoting away from affirming or rejecting positions in broad indices and toward highly tactical, single-stock bearishness. Crypto-proxies will also likely continue to attract steady attention (as opposed to massive spikes).
In Frankfurt, the strong flows exhibited into TLT5 is likely to manifest while the pullback from macro shorts into targeted shorts might be a story to watch for. Market participants seem to be exhibiting strengthening conviction in defensive rotation. The flight into Treasuries, when taken into context, is a textbook institutional response: global investors are pulling out of Chinese and Indian stock markets and heading to the relative safety of the Treasury market. Markets are assuming that incoming Fed chair Kevin Warsh will likely push to keep rates higher for longer – if not go higher because of continuing inflation – which means that yields will hold and provide some refuge.
All in all, week 5 continues to be a period of continued market uncertainty as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and Eastern economies’ strategic reserves running low. Even if the war were to end right now, some analysts are projecting that it will take until 2032 before oil goes below $70 again after taking into account the extensive damage to energy facilities all over the Middle East.
In many ways, the surge in the valuation of AI-relevant names – despite highly-challenging outlook for continued datacenter buildout in the US (arguably AI’s biggest target market) – is a sign of this uncertainty. But, as the trends of Week 3 show, smart money seems to be of the mindset that the levee will soon break and the profit potential is substantial. This isn’t an entirely unreasonable estimation.
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Your capital is at risk if you invest. You could lose all your investment. Please see the full risk warning here.
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