It is only approximately the same as the 3x leveraged rebalance every day so that you will have exactly the 3x daily performance. In a sideways market you will lose slightly because of rebalancing losses, however if the market will go up over a longer period, you will generate more profit due to daily compounding. Also if the market goes down a lot, you will lose less as your loss is limited to the value of the ETF which is 3x smaller than a similar position of unleveraged ETFs.
I think that such 3x leveraged strategies are much safer than unleveraged strategies if you do not leverage your portfolio. This would mean that you only invest 1/3rd in a 3x leveraged strategy and have 2/3rd in the money market where you get normal interest.