Learn the Discipline

Learn the Discipline Model Portfolio Summary - Week Thirteen All the positions opened since March 10 are listed in the table below. Positions prior to March 10 are listed in prior posts which can be accessed under Key Topics; Learn the Discipline in the left hand menu. Those new to the blog can find a description in the February 7 post that gives an overview of how the Model Portfolio is being run. You can read it by clicking here: http://chartsignals.blogspot.com/2009/02/coming-next-week_07.html As of Friday May 1 the portfolio is 69.67% invested in stocks. The balance is in cash. This is our highest invested percentage since inception. The portfolio was stopped out of two positions this week: SLGN and GPRO. We entered 12 new stock positions this week: ISRG, LEAP, ALGT, ADBE, ADS, AG, SNA, ATW, SYNA, CAM, GR and BYI. The total value of open stock positions is $116,065.58. The portfolio value increased this week while the SPX rose 11 points. There are now 29 positions that have been open at least four weeks ranging in returns from -1.60 to +65.14%. The longer intermediate term trend in the market is still neutral or sideways. These 29 positions indicate that this intermediate term strategy is working. Since February 2 the portfolio has increased +9.6% while the SPX has risen +6.31%. This is 52% better than the SPX. During that time the SPX has been fully invested while the Model Portfolio has mostly been less than 50% invested until this week. Because the Model Portfolio has been less than fully invested it has been exposed to less market risk than the SPX. On a risk adjusted basis the portfolio is outperforming the SPX by more than 100%. Originally we stated that we would start the portfolio on using stocks and the One Green Arrow Strategy as the core concept behind decisions. We also indicated that we would make modifications. For the first three months those modifications have stayed strictly with stocks. For the first time this week we entered a futures trade long four ES e-mini contracts. The position was in the real time virtual account on April 27 and was open for almost 3 hours. It generated a profit of 10 ES points and after commissions generated a net gain of $1,972. The margin requirement for the trade was $22,500. Moving forward we will look to take similar action when appropriate. Many funds employ this type of strategy when they have large cash balances and use the futures as a temporary but quick way to raise their investment levels to participate in market moves. Intermediate term stock positions will continue to be our primary strategy. I am interested in knowing how many readers are trading or want to trade futures on an intraday basis? If you are interested send me an email and let me know at chartsignals@yahoo.com (click image to enlarge) Cheers...