Pass on this ETF

Article Excerpt

DIREXION DAILY AEROSPACE & DEFENSE BULL 3X SHARES ETF $16.61 (New York symbol DFEN) is set up to generate returns of 3 times the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace and Defense Index. The top holdings are RTX and Boeing, which together make up over 35% of the index. The fund started up in May 2017 and holds assets of $125.5 million; the MER is a high 0.97%. When the daily movement in the index is up, the ETF aims to generate 300% of the positive return; the opposite will happen when the index declines. The fund relies on futures contracts and other derivatives to try to boost its returns. Often, though, leveraged ETFs like this one lose value more readily than they gain it. That’s due to the costs associated with buying and selling its holdings (as demonstrated by the high 0.97% MER that investors face). These costs continually eat away at the asset value of a fund’s holdings, regardless of…