SOXL vs TQQQ: Which 3x ETF Has Done Better, and Which Falls Harder?

SOXL and TQQQ are two of the most popular 3x ETFs. SOXL, from Direxion, aims for three times the daily move of US chip stocks. TQQQ, from ProShares, aims for three times the daily move of the Nasdaq-100.

Both launched in early 2010, so we can race them almost from day one. We put $10,000 in each at SOXL's first close on 11 March 2010 and followed it to 30 October 2026. That last day matters: chip stocks fell hard, and SOXL lost 24.7% in one session.

SOXL vs TQQQ at a glance

The fees are nearly the same: 0.75% against 0.78%, about $3 a year apart on $10,000. Both funds also pay to borrow the extra 2x, roughly at short-term interest rates. The real difference is what each one holds.

What each one holds

TQQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100: the 100 biggest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq. It's mostly big tech, but it's 100 companies in several industries, from software to shops to drugmakers.

SOXL tracks the NYSE Semiconductor Index: the 30 largest US-listed chip companies. That's one industry. Its five biggest names are Intel (9.61%), AMD (9.29%), Micron (7.95%), Nvidia (7.4%), Broadcom (6.78%). Until 25 August 2021 it tracked the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index, which held much the same companies.

One industry swings harder than a hundred companies spread across several. Since 2010 SOXX, the plain 1x chip ETF, has moved 31% a year against QQQ's 20.7%. Triple both and you land close to SOXL's 92.1% and TQQQ's 61.2%.

What $10,000 became in each

Start with the plain 1x funds. $10,000 in SOXX grew to $348,043, and $10,000 in QQQ to $168,371. Chip stocks did about 2.1 times as well as the Nasdaq-100.

You'd expect the 3x chip fund to win easily, then. It didn't. $10,000 in TQQQ grew to $2.39 million, or 39.0% a year. $10,000 in SOXL grew to $1.28 million, or 33.9% a year. TQQQ ended up with about 1.9 times as much.

SOXL was ahead on only 145 of 4,187 trading days, about 3.5% of the time. Nearly all of them came in two stretches: a few weeks in 2010, and 21 May to 6 July 2026.

That second stretch was spectacular. On 22 June 2026 SOXL was up 616% for the year, and the $10,000 from 2010 was worth $5.01 million. TQQQ's was worth $3.16 million. Then chips turned. Four months later SOXX was 28% below that day's close. SOXL was 74% below it.

Why the better index lost

Both funds reset their leverage every day. They promise 3x today's move, not 3x the move over a year. When the index swings up and down, the daily reset loses a little on every round trip, and the bigger the swings, the bigger the loss. Traders call it volatility decay. Our TQQQ article walks through the maths step by step.

You can see it by comparing each year to three times the 1x fund's return. In 2026 so far, SOXX is up 56.8%. Three times that is 170.4%. SOXL is up 83.4%, 87 points short. TQQQ is 20 points short of three times QQQ.

2026 isn't unusual. In 2024 SOXX rose 12.9% and SOXL lost 12.3%, 51 points short of three times SOXX. In 2020 SOXX rose 52.7% and SOXL 70.0%, against 158.1% for three times the index.

It works the other way in a smooth climb. In 2019 SOXX rose 62.4% and SOXL rose 231.8%, 45 points more than three times SOXX. Decay isn't a fixed charge. It depends on the path. But chips rarely take a smooth path.

SOXL beat TQQQ in 8 of 15 full years. Its good years were bigger, like +231.8% in 2019 and +227.0% in 2023. But its bad years were deeper too, like −48.1% in 2011 and −85.7% in 2022. A fund that loses 86% needs to rise about 599% just to get back.

How far each one fell

This is where the two funds really differ. SOXL has fallen 50% or more from a high seven times since 2010. TQQQ has done it four times, all since 2018.

