ETF Evaluator: Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF (TZA) Follow This ETF

Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF Overview

Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF (TZA) is a passively managed Miscellaneous Trading--Inverse Equity exchange-traded fund (ETF). Direxion Funds launched the ETF in 2008.

The investment seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 300% of the inverse of the daily performance of the Russell 2000® Index. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in financial instruments, including swap agreements, futures contracts, or short positions, that, in combination, provide 3X daily inverse or short exposure to the index or to ETFs that track the index, consistent with the fund’s investment objective. The index measures the performance of approximately 2,000 small-cap companies in the Russell 3000® Index, based on a combination of their market capitalization and current index membership. It is non-diversified.

About Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF (TZA)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 14.21 years: Tony Ng (2015) and Paul Brigandi (2008). 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 Russell 2000 TR USD index with a weighting of -300%. Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF has 13 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 82.8% 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 Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF is part of the Other global asset class and is within the Miscellaneous ETF group. Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is -30.7% 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 Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF has 130.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $207 million in total assets, which is above the $76 million average for the Trading--Inverse 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.

TZA 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 Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Trading--Inverse Equity category. Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF has an expense ratio of 0.99%, which is 13% lower 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 Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 0%, which indicates that it holds its assets around /years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 1085% for the Trading--Inverse Equity category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF returned -11.4%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Trading--Inverse Equity category had an average return of 5.4%. 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 Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF has a trailing yield of 5.15%, which is below the 5.71% 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 Daily Small Cap Bear 3X ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned -48.5%, 23.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned -67.0% over the past year (grade of F), -45.4% over the past three years (grade of D) and -31.4% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and -43.9% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

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