Most traders think the market tests whether they're right. It tests something more difficult. Can you watch a stock run without you and not chase it if it has moved too far past your entry signal? Can you let a winner run without inventing a new exit rule to exit too early for no reason? Can you take three small clean losses without deciding your edge has disappeared? Can you make easy money for a month without deciding you're suddenly entitled to take bigger risks? Can you see people make a lot of money with a different strategy without abandoning your own and creating style drift? The market is constantly offering you reasons to abandon your trading consistency and discipline. The market will constantly test your patience, discipline, confidence, and conviction. The real skill is knowing when the market is just volatile and when your emotions are trying to change your behavior.read more
I’m currently invested in the passive-income space, but I’m looking at building a stronger core portfolio focused on long-term growth as well. My thought is to continue receiving distributions from my income ETFs and reinvest those distributions into a solid, diversified core ETF rather than putting everything into income-producing investments. For those who have experience with this strategy: • What Canadian-listed ETFs would you consider a good “core” holding for long-term growth? • Would you lean toward something like XEQT, VEQT, or a more balanced option such as VGRO/XGRO? • Does it make sense to use income ETFs for cash flow while directing distributions toward a growth-oriented core? • How would you balance income, growth, and risk if you were building this strategy in your late 50s? I’m not looking for a specific stock pick — more interested in how others structure their portfolios for both income and long-term growth.read more
September is historically the market’s most difficult month, and this year we entered the period with another significant headwind: rising interest rates and oil prices. Yet the major averages held up relatively well in the face of a surge in both last week. What we may be witnessing is more of a rotational correction and consolidation beneath the surface. The S&P 500 can appear relatively healthy while a large percentage of its individual components are already experiencing corrections. The breadth statistics illustrate this divergence. As recently as mid-August, roughly 69% of S&P 500 stocks were above their 50-day moving averages. By September 11, that figure had fallen to roughly one-third of the index. On September 9 alone, 383 of the 500 S&P stocks were declining, while decliners outnumbered advancers by nearly 3-to-1 on the NYSE. That's considerable internal deterioration without a comparable collapse in the headline index. In fact, from August 18 through September 8, the S&P 500 declined only about 0.2%, even as broader measures of participation deteriorated substantially. We may already be experiencing a stealth correction—one stock and one group at a time. With September historically the weakest month of the year, we still need to respect the seasonal risk, particularly with interest rates on the rise and elevated oil prices. But if the indexes can hold together while individual stocks complete their corrections and begin rebuilding technically, the market could emerge from September in considerably better shape than the major averages alone would suggest, and the historical tendency then shifts to a strong year end rally. The key is patience; to wait for proper setups and not let the indexes pressure you into sub standard trading decisions. The real story right now may not be what the S&P 500 is doing. It's what the stocks beneath it have already done and are currenty doing. We are seeing a very sharp rotation beneath the surface today, with the selling concentrated in the areas that have been at the center of the AI infrastructure trade. The Nasdaq opened down roughly 1.2%, but the damage is considerably worse across semiconductors and AI-related hardware. MRVL, MU and INTC were down roughly 6% or more early, LRCX was hit around 8%, and NVDA fell more than 3%. The weakness is global, with ASML and major Asian semiconductor names also under significant pressure. The immediate catalyst is a weekend push from several prominent AI leaders—including Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Elon Musk—calling for greater restraint in the pace of frontier AI development. Investors are extrapolating that into the possibility of a slower AI capital-spending cycle, which directly challenges the earnings narrative supporting semiconductors, memory, networking and data-center infrastructure. What's particularly interesting is that this isn't simply broad risk-off selling. Money appears to be rotating within technology itself. While chips and AI infrastructure are getting hit, cybersecurity names are showing relative strength. Bottom line: this looks like more than an ordinary down day in tech. The market is aggressively questioning one of its most crowded leadership themes while simultaneously searching for new sponsorship elsewhere. The key now is whether AI infrastructure stabilizes quickly—or whether today's action marks the beginning of a more meaningful leadership transition.read more
After months of refining the portfolio, I’ve decided to make the biggest structural change since its inception. The REQT portfolio goes from 14 ETFs to just 4: 40% $ZEQT 40% $FEQT 10% $FINN 10% $ORBX organized into three sleeves: 40% Market Cap — ZEQT 40% Factors — FEQT 20% Innovation — FINN + ORBX This isn’t a change in philosophy, but a cleaner expression of the same philosophy. In fact, the original REQT already held all six ETFs that sit underneath ZEQT: ZSP, ZCN, ZEA, ZEM, ZMID and ZSML. Rather than managing those building blocks individually, holding ZEQT directly simply packages the same broad-market exposure much more efficiently. And why ZEQT rather than XEQT or VEQT? There’s also a continuity aspect I like: those BMO ETFs were already the backbone of REQT’s market-cap exposure, so consolidating them into BMO’s all-equity solution feels like the most natural evolution. I also like keeping that part of the portfolio with BMO, a Canadian 🇨🇦 provider. The factor side is evolving too. REQT originally emphasized Momentum and Value. FEQT keeps those factors while adding High Quality and Low Volatility. I see those additional factors as useful counterweights, particularly in a period of elevated geopolitical and market uncertainty. They add another layer of diversification and potential stability without abandoning the factor-based approach. And the part where I want to keep the strongest conviction, 20% Innovation, remains unchanged: 10% FINN — Global Innovators 10% ORBX — Space Innovators The REQT portfolio can still be summarized very simply: 40% Passive Indexes + 40% Factors + 20% Innovation. The previous structure gave me very precise control, but over time I became convinced that some of that complexity wasn’t adding enough value to justify 14 separate positions. Simple is better. The new REQT is easier to understand, easier to rebalance and easier to maintain, while preserving the ideas that defined it from the beginning. 💪🚀read more
Have you bought just ONE share of at least ONE energy company yet??? 😂🤣 Or is your stubborness standing in the way? Natural selection is alive and well! This is the Way! 🏄🌊🏄♂️🌊🏄♀️🌊
What do we think about the Mag 7 performance this year? I am of the belief that in 5 years we’ll look back and think of 2026 as one of the best times to invest.