SOXL's worst was 90.5%, from December 2021 to October 2022. $10,000 at the top fell to about $950. It took 4.2 years, until February 2026, to get back. TQQQ's worst was 81.7% over the same bear market, and it was back by December 2024.

Single days tell the same story. SOXL has had 168 days when it fell more than 10%, and 16 when it fell more than 20%. TQQQ has had 57 and 3. The 24.7% drop on 30 October 2026 was SOXL's 7th-worst day since it launched. TQQQ lost 10.5% the same day.

How often each one lost money

A start date can make any fund look good or bad. So we checked every holding period that starts on any trading day since 2010.

Over one year SOXL lost money 32.3% of the time and TQQQ 17.1%. Over three years it was 13.2% against 3.7%. Over five years almost nothing lost money, but that's because 2010 to 2026 was mostly a huge bull market for both. The next section shows what a 3x fund did in a market that wasn't.

SOXL beat TQQQ in about half of all one-year and three-year periods, and in 54.5% of five-year ones. So it isn't simply the worse fund. It's the more extreme one. When chips run, it wins big. When they don't, it loses big.

What a 3x chip fund would have done in 2000

SOXL has never lived through a long chip crash. The last one was the dot-com bust. From 10 March 2000 to 9 October 2002, the PHLX Semiconductor index fell 83.9%.

So we simulated a 3x chip fund over that period. Each day it earns three times the index's move, minus the cost of borrowing and a 0.75% fee. We tuned it so that from 2010 to 2021 it matches SOXL's real growth.

$10,000 put in at the March 2000 peak fell to about $1.07 by October 2002. It's worth about $50 today. It never got back to its 2000 peak: the best it managed afterwards was 1.7% of it. The same $10,000 in the 1x index fell to $1,606, got back above its peak in November 2017 and is worth $80,202 today.

A fall of 84% is survivable at 1x. You need to rise about 6.2 times to get back, and chips eventually did. At 3x the same fall is close to a total loss, and there's almost nothing left to recover from.

What about SOXS and SQQQ?

SOXS and SQQQ are the −3x mirrors. They rise when the index falls, so some traders use them to bet on a drop or to hedge. Held through a rising market, they've been close to worthless. $10,000 in SQQQ from March 2010 is worth about $0.06 today. $10,000 in SOXS is worth less than a cent. SOXS has needed 10 reverse splits to keep its share price up, and SQQQ 8.

Outside the US

Many brokers outside the US won't sell you US-listed ETFs like SOXL and TQQQ. In the UK and Europe, retail investors can't usually buy them at all. WisdomTree lists similar products in London: the WisdomTree PHLX Semiconductor 3x Daily Leveraged (3SEM in dollars, 3SMC in pounds) and the WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Daily Leveraged (QQQ3). They also reset daily, so everything in this article applies to them too. Check what your broker offers and what the product's fact sheet says.

The risks

• You can lose almost everything. SOXL fell 90.5% from late 2021 to late 2022, and 74.4% in four months of 2026. In a long crash like 2000, a 3x fund can fall more than 99%.
• Decay is real in choppy markets. A year when the index ends up can still be a losing year at 3x, as SOXL showed in 2024.
• They're built for days, not years. Both funds aim for 3x the index's move each day. Over any longer period, your return can be well above or well below 3x the index's.
• SOXL is one industry. Chip stocks move together, so there's nothing in the fund to cushion a bad quarter for chips.

So which one?

If you want 3x exposure and you're choosing between these two, TQQQ has the better record and the gentler ride. It still fell 81.7% from late 2021 to the end of 2022. "Gentler" is relative.

SOXL makes sense only if you have a strong view on chips and you plan to watch it closely. Its winning stretches are huge, but so are its losses, and they arrive fast. 2026 showed both in the space of four months.

For most people the plain 1x funds are the better choice: SOXX or SMH for chips, QQQ for the Nasdaq-100. They've still grown $10,000 into $348,043 and $168,371 since 2010, without a 90% fall along the way.