The leveraged and inverse ETF parade continues today with the launch of DirexionShares Daily Real Estate Bull 3x Shares (DRN) and Daily Real Estate Bear 3x Shares (DRV). Both track an MSCI index of U.S. real estate investment trusts, with 3x daily leverage. DRV is the inverse version.
Unlike the widely-panned MacroShares housing securities, UMM and DMM, the Direxion offerings are actual ETFs. This does not necessarily mean either will be a good investment, but they are far more likely to actually deliver on their objectives.
DRN and DRV are similar to URE and SRS, the 2x real estate ETFs offered by ProShares. As with all such ETFs, they should be used with caution and are best suited for very short-term trading. Due to the daily leverage reset and the compounding effect, long-term results can vary dramatically from the benchmark index.