Key Highlights

  • 51.78 percent is the 2026 year to date loss for Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (NASDAQ:TSLL) as of October 5, against a 15.8 percent decline in Tesla shares by simple arithmetic on closes.
  • 4.36 percent was the October 5 net asset value gain for Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (NASDAQ:TSLL), which closed at USD 10.22, roughly double the 2.2 percent rise in Tesla shares that day.
  • 47.84 percent is the year to date loss for ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ (NASDAQ:SQQQ) at September 30, with net assets of USD 2.02 billion and a net asset value of USD 33.15 on October 2.
  • 0.95 percent is the net expense ratio for ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ (NASDAQ:SQQQ), while the Tesla bull fund charges 0.83 percent net, and both issuers say these funds target one day.

What the Numbers Show

On October 5, 2026 Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (NASDAQ:TSLL) reported a net asset value of USD 10.22, up 4.36 percent, on a day Tesla rose 2.2 percent to USD 378.73. That is the fund working as designed, because it targets 200 percent of one day's move. The longer record looks different. The fund is down 51.78 percent year to date, while Tesla fell from USD 449.72 at the 2025 year end, a loss of 15.8 percent by simple arithmetic. On the other side, ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ (NASDAQ:SQQQ) targets minus 3 times the daily Nasdaq-100 move. The issuer shows a year to date loss of 47.84 percent and a one year loss of 51.96 percent at September 30, as tech stocks climbed.

The Mechanism: Daily Resets

These funds reset leverage every day, so returns compound daily rather than over the holding period. Take a simple example, which is arithmetic and not a fund result. If Tesla rises 10 percent and then falls 10 percent, it ends down 1 percent. A 2x fund gains 20 percent then loses 20 percent, ending down 4 percent. Choppy, falling markets widen the gap, and strong one way trends can help. Direxion warns it is possible the bull fund loses money even if the underlying stock rises over time, and calls the funds unsuitable for long holding. Costs add friction: Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (NASDAQ:TSLL) lists a 0.95 percent gross and 0.83 percent net expense ratio, and ProShares lists 0.99 percent gross and 0.95 percent net.

Risks and What to Watch

The first risk is path dependence, because a fund can lag even when the stock recovers. The second is single stock concentration in Tesla, whose third quarter deliveries were 486,532 vehicles, and whose results come after the close on October 21. The third is the end of the ProShares contractual fee waiver on September 30, 2026, with renewal not confirmed in the material reviewed. For the inverse fund, a rising Nasdaq is the headwind: the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.05 percent to a record on October 5. Watch the FOMC minutes at 2:00 p.m. ET on October 7, which can move rate sensitive technology shares and with them both funds.

Where Things Stand

The gap exists because of daily compounding: Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (NASDAQ:TSLL) delivered its 4.36 percent daily target on October 5, yet is down 51.78 percent for the year while Tesla is down 15.8 percent. ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ (NASDAQ:SQQQ) shows similar long run erosion in a rising market. Both products carry high risk and are built for short term use. This is education from published figures, not a recommendation.