In a world where financial empowerment is more crucial than ever, navigating the complexities of investment can often feel like deciphering a secret code. But what if you had a powerful tool designed to cut through the noise, offering clarity and control over your financial future? We’re talking about taking charge of your investments, understanding the ‘why’ behind every move, and ultimately, building a portfolio that truly reflects your aspirations. It’s about making your money work smarter for you, without the constant stress of needing to be an expert in every single market nuance. This approach empowers you to move beyond passive observation and actively participate in your financial growth.
At Refinery29, we’re all about giving you the practical advice and smart solutions you need to thrive, and when it comes to managing your money, SectorSurfer’s ‘My Strategies’ page is a game-changer. This isn’t just another platform; it’s your personal hub for intelligent investing, meticulously designed to put sophisticated financial strategies right at your fingertips. Forget the jargon and the endless spreadsheets; we’re here to show you how this intuitive system helps you make informed decisions, whether you’re a seasoned investor or just starting your journey. The focus here is on accessibility and actionable insights, ensuring that you feel confident and capable in your investment choices.
Think of it as your trusted co-pilot, automating the heavy lifting so you can focus on living your life, confident that your investments are working smarter, not just harder. From defining what an investment ‘Strategy’ truly means in this context to unlocking advanced features like ‘Strategy-of-Strategies’ and detailed performance analytics, we’re going to dive deep. Get ready to transform your approach to investing, one smart strategy at a time, by exploring the incredible capabilities of your ‘My Strategies’ page, making your financial goals feel more attainable than ever before. This journey will equip you with the knowledge to leverage powerful tools effectively.
1. **Understanding the Core: What is a Strategy?**
When we talk about a ‘Strategy’ in the SectorSurfer universe, we’re referring to a very specific, powerful concept designed to optimize your investment performance. It’s not just a loose idea of how you want to invest, but a highly structured framework. At its heart, a Strategy is a curated set of up to 12 mutual funds, ETFs, or stocks, carefully selected as potential candidates for your portfolio. This selection forms the foundation of your investment approach, providing the diversified elements needed for dynamic management.
What truly sets a Strategy apart is its accompanying indicator algorithm. This isn’t just a simple rule; it’s a sophisticated system engineered to constantly evaluate the performance of each fund, ETF, or stock within your chosen set. The algorithm’s primary role is to determine which single asset, at any given moment, is ‘currently demonstrating leadership and should be owned.’ This eliminates guesswork and emotional trading, relying instead on data-driven signals to guide your decisions, ensuring you’re always aligned with the strongest performers.
One of the most user-friendly aspects of SectorSurfer is the flexibility it offers in building these Strategies. You have the freedom to browse through a vast array of ‘ready-made Free Strategies and Premium Strategies,’ providing a convenient starting point for many investors. These pre-configured options offer proven methodologies without requiring extensive setup on your part. It’s an excellent way to quickly get started with strategies that have already demonstrated their potential.
However, for those who seek a more personalized touch, the platform empowers you to ‘create your own Custom Strategy’ using the funds of your choice. This feature is particularly invaluable if you’re constrained by specific investment options, such as ‘only those mutual funds offered by a company-sponsored retirement plan.’ This customization ensures that your investment strategy is perfectly aligned with your available resources and personal financial goals, giving you ultimate control over your portfolio’s composition.
2. **The Brain Behind the Brawn: Algorithm Automation**
Indicator algorithms often come with a reputation for being complex, daunting, and incredibly difficult to understand or configure. For many, the mere mention of algorithmic trading conjures images of arcane formulas and advanced coding, making it seem inaccessible to the everyday investor. This perceived barrier can prevent individuals from harnessing powerful tools that could significantly enhance their investment performance.
However, the truly exciting news is that SectorSurfer has completely revolutionized this aspect by ‘totally automated the indicator algorithm configuration for each Strategy.’ This means you don’t have to wrestle with intricate settings or possess a degree in quantitative finance. The system intelligently adapts itself to the unique ‘character of your chosen funds/stocks,’ making sophisticated analysis effortless. It’s a game-changer for anyone looking to optimize their investments without getting bogged down in technical minutiae.
