I am so tired of misinformed bullshit like this. Plenty of people make money on leveraged ETFs when they were making them money and the bitching only starts when the trade moves against them.
Look, FAS and FAZ and the other leveraged ETFs work just like any form of leverage. Unleveraged, if you buy XYZ at 100 and it goes down 50%, you need XYZ to DOUBLE or go up 100% to just break even. If you lever up, you amplify that risk. Leveraged ETFs get people in trouble because they didn't read the prospectus. Novices assume that the 3X ETF will track the same slope as the underlying index, and that is clearly not the case if you read the prospectus.
If you are trading FAZ< and if the Russell Financial Services Index ($RIFIN) starts at 500, and $FIFIN goes up 3% for 10 straight days, guess what, your FAZ is going to lose MORE than 3X the total percent loss in $RFIN, and if $RFIN goes down 3% for 10 straight days for example, you are going to make more than 3X the total percent loss of $RIFIN.
The % moves in FAZ/FAS are compiunded DAILY based on the move in $RIFIN.
It isn't magic, it isn't flawed, it isn't bad, it isn't good, it is what it is, leverage and leverage is dangerous if you are wrong and profitable if you are right.
Are there safer ways to short the financials. You bet.
Are the leveraged ETFs working as designed? Yes.