A Dead Simple 2-Asset Portfolio that Crushes the S&P500 (Part 3)

A Dead Simple 2-Asset Portfolio that Crushes the S&P500 (Part 3)

Recap

This is an update to the original blog series that explored a simple strategy of being long UPRO and TMF in equal weight, inverse volatility and inverse-inverse volatility. This strategy crushed the cumulative and risk-adjusted returns of the benchmark SPY etf. However through our research we determined that this strategy is heavily dependent on the correlation between the two assets. This strategy works best when correlations are positive and prices are trending positively, however, theoretically it is most stable when correlations are negative. Previously we determined the strategy is most exposed when correlations are positive or rising and prices are declining. The problem is that we don’t know ex-ante if, during periods of increasing correlations, prices will trend up or down, which exposes our capital to large risks. In the past I eluded to a potential workable solution to this issue. In this blog post and associated materials we will explore some potential solutions to this problem.

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COMPOSITE MACRO ETF WEEKLY ANALYTICS (5/14/2016)

COMPOSITE MACRO ETF WEEKLY ANALYTICS (5/14/2016)

NOTABLE OBSERVATIONS AND TRENDS:

  • The healthcare composite has been a bottom 3 performer across all time frames. 
  • The Oil+Gas composite has been strong recently as a top 3 performer L/63, L/21, and L/10 days.
  • The Large Cap composite is essentially unchanged over the L/252 and L/126 days.
  • PMM has continued to outperform. The long gold and gold producers trade has been the trade of the year.
  • PMM is up 60% (log returns) over L/126 days!
  • An anecdotal observation: When every composite is all positive(negative) returns over the L/63 days or less, there has been a tendency for the markets to mean revert. Notice the return range compression for both best/worst performers over L/10 days. Seems like there is either a lack of catalysts or indecision among market participants. 
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COMPOSITE MACRO ETF WEEKLY ANALYTICS (4/30/2016)

COMPOSITE MACRO ETF WEEKLY ANALYTICS (4/30/2016)

NOTABLE OBSERVATIONS AND TRENDS:

  • The explosive performance of the Precious Metals Miners (PMM) and Precious Metals (PM) composites this year makes me consider that market participants are expecting "unexpected" inflation.
  • The "unexpected" inflation theory is supported by the outperformance of the Oil/Gas and Energy composites over the L/63, L/21, and L/10 trading days.
  • Composite performance over the L/63 trading days is intriguing. It is the only time frame in which none of the composites had negative performance.
  • I still find it somewhat surprising that the Correlation Clustermap (Dendrogram) shows that T-Bonds, PMM, PM are closely correlated with each other offering diversification vs the other composites from the L/126 days onwards. 
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Exploring the Relationship Between SPY and TLT

Exploring the Relationship Between SPY and TLT

In this post I examine the relationship between the SPY and TLT ETFs. This can be considered Part 2.5 of my series exploring the 2-Asset Leveraged ETF portfolio of UPRO and TMF. Thus far I've posted results of the strategy using two implementations: "Inverse Risk-Parity" and "Risk-Parity". I've also covered some key concepts behind investing in leveraged ETFs including convexity, and beta-slippage/decay. Now we can explore the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy.

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