DPST vs FAS

DPSTBDirexion Daily Regional Banks Bull 3X ETF

FASADirexion Daily Financial Bull 3X ETF

In short

DPST Most leveraged financial funds hand you the megabanks. DPST goes narrow: 3x the daily move of an index of roughly 150 regional lenders. A single-purpose amplifier on one of the market's most headline-prone groups.

FAS Born in November 2008 with the banking system on fire, FAS aims to deliver three times the daily move of the Financial Select Sector Index. A one-day tool on roughly 80 financial stocks, built around a single-day objective.

Stated mandate

DPST The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, equal to 300% of the performance of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index.

FAS The fund seeks a daily return equal to three times the performance of the Financial Select Sector Index, before fees and expenses. It is designed for a single-day objective rather than a multiple of the index’s cumulative return over longer periods.

Why people hold it

• DPST At 0.92% a year it undercuts the typical leveraged fund's fee, and it matches what Direxion charges on its broader financials 3x fund (FAS). No premium for the narrower target.
• Regional banks trade on their own drivers: deposits, the rate curve, commercial property loans. This is a clean 3x handle on that theme rather than the whole financial sector.
• The mandate is spelled out, not discretionary: 300% of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index's daily move, before fees and expenses. No stock picking, no manager calls.
• Running since 2015 across roughly 150 banks, it is one of the better-priced, better-traded builds in the leveraged bull group.

• FAS Launched in November 2008, into the crisis itself, and still one of the strongest implementations in its 3x peer group.
• Costs 0.88% net of a waiver through September 1, 2027 (0.92% gross), below the median for 3x leveraged funds.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades steadily, so the leverage arrives in a reasonably liquid wrapper.
• Straightforward plumbing: 3x the daily move of one named large-cap financials index, about 80 stocks, no stock-picking overlay.

Worth knowing

• DPST The 3x target resets every day. Over longer holds, especially choppy ones, compounding can pull results well away from 3x the index's move for the whole period.
• Leverage cuts both ways, and one industry is one storyline: a rate or credit shock tends to hit every regional bank in the basket at once, tripled.
• Volume is solid but not blue-chip, so spreads can widen when banking headlines hit. Any income arrives quarterly and is incidental to the strategy.

• FAS The 3x goal resets every day. Hold longer and compounding can push results away from three times the index's move over that stretch, especially in choppy markets.
• Leverage runs both directions: down days are magnified just as sharply, and this is one sector in one direction with no diversification cushion.
• Not the cheapest 3x on the shelf: SOXL runs 0.75% and TQQQ 0.78%, each net of waivers through September 1, 2027 and September 30, 2027.

Full DPST profile⁠

Full FAS profile⁠