Alright I made and lost a decent amount playing FAS/FAZ this year so figured I would throw up what I have learned about them, and hopefully get some discussion going.
Warning: Triple leveraged ETFs like FAS/FAZ are seriously volatile, and I consider them the crack cocaine of the stock market. Expect heavy losses or heavy gains very quickly. You\'ve been warned.
FAS/FAZ are 3x leveraged ETFs that track the Russell 1000 Financial Services (RGS) Index. ^RIFIN
Note: You can download the prospectus for both FAS/FAZ via Derexion, and I would go over it some before buying.
Leverage and Decay
From the prospectus:
The correlations sought by the Bull Funds and the Bear Funds are generally a multiple of the returns of the target index or benchmark. The benchmark for the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bull 3X Shares is 300% of the daily price performance of the Russell 1000 Index, while the benchmark for the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares is 300% of the inverse, or opposite, of the daily price performance of the Russell 1000 Index.
So I hope you see why this is dangerous now? Due to the triple leveraging of swings in the RIFIN.X, FAS/FAZ can take some violent runs causing this stock to decay over time. For this reason it is almost always advisable not to hold either of these over night.
Take a look at the example scenario below to get an idea of the decay principle.
So holding these over time is going to be a losing proposition by their very nature. Please make sure you understand that before trading either of them.
How do I play FAS/FAZ?
Most of my success has been playing news but this also created my biggest losses. The bottom line is that both of these ETFs are very unpredictable. Most people put FAS/FAZ akin to playing some roulette at a casino and I tend to agree with them. Compounded negative returns are bad mmm\'kay. Having said that if you can call the trend, 30% gains in a day are also common.
I wish I could help more but what I can tell you is that you will need to be intimate with the large financial institutions and their charts. Below is an image of my QuoteTracker desktop to give you an idea what I am tracking when I trade FAS/FAZ (click for larger).
By keeping an eye on WFC, JPM, GS, BAC, C, and others you can pick better entry points or spot a trend, breakout, or channel easier. For example, I like to watch for breakouts in sector leader GS or MS to form a strategy. Spend time on the RIFIN.X chart for most of your day trading plays.
*Some tickers in the RIFIN.X: JPM, BAC, C, WFC, USB, UBS, MS, GS, BK, TRV, V, AXP, BBT.