Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

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nedsaid
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by nedsaid »

livesoft wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:50 pm Before the end of the year, I will start a thread titled
"Sell on Really Bad Days, Buy on Really Good Days?"
This could happen for folks who rebalance based on a calendar date. Or maybe one noticed over the weekend that they hit a trigger for too much equities, so they submit an order Sunday night to sell equities, but then on Monday the market goes down 5%.
I certainly have disciplines that I follow as an investor but I also allow for some flexibility. Perhaps it is a personality flaw but I have always had a distaste for inflexible and rigid investing disciplines. Markets are dynamic and I believe that to some degree our thinking has to be dynamic as well.

One would think that John Bogle, the inspiration behind this forum, is inflexible and doctrinaire. He says things like "stay the course, no matter what"; "age in bonds"; and "buy the whole haystack and not the needle." When you actually listen to his interviews, you find someone who has a flexible mind with the willingness to think outside the box. Big picture, his philosophy is remarkably consistent over time but he does say rather surprising things from time to time.

So when someone says things like "you must rebalance when you hit your rebalancing band, no matter what"; something in me just winces. My belief is that you can't make decisions in isolation but to consider your personal situation, the economy, and market conditions at the time. Pretty much, I reserve the right to override my investing disciplines when the situation calls for it.

So if I am wanting to rebalance from stocks to bonds and the market tanks that day, I will just wait until later when the markets have recovered. If that seems a departure from discipline, so be it. I don't know, that will drive some here crazy but that is just me.
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nedsaid
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by nedsaid »

evancox10 wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:18 pm
livesoft wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:34 pm
nedsaid wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:25 pm I noticed today looked like another really good day. Did more rebalancing today in another account.
Watch out because the "definition" police will be along shortly to jump on you. After all, there is no way today was a "really good day" number-wise. It has been an up day for sure, but really good?

Also, it is highly unlikely that if one had not exceeded their asset allocation to equities that they would also not have exceeded their asset allocation to equities the next day if the equity market went down. That is, it is practically by definition that one will rebalance out of equities on a good day if one is actually paying attention to such things, right?

Or to put it another way, if one didn't need to rebalance OUT of equities yesterday, then if today is a Really Bad Day one should not need to rebalance OUT of equities today either.
Or your rebalancing strategy could just be to check your portfolio balances once a year, or or once every X months. No need to check markets every day for single percentage moves, what a pain in the rear...
My attitude towards rebalancing is rather relaxed and I agree with your opinion. For most people, rebalancing once a year is probably plenty. Younger investors may choose to let things go longer than that since young investors have longer time horizons and can be more aggressive. As a younger investor, I rarely rebalanced. I happily let my portfolio get more and more aggressive.

I have determined that I don't want my stock allocation to exceed 67% of my portfolio. We have had a strong bull market, even since July 2013, so I have been rebalancing in small waves to keep my allocation steady. I am 58 now and keeping my risk in check is really important to me. Were I still 38 years old, I probably wouldn't care.

My situation has changed and thus my approach has changed. I am not a young man anymore.
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TheTimeLord
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by TheTimeLord »

nedsaid wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:05 pm
TheTimeLord wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:30 am
nedsaid wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 11:00 pm
TheTimeLord wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:43 pm
nedsaid wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:09 pm I rebalanced my portfolio over the last two days. I practice excellent personal hygiene. I even ran the dishes in the dishwasher yesterday. And on Mother's Day, I called my mother. Better than that, on Father's Day, I called my father. So I want to crow about my personal virtue. For a guy who had a rather relaxed view of rebalancing back in 2012 and early 2013 got religion after being scolded by fellow Bogleheads, I am not doing too bad. I guess I got that rebalancing religion but not enough of it. Didn't rebalance enough and I should have picked gooder days to do it. :wink:
I am finding it ironic that i haven't sold anything this week. Intended to sell some Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) (an insignificant guilty pleasure holding I picked up this year) today but never got around entering the order. It ended up 1.30%.
Well darn it, we will have to keep shaming until you rebalance. :wink: :wink:

You do bring up a good point, I suppose we could call it rebalancing regret or rebalancers' remorse. You rebalance your portfolio from stocks to bonds only to see the stock market zoom some more. One gives up some gains for (hopefully) de-risking the portfolio a bit.

All I know is the regret that I felt when things crashed in 2008-2009 that I had missed rebalancing opportunities. I let my stock allocation drift up to 72% and I was feeling pretty frisky and confident. That feeling was replaced with a pit in my stomach during the bear market. It wasn't fun. Pretty much, after the markets fully recovered, I promised myself that I wouldn't let my stock allocation run up again.
Maybe its my age or where I am financially, but over the last 5ish years risk management and sleeping well at night have taken on a greater importance than potential gains. I put my sell order in this morning with Fidelity so I don't lose track of time again. Luckily Fidelity let's you cancel mutual fund buy/sell orders if you desire so I don't mind putting them in and letting the day unfold.
I have read your many posts, you pretty much have achieved critical mass and I remember a whole thread where you were wavering between continuing to work and retiring. That is a difficult decision as is asset allocation and rebalancing in retirement or near retirement.

