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Symphonies
An Experiment in Straight Lines
Today’s Change
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A symphony is an automated trading strategy — Learn more about symphonies here

About

A rules‑based, daily‑rebalanced portfolio that shifts among stocks, bonds, commodities, cash, and volatility hedges. It rides uptrends, steps aside in downtrends, and adds crash insurance when markets overheat, aiming for growth with smaller drawdowns.
NutHow it works
Think of an autopilot with 3 jobs: 1) Ride uptrends (price above its trend line) in stocks/commodities; else sit in T‑bills (BIL/SHV/SHY). 2) When markets look “too hot” (RSI = 0–100 speedometer; very high is overheated), add crash insurance (VIX funds VIXY/UVXY) or mild shorts (SH/PSQ/SOXS). 3) If drops get deep/fast, lean into Treasuries (TLT/TMF) and volatility hedges. It also times oil/nat‑gas/DBC, rotates sectors (tech XLK/QQQ, staples XLP), and follows the US dollar (UUP). Uses some leveraged/inverse ETFs; expect higher volatility and turnover.
CheckmarkValue prop
Balanced edge: out-of-sample drawdowns around 7% vs SPY’s ~19%, with strong risk-adjusted return (Calmar ~1.40). It protects capital in dips and still captures uptrends for smoother, resilient growth.

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Invest in this strategy
OOS Start Date
Oct 9, 2024
Trading Setting
Daily
Type
Stocks
Category
Multi-asset, tactical rotation, trend-following, volatility-hedged, crash protection, commodities timing, bond momentum, usd trend
Tickers in this symphonyThis symphony trades 84 assets in total
Ticker
Type
AGG
iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
Stocks
AIA
iShares Asia 50 ETF
Stocks
BGX
Blackstone Long-Short Credit Income Fund
Stocks
BIL
State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF
Stocks
BND
Vanguard Total Bond Market
Stocks
BOIL
ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas
Stocks
BSV
Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF
Stocks
BTAL
AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund
Stocks
COKE
Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. Common Stock
Stocks
COST
Costco Wholesale Corp
Stocks

FAQ

A Composer symphony is an automated trading strategy that executes trades based on parameters of your choice. Some symphonies are similar to holding one ETF in normal conditions and rotating to a different ETF when market conditions shift, for example a 5% drop in the S&P 500, while others use complex rules with dozens of triggers. However, complex doesn’t always mean better. A simple, well-structured symphony can be just as effective as an intricate one. Learn more about how symphonies work here.

"An Experiment in Straight Lines" is currently performing the same as yesterday today. Performance updates in real time during market hours.

"An Experiment in Straight Lines" is currently allocated toXME, FCG, IEF, PGR, KOLD, EEM, TMF, XOP, DBA, QQQ, COKE, XMPT, NVO, UUP, DBC, GE, SHY, SPY, DBO, BTAL, LLY, SHV, XLE, SH, EDV, GLD, TLT, BIL, COST, XLP, BNDandPSQ. Holdings automatically adjust as market conditions change based on the strategy's rules.

Year-to-date, "An Experiment in Straight Lines" has returned 11.74%. You can adjust the performance chart above to view returns across different time horizons.

The maximum drawdown for "An Experiment in Straight Lines" is 7.23%. The maximum drawdown measures the largest peak-to-trough decline. It's an important metric to evaluate risk and the strategy's behavior during market stress.

To invest in "An Experiment in Straight Lines", simply click the Invest button on this page. You'll need to open an account with Composer if you don't have one yet, then you can start investing. Composer will automatically execute the trades for you based on the strategy's rules. Composer also supports trading individual stocks, ETFs, and options.