This automation is crucial because there are ‘significant differences in the behavior of mutual funds, bonds, and stocks.’ Consider the stark contrast, for example, between commodities like oil and gold, which react to distinct market forces, and the stocks of companies manufacturing consumer goods. Even within funds, those holding T-bills or certificates of deposit (money market funds) exhibit entirely different characteristics and risk profiles. Each asset class demands a tailored approach to trend analysis and performance evaluation.
SectorSurfer brilliantly addresses this by automatically determining ‘the algorithm and parameters most appropriate for the character of each Strategy.’ This intelligent adaptation is why they proudly declare, “Our computers will do the hard work while you go have a life!” You simply ‘throw a set of funds at it, and SectorSurfer automatically figures out how best to treat them.’ This hands-off yet highly effective approach ensures that your strategies are always operating with optimized, context-aware algorithms, maximizing their potential for success.
3. **Crafting Your Own Path: Making a Custom Strategy**
The ability to create a Custom Strategy is where SectorSurfer truly empowers investors to tailor their financial journey. This isn’t about starting from scratch with complex coding; it’s about seamlessly modifying existing frameworks to fit your specific needs and preferences. A ‘Custom Strategy is simply made by editing any of the ticker symbols in an existing Strategy, adding new ticker symbol to a Strategy, or deleting an existing ticker symbol from a Strategy.’ This flexibility allows you to iterate and refine your portfolio as your investment goals evolve.
Initiating these crucial changes is remarkably straightforward, designed for user-friendliness. All of these actions, whether you’re adding or removing, are ‘initiated by clicking the ticker symbol (or blank) to open the popup window to “Find a Mutual Fund, ETF, or Stock.”‘ This intuitive interface guides you through the process, making it accessible even for those who might feel intimidated by investment platforms. It’s a click-and-select process that puts you in control.
Once the popup window appears, you have powerful search capabilities at your disposal. You can efficiently ‘search by either ticker symbol or by words in its name,’ making it easy to locate specific funds or explore new possibilities. To incorporate your chosen fund into your strategy, you simply ‘click the button’ presented in the window. The same popup also conveniently ‘provides a means to delete the current ticker symbol by clicking’ a dedicated button, streamlining the management of your strategy components.
The platform also offers invaluable real-time information to aid your decision-making. As the context explains, ‘when you place the mouse pointer above a ticker symbol, its name, pertinent hold days, and early trade fees are shown.’ This immediate access to critical details allows for informed choices without needing to navigate away from your strategy creation workflow. It’s a small detail that makes a big difference in efficiency.
Furthermore, SectorSurfer encourages continuous evaluation of your strategy’s development. At each step, you can ‘check its progress by clicking the chart icon,’ providing an immediate visual representation of how your changes might impact performance. For deeper insights into the strategy’s broader characteristics, ‘selecting other properties of the Strategy by clicking the information icon’ is also an option. This iterative feedback loop helps you build a robust and well-understood custom strategy.
4. **The Power of Layers: Making a Strategy-of-Strategies**
For those ready to explore more advanced portfolio construction, SectorSurfer introduces a fascinating concept: the ‘Strategy-of-Strategies.’ This innovative feature allows you to build a sophisticated, multi-layered investment approach by using ‘special ticker symbols to refer to your other Strategies.’ Instead of just selecting individual funds or stocks, you’re now selecting entire pre-defined strategies as components within a larger, overarching strategy. This offers an incredible level of diversification and adaptive management.
Just like a regular SectorSurfer Strategy, this advanced construct operates with the same core principle of identifying leadership. A Strategy-of-Strategies will ‘pick the one, and only one, best performing Strategy from among up to 12 candidates.’ This means your higher-level strategy dynamically allocates capital to the most robust underlying strategy, continuously seeking optimal performance across a diversified set of investment philosophies or asset classes. It’s like having a meta-algorithm guiding your portfolio.
To implement this powerful feature, you’ll use a specific ticker symbol format: ‘SSSnn, for SectorSurferStrategy # nn.’ It’s important to remember that ‘nn does not have a leading zero if it is only a single digit,’ ensuring correct formatting for the system. This standardized approach makes it easy to reference your existing strategies as building blocks for your new, layered investment plan. Furthermore, the system offers flexibility, allowing you to ‘mix normal ticker symbols with the Strategy ticker symbols if you like,’ blending individual assets with strategic blocks.
