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Unclear on ‘Current Positions’

QuestionsCategory: QuestionsUnclear on ‘Current Positions’
David Eiffert asked 2 years ago
Hi newbie question: The only position in ‘Current Positions’ is a single position at 7% position size. So do I understand that right that that means that Pat is about 99% cash in his personal account?
I've never seen what that screen looks like when he's fully invested. I know he's said he likes to hold 8 to 10 positions so would that look something like this in the portfolio section? :
AAPL - 100% AMZN - 100% TSLA - 100% AMD - 100% NVDA - 100% SNOW - 100% META - 100% PCTY - 100% SSO - 100% WCN - 100%   Or would it look different than that?   Thanks!
3 Answers
Best Answer
Avatar photoOwen Staff answered 2 years ago

I recall attending IBD meetups in Naperville some 20+ years ago, they would open the meeting by asking how long, or how heavily invested, attendees were in the market. They would begin at 10% and move up to 100% with folks raising hands at their estimated level of capital exposure. While we don't call that out on in the Current Positions, you'll certainly know when/if we get heavily invested; we'll be talking about it... relentlessly.
Maybe there will come a time we add something to the Current Positions (Trade Log) page. Right now I'd just like to see the market straighten out and fly right. This, of course, being written subsequent to a big down day where the Dow sold off 1276 points. When the market begins to trend again, we can talk about this; as I say, you'll know where we are by listening to the morning live sessions, etc. As I think about it further, there are also concerns regarding multiple accounts; for example, I manage quite a number of accounts for family; they are not all equally traded/invested.
However... at any point you wish to know something about our personal trading, just ask; we're happy to share. To that end, right now...
I'm almost completely flat. Again. Bring on a good market!
Later! :-)

David Eiffert replied 2 years ago

Thanks once again for taking the time! Appreciate you.

If you were to ever add that feature (% allocated, or ‘target position size’, or something) to the Current Positions page, I am confident new members would find it HUGELY helpful.

Thanks again brother!

Avatar photoOwen Staff answered 2 years ago

Hi Eiff,
Yes, Pat is almost completely in cash at this time. Pat is incredibly patient to wait for opportunity to emerge. When the markets get straightened out a bit more we'll begin to see more activity from him. As he posts trades to the Trade Alert system, the Trade Log will update automatically and will include the percentage of holding. While we are in "add-on" mode (as markets are still volatile) holdings will never reach 100 percent. When markets begin to trend again, we'll switch to "Pyramid" mode where we'll be buying initially at 50% position and then adding 30% and 20% to get to 100%.
Owen

David Eiffert replied 2 years ago

Thanks Owen! Appreciate that! That helps me understand. However I’m still trying to understand how large the positions are relative to the portfolio as a whole. (Forgive me if this info is already on the site somewhere, I was unable to find it).
I believe Pat said a day or two ago that he would be fine having as much as half (or more) of his entire portfolio in QLD in the right market. So this makes me think that 100% in one position is not necessarily the same dollar amount as 100% in another position. Or maybe in different market conditions, a 100% position might be larger or smaller than in other market conditions.
Let’s theoretically say that a position is listed as:
QLD – 50%
I understand that that’s a half sized position, but is there a way to know what percentage of the portfolio that is? I think that info could be very helpful for folks like me to learn from.
You guys are so patient and kind! Thanks.

Avatar photoOwen Staff answered 2 years ago

Hi Eiff... video (audio) for you...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC4DiDwvw7k

David Eiffert replied 2 years ago

Wow so blown away you’d make a video to answer my question! You guys really are something special. Thank you!
To answer your question, I’ve been trading for around 11 years and consider myself advanced but always learning!
To try and distill my question down to its bare bones it’s this:
—If Pat has a single 50% position, what percentage is he in the market versus in cash?
– Is that 5% in the market and 95% cash?
– Is that 10% in the market and 90% cash?
– or something else?
—Does that make sense? Again, just curious his sizing.
For an example, you can see in this video (<a href="https://youtu.be/jcEJX9Znm4c?t=52&quot; rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/jcEJX9Znm4c?t=52</a&gt😉 that IBD's recommendation is: "10 positions each with a weight of 10%."
That seems like good advice, I'm just curious on what Pat specifically is doing in the 'Current Positions' portfolio.
You rock Owen!