ETFReplay Portfolio for June

Among the more popular portfolios on Scott's Investments has been the ETFReplay.com Portfolio. The strategy has been revised and improved for 2013 in order to make it simpler to follow.

I previously detailed here and here how an investor can use ETFReplay.com to screen for best performing ETFs based on momentum and volatility.   I select only the top 4 ETFs out of a static basket of  ETFs and re-balance the portfolio monthly. Previously, the static basket of ETFs was 25. This number of ETFs creates a high degree of turnover and also creates cross-over among ETFs that have a high correlations. For example, if you are only purchasing 4 ETFs each month and 2 or 3 of the ETFs are highly correlated, there is little benefit in holding more than 1 of the ETFs.

For 2013 the static basket of ETFs was reduced to 15. From this basket of 15, the top 4 will be selected each month. The portfolio will be re-balanced at the beginning of each month. When a holding drops out of the top 5 ETFs it will be sold and replaced with the next highest ranked ETF. I added the top 5 requirement in order to further limit turnover. ETFs will be ranked on a combination of their 6 month returns, 3 month returns, and 3 month volatility (lower volatility receives a higher ranking).

In addition, ETFs must be ranked above the cash ETF SHY in order to be included in the portfolio, similar to the absolute momentum strategy I profiled here. This modification could help reduce drawdowns during periods of high volatility and/or negative market conditions (see 2008-2009).

The top 5 ranked ETFs as of 5/31/13 are below:

For June the strategy is moving to 75% cash. This will be the first time in 2013 that the absolute momentum filter has come into play and the first time since 2009 the strategy has less than 2 non-cash ETFs.  Since SHY is the second highest rated ETF, anything ranked below it will not be held.  The balance of the portfolio will continue to hold VTI since it is the highest rated ETF.

VNQ was sold for a gain of 2.4% and purchase date of 2/28/13, HYG for a loss of 1.52% and purchase date of 3/28/13, and RWX for a gain of .93% and purchase date of 10/31/12 (individual returns exclude any dividends).

The absolute momentum filter comes as somewhat of a surprise this month, although volatility increased in several asset classes in May. Time will tell if this conservative rotation helps reduce drawdowns or is a false signal.