EDZ vs SQQQ

EDZDDirexion Daily MSCI Emerging Markets Bear 3X ETF

SQQQAProShares UltraPro Short QQQ

In short

EDZ The bear 3X shelf is mostly US indexes. EDZ is the one pointed overseas: a single ticker seeking -300% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index for one day, on the market since 2008. Built for short-term trading, with the daily reset that implies.

SQQQ The workhorse of the short-Nasdaq trade. Running since 2010, it aims at three times the inverse of the Nasdaq-100's daily move, resets every session, and charges 0.94% a year, below the going rate in the 3x bear category.

Stated mandate

EDZ The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, equal to 300% of the inverse performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

SQQQ The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, equal to three times the inverse of the Nasdaq-100 Index’s daily performance.

Why people hold it

• EDZ The only broad emerging markets fund in Direxion's bear 3X lineup: one ticker for -300% daily exposure to large and mid cap stocks across two dozen EM countries, while SQQQ, SDOW, SRTY and TZA all aim at US indexes.direxion.commsci.com
• Priced near the category median: 1.05% net of a waiver through September 1, 2027, against a 1.47% gross ratio. SQQQ (0.94%) and TZA (0.99%) sit lower, neither leaning on a waiver.
• Launched December 2008, one of the longest-running inverse emerging markets ETFs, and Direxion posts the holdings daily.direxion.com

• SQQQ 0.94% a year with no waiver propping it up, and below what 3x bear peers charge: SDOW and SRTY each sit at 0.95% net of waivers through September 30, 2027.
• One of the most actively traded funds in its category, with a billion-dollar-plus asset base behind it. Depth is the reason traders reach for this one.
• ProShares has run this single-day mandate since February 2010, and it tracks its stated -3x daily target about as closely as anything in its peer group.proshares.com
• The mandate is blunt and public: three times the inverse of the Nasdaq-100's daily performance, before fees, measured NAV to NAV. No discretion, no stock picking.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• EDZ Leverage resets daily. Direxion states the fund should not be expected to deliver -300% of the index's cumulative return over periods longer than a day; compounding can push multi-day results off that mark.direxion.com
• The 1.05% net rate depends on a waiver running to September 1, 2027. If it lapses, cost steps toward the 1.47% gross figure.
• One of the smaller, less heavily traded names in the bear 3X group, so order size and spreads matter more here than with the big US-index shorts.

• SQQQ Returns compound daily. Over any period longer than a single day, results will very likely differ from -3x the index, and the fund can lose money when the index is flat.sec.gov
• It holds swaps and futures on the index, not shorted stocks, so counterparty exposure and financing costs ride along with the price.sec.gov
• At 0.94%, the fee is heavy freight for a vehicle built around single-day results. Distributions, when declared, come quarterly.

Full EDZ profile⁠

Full SQQQ profile⁠