I was teasing you a bit, you don't have to rebalance on my recommendation. You have to take into consideration your own personal situation. Part of what I was talking about was all the comments that I got when I expressed a rather relaxed attitude towards rebalancing. But then again, I have a relaxed attitude towards a lot of things.
I am selling to simplify. I bought Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) on a lark and it worked out, now I feel like simplifying again. About 97% of my equity holding are split between Total Market and International ex-US with the majority in Total Market. Although I am keeping my VGT.
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TheTimeLord
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by TheTimeLord »

nedsaid wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:18 pm
livesoft wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:50 pm Before the end of the year, I will start a thread titled
"Sell on Really Bad Days, Buy on Really Good Days?"
This could happen for folks who rebalance based on a calendar date. Or maybe one noticed over the weekend that they hit a trigger for too much equities, so they submit an order Sunday night to sell equities, but then on Monday the market goes down 5%.
I certainly have disciplines that I follow as an investor but I also allow for some flexibility. Perhaps it is a personality flaw but I have always had a distaste for inflexible and rigid investing disciplines. Markets are dynamic and I believe that to some degree our thinking has to be dynamic as well.

One would think that John Bogle, the inspiration behind this forum, is inflexible and doctrinaire. He says things like "stay the course, no matter what"; "age in bonds"; and "buy the whole haystack and not the needle." When you actually listen to his interviews, you find someone who has a flexible mind with the willingness to think outside the box. Big picture, his philosophy is remarkably consistent over time but he does say rather surprising things from time to time.

So when someone says things like "you must rebalance when you hit your rebalancing band, no matter what"; something in me just winces. My belief is that you can't make decisions in isolation but to consider your personal situation, the economy, and market conditions at the time. Pretty much, I reserve the right to override my investing disciplines when the situation calls for it.

So if I am wanting to rebalance from stocks to bonds and the market tanks that day, I will just wait until later when the markets have recovered. If that seems a departure from discipline, so be it. I don't know, that will drive some here crazy but that is just me.
Even a little market timing if he feels things have got way out of whack to one side or the other.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by czeckers »

If been thinking about the premise of the original post for a couple of days.

I think the difference between taking advantage of really bad days and really good days is this:

It depends.

It depends on what phase you are in now. If you are in the accumulation phase, then your normal pattern is putting money into the market. On a really bad day, you get to take advantage of the resulting lower valuations by buying at a lower price. However, you are still doing what you normally do, which is buying.

Conversely, if you are living off of your portfolio, then your normal pattern is selling. To sell on a really good day is to take advantage of higher valuations to do what you would normally do which is to sell.

Where it gets tricky is when you want to take advantage of valuations that involve you doing the opposite of what you normally do. If you are in the accumulation phase and you sell, then you also have to find a point in the market to buy back in. Given that markets generally trend upwards, there is the possibility that you end up having to buy back in at a higher price than when you sold.

Conversely, if you are in the distribution phase, buying on a really bad day may seem like a good idea. However, if the market continues to trend downward, you may find your self having to sell at a lower price than when you bought.

Going opposite of your normal investing direction requires you to be right twice which can be tricky to do.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by TheTimeLord »

TheTimeLord wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:43 pm
nedsaid wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:09 pm I rebalanced my portfolio over the last two days. I practice excellent personal hygiene. I even ran the dishes in the dishwasher yesterday. And on Mother's Day, I called my mother. Better than that, on Father's Day, I called my father. So I want to crow about my personal virtue. For a guy who had a rather relaxed view of rebalancing back in 2012 and early 2013 got religion after being scolded by fellow Bogleheads, I am not doing too bad. I guess I got that rebalancing religion but not enough of it. Didn't rebalance enough and I should have picked gooder days to do it. :wink:
I am finding it ironic that i haven't sold anything this week. Intended to sell some Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) (an insignificant guilty pleasure holding I picked up this year) today but never got around entering the order. It ended up 1.30%.
All's well that end's well
Sold - Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) 162.30 +0.75 (+0.46%)
At close: 6:05PM EDT
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nedsaid
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by nedsaid »

TheTimeLord wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 5:33 pm
TheTimeLord wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:43 pm
nedsaid wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:09 pm I rebalanced my portfolio over the last two days. I practice excellent personal hygiene. I even ran the dishes in the dishwasher yesterday. And on Mother's Day, I called my mother. Better than that, on Father's Day, I called my father. So I want to crow about my personal virtue. For a guy who had a rather relaxed view of rebalancing back in 2012 and early 2013 got religion after being scolded by fellow Bogleheads, I am not doing too bad. I guess I got that rebalancing religion but not enough of it. Didn't rebalance enough and I should have picked gooder days to do it. :wink:
I am finding it ironic that i haven't sold anything this week. Intended to sell some Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) (an insignificant guilty pleasure holding I picked up this year) today but never got around entering the order. It ended up 1.30%.
All's well that end's well
Sold - Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) 162.30 +0.75 (+0.46%)
At close: 6:05PM EDT
I am curious, did you put the proceeds into stocks, into bonds, or into cash?
A fool and his money are good for business.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by TheTimeLord »

nedsaid wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 6:53 pm
TheTimeLord wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 5:33 pm
TheTimeLord wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:43 pm
nedsaid wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:09 pm I rebalanced my portfolio over the last two days. I practice excellent personal hygiene. I even ran the dishes in the dishwasher yesterday. And on Mother's Day, I called my mother. Better than that, on Father's Day, I called my father. So I want to crow about my personal virtue. For a guy who had a rather relaxed view of rebalancing back in 2012 and early 2013 got religion after being scolded by fellow Bogleheads, I am not doing too bad. I guess I got that rebalancing religion but not enough of it. Didn't rebalance enough and I should have picked gooder days to do it. :wink:
I am finding it ironic that i haven't sold anything this week. Intended to sell some Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) (an insignificant guilty pleasure holding I picked up this year) today but never got around entering the order. It ended up 1.30%.
All's well that end's well
Sold - Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) 162.30 +0.75 (+0.46%)
At close: 6:05PM EDT
I am curious, did you put the proceeds into stocks, into bonds, or into cash?
I haven't yet but but my intention is to distribute it between Total Market and Total World ex-US after I do some calculations this weekend. A very small amount might end up in a 5 year cd ladder I am building.
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TheTimeLord
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by TheTimeLord »

