Rafferty Asset Management, the advisor to the Direxion family of mutual funds, entered the ETF market with a bang on Wednesday. The firm registered 34 ETFs, all of which would aim to deliver 3x the daily return (or inverse) of various market indexes. The ETFs, which would trade under the Direxion banner, are as follows:

Domestic Market

• Dow 30 Bear 3X Shares (Dow 30 Index)
• Dow 30 Bull 3X Shares (Dow 30 Index)
• Mid Cap Bear 3X Shares (S&P Mid Cap 400 Index)
• Mid Cap Bull 3X Shares (S&P Mid Cap 400 Index)
• Nasdaq-100 Bear 3X Shares (NASDAQ 100 Index)
• Nasdaq-100 Bull 3X Shares (NASDAQ 100 Index)
• Russell 2000 Bear 3X Shares (Russell 2000 Index)
• Russell 2000 Bull 3X Shares (Russell 2000 Index)
• S&P 500 Bear 3X Shares (S&P 500 Index)
• S&P 500 Bull 3X Shares (S&P 500 Index)
• Total Market Bear 3X Shares (MSCI Broad Market Index)
• Total Market Bull 3X Shares (MSCI Broad Market Index)

Developed Market

• Developed Markets Bear 3X Shares (MSCI EAFE Index)
• Developed Markets Bull 3X Shares (MSCI EAFE Index) 
• Japan Bear 3X Shares (Nikkei 225 Index)
• Japan Bull 3X Shares (Nikkei 225 Index)

Developing Market

• BRIC Bear 3X Shares (S&P BRIC 40 Index)
• BRIC Bull 3X Shares (S&P BRIC 40 Index)
• China Bear 3X Shares (FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index)
• China Bull 3X Shares (FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index)
• Emerging Markets Bear 3X Shares (MSCI Emerging Markets)
• Emerging Markets Bull 3X Shares (MSCI Emerging Markets)
• India Bear 3X Shares (Indus India Index)
• India Bull 3X Shares (Indus India Index)
• Latin America Bear 3X Shares (S&P Latin America Index)
• Latin America Bull 3X Shares (S&P Latin America Index)

Sector

• Energy Bear 3X Shares (S&P Energy Select Sector Index)
• Energy Bull 3X Shares (S&P Energy Select Sector Index)
• Financial Bear 3X Shares (S&P Financial Select Sector Index)
• Financial Bull 3X Shares (S&P Financial Select Sector Index)
• Homebuilders Bear 3X Shares (S&P Homebuilding Select Index)
• Homebuilders Bull 3X Shares (S&P Homebuilding Select Index)
• Real Estate Bear 3X Shares (Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index)
• Real Estate Bull 3X Shares (Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index)

Commodity

• Commodity Bear 3X Shares (Morgan Stanley Commodity Index)
• Commodity Bull 3X Shares (Morgan Stanley Commodity Index)

Our take? Call us prudes, luddites, shrinking violets...these are insane. Yeah, they fill a niche, as ETF investors are 'stuck' with ETFs--from ProShares and Rydex--that deliver only 2x the market, or parts thereof, shutting out raging bulls and bears looking to triple their money in one fell swoop. But we'd avoid them.

If you are hellbent on using leveraged products like these, we'd suggest ratcheting up your margin of safety accordingly. For instance, if you'd normally invest in a diversified stock ETF like iShares S&P 500 Index when it's trading at an 8% or greater discount to what you think it's worth, double that margin of safety when you're investing in an ETF that aims to deliver 2x the S&P 500's return (i.e., buy only when the S&P is trading at a 16% or greater discount to what you think it's worth).

One could apply that same calculus to these forthcoming Direxion ETFs. For instance, swoop into Direxion Dow 30 Bull 3x when the Dow is trading at a 24% discount to what you think it's worth, and so forth.

That said, bear in mind that the provider is only offering to deliver twice or thrice the daily return of the index concerned. In other words, if the index gains 10% in a year, you're not guaranteed 20% or 30%. The 2x or 3x math only holds from sunup to sundown. That should tell you something about the intended audience for these products--daytraders and speculators who love to roll the dice.

If you don't fit that profile, stick to the conventional ETFs.