Direxion ETFs Dominate Winners and Losers

The triple-leveraged fund offerings from Direxion topped both the ETF winners and losers for second-quarter 2009. According to a recent Barron's report, five out of the top 16 fund gainers in the second quarter belong to the Direxion family, including a more than 100% gain in its Emerging Market Bull 3X ETF(EDC Quote).

The group's Developed Markets Bull 3X ETF(DZK Quote) rose 80.36% and its Tech Bull 3X(TYH Quote) rose 65.03%.

Direxion's mutual funds also made the rankings for second-quarter gainers: Latin America Bull 2X rose 76.01% while China Bull 2X rose 74.61%.

Direxion funds also appear frequently in the minus column, however, heading the second-quarter losers with a 77.24% drop in its Financial Bear 3X ETF(FAZ Quote) and a 65.26% drop in its Emerging Market Bear 3X Fund(EDZ Quote).

Other ETFs that fell in the top 16 losers included Direxion's Developed Market Bear 3X(DPK Quote), Small Cap Bear 3X(TZA Quote), Midcap Bear 3X(MWN Quote) and Tech Bear 3X(TYP Quote). Two Direxion mutual funds also made the list of losers: Emerging Market Bear 2X and Small Cap Bear 2.5X.

Both the Daily Financial Bull 3X(FAS Quote) and Daily Financial Bear 3X(FAZ Quote), which fell dramatically in 2009, were involved in a reverse split last Wednesday. The split, designed to lower trading costs in the low-cost high-volume ETFs, will at least temporarily restore the volatile funds to a higher share volume. An increase in volatility, however, could lead to erosion once again and investors could find themselves on the wrong end of the loser/gainer spectrum.

In a recent interview Direxion Vice President of Trading Paul Brigandi tellingly noted that stocks rallied "just because people thought the recession was easing." Brigandi claims that the market is not in a "show-me phase" and that "people were just happy to see the numbers not as bad as expected." Brigandi's comment about speculation illustrates how the funds were so popular with traders willing to bet on market movement.