TheTimeLord wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:48 pm
nedsaid wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 6:53 pm
TheTimeLord wrote: Fri Oct 06, 2017 5:33 pm
TheTimeLord wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:43 pm
nedsaid wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:09 pm I rebalanced my portfolio over the last two days. I practice excellent personal hygiene. I even ran the dishes in the dishwasher yesterday. And on Mother's Day, I called my mother. Better than that, on Father's Day, I called my father. So I want to crow about my personal virtue. For a guy who had a rather relaxed view of rebalancing back in 2012 and early 2013 got religion after being scolded by fellow Bogleheads, I am not doing too bad. I guess I got that rebalancing religion but not enough of it. Didn't rebalance enough and I should have picked gooder days to do it. :wink:
I am finding it ironic that i haven't sold anything this week. Intended to sell some Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) (an insignificant guilty pleasure holding I picked up this year) today but never got around entering the order. It ended up 1.30%.
All's well that end's well
Sold - Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) 162.30 +0.75 (+0.46%)
At close: 6:05PM EDT
I am curious, did you put the proceeds into stocks, into bonds, or into cash?
I haven't yet but but my intention is to distribute it between Total Market and Total World ex-US after I do some calculations this weekend. A very small amount might end up in a 5 year cd ladder I am building.
After running the numbers this morning, Portfolio Value - Fixed Income Floor - Equity = Assets to be allocated by AA, it turns out it is all headed to fixed income land. I knew I was a little equity heavy as of last week but not enough to spur me to act, but this week's rally was enough to push me beyond my threshold so if I hadn't sold Fidelity Select Software & IT Svcs Port (FSCSX) on Friday I would have been selling something on Monday anyway. I just love it when a loose interpretation of a plan accidentally works out.
IMHO, Investing should be about living the life you want, not avoiding the life you fear. | Run, You Clever Boy! [9085]
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by lotusflower »

One thing that clouds the issue, and encourages this strategy, is that prices are tracked and searchable mostly on a daily basis. However the actual price movements and cycles occur across a range of time scales, including hourly, weekly, monthly. Engineers in the audience will be familiar with Fourier analysis, which converts a time-based signal (like stock prices) to an equivalent sum of sine waves of different frequencies. A noisy, random-walk signal like stock prices will have roughly equal strength at all frequencies.

If any frequency were stronger than any other, it would be easy for you (and trivial for the quants) to exploit this and time the markets, which is kind of a proof that all frequencies are roughly equal, since no one can really do this consistently. This is the technical basis behind the our BH maxim that "you can't time the market".

The logical conclusion of this is that timing the market according to any particular frequency is a mistake because the seemingly random price walks are equivalent to the sum of an infinite number of frequency cycles running at the same time. Paying attention to a particular frequency is not going to be an effective strategy. The problem is that the past and current data is available most readily at the daily frequency, and as humans we look for patterns in all data, so we pay the most attention to the daily patterns and try to game that. But since all frequencies are at work in the data at the same time, it doesn't usually work, as Messrs. Bogle, Malkiel, Larimore, et al. have told us over and over.

Any such strategy applied to daily fluctuations is mathematically no different to such a strategy applied to hourly, weekly, monthly, fortnightly, or quarterly price changes. In the long run there shouldn't be any difference. Looking at only one time frequency just because that is the one that you have the data for (daily) seems like a very poor way to analyze the market and an even poorer way to make decisions about the market.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by avalpert »

lotusflower wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 12:14 am One thing that clouds the issue, and encourages this strategy, is that prices are tracked and searchable mostly on a daily basis. However the actual price movements and cycles occur across a range of time scales, including hourly, weekly, monthly. Engineers in the audience will be familiar with Fourier analysis, which converts a time-based signal (like stock prices) to an equivalent sum of sine waves of different frequencies. A noisy, random-walk signal like stock prices will have roughly equal strength at all frequencies.

If any frequency were stronger than any other, it would be easy for you (and trivial for the quants) to exploit this and time the markets, which is kind of a proof that all frequencies are roughly equal, since no one can really do this consistently. This is the technical basis behind the our BH maxim that "you can't time the market".

The logical conclusion of this is that timing the market according to any particular frequency is a mistake because the seemingly random price walks are equivalent to the sum of an infinite number of frequency cycles running at the same time. Paying attention to a particular frequency is not going to be an effective strategy. The problem is that the past and current data is available most readily at the daily frequency, and as humans we look for patterns in all data, so we pay the most attention to the daily patterns and try to game that. But since all frequencies are at work in the data at the same time, it doesn't usually work, as Messrs. Bogle, Malkiel, Larimore, et al. have told us over and over.