It’s important to note that while incredibly powerful, ‘A Strategy-of-Strategies does make buy/sell decisions and thus is not a free Strategy.’ This capability, which involves active management and decision-making across multiple underlying strategies, typically requires a subscription. Furthermore, for accurate processing and meaningful results, ‘all referenced Strategies must come before (lower number than) the Strategy-of-Strategies because Strategies are processed sequentially every evening and all referenced Strategies must be processed before the Strategy-of-Strategies.’ This sequential processing ensures that the underlying data and performance for each component strategy are finalized before the higher-level strategy makes its own crucial decisions, highlighting the precision inherent in the platform’s design.
5. **Your Command Center: The My Strategies Page Overview**
Consider the ‘My Strategies’ page your ultimate control center for all things investment on SectorSurfer. This is the dynamic hub where every aspect of your investment strategies comes to life and is meticulously managed. The page is specifically designed as the central point ‘where your investment Strategies are managed and your Trade Alerts are viewed,’ providing a clear, consolidated overview of your entire investment landscape. It’s like having a mission control dashboard for your financial aspirations.
Accessing this powerful page is a straightforward process, ensuring you’re always just a few clicks away from overseeing your portfolio. To navigate there, you simply ‘click the My Account tab on the top menu, and then the My Strategies tab on the second level menu.’ This logical navigation structure makes it easy to locate your strategies quickly, allowing you to spend more time analyzing and less time searching. It’s designed for efficiency, prioritizing your valuable time.
Because the Strategies displayed on this page are uniquely ‘yours alone to manage and edit,’ the platform requires a secure personal space. Therefore, ‘creation of an account and login is required’ to access this personalized management interface. This ensures the privacy and security of your financial data and tailored strategies. The good news is that creating an account is commitment-free, as the context states, ‘there is no cost to do so.’ It’s a simple step to unlock a world of personalized investment management.
For those who prefer a visual and fast-paced learning experience, SectorSurfer highly recommends viewing ‘the short My Strategies Tour video.’ You can easily access this invaluable resource ‘by clicking the video icon to the left’ on the page. This video is specifically designed to ‘quickly demonstrate all of the significant features and functionality of the page and likely save you a lot of time reading detailed instructions and eliminate the frustration of guessing how everything works.’ It’s an efficient way to get up to speed and maximize your use of the platform from day one.
6. **Managing Your Portfolio: Strategy Subscription & Status**
Understanding the status of your strategies is just as important as building them, and SectorSurfer makes this clear right from your ‘My Strategies’ page. In the left column of your Strategies list, you’ll find crucial information: ‘the Strategy number and its subscription payment status.’ This immediate visual cue tells you at a glance whether a particular strategy is active and fully functional, or if it requires attention. It’s a transparent system designed for easy oversight.
To illustrate, the platform provides ‘Three examples are shown for Strategy #1,’ clarifying the different statuses you might encounter. The first clearly indicates ‘that it is a FREE Strategy that will never require a subscription fee to receive email Trade Alerts and see the most recent trade.’ These free strategies are an excellent way to get started and experience the platform’s core benefits without financial commitment, offering valuable insights without cost.
The subsequent two examples pertain to Premium Strategies, which offer enhanced features and capabilities. For these, a ‘paid subscription to receive email Trade Alerts and see the most recent trade’ is necessary. The ‘PAID’ status confirms that ‘the subscription fee has been paid,’ ensuring you receive all the benefits. Conversely, ‘NOT PAID’ signals ‘that either the subscription fee has not been paid or that the subscription has lapsed,’ which unfortunately disables your ability to ‘see the most recent trade’ and receive critical alerts.
Should you encounter a ‘NOT PAID’ status, the platform provides a simple solution to quickly rectify the situation. To fix any ‘subscription problem, click the button that appears on the page and follow the instructions.’ This user-friendly prompt guides you through the process of reactivating your subscription, ensuring uninterrupted access to your premium strategy’s insights and trade alerts. It’s a seamless way to maintain continuous monitoring and management of your valuable investment strategies.
