Reader GH had an interesting comment about the effectiveness of sell stops: I’m afraid that the sell-stop methodology is going to become a problem for investors. In my view it is going to start a new trend of “churning.” Churning used to exist when an advisor traded a client’s account excessively. Now churning is going to define the behavior of …
A Shrinking (Fund) Universe
With ETFs being the investment choice for many investors and advisors alike, it should come as no surprise that the Mutual Fund Universe is shrinking amid bear market hangover: Call it survival of the fittest, or a thinning of the herd. On the heels of a vicious bear market, mutual fund closures and mergers are on the rise. The pace …
Digging Into More Sell Stop Details
One reader had this question about the use of sell stops: I already own some funds where the most recent high was about 30 days ago and the funds have come down about 2.5 to 4%. If I want to use the 7% trailing stop rule, do I simply take 7% of the high 30 days ago and set that …
Sunday Musings: When Less Is More
Occasionally, I have written about the lack of investment choices in 401k plans. While I manage a number of these, most are with Fidelity and have a wide variety of fund selections although many still have no access to ETFs. Even though ETFs are all the rage, are you really disadvantaged by not having them available? To offer a different …
Two Types Of Whip-Saw Signals
Reader VR posted these comments: I understand there are two ways you can get whip-sawed. One is the big bang event in which the trend line crosses from buy-to-sell-to-buy. The other and more frequent one within the buy cycle is if your fund drops more than a certain percentage points stopping you out and then going back up through the …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 11/12/2009
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpContinued bullishness has the S&P; 500 knocking on its 1,100 level. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs has now crossed its trend line (red) to the upside by +8.45% keeping the current buy signal intact. The effective date was June 3, 2009. The international index has now broken above …