Why TradingPro
There are many sources of financial advice in the Australian market place all competing for your business. So what sets us apart from the financial planner, stockbroker, newsletter or fund manager?
Combination of fundamentals and technicals
We use both fundamental and technical analysis for our investment recommendations and their management. We believe that the probability of investment success is highest when fundamentals and technicals confirm each other. We only propose an investment when we have a good fundamental story and when price action confirms our positive view. We take profits when either fundamentals deteriorate over the medium term, when the share price runs up too hard in a short period of time and got ahead of itself or when share price action makes a trend reversal likely.
International focus
Most Australian investors have too high a cash position and are mostly invested in Australian shares (usually heavily concentrated in the banks, Telstra, Woolworth and chasing a high dividend yield thus sacrificing share price appreciation). With the Australian Dollar trending down we emphasise increased exposure to international shares, particularly in sectors not well represented in Australia such as high tech, biotech, international brands and stocks providing exposure to the rising Asian middle class. We follow US listed stocks and international indices thus allowing us potential currency gains and better diversification.
Possibility to go short
As we are now worldwide in the mature phase of a secular bull market with excessive private and public debt making abrupt market sell offs quite possible we have in our tool box the possibility to easily short the market through share price indices should a trend reversal occur. This can give us the possibility to achieve positive returns in falling markets.
Avoid that 50 % drawdown
We do not have a passive buy and hold strategy but seek to avoid a 50 % + drawdown experienced by many investors in 2000 and 2008 through active position management. We will take profits or realise manageable losses when the trend changes. We would hold a large cash position combined with a short index position allowing us accumulation of quality companies once the trend changes again to an uptrend.
Experienced
We have 30 years international and domestic experience in securities and derivatives servicing institutional and private investors while holding an Australian Financial Services Licence / Futures Brokers licence for almost 20 years. We have always actively managed our portfolios seeking absolute returns in all market conditions. We have experienced quite a few stock market crashes, wars, disasters and bull markets giving us extensive historical context and probably some ‘feel’ for market stages.
Save on brokerage
Through our partners we can offer some of the lowest brokerage rates and dealing costs available worldwide together with a state of the market multi asset classes dealing platform thus providing considerable savings to our customers.
Flat fee to minimise conflict of interest
We are remunerated with an honest, upfront, flat fee for services thus minimising any conflict of interest. We are not tempted to increase turnover to achieve higher brokerage. Many full service brokers charge around 1 % brokerage compared to our low 0.08 % for Australian shares or US$ 1.00 minimum for US shares. Many Australian bank owned online brokers charge a currency spread of 0.5 % to 0.8 % (i.e. $ 500 to $ 800 for a $ 100,000 currency conversion) whereas our spread is around 0.02 % (i.e. $ 20 on a $ 100,000 currency conversion). Financial planners charge $ 2,000 + for a financial plan often putting the investor in diversified (high fee?) funds for a long term buy and hold strategy prone to a large drawdown with minimal follow up support. Many financial newsletters are around the $ 1,000 p.a. mark mostly specialising in the Australian share market with insufficient exposure to international markets and no support in implementing an investment strategy.
Help with implementing strategy
It is easy to get news and views on the market but the investor often feels overwhelmed and confused with all this often conflicting information. Most of the time there is no real follow up and no help in managing a position. Many investors find it hard to exit a position with a loss or realising a reasonable profit. Given that we are all very busy it is often hard to act on any advice. Doing it all by yourself can be lonely and many investors find it useful to have a discussion partner to run by ideas and give them a nudge when confronted with uncertainty. Over and above our weekly updates and ad hoc recommendations we monitor our clients’ positions and will contact them on a regular basis with help in implementing recommendations and rebalancing the portfolio. We are always a phone call away for advice and a chat.
Obligation Free Trial
We can only grow our advisory business if we add value to our clients. So that you can determine if our services are right for you we offer a four week obligation free trial.