Some say investing is essentially gambling. Even those who disagree might change their minds after reading up on Direxion Funds' new crop of ETFs, which magnify bets for or against an index using 300 percent leverage (other fund families offer the double-down option of 200 percent leverage, but Direxion is the first to up the ante.)
Consider two of the funds: the Large Cap Bull 3x Shares and the Large Cap Bear 3x Shares, which both use the large-company focused Russell 1000 as a benchmark. As the WSJ points out, if the Russell 1000 rises 2 percent in one day, the Large Cap Bull fund is designed to rise 6 percent (minus expenses). And if the Russell 1000 falls 2 percent in one day, the Bull fund loses about 2 percent.
Clearly, the funds aim to deliver supersized gains, but they'll also produced supersized losses--and in a bumpy market, expect them to bounce around like pinballs.
Rich88 of WA @ Nov 21, 2008 20:09:00 PM
ClassConscious of MT @ Nov 19, 2008 15:51:20 PM
Fatty @ Nov 17, 2008 23:05:42 PM