A Simple Portfolio With Big Potential

Mar. 24, 2025

Many people talk about the benefits of simple systems.

But nobody talks about the biggest benefit.

Except us, of course.

Last week we talked about the most important thing in trading. And it’s not the indicators or the system itself.

It’s the desire to add more to your portfolio when you’re losing.

That’s where simple shines.

If it’s simple, we understand it.

And if we understand it, we know why it loses.

And if we know why it loses, we can’t wait to add more money so we can thrive in the turnaround.

Yes, simple systems tend to be robust–which is great. But simple also keeps us aggressively in the game.

And that really matters.

So, this week, we’re going to revisit an idea we’ve had before.

We’re going to take advantage of the long-term upward bias of the stock market (via an ETF on steroids) and we’re going to combine that with something that’s normally not correlated: Gold.

When Gold goes up, the market is usually going down. Right?

Let’s see. Here’s IAU, the iShares Gold ETF in 2025:

It’s soaring. As you can see on the left side in green, it’s up over 14% (as I write this).

How about the S&P 500?

It’s down over 5%. Mixing those two appears to be an effective way to smooth out returns.

So here’s what we’ll do in this simple portfolio. We’ll simply buy SPXL (the leveraged S&P ETF) on the first of the year and sell it at the end of every year. Can’t get easier than that.

Then we’ll add the Gold 120-minute system that’s in the Performance Page Portfolio I track every month. The old video on the Gold system is here.

By the way, I’ll be doing a new video on this portfolio on April 2 at the Festival of Traders.

By trading $20k of SPXL each time and 1 contract of GC, here’s what we get:

That’s a nice report with a manageable amount of drawdown.

Here’s the Curve on a sample $35k account:

About a 500% gain since 2016.

Here are the Annual Returns:

Yes, it has two small losing years–the biggest being about 15%. Less than a typical stock Bear Market.

But the winning years are huge–the biggest being about 85%. Way more than any Bull Market has ever produced.

Does that make sense?

Would the simplicity make you want to add more after a losing year?

That’s the big question.

Talk to you soon.

Join the free Newsletter list here .

Get Robot information HERE.
Visit my Performance Page HERE.
Buy my new book HERE.
The Inevitability of Becoming Rich is HERE.
My latest YouTube video is HERE.

Disclaimer:
It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable or that they will not result in losses. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. Examples presented on these sites are for educational purposes only. These set-ups are not solicitations of any order to buy or sell. The authors, the publisher, and all affiliates assume no responsibility for your trading results. There is a high degree of risk in trading.

HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN INHERENT LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE TRADES HAVE NOT ACTUALLY BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER- OR OVER-COMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.