Any such strategy applied to daily fluctuations is mathematically no different to such a strategy applied to hourly, weekly, monthly, fortnightly, or quarterly price changes. In the long run there shouldn't be any difference. Looking at only one time frequency just because that is the one that you have the data for (daily) seems like a very poor way to analyze the market and an even poorer way to make decisions about the market.
Well said.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

avalpert wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 10:57 am Well said.
I agree that no one should be using Fourier analysis and looking for periodic past patterns in the stock market in order to predict future periodic patterns in the stock market. I don't think that's what this thread is about either.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by avalpert »

livesoft wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:02 am
avalpert wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 10:57 am Well said.
I agree that no one should be using Fourier analysis and looking for periodic past patterns in the stock market in order to predict future periodic patterns in the stock market. I don't think that's what this thread is about either.
Right, this thread is about arbitrary, poorly specified, trading strategies that let you scratch the itch to act as though you are doing something sophisticated without the difficulty (or risk of being wrong) of actually testing the validity of the strategy.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

If you say so. I linked a thread where someone else (not me) tested a strategy. That's "peer review." You wouldn't believe any of my back tests anyways and I wouldn't expect you to. Anybody doing this kind of test had better be capable of doing their own backtesting or they shouldn't be doing this stuff.

Also, no one should expect any strategy to be 100% successful 100% of the time. After all, even "buy, hold, rebalance" loses money often enough.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Leif »

Buy when you have the cash, sell when you need the cash. Balance per your IPS and avoid market timing.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by avalpert »

livesoft wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:17 am If you say so. I linked a thread where someone else (not me) tested a strategy. That's "peer review." You wouldn't believe any of my back tests anyways and I wouldn't expect you to. Anybody doing this kind of test had better be capable of doing their own backtesting or they shouldn't be doing this stuff.
Yeah, and they found the strategy had no merit - and of course you still claimed in that thread that it wan't your strategy they were testing as you wouldn't diverge all the aspects of that to give yourself an out.
Also, no one should expect any strategy to be 100% successful 100% of the time. After all, even "buy, hold, rebalance" loses money often enough.
Another out so you can keep having your fun on the forum without being accountable for the veracity of the claims (or the impact it might have on others reading it who aren't as sophisticated or well off as you such that the outcomes don't really matter).
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by lotusflower »

livesoft wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:02 am
avalpert wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 10:57 am Well said.
I agree that no one should be using Fourier analysis and looking for periodic past patterns in the stock market in order to predict future periodic patterns in the stock market. I don't think that's what this thread is about either.
Well more specifically, I was trying to warn about the dangers of acting on price information on any specific time sampling (i.e. daily) because you are arbitrarily losing focus on all the other time frequencies that are in play. If I were going to do a quantitative strategy, I would base it on price levels sampled as often as you can get the data (like from Vanguard's alerts) rather than the daily close.

I still think it's not going to work that well due to the nature of a random walk and the efficient market hypothesis. Not that the market is always efficient but it's hard for us normals to differentiate between the inefficiencies and the noise.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

avalpert wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:28 am Yeah, and they found the strategy had no merit -
That is a gross mischaracterization of all the strategies backtested in that thread.

I don't think anyone who doesn't pay attention to detail or has reading comprehension issues should be doing any of these things and they shouldn't be market timing with an eye to making lots of money. Heaven forbid! I think it will turn out terrible for them.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by avalpert »

livesoft wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 12:54 pm
avalpert wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:28 am Yeah, and they found the strategy had no merit -
That is a gross mischaracterization of all the strategies backtested in that thread.

I don't think anyone who doesn't pay attention to detail or has reading comprehension issues should be doing any of these things and they shouldn't be market timing with an eye to making lots of money. Heaven forbid! I think it will turn out terrible for them.
Not a gross mischarecterization at all and I'd once again recommend RodC's last paragraph in the last post as a good summation.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

livesoft wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 12:02 pm Another question to answer is: When should one exchange DGS back into BND? I will give a partial answer: One should probably wait until at least next week when the Korean Stock Exchange opens again after a week-long holiday.
And today is the first day since September for the Korean stock exchange to be open. DGS has had a nice run.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Lieutenant.Columbo »

livesoft wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 10:06 amThis thread is about an unemotional numbers-driven strategy that can be written into an Investment Policy Statement and followed by even a robot.
livesoft,
Are your RBD rules your only rebalancing rules? I mean, do you rebalance on situations or days other than RBDs? Thank you.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

No, RBDs are not my only rebalancing rules.

Yes, I rebalance on days and situations other than RBDs.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Lieutenant.Columbo »

livesoft wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:12 pmNo, RBDs are not my only rebalancing rules.

Yes, I rebalance on days and situations other than RBDs.
are RBDs your key/main rebalancing rules?
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by balbrec2 »

GoldenFinch wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:10 am Actually the stock market only went up about a half of a percent yesterday. :happy I agree that the best idea is to keep an eye on rebalancing bands and otherwise not get too involved with “doing stuff” with the money.
+1
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

Lieutenant.Columbo wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:19 pm
livesoft wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:12 pmNo, RBDs are not my only rebalancing rules.

Yes, I rebalance on days and situations other than RBDs.
are RBDs your key/main rebalancing rules?
Perhaps my main rule is to use any new money (dividends, contributions) towards bringing the portfolio towards the balance point.

