By market capitalization, Nvidia (NVDA) is the undisputed king of domestic equities stocks, but there’s a new prince in the kingdom. On Wednesday, Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) inched past Apple (AAPL) for the second spot among U.S. equities as measured by market value. That marks the first time in nearly seven years that Google is more valuable than Apple. This could highlight opportunity for aggressive traders with the Direxion Daily GOOGL Bull 2X Shares (GGLL). That Direxion ETF attempts to deliver 200% of the daily performance of Alphabet shares.
With the stock up nearly 60% over the past year, GGLL is an enticing idea, but traders should remember the ETF is best used over short holding periods. Fortunately, Alphabet is active in terms of producing headlines, many of which are related to artificial intelligence (AI) and some of which carry opportunity for traders to embrace GGLL.
Alphabet AI Progress Could Power GGLL
This year and its performance of stocks are in its infancy, but Alphabet’s AI-related news flow may already be portending ample opportunity to trade GGLL over the course of the year. Case-and-point: Analysts discussing the progress Alphabet’s Gemini is making against rival ChatGPT.
“In December, Gemini’s share of website visits and app avg. monthly [daily active users]increased to 22.5% and 13.2%, respectively, from 17.7% and 11.7% in November and 6.5% and 11.2% in December of 2024,” BNP Paribas analyst Nick Jones noted in a recent client report. “This supports our thesis around GOOGL having multiple ways to monetize AI.”
Perhaps adding to the 2026 possibilities with GGLL, Snowflake (SNOW) announced on Tuesday that it’s integrating Gemini 3 into its Cortex AI offering.
Google has long set the standard for innovation and large-scale infrastructure, remaining at the forefront of the generative AI revolution,” said Snowflake executive Christian Kleinerman in a statement. “By combining Google Cloud’s industry leadership with Snowflake’s ability to bring AI directly to enterprise data, we’re empowering customers to move faster, innovate more freely, and redefine what’s possible through data and AI.”
Indeed AI exposure is widely viewed as a catalyst for Alphabet shares this year and that could deliver material benefits for GGLL. For example, HSBC Global Investment Research has a $370 price target on the internet stock, well above where it trades today.
“AI exposure lifted plenty of boats in 2025 until October when capex budgets and financing needs got ahead of first stage revenues. We retain our view that AI is showing the initial stages of a megacycle, considering the pace of AI development and the expected potential positive impact on productivity on a USD110trn+ [trillion]global GDP,” according to the research firm.
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