Ballast Block | 2011-11-01
Today’s Change (Mar 18, 2026)
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A symphony is an automated trading strategy — Learn more about symphonies here
About
A daily-rotating multi-asset “ballast” that mixes bonds, volatility, and commodities. It buys uptrends or deep pullbacks and parks in T‑bills when weak. It can flip long/short long Treasuries (TMF/TMV) and long/short natural gas (FCG/KOLD).
Daily it splits into three sleeves: Bonds (TMF=3x long 20+yr Treasuries, TMV=3x short; or cash BIL) using simple trend/oversold checks (RSI=a short‑term “heat” gauge; MAs=trend). Volatility sleeve holds the 2 calmest of SVXY, VIXM, BTAL, GLD. Commodities trades DBC/XME (broad/miners), FCG/KOLD (nat‑gas long/short), and DBO (oil) on trend or oversold; else BIL.
Out-of-sample: drawdown 6.5% vs S&P's ~18.8%, low beta, Calmar ~1.50, Sharpe ~1.13, plus diversified ballast (bonds, volatility, commodities). Safer, steadier gains and capital protection vs the S&P.
1M
3M
6M
YTD
1Y
3Y
Max
Performance
Compared to selected benchmarks
| Alpha | Beta | R2 | R | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.11 | -0 | 0 | -0.01 |
Performance Metrics
| Cumulative Return | Annualized Return | Trailing 1M Return | Trailing 3M Return | Sharpe Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 608.48% | 14.63% | -1.77% | 0.2% | 0.9 | |
| 373.22% | 11.45% | 4.77% | 6.26% | 1.3 |
Initial Investment
$10,000.00
Final Value
$47,322.22Regulatory Fees
$183.50
Total Slippage
$820.00
Invest in this strategy
OOS Start Date
May 7, 2024
Trading Setting
Daily
Type
Stocks
Category
Multi-asset, trend + mean-reversion, commodities, treasuries, volatility, low-volatility selection, leveraged etfs, daily rebalance
Tickers in this symphonyThis symphony trades 12 assets in total
Ticker
Type
BIL
State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF
Stocks
BTAL
AGF U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta Fund
Stocks
DBC
Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund
Stocks
DBO
Invesco DB Oil Fund
Stocks
FCG
First Trust Natural Gas ETF
Stocks
GLD
SPDR Gold Trust, SPDR Gold Shares
Stocks
KOLD
ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Natural Gas
Stocks
SVXY
ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF
Stocks
TMF
Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X ETF
Stocks
TMV
Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bear 3X ETF
Stocks