UTSL vs XLUX: which held to its multiple?
Over three months against its own daily promise, UTSL finished 1.8 points short and XLUX 1.5 points short. Direxion Daily Utilities Bull 3X ETF and Corgi U.S. Utilities 2x Daily ETF.
UTSL returned −33.0% while 3 times XLU's move would have been −33.8%
XLUX returned −23.1% while 2 times XLU's move would have been −22.5%
A percentile among the 470 leveraged ETFs, long, over three months. It is a position in a set, not a rating, and neither end of it is a recommendation. All leveraged ETFs ranked by it → How it is computed →
Performance, window by window
| Total return | Multiple would give | Difference | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window | UTSL | XLUX | UTSL | XLUX | UTSL | XLUX |
| 1 month | −17.9% | −12.4% | −17.8% | −11.8% | −0.1 pts | −0.6 pts |
| 3 months | −33.0% | −23.1% | −33.8% | −22.5% | +0.8 pts | −0.6 pts |
| 6 months | −40.3% | not published | −39.9% | not published | −0.5 pts | not published |
| 1 year | −32.3% | not published | −20.9% | not published | −11.3 pts | not published |
| 3 years | +74.8% | not published | +139.0% | not published | −64.2 pts | not published |
| Since launch UTSL May 2017 · XLUX Jun 2026 | +44.7% | −19.1% | not meaningful | −17.0% | not meaningful | −2.1 pts |
UTSL and XLUX over each window. Every figure is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested. Source: ETFIQ. Open the live comparison on ETFIQ →
On the same fields
UTSL and XLUX on the same fields, as of Sep 30, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
UTSL in plain words
Three months to Sep 30, 2026: UTSL returned −33.0% where its own daily promise gave −31.2%, 1.8 points short. Read the multiple against the whole window instead and 3 times XLU's −11.3% implies −33.8%, which makes UTSL look 0.8 points over. 2.5 of that is daily compounding, which happens to any 3 times fund over the same path, and the rest is the fund. UTSL aims to return +3 times XLU's move each day, then resets. Over one day it does that. Over longer, the daily results compound, so the total is not +3 times the period's move: in a market that falls and comes back it is reliably less, and in a steady run it can be more. XLU moved at 14% annualized over that window. That is what decides how far the two figures separate: the same fund on a calm underlying and a violent one is a different product.
XLUX in plain words
Three months to Sep 30, 2026: XLUX returned −23.1% where its own daily promise gave −21.7%, 1.5 points short. Read the multiple against the whole window instead and 2 times XLU's −11.3% implies −22.5%, which makes XLUX look 0.6 points short. 0.8 of that is daily compounding, which happens to any 2 times fund over the same path, and the rest is the fund. XLUX aims to return +2 times XLU's move each day, then resets. Over longer, the daily results compound, so the total is not +2 times the period's move: in a market that falls and comes back it is reliably less, and in a steady run it can be more.
Questions people ask
- Which came closer to its stated multiple, UTSL or XLUX?
- Over the window to Sep 30, 2026, UTSL finished 0.8 points from what its multiple implies and XLUX finished 0.6 points from its own, so XLUX came closer. Neither figure predicts the next window: it depends on how much the underlying moves about.
- Are UTSL and XLUX levered on the same thing?
- Yes. Both are levered on utilities, UTSL at +3 times and XLUX at +2 times the daily move.
- Which one decays faster, UTSL or XLUX?
- Decay follows how much the underlying moves about. Over this window UTSL’s moved at 14% annualized and XLUX’s at 14%, so UTSL has the rougher ride and, at the same multiple, loses more to compounding.
- Can I hold UTSL or XLUX for a year?
- Both reset every day, so the multiple in the name applies to a single day and the daily results compound. Over a year the total is not the multiple times the year’s move, and in a market that falls and comes back it is reliably less. ETFIQ makes no recommendation either way.
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.
ETFIQ, UTSL against XLUX, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/utsl-vs-xlux
Free to use with attribution. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, UTSL against XLUX, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/utsl-vs-xlux Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
Other forms
- Plain
- ETFIQ, UTSL against XLUX, data as of Sep 30, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/utsl-vs-xlux
- APA
- ETFIQ. (Sep 30, 2026). UTSL against XLUX. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/utsl-vs-xlux
- Markdown
- [UTSL against XLUX (ETFIQ, Sep 30, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/leverage/utsl-vs-xlux)