Mastering Your Trades: Performance Analysis, Customization, and Advanced Data Tools
Now that you’ve got a handle on building and managing your core strategies, it’s time to dive into the truly empowering features that help you fine-tune your approach and achieve peak performance. The ‘My Strategies’ page is more than just a list; it’s a dynamic workspace designed to give you unparalleled control and insight. From expanding your investment horizons to dissecting historical trade signals and visualizing your success, we’re going to unlock the next level of intelligent investing together. Get ready to gain a deeper understanding of how your strategies are working and how to make them even stronger.
7. **Expanding Your Horizon: Adding Strategies to Your List**
Your personal ‘My Strategies’ page isn’t just about the strategies you build from scratch; it’s a bustling hub that can hold up to 30 ‘Active Strategies,’ which are the ones that send you those crucial Trade Alerts and may require a subscription. But wait, there’s more! You also get up to 20 ‘Sandbox Strategies’ designed for all your experimental evaluation needs. These experimental strategies won’t send alerts or require fees, making them perfect for testing new ideas without commitment.
There are three super straightforward ways to populate your list and start exploring new investment avenues. First off, you can ‘Select ready-made Strategies’ by simply clicking the Strategy icon. This opens a handy popup window where you can browse and choose from a curated selection, adding them to your list with a quick click. It’s an excellent way to discover proven methodologies without the heavy lifting.
Then, for those times when a friend shares a brilliant strategy or you’ve found one externally, you can ‘Import a Strategy using a Strategy-ID.’ Just click that Strategy icon again, paste the ID into the text box, and voilà – it’s instantly part of your portfolio. Sharing is caring, and SectorSurfer makes it effortless to pass on valuable insights. To send a Strategy-ID to a friend, you simply ‘click the Information icon to find the Strategy-ID, then copy and paste it into an email.’
And for the ultimate in personalization, you can always ‘Assemble your own Custom Strategy.’ This involves clicking those familiar ticker symbol positions within your Strategy List, then picking from ‘many thousands of mutual funds, ETFs, or index stocks’ that pop up. This flexibility ensures your strategies truly reflect your unique investment philosophy and financial goals, giving you complete control over your financial narrative.
Beyond just adding them, the platform gives you a snapshot of each strategy’s potential with ‘three brief performance measures shown below its name.’ You’ll see its ‘Score,’ which is a measure of risk-adjusted return, its ‘Safety,’ which gauges return severely punished by large drawdowns, and the ‘Max Drawdown’ over any 2-year rolling period. These quick insights help you understand a strategy’s profile at a glance, empowering you to make informed decisions.
8. **Deciphering the Past: Viewing Trade Signal History**
Understanding the journey your strategies have taken is key to truly mastering your investment approach. That’s why SectorSurfer provides a comprehensive ‘Trade Signal History,’ easily accessible by ‘clicking the History icon’ for any given strategy. This isn’t just a dry list of numbers; it’s a narrative of every decision point, offering invaluable insights into how the algorithm has performed over time.
It’s important to remember that the ‘Trade Signal History’ should ‘not be confused with the Actual Trade History found in the Trade Information section of the page.’ While both are vital, the Trade Signal History is a window into ‘what the Strategy algorithm says one should have done to achieve the results portrayed on the charts.’ It’s the theoretical blueprint of success, showing you the optimal moves the strategy would have made.
This detailed list lays out ‘the entire history of trade signals, days held, performance for each holding compared to the S&P 500 and the cumulative value for both the Strategy and S&P 500 had you invested $10,000 in each at the start of the available data for the Strategy.’ Imagine seeing how a hypothetical $10,000 investment would have grown, benchmarked against a market standard, providing a clear picture of relative performance.
When ‘StormGuard directs you to move to the safety of a money market fund,’ the generic symbol ‘$CASH’ is used. This is because not everyone has access to the same money market funds, and frankly, they are all ‘pretty much like “peas in a pod,” so whatever your brokerage has available will work just fine.’ It’s a practical, universally applicable signal designed to protect your assets during market downturns.
For those who love to dive deep into data, SectorSurfer has you covered. At the bottom of this historical listing, you can effortlessly ‘click the button to download a CSV (comma separated variables) spreadsheet of all the important Strategy statistics and trade signal history.’ This means you can take your analysis offline, crunch numbers, and integrate the data into your personal financial models, offering an unparalleled level of transparency and control.