RBDs should be few and far between --- by definition.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Lieutenant.Columbo »

livesoft wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:24 pm
Lieutenant.Columbo wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:19 pm
livesoft wrote: Thu May 24, 2018 10:12 pmNo, RBDs are not my only rebalancing rules.

Yes, I rebalance on days and situations other than RBDs.
are RBDs your key/main rebalancing rules?
Perhaps my main rule is to use any new money (dividends, contributions) towards bringing the portfolio towards the balance point.

RBDs should be few and far between --- by definition.
thank you
livesoft wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:50 pm Before the end of the year, I will start a thread titled
"Sell on Really Bad Days, Buy on Really Good Days?"
This could happen for folks who rebalance based on a calendar date. Or maybe one noticed over the weekend that they hit a trigger for too much equities, so they submit an order Sunday night to sell equities, but then on Monday the market goes down 5%.
livesoft,

Did you ever post such a topic? I can't find it, and I'm curious about what else you had to say to those rebalancing once every year, on Day X.

I'm guessing you'll say their rule should be restated to "rebalance once every year, on Day X, only if it's a RBD " :wink:, or at least restated to "rebalance once every year, on Day X, only if a fund is off by 5% of what it should be."
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

I never did post such a topic.

I comment pretty regularly that I think rebalancing once-a-year by using a date on a calendar is unwise. Don't studies show it doesn't really help one?

For those with access to a library or a book store, they may wish to read about a rebalancing method in "Nonprofit Asset Management" by Rice, DiMeo, and Porter.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Pajpj ... 22&f=false
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Lieutenant.Columbo »

livesoft wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 11:21 amI comment pretty regularly that I think rebalancing once-a-year by using a date on a calendar is unwise. Don't studies show it doesn't really help one?

For those with access to a library or a book store, they may wish to read about a rebalancing method in "Nonprofit Asset Management" by Rice, DiMeo, and Porter.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Pajpj ... 22&f=false
livesoft,
Thank you for this link.Very interesting.
I am surprised I can't find any posts by you on how to DIY-approximate EngineerTM's bi-dimensional (expected risk & return) strategy...
L.C.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

Lieutenant.Columbo wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 3:04 pm I am surprised I can't find any posts by you on how to DIY-approximate EngineerTM's bi-dimensional (expected risk & return) strategy...
L.C.
I was given this book recently and I am still thinking about it. Also, I've sort of given up explaining to people how many of the rebalancing studies do not cover all the bases.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by GoldenFinch »

livesoft wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 3:05 pm
Lieutenant.Columbo wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 3:04 pm I am surprised I can't find any posts by you on how to DIY-approximate EngineerTM's bi-dimensional (expected risk & return) strategy...
L.C.
I was given this book recently and I am still thinking about it. Also, I've sort of given up explaining to people how many of the rebalancing studies do not cover all the bases.
Don’t give up. Your efforts are appreciated.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by md&pharmacist »

Buy on 10% market corrections that have no good basis for the correction, like the re-tracement in January-February. Sell into market euphoria, let the dollar cost averager's buying at the top take loses into the next correction, where you would be again buying from them. Also this is a good opportunity to re-balance into better performing sectors. Even better, buy a major correction (30-50%) or a Great Depression (85% correction) - opportunity of a lifetime.

The markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018. If you bought on the correction, you would be up now while the dollar cost averager's have not recouped the losses from DOW 26,600 yet.

I don't get this buy high mentality. They tell me my method buying on corrections and selling high is a lost cause, but no one has shown me how buying low is bad. Then they say buy low sell high is obvious, but they still insist on buying high. Makes my head spin sometimes. Trying to understand it. Seems they're so afraid of making the wrong decision that they are willing to give up the right decisions.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by fortyofforty »

md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:09 pm Buy on 10% market corrections that have no good basis for the correction, like the re-tracement in January-February. Sell into market euphoria, let the dollar cost averager's buying at the top take loses into the next correction, where you would be again buying from them. Also this is a good opportunity to re-balance into better performing sectors. Even better, buy a major correction (30-50%) or a Great Depression (85% correction) - opportunity of a lifetime.

The markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018. If you bought on the correction, you would be up now while the dollar cost averager's have not recouped the losses from DOW 26,600 yet.

I don't get this buy high mentality. They tell me my method buying on corrections and selling high is a lost cause, but no one has shown me how buying low is bad. Then they say buy low sell high is obvious, but they still insist on buying high. Makes my head spin sometimes. Trying to understand it. Seems they're so afraid of making the wrong decision that they are willing to give up the right decisions.
There are a couple of issues with this simple idea.

You might need the money while waiting for it to grow again in the stock market. Do you sell near the bottom? How do you know what the bottom is?

When you buy at a 10% correction, do you buy more when the market drops another 10%? And if it drops another 10% after that? From what pile of cash do you make these leaps, and how much do you dump in at a time? How do you know?

Ideally we all would love to time the market and buy at the bottom, while selling at the top. Identifying the bottom and the top are difficult. The strategy also requires you to remain in cash for long, possibly unbearable periods of time. As A. Gary Schilling wrote back in 1993: "Markets can remain irrational a lot longer than you and I can remain solvent."

