--- title: "With Qualcomm At A Crossroads, These Direxion ETFs Allow You To Play Both Sides" description: "Qualcomm Inc (QCOM) has seen a modest 2.5% stock gain this year, lagging behind the Nasdaq's 7% rise. The company, known for its wireless tech patents, is exploring growth in the automotive and IoT ma" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/248608287.md" published_at: "2025-07-15T11:54:09.000Z" --- # With Qualcomm At A Crossroads, These Direxion ETFs Allow You To Play Both Sides > Qualcomm Inc (QCOM) has seen a modest 2.5% stock gain this year, lagging behind the Nasdaq's 7% rise. The company, known for its wireless tech patents, is exploring growth in the automotive and IoT markets, particularly through its Snapdragon Digital Chassis. However, competition from smartphone manufacturers like Apple, which is moving towards in-house chips, poses challenges. Traders can leverage Direxion ETFs, such as QCMU and QCMD, to speculate on QCOM's performance, though these products carry unique risks and volatility. Arguably, technology stalwart **Qualcomm Inc** QCOM represents one of the more understated enterprises within the broader innovation ecosystem. Since the beginning of this year, QCOM stock gained 2.5%, which is admittedly disappointing. During the same frame, the tech benchmark Nasdaq Composite index moved up nearly 7%. Still, traders are examining all angles to determine their next move. Predominantly, Qualcomm's brand is inextricably tied to wireless tech, holding essential patents in 3G, 4G and now 5G. For many years, this leveraging of intellectual property (IP) has been a lucrative one, effectively forcing major smartphone manufacturers to pay Qualcomm licensing fees to sell their mobile communication products. So long as this paradigm remains intact, the tech giant benefits from royalties, turning the IP unit into a steady, high-margin annuity. Another fundamental catalyst to consider is the upside potential stemming from the automotive market, along with the Internet of Things (IoT). Thanks to the company's Snapdragon Digital Chassis — billed as a unique system that combines all of Qualcomm's automotive innovations into one platform — the automotive sector represents a potential key revenue driver. Areas which Qualcomm can disrupt include infotainment, telematics and driver-assist systems. As well, the company's expansion into edge devices provides a pathway to industrial IoT applications. On a related note, QCOM stock could be a prime beneficiary of artificial intelligence, specifically the shift toward edge AI. This term reflects the concept of AI running directly on devices (such as smartphones, infotainment systems and industrial sensors) instead of being processed in the cloud. It's an arena where Qualcomm shines as it builds smaller, power-efficient chips that can run AI on the edge device itself. Still, not everything is aligned favorably for QCOM stock. Primarily, what has been good for Qualcomm has been a burden for smartphone manufacturers. Earlier this year, **Apple Inc** AAPL took a decisive step toward cutting its ties with Qualcomm by introducing the iPhone 16e C1 chip, an inhouse modem. Other smartphone makers are taking similar steps, putting pressure on Qualcomm's cash cow. It’s also fair to point out that the smartphone market is highly cyclical. Much of Qualcomm's financial performance is dependent on global smartphone shipments, a mature ecosystem and in some regions have experienced decline. Therefore, any slowdown in consumer upgrades or periods of wider economic weakness imposes a headwind on Qualcomm and by deduction QCOM stock. **The Direxion ETFs:** Subsequently, traders have ample opportunity to extract profitability from both sides of the sentiment table. It's here that Direxion exchange-traded funds enter the equation. For the optimistically minded, prospective participants may consider the **Direxion Daily QCOM Bull 2X Shares** QCMU, which tracks 200% of the performance of QCOM stock. For the pessimists, the **Direxion Daily QCOM Bear 1X Shares** QCMD tracks 100% of the inverse performance of the namesake security. In either case, the Direxion ETFs offer a convenient platform for speculation. Typically, those interested in leveraged trades or short positions must engage the options market. However, financial derivative products tend to have complexities that may not be appropriate for all investors. In contrast, Direxion ETFs can be bought and sold like any other public security, thereby mitigating the learning curve. That's not to say, though, that these products are without risk. On the contrary, Direxion ETFs carry unique risk profiles that must be considered before participation. First, leveraged and inverse funds tend to be more volatile than standard ETFs tracking benchmark indices like the S&P 500. Second, these specialized products are designed for one-day exposure. Holding beyond the recommended period may expose investors to value decay due to the daily compounding phenomenon. **The QCMU ETF:** Making its debut late last month, the QCMU ETF has so far gained about 2%, a beneficiary of broader positive tech sentiments. - Given its short history, it's difficult to give a specific technical assessment of the QCMU ETF. - However, the underlying QCOM stock has been charting a rising trend channel since April this year, which may bode well for QCMU. **The QCMD ETF:** Likewise, making its debut in June, the QCMD ETF presents an unusual case by also moving higher, in this case by 3.16%. - The lack of trading history of the QCMD ETF makes providing technical analysis difficult. - Still, momentum in QCOM stock appears to have waned since early this month, which has contributed to QCMD's performance. *Featured i**mage by* *Monoar Rahman Rony* *on* *Pixabay**.* ### Related Stocks - [QCOM.US - Qualcomm](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/QCOM.US.md) - [AAPL.US - Apple](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPL.US.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | 索羅斯逆市加碼微軟及 Nvidia 等科企 新買入黃金股 清倉 4 隻股份 | 索羅斯基金管理公司在 2022 年第四季度加大對微軟、英偉達和蘋果等大型科技股的投資，同時增持黃金股以對衝風險。基金還增持了 Atlassian、Salesforce 和 Uber 等軟體公司股票，但大幅減持了 Snowflake 和 Ci | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275990619.md) | | Axecap Investments LLC 購入了蘋果公司 $AAPL 的股票 | Axecap Investments LLC 在第三季度將其在蘋果公司（NASDAQ:AAPL）的持股增加了 63.8%，在收購了 3,660 股後，現持有 9,393 股。這項投資佔 Axecap 投資組合的 1.5%，價值 239 萬美 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275971418.md) | | 蘋果員工證實：iPhone 16e 庫存已” 乾涸”，17e 發佈進入倒計時 | 蘋果零售員工反饋 iPhone 16e 庫存已基本枯竭，iPad Air 同樣面臨供貨緊張。這一現象通常意味着蘋果正在為新品上市騰出渠道空間，預計 iPhone 17e 和 M4 版 iPad Air 將在未來數週內亮相。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275765809.md) | | 公共部門養老金投資委員會購買了 10,341 股高通公司（QUALCOMM Incorporated）的股票 $QCOM | 公共部門養老金投資委員會在第三季度將其在高通公司（NASDAQ:QCOM）的持股增加了 10%，增持了 10,341 股，總持股達到 113,337 股，價值 1886 萬美元。其他機構投資者也提高了他們的持倉。高通的股票開盤價為 140. | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275975866.md) | | 索羅斯基金管理公司減少了在 Alphabet 的持股，並增加了在蘋果和 Uber 的持股 | 索羅斯基金管理公司在其提交給證券交易委員會的文件中報告了其投資組合的重大變化。該公司將其在 Alphabet 的股份減少了 2.9%，至 639,067 股，將在霍尼韋爾的股份減少了 28.9%，至 71,055 股，並解除對 Klarna | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275951677.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.