However, a common pitfall in interpreting this data is assuming ‘that each line reports performance associated with the BUY fund.’ The correct way to look at it is that each line ‘reports the status on the date found in the left-hand column.’ So, on the ‘Trade Signal Date,’ you’ve only just bought the BUY fund, meaning the ‘performance data reported relates to the SELL fund.’ A helpful reminder of this is the fourth column title, “Days Held (fund sold),” ensuring you always interpret the information accurately.
9. **Visualizing Success: Strategy Performance Charts**
Numbers tell a story, but visuals truly bring it to life, especially when it comes to understanding your investment performance. SectorSurfer’s ‘Strategy Performance Charts’ are your go-to for a dynamic, comprehensive overview, accessible by ‘clicking its Chart icon.’ These aren’t just pretty pictures; they’re powerful analytical tools, designed to give you a holistic view of risk and return at a glance.
What makes these charts so impressive is their ‘seven-in-one’ design, packing a wealth of information into a single view. You get ‘five separate charted measures of risk and return performance,’ ensuring you have all the data points you need for a thorough evaluation. And here’s a neat trick: ‘fresh charts are made within a few seconds whenever you make a change to a Strategy,’ allowing for instant feedback on your adjustments. They are also ‘produced during daily data update processing,’ ‘when a Strategy is imported to your list,’ and ‘when you change a fund in the Strategy or change its Minimum Hold Time,’ keeping your insights always current.
At the heart of these visuals is the ‘logarithmic price chart,’ a standout feature because its ‘vertical interval spacing provides the same percentage change for each interval.’ This means you can accurately compare growth trajectories regardless of their starting point, making it easier to see true proportional gains. On this chart, ‘performance is measured relative to its price at the start of the chart — hence everything starts at 0.0% return on the left side and goes from there,’ providing a normalized view of progress.
This logarithmic chart thoughtfully plots ‘all of the Strategy’s constituent funds along with the S&P 500 Index plotted in white and the SectorSurfer’s results plotted in yellow.’ This visual comparison is incredibly powerful, allowing you to instantly gauge your strategy’s performance against individual components and a major market benchmark. Plus, you can customize your view by clicking one of the blue buttons in the lower right, toggling between ‘3-Years, 10-Years, and Max-Years’ time scales, giving you the flexibility to examine short-term fluctuations or long-term trends.
Directly below this insightful price chart, you’ll find the ‘annualized return bar chart.’ This provides a clear side-by-side comparison of ‘the annualized return (average yearly return) performance of the Strategy to the S&P 500 Index over the most recent 3-Years, 10-Years, and Max-Years.’ The numerical values for SectorSurfer’s performance for each period are conveniently located below their corresponding bars, eliminating any guesswork.
And for the financially savvy, the charts include the ‘Sharpe Ratio measure of risk.’ This critical metric, named after Nobel laureate William Sharpe, is widely used to evaluate ‘an investment’s added return over that of a very safe money market fund relative to the higher investment risk taken.’ It helps you understand if the extra risk you’re taking is truly paying off. Rounding out this powerful visualization are ‘the 10-year maximum drawdown,’ ‘the probability of loss of real money,’ ‘the relative trend strength for each fund in the Strategy,’ and the vital ‘StormGuard Indicator,’ offering a holistic view of your strategy’s health and potential.
10. **Fine-Tuning Your Approach: Strategy Information & Minimum Hold Time**
Your strategies are unique, and SectorSurfer provides the tools to reflect that individuality through the ‘Strategy Information popup window.’ This is where you can personalize and fine-tune various aspects of your investment plans, ensuring they align perfectly with your financial journey. To access it, you simply ‘click the Information icon’ next to your strategy’s name, opening up a world of customization options.
Within this handy popup, you’ll find essential elements like ‘Strategy Name editing,’ so you can rename it to ‘something meaningful to you,’ making your portfolio organization a breeze. There’s also ‘Strategy Notes editing,’ which is perfect for jotting down reminders about ‘which investment account this Strategy is meant to control.’ You can also assign a ‘Strategy Classification to indicate the investment style,’ though this is ‘for your reference only’ and ‘does not affect the Strategy,’ serving purely as an organizational aid.