Market timing--an example of which this clearly is--requires bets out and bets in. Given that the market generally rises over long periods of time, based on over a hundred years of historical returns, buying and believing that stock market purchase will grow over time is perfectly reasonable, no matter the current level of the market.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Lieutenant.Columbo »

md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:09 pm Buy on 10% market corrections that have no good basis for the correction, like the re-tracement in January-February. Sell into market euphoria, let the dollar cost averager's buying at the top take loses into the next correction, where you would be again buying from them. Also this is a good opportunity to re-balance into better performing sectors. Even better, buy a major correction (30-50%) or a Great Depression (85% correction) - opportunity of a lifetime.

The markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018. If you bought on the correction, you would be up now while the dollar cost averager's have not recouped the losses from DOW 26,600 yet.

I don't get this buy high mentality. They tell me my method buying on corrections and selling high is a lost cause, but no one has shown me how buying low is bad. Then they say buy low sell high is obvious, but they still insist on buying high. Makes my head spin sometimes. Trying to understand it. Seems they're so afraid of making the wrong decision that they are willing to give up the right decisions.
I don't understand. Jan-Feb 2018 prices were kind of like Oct 2017 prices. Why was buying in Jan-Feb better/wiser than buying in Oct?
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by md&pharmacist »

Lieutenant.Columbo wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:33 pm
md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:09 pm Buy on 10% market corrections that have no good basis for the correction, like the re-tracement in January-February. Sell into market euphoria, let the dollar cost averager's buying at the top take loses into the next correction, where you would be again buying from them. Also this is a good opportunity to re-balance into better performing sectors. Even better, buy a major correction (30-50%) or a Great Depression (85% correction) - opportunity of a lifetime.

The markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018. If you bought on the correction, you would be up now while the dollar cost averager's have not recouped the losses from DOW 26,600 yet.

I don't get this buy high mentality. They tell me my method buying on corrections and selling high is a lost cause, but no one has shown me how buying low is bad. Then they say buy low sell high is obvious, but they still insist on buying high. Makes my head spin sometimes. Trying to understand it. Seems they're so afraid of making the wrong decision that they are willing to give up the right decisions.
I don't understand. Jan-Feb 2018 prices were kind of like Oct 2017 prices. Why was buying in Jan-Feb better/wiser than buying in Oct?
Trajectory changes. October 2017 prices were already rising (I was already in Oct 2017 invested about $1.5M and riding the spectacular run), so you didn't know when this would end/correct. January told us we were at a top. Actually sold an under-performer (still made money on it) and after the 10% correction stabilized purchased a much better performing 2x Nasdaq leveraged, as I expect tech to remain in favor. This keeps me in during a good market but always prepared for the worst - if the January drop did not stabilize at 10%, I would have waited until it did to buy. That's why trajectory is so important. Will keep you out of the 2007-2008 bear or the 15 year bear of the 1970's-1982 (rising oil prices and interest rates). Sound familiar? Just minding the data to assess risk, though the government is wiser now than in the 1970's regarding oil and interest rates.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by md&pharmacist »

fortyofforty wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:32 pm
md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:09 pm Buy on 10% market corrections that have no good basis for the correction, like the re-tracement in January-February. Sell into market euphoria, let the dollar cost averager's buying at the top take loses into the next correction, where you would be again buying from them. Also this is a good opportunity to re-balance into better performing sectors. Even better, buy a major correction (30-50%) or a Great Depression (85% correction) - opportunity of a lifetime.

The markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018. If you bought on the correction, you would be up now while the dollar cost averager's have not recouped the losses from DOW 26,600 yet.

I don't get this buy high mentality. They tell me my method buying on corrections and selling high is a lost cause, but no one has shown me how buying low is bad. Then they say buy low sell high is obvious, but they still insist on buying high. Makes my head spin sometimes. Trying to understand it. Seems they're so afraid of making the wrong decision that they are willing to give up the right decisions.
There are a couple of issues with this simple idea.

You might need the money while waiting for it to grow again in the stock market. Do you sell near the bottom? How do you know what the bottom is?

When you buy at a 10% correction, do you buy more when the market drops another 10%? And if it drops another 10% after that? From what pile of cash do you make these leaps, and how much do you dump in at a time? How do you know?

Ideally we all would love to time the market and buy at the bottom, while selling at the top. Identifying the bottom and the top are difficult. The strategy also requires you to remain in cash for long, possibly unbearable periods of time. As A. Gary Schilling wrote back in 1993: "Markets can remain irrational a lot longer than you and I can remain solvent."

Market timing--an example of which this clearly is--requires bets out and bets in. Given that the market generally rises over long periods of time, based on over a hundred years of historical returns, buying and believing that stock market purchase will grow over time is perfectly reasonable, no matter the current level of the market.
Sell near the bottom? Never. Don't you mean buy near the bottom? Nobody knows where a bottom is. You wait for a correction to stabilize. If it's 10%, my buying is limited to $50K-$100K. If it drops more and not in free fall, I can buy more. The point is I'm never buying at highs. While you almost always will never buy at the absolute bottom, the point is to do all your buying as close to a bottom as possible.

If it was a 50-85% drop it will be more like $1Minvesment. Larger corrections take 2-3 years to stabilize, so you have plenty of time to make non-emotional decisions.

Nothing wrong with dollar cost averaging. Those that do so at the top also do so at the bottom, so it's a wash and they track the market. I'd just prefer not to risk buying at the tops. I sleep well knowing a 50-80% drop is a good thing for me, not a bad thing.

