Congratulations to the three prize winners in the Regional (Canada) division of our All-Subscriber Portfolio Challenge, and really, congratulations to everyone who participated in the competition. It was a lot of fun and a valuable learning experience. As Todd Shaffer stated in last week’s Special Presentation video, there were a lot of Lessons Learned from the Challenge.
It was an exciting finish in the Canadian Region Prize Competition! Geoff Isard of Nanaimo, BC vaulted into first place on the very last day, November 30th, finishing 23rd overall with a 19.83% gain in the 3-month contest. Geoff wins $1,500 USD.
Michael O’Connor of Cobourg, ON finished just behind Geoff with a gain of 19.68% after leading the Canadian database entries most of the way. Michael wins $750 USD. “The competition from my point of view was one day too long!” Michael commented. “The winner probably thinks it was just long enough.”
Jane Charlotte of North Saanich, Vancouver Island, BC was 3rd in the Regional division, 31st overall. Jane’s portfolio finished with a gain of 14.95% and she wins $375 USD.
Even if you didn’t win one of the big prizes, chances are you still won a $100 credit to your account for beating Dr. DiLiddo’s entry, “The Rabbit”. For Michael, and a lot of competitors, that was his goal. It was all about learning, competing and bragging rights. Geoff says, “The guys in our Nanaimo User Group may bestow upon me many donuts, if not accolades.”
For Geoff, a longtime VectorVest subscriber, this was the first contest he has entered. “I did not have the confidence that I could compete against all the astute VectorVest investors,” he says. A big takeaway for Geoff was using the Backtester. “I had not used it much before.”
Geoff says he did a lot of backtesting for the contest, trying several long searches and many different stop criteria before going with the Ballistic New Highs search with a 25% trailing stop, a trading system our Tuesday Q&A webinar group had reviewed prior to the competition. For the short side, Geoff said he started at the first “short” search and back tested many different parameters including number of positions, 5 and 10, and various stops. “When I came across Doug’s Downers it seemed I had a winner, and then I tried Doug’s Downers Supercharged and the return increased modestly, so I chose this search for the short side.”
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In an unusual but effective approach for the contest, Geoff did not limit the time for repurchase going short because it improved results considerably. This means allowing the trading system to buy the top stocks returned by the search even if there is already a position in the portfolio. He also used no Stop criteria, finding that with a fast timer like the primary wave, just holding positions from purchase until the timing signal changes delivered the best results.
For Michael, he says he decided to enter the contest after I mentioned in our Q&A that beating Dr. D. would give you a $100 credit. “You demonstrated the Ballistic New Highs search, and I took it from there.” Michael says he back tested many combinations of portfolio timing, sizing and stops. For shorting, he chose Ballistic New Highs Short – Over $10. “I was very satisfied with the results of my testing.”
Jane says she decided too late to enter the competition with her custom portfolio, so she had to choose “one of the ‘offered’ ones. “I looked at each one of the offerings with a focus on the political climate in the US and Canada. I was betting that we would not see a Confirmed Up during the competition timeline. I was aware that Selling Short in Canada does not offer many stocks, especially with a safe search as Crash Landers.” For the longs, Jane selected Safe and Sound from the Prudent folder, which suits her investment style. Using the Confirmed Calls as her timer, the search didn’t come into play, just as she expected.
Jane added, “I am pleased VectorVest included a Canadian section as this is the only market, I invest in. I have been a member for nearly 12 years, attended many workshops, purchased many add-ons and participate in the webinars and courses. I would not have had the confidence to invest and manage all my own portfolios, with annual 18 to 20% over the past ten years, without VectorVest. So, a big thank you!
And a big thank you again to our three Regional (Canada) Winners, and to everyone who participated and everyone who followed along each week in our Tuesday webinars. There were a lot of LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE ASPC CHALLENGE.
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