ETF Evaluator: Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF (DFEN) Follow This ETF

Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF Overview

Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF (DFEN) is a passively managed Miscellaneous Trading--Leveraged Equity exchange-traded fund (ETF). Direxion Funds launched the ETF in 2017.

The investment seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowing for investment purposes) in financial instruments, such as swap agreements, securities of the index, and exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") that track the index, that, in combination, provide 3X daily leveraged exposure to the index, consistent with the fund's investment objective. The index attempts to measure the performance of the aerospace and defense industry of the U.S. equity market. The fund is non-diversified.

About Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF (DFEN)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 9.25 years: Tony Ng (2017) and Paul Brigandi (2017). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and DJ US Select Aerospace&Defense TR USD index with a weighting of 300%. Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF has 66 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 79.5% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF is part of the Other global asset class and is within the Miscellaneous ETF group. Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 74.1% There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF has 15.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $384 million in total assets, which is above the $251 million average for the Trading--Leveraged Equity category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

DFEN Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Trading--Leveraged Equity category. Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF has an expense ratio of 0.96%, which is 1% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 90%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 396% for the Trading--Leveraged Equity category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF returned -5.9%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Trading--Leveraged Equity category had an average return of -18.2%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF has a trailing yield of 0.14%, which is below the 5.84% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Direxion Dly Aerospace&Def Bl 3X ShsETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 18.0%, 14.2 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 43.0% over the past year (grade of B), 65.2% over the past three years (grade of A) and 33.6% per year over the past five years (grade of A).

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