I don't need any of this money. I have another $1.5M for emergency, investment in my business, real estate/other investment opportunity. I'm in my mid 40's so won't need for a long time and annual income currently over $1.2M. Solvency not an issue until long beyond next major correction.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by fortyofforty »

md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 7:14 pm
fortyofforty wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:32 pm
md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:09 pm Buy on 10% market corrections that have no good basis for the correction, like the re-tracement in January-February. Sell into market euphoria, let the dollar cost averager's buying at the top take loses into the next correction, where you would be again buying from them. Also this is a good opportunity to re-balance into better performing sectors. Even better, buy a major correction (30-50%) or a Great Depression (85% correction) - opportunity of a lifetime.

The markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018. If you bought on the correction, you would be up now while the dollar cost averager's have not recouped the losses from DOW 26,600 yet.

I don't get this buy high mentality. They tell me my method buying on corrections and selling high is a lost cause, but no one has shown me how buying low is bad. Then they say buy low sell high is obvious, but they still insist on buying high. Makes my head spin sometimes. Trying to understand it. Seems they're so afraid of making the wrong decision that they are willing to give up the right decisions.
There are a couple of issues with this simple idea.

You might need the money while waiting for it to grow again in the stock market. Do you sell near the bottom? How do you know what the bottom is?

When you buy at a 10% correction, do you buy more when the market drops another 10%? And if it drops another 10% after that? From what pile of cash do you make these leaps, and how much do you dump in at a time? How do you know?

Ideally we all would love to time the market and buy at the bottom, while selling at the top. Identifying the bottom and the top are difficult. The strategy also requires you to remain in cash for long, possibly unbearable periods of time. As A. Gary Schilling wrote back in 1993: "Markets can remain irrational a lot longer than you and I can remain solvent."

Market timing--an example of which this clearly is--requires bets out and bets in. Given that the market generally rises over long periods of time, based on over a hundred years of historical returns, buying and believing that stock market purchase will grow over time is perfectly reasonable, no matter the current level of the market.
Sell near the bottom? Never. Don't you mean buy near the bottom? Nobody knows where a bottom is. You wait for a correction to stabilize. If it's 10%, my buying is limited to $50K-$100K. If it drops more and not in free fall, I can buy more. The point is I'm never buying at highs. While you almost always will never buy at the absolute bottom, the point is to do all your buying as close to a bottom as possible.

If it was a 50-85% drop it will be more like $1Minvesment. Larger corrections take 2-3 years to stabilize, so you have plenty of time to make non-emotional decisions.

Nothing wrong with dollar cost averaging. Those that do so at the top also do so at the bottom, so it's a wash and they track the market. I'd just prefer not to risk buying at the tops. I sleep well knowing a 50-80% drop is a good thing for me, not a bad thing.

I don't need any of this money. I have another $1.5M for emergency, investment in my business, real estate/other investment opportunity. I'm in my mid 40's so won't need for a long time and annual income currently over $1.2M. Solvency not an issue until long beyond next major correction.
No, I meant what I wrote. Sell near the bottom. If you're holding stocks and waiting for the rise, but end up needing the cash after a year or two (or ten) of waiting for the rebound, you're forced to sell. Or, eat your stock certificates.

If you have enough cash on which to survive, and as much free cash flow as you apparently enjoy, then you certainly have the flexibility to play with your money. If it's what you enjoy doing, go for it. The market is full of technicians and timers and gamblers and speculators, each with a foolproof system. In fact, I just finished a book outlining such a system, proposing buying "no-brainers" when they are on sale. Foolproof. Absolutely foolproof.

There were plenty of times in the past when I didn't want to buy at the top, and was certain the market was due for a correction. I'd jump in when that happened, I told myself. But the market kept rising, and that ten percent correction, when it finally came, was from a much higher peak than where I would have jumped in in the first place. But, that's just me. I don't have a rock solid system like you, so I'll just stay the course and admit I don't know enough to call the highest peaks or the deepest gullies.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Lieutenant.Columbo »

GoldenFinch wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 3:58 pm
livesoft wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 3:05 pm
Lieutenant.Columbo wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 3:04 pm I am surprised I can't find any posts by you on how to DIY-approximate EngineerTM's bi-dimensional (expected risk & return) strategy...
L.C.
I was given this book recently and I am still thinking about it. Also, I've sort of given up explaining to people how many of the rebalancing studies do not cover all the bases.
Don’t give up. Your efforts are appreciated.
Same sentiment here. Thank you for what I've learnt from your efforts in this forum.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:09 pmThe markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018.
Total US Stock Market index fund is up 3% year-to-date which is absolutely not "essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018."

MTUM (iShares Edge MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF) is actually up 8% year-to-date. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. :)

Question for everybody: What days in 2018 has MTUM had RBDs so far?
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Lieutenant.Columbo »

livesoft wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 2:26 pmMTUM (iShares Edge MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF) is actually up 8% year-to-date. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. :)

Question for everybody: What days in 2018 has MTUM had RBDs so far?
February 5
March 22
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

^Yes, those two, but Thursday February 8 was also an RBD. I cannot remember if April 2 had an intraday RBD or not for MTUM.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by md&pharmacist »

livesoft wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 2:26 pm
md&pharmacist wrote: Fri May 25, 2018 6:09 pmThe markets have essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018.
Total US Stock Market index fund is up 3% year-to-date which is absolutely not "essentially returned 0% since January 1, 2018."

MTUM (iShares Edge MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF) is actually up 8% year-to-date. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. :)

Question for everybody: What days in 2018 has MTUM had RBDs so far?
3% LOL. The DOW was down almost 2% today alone.

ABSOLUTELY NOT essentially 0%???

Easy on the ambition there!
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by protagonist »

What if the market goes into a long protracted slump and you buy on all the bad days? Eventually you might go broke. You could have to wait a LONG time for a rebound, if one happens within your lifetime.
Think Japan since the Nikkei peaked. Or potentially worse.
And though the market rebounded nicely after the 2008 crash , nobody knew that was what would happen. We could have gone into a long depression, or runaway inflation, or ????
So you may get better returns with this strategy, but with the possibility of better returns comes more risk. That is not necessarily an argument against doing it, just know what you are getting into. This may also explain the "benefits" of rebalancing, which is not very different than what you suggested....just less frequent. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

^I agree there is no such thing as a free lunch. I also agree that it comes with more risk.

But as explained elsewhere, the RBD strategy signals on really bad days which would have to get worse and worse into a long protracted slump. They are not just any ol' day that drops by a large amount. In 2008-2009, I think an RBD at one point had to be an 8% drop in a single day, so mere 4%, 5%, and 6% drops in some instances were not RBDs. Not unlike windmills that have governors and automatically turn out of the wind to prevent turning too fast, so to does the RBD strategy prevent buying when a future one-day drop is not large enough or larger than many recent drops.

I'll give a trivial situation: If the stock market dropped 2% every day for 200 days in a row, then there would be no RBDs in that stretch, but no one would like it either and anybody who rebalanced early in the debacle would not like it either.

And a long protracted slump isn't going to make any form of rebalancing helpful until it turns around anyways, right?
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

livesoft wrote: Wed May 30, 2018 7:06 am ^I agree there is no such thing as a free lunch. I also agree that it comes with more risk.

But as explained elsewhere, the RBD strategy needs really bad days which would have to get worse and worse into a long protracted slump. They are not just any ol' day that drops by a large amount. In 2008-2009, I think an RBD at one point had to be an 8% drop in a single day, so mere 4%, 5%, and 6% drops in some instances were not RBDs. Not unlike windmills that have governors and automatically turn out of the wind to prevent turning too fast, so to does the RBD strategy prevent buying when many one-day drops happen bunched together.

I'll give a trivial situation: If the stock market dropped 2% every day for 200 days in a row, then there would be no RBDs in that stretch, but no one would like it either and anybody who rebalanced early in the debacle would not like it either.

And a long protracted slump isn't going to make any form of rebalancing helpful until it turns around anyways, right?
So how does one determine what constitutes a RBD and when to buy/sell? Is the trigger point an 8% movement? I thought it was 5% that was the trigger. What if 8% never shows up in any one year, sit on hands and do nothing if market moves 5% down? Hard to determine what is the "all-in" entry point for a RBD.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

RBD strategy thread with backtesting explains it to all who read carefully. If you cannot read carefully, then don't bother to read it.

When to sell is never explained. That's something you will have to work out on your own.

And there is no '"all in" entry point' ... where did that come from?
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

livesoft wrote: Wed May 30, 2018 8:04 am RBD strategy thread with backtesting explains it to all who read carefully. If you cannot read carefully, then don't bother to read it.

When to sell is never explained. That's something you will have to work out on your own.

And there is no '"all in" entry point' ... where did that come from?
I need to "re-read". :wink:
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by triceratop »

Me, I think Bloomberg editors read Bogleheads: The Bad Days Have Been Really Bad in 2018’s Stock Market
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by fortyofforty »

Would it be possible to start a stickied thread in which we ask the RBD experts to declare, before 2:00 p.m., what constitutes a Really Bad Day? That way we could all see, clearly and publicly, whether they are truly able to make meaningful market calls. We could ask them to declare the Really Good Days, too, if we wanted to complete the cycle.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by triceratop »

fortyofforty wrote: Wed May 30, 2018 8:36 am Would it be possible to start a stickied thread in which we ask the RBD experts to declare, before 2:00 p.m., what constitutes a Really Bad Day? That way we could all see, clearly and publicly, whether they are truly able to make meaningful market calls. We could ask them to declare the Really Good Days, too, if we wanted to complete the cycle.
Why? The rules are linked just above and are prescriptive (they also do not change). Plus, some people own different assets; as we saw yesterday, a RGD for one asset (TLT - iShares Long-term Treasury) can be a RBD for another (FNDE - Schwab EM Value) or nothing at all for another (VOO - Vanguard S&P500 US Equity).

Also "announcing" RBDs would make things like livesoft's market timing entirely too standardized and overly near-term a perspective for a long-term investing forum like Bogleheads.
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Re: Buy on Really Bad Days, Sell on Really Good Days?

Post by livesoft »

fortyofforty wrote: Wed May 30, 2018 8:36 am Would it be possible to ....
Go ahead. You can do this yourself.

But just yesterday Taylor Larimore posted a link to @WallStreetPhysician's blog article on "The Seven Types of Investors ...." In that article was
If you have a method to beat the market that could be easily replicated by others, you keep it a closely-guarded secret. That’s why when you see others tout their trading strategies in a book or an online course, be wary.
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