Managing a portfolio of stocks requires many things not the least of which is discipline.

Discipline to adhere to the rules of combat.

Discipline to respect the signals generated.

Discipline to acknowledge our emotional frailties.

There are many things we need to consider and control to manage a portfolio of stocks and sometimes this can seem daunting. Having the will and desire to achieve this means finding a process that works and being diligent in the execution no matter the outer forces that try to distract us from our task.

The aim of the Stockradar strategy is to make money in a bull market and to keep you safe in a bear market.

We enjoy bull markets because there are lots of trends to capitalise on and bear markets, well, we endure them as best as we can. After the GFC trends ran higher for a long time, after Covid the market spring back was sudden and herculean, and after the 2022 slugfest we are still looking for a bull and despite the bearish outlook. This characteristic can be very typical both of which characterised the aftermath of the GFC and Covid when markets both recovered in different ways.

To be prepared for any spring back or the shape any recovery from here will take our strategy is to always take signals in the face of any sentiment knowing full well the recovery will always surprise us and be well under way before we are aware it is happening. We need to be well prepared and listening to the press does not help. We need to make our own decisions.

Underlying this premise is a performance history that tells us the upswings are bigger and longer than downswings. Downswings happen and that’s a fact a strategy must be able to tolerate and that is proven by the overall performance results. Not 6 months, not a year, but more like 5 years.

The downswings we know happen at a rate of 10% every 2 years, 15-20% every 5 years and 30-50% every 10years. The GFC and Covid have reminded us of that and that was a span of about 14 years, so the figures are never exact. If they were …..life would be easy and there is our challenge. To discover and unearth a way around it. What strategy can we find to manage these swings successfully. Having had 2 extensive declines since 2020 of 33% and 12% and that puts the odds of the bull returning soon, and unexpectedly.

Our portfolio service runs the gauntlet of the bear as we hunt the bull and, in the end, we come out on top. So, keep your expectations in the right place and under understand that bears exist so bulls can run rampant, which they do we, just have to be a little patient sometimes.