The markets are being volatile this month and previous month, where the CBOE VIX Volatility Index went way above its usual mark to over 30 points.

That was when portfolios should be having some kind of balance, hedging with some strategies so we can minimize the great pluinge on Long positions. In fact if you manage to pull it off well, protecting the Long side equities positions with some Shorts, minimizing to a lost of 0% or greater, that would make your fund very attractive.

With the CBOE VIX index down to below 30, we see a shift in portfolios. Currently this is my current portfolio:

35% Long-Term Equity (6mth – 1yr)
10% Short-Term Equity (1-3mth)
55% High Yield/growth stocks

In fact I should retain a 10% cash in my portfolio, but instead I went all in to be invested 100%. The 55% of dividend Long positions should cover me some of the loses taken during May where I liquidated some of my positions.

If by mid June the market volatility drops, I am looking at lowering the Yields and Short term term while putting more at the Long terms. Staying at cash is a good idea, for the markets can once again go into volatile and mixed mindset again. That’s when Shorts and Hedging strategies will take place again.

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I now run my personal fund, hoping to grow it. Last time I started trading without any directions. I was just like any other noobish trader looking at technical indicators, cutting loss at X%, stupid swing trading, gluing my eye to the tickers, demand and supply volume… those were a thing of the past.

What I have employed now are something very logical and something I had thought of when I started trading. And all thanks to my old brokerage which has very very limited tools, trading back then was like a Buffet’s buy-and-hold strategy only. With my new broker and some great tools, I started applying these strategies, similar to Hedge funds:

• Long/Short equities
• Sector funds (Banking and IT related)
• Fundamental Growth (P&L)
• Short Bias
• Equity market neutral (ETFs)
• High dividends yielding stocks
• Funds of funds
• Event driven news (US financial data)

What could I say anymore ? Do take a look on Google if you want to find out more. But here’s the truth of how I manage. These strategies can be deployed by any retail investor like me and you. Use it well and master it, and I believe a 10-20% gains in a year should be very possible.

These strategies had been proven by the big boys, and so it should be. Besides you don’t need high tech/speed machines or algos because there aren’t high frequency stat arb or quanting involved.

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Managemoneyonline.com is a website, a blog that I have created to write down my ideas and experience I have encountered. These serve as a track record for me and myself and for everyone else to learn. Trading and investments is a difficult tasks.

I lost quite a few grands, about $9,000 for my first year of noobish trading. That was after the 2008 financial crisis and it was some bull run to 2010, but I still lost. While I am trying to learn “everything”, yes you heard it, everything about trading and investments, I will jot down some of my experiences, and strategies as well.

Well the main key words for this site, manage money, already tells you that I am all about managing money. Afterall, no matter how daring and how much risk profile you want to take, Wall street, or the stocks market is just a random reactions of ups and downs. No repeated patterns no nothing, because if there is, even a 3 year old kid could understand.

With that bad experience, I’ve went deeper and deeper into this art or science. On the second year of my trading, I started building a small portfolio, instead of blindly trading. Reading up and understanding even more detailed into investment banks, financial institutions and hedge funds, I wanted to do what the big guys are doing.

While I go about managing my small little portfolio, hoping to beat the market and growing equity, by measuring my performance with the general market / hedge funds. With strategies such as statistical arbitrage, law of one price, portfolio rebalancing and management, risk management, long/short equities, high income stocks and dividends, and other strategies that I’ve tried, this is the outcome of a true results of a trader who trades his own personal account.

I hope I am able to grow my own funds through this never ending, tiring process of seeking The Truth, the Alpha.

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