TZA vs YANG

TZABDirexion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF

YANGCDirexion Daily FTSE China Bear 3X ETF

In short

TZA Born in the wreckage of 2008, TZA aims to move three times the inverse of the Russell 2000's daily swing. A heavily traded way to press a bearish small-cap view, with a daily reset that makes it a tool for days, not quarters.

YANG The blunt instrument for a rough day in Chinese equities. YANG aims for -300% of the FTSE China 50's daily move, resets every night, and has been running that playbook since 2009. Built for a day, not a decade.

Stated mandate

TZA The Fund seeks daily inverse leveraged investment results equal to negative three times the daily performance of the Russell 2000 Index. Its leverage makes it potentially riskier than nonleveraged alternatives.

YANG The fund seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, equal to -300% of the FTSE China 50 Index. Its objective applies to a single day and is not intended to provide negative three-times cumulative performance over longer periods.

Why people hold it

• TZA Fee of 0.99% comes in under the typical leveraged bear fund, and under every other Russell 2000 short ETF on the shelf (RWM, TWM, SRTY).
• Very actively traded, which usually means tight spreads and easy exits when a short-term view changes fast.
• Running since 2008, a long life for a leveraged fund, and it has stayed close to its stated daily target.
• Sits in the upper half of a crowded leveraged bear peer group on our overall read.

• YANG Costs 1.03% a year, below the typical leveraged bear fund and well under the other US funds shorting this same index (FXP at 1.79%, YXI at 2.65%).
• Aims for -300% of the index's daily move, so expressing a bearish view ties up a fraction of the capital an unleveraged short position would.
• Short exposure in a plain brokerage account: no margin agreement, no locating shares to borrow, no losses beyond the amount invested.direxion.com
• Launched in December 2009 and actively traded since, making it one of the more established ways to short large Hong Kong-listed Chinese names.direxion.com

Worth knowing

• TZA The -3x target resets every day. Hold longer and compounding pulls results away from three times the index move over that stretch, up or down.
• Triple leverage cuts both ways: a 1% up day in the Russell 2000 is roughly a 3% down day here, before costs.
• Direxion's own filing flags the fund as potentially riskier than nonleveraged alternatives and built for daily monitoring.

• YANG The -3x objective applies to one day only. Hold longer and the nightly reset makes results path-dependent, especially in choppy markets.
• Leverage cuts both ways: an up day in the FTSE China 50 hits roughly three times as hard here.
• That 1.03% fee is cheap for this corner of the market but many times a plain index fund's, and it accrues daily whether the trade works or not.

Full TZA profile⁠

Full YANG profile⁠