SPXL +3x Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3x ETF

BULL ETF extreme · Issuer Direxion · Tracks S&P 500 (SPY) · Listed 2008-11-05

Implied AUM
$7.1B
shares out × price
Last close
$281.10
20260930
30-day avg volume
1,493,060
SPXL realized
—
what holders actually earned
Theoretical +3x
—
+3x × S&P 500's return
Decay gap
—
realized minus theoretical

Realized vs theoretical +3x S&P 500

Cumulative return of SPXL against a clean +3x of S&P 500's return over the same window; the red line (right axis) is the gap between them.

Pair counterpart: SPXU (-3x bear, ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500)
Shorting both legs of a daily-reset bull/bear pair captures their combined decay over time. It isn't free money — the edge depends on borrow rates (often punitive on the bear leg) and assignment risk on hard-to-borrow shares.

Other leveraged products on S&P 500

10
SymbolFactorDirectionIssuerNameImplied AUM30d volumeOptions
SPYU +4x BULLMAXMAX S&P 500 4x Leveraged ETN — 621,250
UPRO +3x BULLProSharesProShares UltraPro S&P 500 $5.3B 1,791,852 ✓
HIBL +3x BULLDirexionDirexion Daily S&P 500 High Beta Bull 3X ETF $78.7M 41,336 ✓
SSO +2x BULLProSharesProShares Ultra S&P500 $8.4B 3,073,733 ✓
SPUU +2x BULLDirexionDirexion Daily S&P 500 Bull 2X ETF $284.4M 12,627 ✓
URSP +2x BULLProSharesProShares Ultra S&P 500 Equal Weight — 33,654
SDS -2x BEARProSharesProShares UltraShort S&P500 $352.3M 2,898,674 ✓
SPXU -3x BEARProSharesProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 $429.2M 7,040,294 ✓
SPXS -3x BEARDirexionDirexion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3x ETF $369.5M 13,075,963 ✓
HIBS -3x BEARDirexionDirexion Daily S&P 500 High Beta Bear 3X ETF $21.2M 210,699 ✓

How SPXL works

SPXL targets +3x the daily return of S&P 500 — not the return over longer windows. It rebalances every day, so over weeks and months its result drifts away from +3x × the index, usually downward when the market chops around.

The maths: the drag is roughly −½ × N × (N−1) × σ² per period (N = leverage, σ = the index's volatility). For a +3x fund on an index with 25% annual volatility that is several percent a year before fees — the red line above is that drag measured.

Short-term trades (a day or a few) are what these funds are built for. Premium sellers like their rich option IV — see the quote page. Multi-day directional bets work in strong trends and get eaten in chop.

Not investment advice.