TSLL Sees Largest-Ever Outflow After Tesla’s Robotaxi Test
- Investors pulled more than $500 million from the leveraged fund on Monday.
- The move suggests some traders were taking profits and selling the news.
- TSLA dips Tuesday after federal transportation agency notes concerning robotaxi incidents.
Tesla’s long-awaited robotaxi debut finally arrived, but investors aren’t sure what to make of it.
Over the weekend, Tesla Inc. (TSLA) began offering autonomous rides to select customers in Austin, Texas. The pilot program is limited in scope, including a dozen or so vehicles operating in a small part of the city. Each car includes a safety monitor in the front passenger seat, and Tesla is reportedly using remote teleoperators to oversee activity.
Despite the tightly controlled nature of the rollout, Tesla shares jumped 8.2% on Monday, their best one-day gain since April. The leveraged Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (TSLL) surged 16.4%.
But the rally didn’t last.
Robotaxi Traffic Trouble
On Tuesday, shares of Tesla slipped 2%, and TSLL dropped 4%, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was aware of social media posts showing concerning incidents involving the robotaxis.
In one video, a Tesla robotaxi briefly drove on the wrong side of the road—though no oncoming traffic was present. Other clips showed the vehicles exceeding posted speed limits.
The incidents raised fresh questions about whether Tesla’s driverless technology is ready for primetime and whether it can scale beyond this tightly managed pilot.
CEO Elon Musk has long promised a future filled with autonomous Teslas, even suggesting millions of cars could drive themselves by the end of the year. But he’s made similarly bold predictions in the past.
Investors are watching closely. The success or failure of Tesla’s robotaxi push could be critical in justifying its sky-high valuation.
Rival Waymo, majority owned by Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), already operates more than 1,500 fully driverless vehicles in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin. Its approach is fundamentally different, relying on a mix of cameras, lidar and radar. But it’s geofenced, meaning it can only operate in pre-mapped, well-tested areas.
Tesla’s bet is that a camera-only approach will be cheaper and more scalable, eventually allowing its vehicles to drive anywhere. But whether that approach can actually scale, and do so safely, remains to be seen.
For now, the small test is an encouraging sign for bulls. But it’s far from the definitive proof investors need.
TSLL Sees Profit-Taking
Some investors seem to be hedging their bets. On Monday, they pulled a record $524 million from TSLL, the largest outflow in the ETF’s three-year history. The move suggests some traders were taking profits and selling the news of the robotaxi launch.
Still, TSLL remains the largest single-stock ETF on the market, with $7.4 billion in assets. It's pulled in $3.4 billion of inflows since the start of the year, even after accounting for Monday's outflows.
However, performance has been dismal. Shares are down 50% so far in 2025, compared to a 15% loss for Tesla stock, underscoring the risks associated with leveraged ETFs.
