In all cases but the first, you are paying less to have a higher exposure in the same market. Each has a different risk profile. In all cases you can lose money.
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In the 1st case there is no expiration of a contract, so no matter what happens you have shares and can wait until the market moves in your favor. All other cases have expirations.
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In the 1st case just involves actually owning shares. For the other cases, it is not too important whether you end up with shares or not, as the P/L will be similar to owning the exposed amount shares.
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In the 2nd case, you can lose up to your initial $19k at expiration, but you will likely end up with 100 shares. There is a 10% chance you will lose the full $19k and not end up with any shares at all.
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In the 3rd case, you can lose your initial $2k at expiration, but you will end up with 100 shares.
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In the 4th case, it doesn't cost anything, but you can lose up to $30k if SPY goes to 0 (very unlikely). More likely is SPY ends up lower at expiration than your trade price, and you pay that difference.
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These are worst case scenarios, and I am simplifying a bit. Calculating the return is more complicated for anything other than the 1st case. If the market moves in your favor, the leveraged instruments will make you much more money than the 1st case. Even though they have expirations, you can continually roll them to future dates to simulate a buy and hold. This requires some active management that the 1st case does not require.
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Calculating the return is more complicated for anything other than the 1st case. If the market moves in your favor, the leveraged instruments will make you much more money than the 1st case. Even though they have expirations, you can continually roll them to future dates to simulate a buy and hold. This requires some active management that the 1st case does not require.