Portfolios

Changes to Playground and Sandbox portfolio.

The porfolios did relatively well for 2024. Both SleepWell and Insomniac both performed as expected from their past returns. The Playground suffered some trouble keeping up in the later half of the year. It still has had a decent year but compared to the S&P 500(24.01%) and NASDAQ(30.78%) it underperformed on raw returns. However drawdowns were more contained and managable.

Additions to Playground portfolio.

Changes to Playground portfolio.

Description

This portfolio employs a strategic approach to buying and selling positions in an attempt to outperform a simple buy-and-hold strategy. It presents a viable alternative and complement to long-term position investors, offering favorable exposure characteristics.

The portfolio does not allocate its entire allocation to the market at all times but selectively acquires and sells positions on a daily basis. At times, only one or two positions may be held, but this can rapidly increase if favorable market conditions arise.

Subsequently, this strategy incorporates a small collection of four complementary strategies for acquiring index-related equities and selecting leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The following ETFs are used:

The graph above represents the portfolio growth in recent history.

In the Details section below, the Assets tab shows the range that each asset’s allocation can achieve. This allocation can change on a monthly basis as the portfolio adjusts itself. On the Trades tab is the historic trading record. Note though, the profit column indicates the profit to that one trade and not the portfolio as a whole.

Total position allocation is set to 90.00% of account

Why

Control and Autonomy

Choosing self-directed investing, helps fill the desire to control one’s financial future. Many feel somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of a portfolio manager or fiduciary having significant control over their financial assets. This discomfort stems from the perception that external managers may not fully align with their personal financial goals and risk tolerance.

Empirical Decision-Making

Managing investments using empirical data to aid in decision-making has benefits. Using independent analysis, research, and data-driven decision-making to construct and manage investment portfolios can create a risk and performance profile that is more appealing.

On Starting

The two portfolios, Playground and SleepWell attempt to achieve different objectives.

Description

This portfolio employs a strategic approach to buying and selling positions in an attempt to outperform a simple buy-and-hold strategy. It presents a viable alternative and complement to long-term position investors, offering favorable exposure characteristics.

The portfolio does not allocate its entire allocation to the market at all times but selectively acquires and sells positions on a daily basis. At times, only one or two positions may be held, but this can rapidly increase if favorable market conditions arise.

Subsequently, this strategy incorporates a small collection of four complementary strategies for acquiring index-related equities and selecting leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The following ETFs are used:

The graph above represents the portfolio growth in recent history.

In the Details section below, the Assets tab shows the range that each asset’s allocation can achieve. This allocation can change on a monthly basis as the portfolio adjusts itself. On the Trades tab is the historic trading record. Note though, the profit column indicates the profit to that one trade and not the portfolio as a whole.

Total position allocation is set to 90.00% of account

Description

This portfolio employs a strategic approach to buying and selling positions in an attempt to outperform a simple buy-and-hold strategy. It presents a viable alternative and complement to long-term position investors, offering favorable exposure characteristics.

The portfolio does not allocate its entire allocation to the market at all times but selectively acquires and sells positions on a daily basis. At times, only one or two positions may be held, but this can rapidly increase if favorable market conditions arise.

Subsequently, this strategy incorporates a small collection of four complementary strategies for acquiring index-related equities and selecting leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The following ETFs are used:

The graph above represents the portfolio growth in recent history.

In the Details section below, the Assets tab shows the range that each asset’s allocation can achieve. This allocation can change on a monthly basis as the portfolio adjusts itself. On the Trades tab is the historic trading record. Note though, the profit column indicates the profit to that one trade and not the portfolio as a whole.

Total position allocation is set to 90.00% of account

Description

This portfolio employs a strategic approach to buying and selling positions, aiming to outperform a conventional buy-and-hold strategy for the general market with reduced volatility. Essentially, it operates similarly to SleepWell but incorporates leveraged assets. This ETF presents a viable alternative and complementary option for long-term position investors who may have idle cash that requires active management.

Similar to SleepWell, this portfolio allocates its entire investment to the market at all times but selectively adjusts its allocations on a weekly basis.

Beneath the surface, this portfolio utilizes a momentum indicator to categorize assets and then employs a minimum variance allocation strategy to determine the appropriate size for asset positions. It employs a 6% stop loss on the portfolio but will re-enter at the next signal or the commencement of week trading.

The following ETFs are utilized, the majority of which are leveraged:

The use of UUP is mostly done to allow the strategy to find a neutral stance. Cash could be used here but over history UUP is better.

The graph above represents the equity from following the portfolio in the past.

In the Details section below, the Assets tab shows the range that each asset’s allocation can achieve. On the Trades tab is the historic trading record. Note though, the profit column indicates the profit to that one trade and not the portfolio as a whole.

Total position allocation is set to 95.00% of account