One of the most powerful customization features is the ‘Strategy Minimum Hold Time.’ This crucial parameter gives you control over ‘when a Trade Alert can be issued,’ making your strategies compliant with various regulations or personal preferences. Whether it’s a specific fund requirement or an investment plan’s mandate, this setting helps you navigate the rules with ease and precision.
SectorSurfer understands that different funds come with different rules. For instance, ‘most mutual funds and ETFs have no minimum hold time,’ but ‘Fidelity Sector Funds all have a 30-day minimum hold time with a 0.75% early trading fee,’ and ‘Fidelity International Funds have a 90-day minimum hold time with a 1.5% early trading fee.’ Even ‘529 College Savings Plans have a one-year government mandated minimum hold time.’ The platform intelligently helps you stay compliant by noting if it has this information for your fund in the ‘Find-A-Fund popup window’ or in the screen tip when you hover over a ticker symbol.
SectorSurfer offers ‘seven choices for the Strategy Minimum Hold Time,’ providing you with granular control over trade alert timing. Options range from ‘Trade Automatic,’ which intelligently considers fund-specific hold times and trades at month-end, to ‘Trade Any Day,’ ‘Trade Weekend,’ ‘Trade Month End,’ and conditional options like ‘Trade if >30 days,’ ‘Trade if > 60 days,’ ‘Trade if > 90 days,’ ‘Trade if > 6 months,’ and ‘Trade if > 1 year.’ These choices allow you to tailor your strategy’s responsiveness to your precise needs and external constraints.
We highly recommend the ‘Trade Automatic’ setting, and there’s a good reason for it! Not only does it ‘watch out for special hold time rules for funds,’ but it also ‘trades month-end, which almost always performs better than Trade Any Day.’ This is because ‘trend signals actually do become more reliable around the end of the month when many fund managers start making next month’s changes,’ giving you a subtle but significant edge. It’s all about working smarter with the market’s natural rhythm.
It’s important to be aware that ‘changing Minimum Hold Time will cause the algorithm to re-evaluate and determine what the best parameters are for the Strategy.’ This means it ‘could result in using a longer or shorter trend measurement period, and consequently a possible change in the one designated as the trend leader.’ The system dynamically adapts, ensuring your strategy remains optimized even after you make adjustments to its holding period.
11. **Beyond the Basics: Fund/Stock Ticker Symbols & Data**
At the core of any successful investment strategy are the assets you choose, and SectorSurfer makes selecting and managing these funds and stocks incredibly user-friendly. Just as you learned when crafting a custom strategy, ‘clicking the position of a ticker symbol’ brings up the ‘Find a Fund, ETF or Stock popup window,’ which is your gateway to a vast universe of investment opportunities. Here, you can search efficiently ‘by either ticker symbol or by words in its name,’ making it simple to pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for.
When it comes to ‘Mutual Funds & ETFs,’ you have an impressive selection of ‘in excess of 12,000’ options to choose from. SectorSurfer is continuously expanding this list, and they encourage you to ‘contact us if there is a mutual fund or ETF that is important to you but is not on the list.’ However, there’s a crucial requirement: the fund must have ‘at least 3 years of data.’ This isn’t arbitrary; it’s because ‘SectorSurfer’s algorithm cannot properly characterize a fund that has not seen a variety of market conditions,’ protecting you from ‘the possibility of unexpected Strategy behavior in the future.’ It’s about building a robust foundation, not just chasing the latest fad.
Similarly, for ‘U.S. Stocks,’ the database, sourced from FastTrack, contains ‘well over 3,000’ stocks from the three major exchanges (NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ), including many foreign stocks listed as ADRs. The same ‘3 years of data’ requirement applies here, ensuring that any stock you include has a sufficient history for the algorithm to properly analyze its character across different market cycles. This disciplined approach is fundamental to creating truly reliable strategies.
It’s worth noting that every time you make a change, the platform works hard behind the scenes. ‘Each time you change one of the ticker symbols, SectorSurfer will re-make your Strategy chart so you can immediately see the effect of your changes.’ This real-time feedback is invaluable for understanding the impact of your decisions. This re-optimization process ‘could result in using a longer or shorter trend measurement period’ because ‘determining the trend leader depends heavily on the period of time over which the trend is measured,’ illustrating the intelligent adaptability of the system.
12. **Modeling with Precision: Extended History Ticker Symbols**
Sometimes, the biggest challenge in truly understanding an investment’s long-term potential isn’t about finding the right fund, but about finding enough historical data. If you’ve ever tried to model a strategy using newer ETFs like IEF or TLT, you might have noticed their data doesn’t stretch back far enough to cover significant market events like the 2001-2002 crash. This data gap can leave you with an incomplete picture, making it tough to gauge true resilience. Even more recent funds, like the UBT (2x treasury ETF) with data starting in 2010, make it impossible to model performance during earlier downturns.
But here’s where SectorSurfer’s ingenuity shines: ‘One solution to the problem of satisfactory modeling is to create artificially extended versions of important modeling symbols.’ Imagine having the power to fill in those historical gaps! Some symbols are extended by ‘adding on older data portions taken from another fund that can act as a proxy’ for earlier periods. This sophisticated technique allows for more accurate historical analysis, providing a deeper understanding of how a strategy *would* have performed through various market conditions.
When it comes to ‘Leveraged 2x and 3x ETFs,’ extending their data requires a bit more nuance. You can’t just apply a simple scale factor of 2x or 3x, as ‘these ETFs have other characteristics that require a scale factor somewhat less than would be expected from its name.’ This is largely due to ‘volatility, which causes daily rebalanced ETFs to decay over time.’ SectorSurfer meticulously derives these scale factors from ‘actual performance comparisons during generally rising markets,’ ensuring the extended data is as accurate and representative as possible for modeling purposes.
To help you easily identify these enhanced data sources, ‘These extended ticker symbols have a “-” added to them to indicate they are extended versions.’ The platform provides a comprehensive list, including names like ‘TLT- Treasury, 20+ Year’ with data extending back to 1988, long before its original launch date. This empowers you to build strategies with a truly robust historical perspective, crucial for sound decision-making.
SectorSurfer even offers tactical tips for using these extended symbols effectively. For example, ‘One of the better uses for the long-term treasury ETFs is with StormGuard as the Bear Market Symbol.’ Instead of defaulting to $CASH during a downturn, you can receive a trade alert to ‘buy the specified Bear Market Symbol’ like TLT-. Since ‘long-term treasuries are negatively correlated to the S&P 500,’ this strategy can often lead to ‘a bit of a performance improvement,’ offering a more active defense during bear markets.
For those designing strategies involving mainstream ETFs, ‘The 1x ETFs in the pink section were extended to provide better Strategy modeling in conjunction with Strategies using SPY, MDY, and the original SPDR sector ETFs.’ This ensures consistency and depth of historical analysis across your portfolio components. Similarly, ‘The 2x leveraged ETFs in the grey section and the 3x leveraged ETFs in the orange section were extended to have a common start date of 1/2/2004,’ ensuring that all components can ‘participate in the initial tuning of the Strategy,’ preventing skewed results from uneven data histories.
Finally, a word to the bold: ‘The VIX futures contract ETNs in the bottom section aren’t for the faint of heart.’ While SectorSurfer posts example strategies like “A Nose for VIX” that have shown ‘strong returns,’ they also come with ‘quite high’ volatility. This pushes the boundaries between traditional investing and something more akin to ‘gambling.’ It’s a powerful reminder that while SectorSurfer gives you the tools, understanding the nature of your investments is paramount. Always empower yourself with knowledge and choose strategies that align with your comfort level and financial goals.
In this journey through SectorSurfer’s ‘My Strategies’ page, we’ve explored how to not only build and manage powerful investment strategies but also how to truly master them. From intelligently adding new strategies to deciphering historical performance, visualizing success with dynamic charts, and customizing your approach with precise hold times and extended data, you now have a comprehensive toolkit. This platform is designed to give you the clarity, control, and confidence to navigate the investment landscape, making your financial aspirations a tangible reality. It’s about empowering you to be an active, informed participant in your financial future, transforming complex data into actionable insights and turning your investment goals into smart, strategic achievements. The power to build a more secure and prosperous future is truly at your fingertips.
