Hello All,
To jump straight into it, it’s been yet another quieter week as we round off into the tail-end of summer in which volumes should finally start to pick back up post-Labor Day, but with that being said, the big factor on the week has been circled around the Middle East as both the U.S. & Iran continue to play tit-for-tat, with for now, there being no ‘easy’ exit in sight for the U.S., which in turn has led to a continued rise in crude & therefore the 10Y, thus generally putting a damper on equities for the week.
That said, of the indices, Spooz is currently the ‘best’ performer on the week, yet still sits lower by just over 50bps, whereas the Qs are the worst performing of the indices, currently sitting lower by just over 100bps on the week.
For anyone who wants to follow an actively managed portfolio in real time:
I’ve joined Plutus as the cleanest, day-to-day way to track an actively managed portfolio in real time. It’s a live dashboard that’s broader, more diversified, actively managed by me, & updated continuously.
The Eliant Flagship is published on RunPlutus.
Once your Plutus account is approved, you’ll have the option to allocate right away. If you do, it’s straightforward: create an account, link your brokerage (Available only for IBKR at this time), & select the Eliant Flagship (or any of the baskets I’ve built). Your money stays in your account, and trades, position changes, and rebalances are replicated automatically so there’s nothing manual to manage. The idea is to make it easier to access an actively managed portfolio run by me without the overhead of traditional fund structures or high minimums, whilst you keep full custody of your assets & I stay focused on research, positioning, and portfolio construction.
Earlier in 2024, we launched a series titled Educational Pieces, covering a wide range of topics, many of which were suggested directly by you all (4-Part Series).
For those who may have missed the first installment, it covered topics including:
General background / knowledge on all option strategies
In-depth talk on risk / reversals & how to go about expressing / utilizing them
Options Structuring
When to used naked calls / puts vs. spreads
Choosing expiration dates
Identifying key pivots / supports / resistance zones
General briefing on stock gaps
What to look for in regards to fundamentals
Implementing fundamental / macro / technicals into a trade
Hedging
Creating risk/reward setups
Taking profits / managing losses
Overall Process
Book recommendations
A link to the original Educational Piece can be found here .
Given the positive feedback and how useful many of you found the first installment, we followed up with Educational Piece: Part Deux earlier in 2025 & for those who may have missed, a link to the piece can be found here & we then went on to release Educational Piece: Part Trois which can be found here.
And finally, the most recent installment, Educational Piece: Part Quatre, can be found here.
‘Risk management is the silent prerequisite for compounding & true wealth is built not by chasing the highest returns but by ensuring the survival necessary to realize them.’
Before we jump into the recap, in looking at the week thus far, there’s been a slight pick-up in vol, again, mostly attributed to the fear of a bigger escalation within the Middle East, but generally speaking, volumes on the week have been very quiet with it essentially being the last week of summer, but nevertheless, the lower-volatility & value-oriented groups are slightly outperforming on the week, whereas quality along with momentum are the worst performing factors on the week.
And in regard to the specific factors and or ‘baskets’ we’ve built on Plutus, here are the best performers year-to-date:
1. Industrial and Auto Analog Recovery
3. AI Full-Stack Infrastructure
4. Mission Critical Security Stack
Whereas on the flip side, the worst performing baskets year-to-date have been:
Moving along, despite it being a quieter week, given the rise in the 10Y, we have seen a bit of deterioration in breadth, which in turn, has led to quite the drop-off in stocks above the 20D, which currently sits at 39% and is quickly encroaching oversold territory, even with Spooz for example only being just 200bps off all-time highs.
And similar can be said on a broader timeframe too as in the medium-term, the % of stocks above the 50D has fallen back toward 48%, which is still technically giving off a ‘neutral’ reading, although is slowly starting to creep into ‘oversold’ territory.
And on top of the above, despite Spooz sitting just 200bps off all-time highs, the Fear-Greed index has worked its way firmly back into ‘fear’ territory, once again emphasizing that under-the-hood, we’ve seen quite the ‘reset’ given the recent deterioration in breadth followed by the recent rise in the 10Y.
Historical context of the Fear-Greed Index overlaid with the S&P:
