2017 was a landmark year for TradeStops members. We introduced more high-level portfolio management tools, and we shared great investment ideas with you every Friday afternoon.
Last Friday, we took a look back at the new TradeStops tools and strategies we introduced in 2017. Today, we’ll take a quick look at the highlights of the investment ideas we presented on those Friday afternoons.
The Data
By the way, if we were an investment newsletter, our percentage of winning trades would have been 92.5%!
Our first investment idea in January was a bullish signal in the healthcare sector. XLV, the ETF for the healthcare sector, is up almost 21% for the year, outpacing the S&P 500 – with a beta that is 15% less than the S&P.
In March, gold had dropped 8 days in a row and was on its way to a 9th day of losses. We showed you that this had only happened seven times since 1973, and three months later, gold was an average of 4% higher.
What happened this time?
Gold rose more than 5% in the following three months and today is now almost 10% higher.
In July, we reiterated our bullish case for oil. We had been bullish all year, but realized patience was the key for this trade. We’ve been nicely rewarded for our patience. Oil was below $50 when we wrote this and is now close to 25% higher in just 5 months.
In September, we published our first article about bitcoin. In Bullish on Bitcoin, we showed how the TradeStops tools could be applied to bitcoin with incredible success. Here’s the bitcoin SSI chart that we presented.
We told you that each time, since 2012, bitcoin rose from the SSI Yellow Zone back into the SSI Green Zone turned out to be a great entry point.
| Date | Maximum Gain | Entry VQ |
|---|---|---|
| 8/20/2012 | 2480.50% | 70.27% |
| 7/2/2013 | 1221.59% | Green |
| 12/26/2013 | 33.20% | 70.67% |
| 8/4/2016 | 97.85% | 38% |
| 1/17/2017 | 49.01% | 36.44% |
| 3/20/2017 | 187.66% | 36.41% |
| 7/18/2017 | 109.00% | 39.05% |
| Average | 596.97% |
And it happened again. After rising above $3,300 and back into the SSI Green Zone, bitcoin exploded almost 500% higher to a new high in December 2017, matching the average gain since 2012.
Here’s the list of all trading ideas we presented in 2017 with a link to each article. Some of these were follow-ups to the original trading ideas we published earlier when we thought it was still worthwhile to revisit the initial idea.
Trading Ideas
| Symbol | Name | Current SSI |
VQ | Article Dates |
Adj. Entry Price |
Gain w/Div |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XLV | SPDR Health Sector ETF | Green | 11.63% | 1/6/17 | $69.88 | 20.97% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 1/13/17 | $114.21 | 9.85% |
| UUP | Powershares Dollar Bullish ETF | Green | 6.30% | 1/20/17 | $26.03 | 8.73% |
| EWZ | iShares Brazil ETF | Green | 27.37% | 1/27/17 | $37.12 | 14.42% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 2/3/17 | $116.13 | 8.03% |
| TIP | iShares TIPS ETF | Green | 5.00% | 2/24/17 | $113.32 | 0.55% |
| DJIA | Dow Jones Industrial Average | Green | 8.83% | 3/3/17 | $21,005.71 | 19.37% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 3/10/17 | $114.72 | 9.50% |
| TIP | iShares TIPS ETF | Green | 5.00% | 3/17/17 | $112.19 | 1.56% |
| IEV | iShares Europe ETF | Green | 11.97% | 3/24/17 | $40.70 | 18.66% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 3/31/17 | $118.72 | 5.68% |
| $WTIC | WTI Crude Oil | Green | 31.36% | 4/7/17 | $52.24 | 18.70% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 4/14/17 | $122.60 | 2.33% |
| XBI | SPDR S&P BIOTECH ETF | Green | 26.87% | 4/28/17 | $71.27 | 22.57% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 5/5/17 | $117.01 | 7.22% |
| EEM | iShares Emerging Markets ETF | Green | 15.18% | 5/12/17 | $40.42 | 20.52% |
| EWZ | iShares Brazil ETF | Green | 27.37% | 5/19/17 | $34.36 | 23.62% |
| XLF | SPDR Financial Sector ETF | Green | 13.65% | 6/2/17 | $23.16 | 22.35% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 6/9/17 | $120.54 | 4.08% |
| XBI | SPDR S&P BIOTECH ETF | Green | 26.87% | 6/23/17 | $80.24 | 8.86% |
| JJC | iPath Copper ETN | Green | 18.56% | 6/30/17 | $30.77 | 20.90% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 7/14/17 | $116.77 | 7.44% |
| FXA | CurrencyShares Aussie Dollar ETF | Red | 8.46% | 7/21/17 | $78.93 | -0.32% |
| $WTIC | WTI Crude Oil | Green | 31.36% | 7/28/17 | $49.71 | 24.74% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P500 ETF | Green | 9.68% | 8/11/17 | $241.68 | 12.38% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 8/18/17 | $122.30 | 2.58% |
| JO | iPath Coffee ETN | Red | 24.86% | 8/25/17 | $17.11 | -5.08% |
| BTC/USD | Bitcoin | Green | 41.60% | 9/1/17 | $3,613.22 | 320.44% |
| $WTIC | WTI Crude Oil | Green | 31.36% | 9/15/17 | $49.89 | 24.29% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold ETF | Green | 10.57% | 10/6/17 | $121.09 | 3.61% |
| EEM | iShares Emerging Markets ETF | Green | 15.18% | 10/20/17 | $45.57 | 6.89% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P500 ETF | Green | 9.68% | 10/27/17 | $256.40 | 5.93% |
| XLE | SPDR Energy Sector ETF | Green | 17.55% | 11/3/17 | $68.23 | 9.93% |
| XLP | SPDR Consumer Staples Sector ETF | Green | 8.99% | 11/10/17 | $53.88 | 5.20% |
| XLI | SPDR Industrial Sector ETF | Green | 10.51% | 11/17/17 | $70.12 | 9.94% |
| XLF | SPDR Financial Sector ETF | Green | 13.65% | 11/17/17 | $26.04 | 8.80% |
| XLK | SPDR Technology Sector ETF | Green | 11.59% | 11/17/17 | $63.11 | 3.95% |
| EEM | iShares Emerging Markets ETF | Green | 15.18% | 11/24/17 | $47.00 | 3.64% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Yr. T-Note ETF | Green | 5.00% | 12/15/17 | $105.95 | -0.64% |
| XME | SPDR S&P Mining ETF | Green | 26.48% | 12/22/17 | $35.55 | 6.05% |
| Average: | 17.96% | |||||
The gain/loss for each trade is based on the closing price on 1/4/2018.
The Takeaway
If we were a newsletter, and these were actual recommendations, we would have finished the year with 92.5% winning trades. The winning trades had an average gain of +19.6%, and the losing trades had an average loss of only -2.0%.
And if these were actual trades, we would always use our proprietary Stock State Indicator (SSI) Stop signal to exit the trades.
Currently, all of the trades except for one are still in the SSI Green Zone. That’s 21 out of 22 positions, or more than 95%, still trending higher.
We had a great 2017 and are looking forward to bringing you more successful investment ideas in 2018. We’re already beginning 2018 with the introduction of the world’s only tools to track and trade cryptocurrencies based on signals, not noise.
There’s still time to become a charter member. You can find out more information here.
