SOXL is up 9.4% in 2026. SOXX is up 36.0%
A fund that triples a semiconductor index for one day is not a fund that triples the year's gain in chips.
Key takeaways
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF, SOXL, is up 9.4% in 2026, through Nov. 6. iShares Semiconductor ETF, SOXX, is up 36.0%.
Both use the NYSE Semiconductor Index. SOXX tracks it. SOXL seeks, before fees and expenses, 300% of the index's performance for one trading day. It does not seek that result over a week or a year.
The triple fund's gain is a bit more than a quarter of SOXX's gain.
The fund does not offer three times this year's chip rally. It offers three times one day, and each day's result is applied to whatever is left. A year of that is the product of the days, not three times the year.
SOXL fell 40.3% in the week ended Nov. 6. It closed the prior Friday, Oct. 30, at $77.05, and Wednesday, Nov. 4, at $66.68. It was already down before Thursday.
SOXX shares split on Thursday
The Board of Trustees of iShares Trust approved a three-for-one split of SOXX. Shareholders of record on Nov. 3 received the additional shares on Nov. 4, and the fund began trading on a split-adjusted basis on Thursday, Nov. 5, its Oct. 23 supplement says.
iShares reported Wednesday's close at $450.41. Once the split is applied, that close is $150.14. Thursday's close of $131.90 was a 12.1% drop from $150.14, not a 70.7% fall from $450.41.
A holder of one share on Wednesday held three when trading opened Thursday. The 36.0% gain for 2026 already uses prices restated for the split. Friday's close of $136.53 is not comparable with a price from before Nov. 5 unless that older price is divided by three.
On Thursday, Nov. 5, the fund fell 38.7% and closed at $40.87. On Friday it rose 12.5% and closed at $45.97.
Thursday cut SOXL to $40.87
The daily target is why SOXL sells into a falling market. The summary prospectus says the adviser rebalances at the close so exposure matches that target, and that an investment in the fund will be reduced by 3% for every 1% the index declines that day. After an index decline, the exposure is too large for the assets that remain, so the rebalance is a sale.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% on Thursday, and the S&P 500 fell 4.4%. Leveraged and inverse funds typically rebalance near the close, and that rebalancing can amplify a move, Reuters reported.
Nomura, the Japanese securities firm, expected leveraged funds to sell about $47 billion of stocks into Thursday's close. That would be the second-largest amount in Nomura's data going back to July 2006, with most of it from tech and AI-focused funds.
"The return of the Fund for a period longer than a trading day will be the result of each trading day's compounded return over the period, which will very likely differ from 300% of the return of the Index for that period," SOXL's summary prospectus of Feb. 27, 2026, says.
The prospectus also says the fund can lose money over a period longer than a day even if the index rises. This year SOXL did not lose money. It gained 9.4%, against 36.0% for SOXX.
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X ETF, SOXS, seeks three times the inverse of the same index's daily move, before fees and expenses. It rose 36.2% on the week. It is down 88.7% in 2026.
SOXL promises three times a day. It has not multiplied the year.
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