LABU targets three times the daily move of the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index. The underlying index is equal-weighted, not market-cap weighted, which matters enormously here: a small clinical-stage company counts as much as a large established one, so the index reflects the whole sector's mood rather than a handful of giants.
Direxion Daily S&P Biotech Bull 3X Shares (LABU) is currently trading at $308.33. Over the past 52 weeks, LABU has traded between a low of $66.95 and a high of $341.93. Recent daily volume is around 353.5K. These figures update live as the market moves.
Swaps on the biotech index, reset daily for 3x exposure. Biotech is already one of the most volatile equity sectors — individual constituents routinely gap 40% or more on trial results — so tripling it produces some of the largest daily ranges available in an ETF wrapper.
Biotech is driven by binary events that have nothing to do with the broader market: clinical trial readouts, FDA decisions, and acquisition announcements. Equal weighting means a cluster of small-cap successes can lift the index while the mega-cap names go nowhere. The sector is also unusually rate-sensitive, because most constituents are valued on cash flows years in the future.
FDA decision dates (PDUFA), major medical conferences such as ASCO and JPMorgan Healthcare, and rate expectations. Biotech often leads risk appetite — when speculative small caps bid, LABU tends to move before the broad index does.