The notorious Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (NYSEArca: JNUG), the triple-leveraged answer to the popular Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ), will finally undergo the reverse split that some market participants previously speculated was coming.
Direxion, the second-largest issuer of inverse and leveraged ETFs, said JNUG will be reverse split on a 1-for-10 basis effective at the opening of the markets on Tuesday, December 23, 2014.
We suspected JNUG’s reverse split was coming, though our prediction was on the early side.
On the back of this year’s tumble for gold prices, JNUG has plunged 63.5%, making it one of this year’s worst-performing leveraged ETFs. That has not stopped investors from pouring money into the ETF. JNUG has hauled in $560.1 million in new assets this year while the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X Shares (NYSEArca: NUGT), the triple-leveraged answer to the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDX), has added $360.1 million in new assets. NUGT is not undergoing another reverse split, at least not yet. [Another Bad Day for Gold Miners ETFs]
Direxion also announced a 1-for-6 reverse split for the Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3x Shares (NYSEArca: RUSL), the triple-leveraged answer to the Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEArca: RSX).
Like JNUG and NUGT, RUSL has been a dreadful performer this year, losing 71.2% but like its gold miners counterparts, RUSL has seen investors add money. Investors have poured $225.5 million in new money into RUSL this year.
RUSL’s reverse split will also take place at the opening of U.S. markets Dec. 23.
As of Nov. 25, NUGT and JNUG were the two best Direxion leveraged ETFs this month while RUSL was one of the issuer’s worst bullish funds, according to issuer data. Over the past 30 days, JNUG and NUGT have been the most volatile of Direxion’s bullish leveraged offerings and both ETFs have seen positive creation activity over that time, according to Direxion data.
RUSL has also seen modest creation activity over that period. Last year, NUGT was reverse split twice.
Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares
