Newsletter

Election volatility October turned out to be a volatile month that ended up negative for most assets classes: The U.S. market lost -2.5%, gold (GLD -0.5%), Treasuries (TLT -3.4%) while the U.S. dollar was flat (UUP +0.1%). Our strategies pretty much followed the market correction with performances ranging from -0.2% to -3.1% for non-leveraged strategies. The HEDGE for this past month was almost half in Gold and half in TLT, so the large drop in … Read more

Election and volatility On September 22th, we received the following message as our main broker increased margin requirements for U.S. stocks: Consequently, to protect (the broker) and its customers, … will increase margin requirements by as much as 35% above normal margin requirements leading up to the November U.S. election. With the increase fully implemented, the new requirements would be 67.5% Initial and 33.75% Maintenance (vs 50% and 25%) In effect, this is similar to … Read more

As a follow-up to the changes implemented last month in response to the delisting of UGLD and ZIV we are implementing again some changes: New 2x leveraged Universal Investment Strategy New 2x leveraged US Market Strategy New Portfolio configuration & reoptimization To keep the newsletter manageable we’ve detailed these changes in a separate post. All strategies positive. Another good month for LI strategies and portfolios, most returning 3-5% for the month of July. July’s notable … Read more

Back to normal? All strategies came in positive for the month with a range of returns from a low of +2.8% to a high of +14.5% for the Maximum Yield strategy. Year-to-date figures are mixed but reasonable around a mean of -2%. The S&P 500 is down -9% while emerging markets (EEM) are down -19%. Looking at the table above, it does not reflect a world where whole economies are frozen, cities are in lockdown, … Read more

First priority – Keep yourself and your family safe We would like to express our sympathy and support to all the families affected by the coronavirus. We wish everyone good health as it is our most valuable asset. Second priority – Keep your portfolios safe a. The Strategies Below are the performances of our strategies and benchmark ETFs since the start of the year. March felt like a never ending roller coaster ride, both in … Read more

Top strategies in January: The Leveraged Universal Investment strategy (3x UIS) up 6.1%. The Maximum Yield Strategy (MYRS) up 4.1%. The  Leverged Gold-Currency Strategy (GLD-USD) strategy up 3.3%. Our 2020 strategy outlook and strategy adjustments A reminder that starting January 1 2020, we have implementing several modifications to our strategies to make them less volatile. The biggest modification concerns the Hedge sub-strategy to ensure proper diversification between equities and multiple safe-haven assets. This worked out … Read more