I’m 20 years old and have been fortunate enough to build a portfolio of over 6 figures. But the biggest things I’ve learned haven’t come from my best investments. They’ve come from the mistakes and conversations along the way. Three things investing has taught me so far: 1. Behaviour beats picks You can pick great companies and still be a bad investor. Some of my biggest mistakes weren’t picking the wrong stock. They were letting emotion make the decision. Selling because I was scared. Buying because of FOMO. Checking a position constantly and convincing myself I needed to do something. Losing money sucks, but those mistakes have probably taught me more than any winner ever has. The longer I invest, the more I realize managing yourself is just as important as managing your portfolio. 2. Conviction comes from understanding The best investors I’ve met can usually explain why they own something in a few sentences. Not a 30-page thesis. Not 15 different metrics. What does the company do? Why does it win? Why do you believe it’ll be worth more in the future? If I can’t explain why I own something simply, I probably don’t understand it well enough to have real conviction in it. And without conviction, it becomes a lot harder to hold when things inevitably go against you. 3. Community makes you a better investor I work at Blossom, so I’m biased, but this became pretty obvious once I was surrounded by other investors every day. Not blindly following picks, but having your thinking challenged. Someone might point out a risk you completely missed, introduce you to a company you’ve never heard of, or have a completely different perspective on something you already own. You still have to make your own decisions, but investing around people who constantly challenge the way you think is incredibly valuable. I’m only 20, so I definitely have A LOT left to learn. But if there’s one thing I’m realizing, it’s that becoming a better investor has a lot less to do with finding the next 10x stock and a lot more to do with becoming better at how you think. LMK your biggest mistake in investing (could be buying a penny stock or shorting $NVDA) I want to hear it!read more
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTUVxrqQ2/ This is Purely Educational. This is advice given by the best investors of all time. If you’ve ever wondered how does can one get wealthy from the stock market, how can one outperform the S&P 500, How does one outperform Wall Street? This could be a video for you. This advice is coming from Investors that have more than 100x their returns throughout their investment journey. Disclaimer - One should keep up with the business and its financials as well as its competitors
Every timeline read the same note this week and reached for $TLT. That's the trade the headline hands you, and it's backwards. Apollo's Torsten Slok argued that two decades of excess savings are over: there used to be more capital than projects, and now there are more projects than capital. - When capital is scarce, capital competes for projects by demanding a higher return. The price that clears the market is a higher yield - Data centers, power generation, transmission and government deficits are all long-duration claims on the same pool of savings, which is why long rates have moved more than short rates - A long-duration bond fund is the one instrument that loses when long yields rise. Higher yields reward new money, not the duration you already own - Slok's own read on the buildout: it isn't that the money isn't there. Hyperscalers have raised everything they've asked for. They're just paying more for it The part that complicates the bear case on $QQQ: paying more is not the same as being cut off. Slok said earlier this year that most of the data center financing for 2026 was already locked in, so the buildout continues almost regardless. This regime bites in 2027, when that paper has to be rolled at the new price, not in the next earnings season. The tell is margin structure, not capex. By Slok's own breakdown, silicon and equipment run about 41% operating margins while models and applications sit near -59%. The profitable end of the chain depends on the unprofitable end continuing to raise capital. Capital can bridge that gap for a while, not forever. $QQQ is at 709.05, still inside the range it has held since May, sitting right on the downtrend off the June high and barely above the 700 line. Lose 700 with volume and 665.62 is the next real level. Reclaim that trendline and the top of the range comes back. Buy $TLT anyway, sell duration, fade $QQQ, or wait for 700 to break? 👇read more
Market's down 2 percent. Your name is down 5. No bad news, no downgrade, nothing you can point at. That gap has a name 📊 Beta is one number for how much a stock has historically moved compared to the market. Near 1, it moves with the index. Above 1, it's swung harder both ways. Below 1, calmer. Two things people get wrong about it. It's a rear view mirror. Beta comes out of past returns, so it describes how a stock behaved, not how it will behave. Companies change faster than the number does. And it measures swing, not danger. A quiet stock with a wrecked balance sheet can carry low beta and go to zero anyway. A high beta name can be a fine business that just trades violently. Where it earns its keep is expectations. My feed this morning had an AI fear post and an NVDA run continues post sitting an hour apart. If you own the twitchy stuff, a brutal red day is often the stock doing exactly what it's always done, not the thesis breaking 🙂 Whether the business is any good, beta has nothing to say about that. Do you check beta before you buy, or meet it on the first ugly week? Educational, not financial advice. Just my read.read more
Made two final planned buys for now today. Added $SNAP at $5.90 and $BN at $37.29. I’m happy with the size of both positions from here. With $SNAP, I’m going to hold and give management time to execute. The user base is there, monetization and cash flow are improving, and now I want to see that progress continue. With $BN, I’m comfortable letting the position sit and compound. I continue to view Brookfield as one of the steadier businesses in my portfolio and a name I believe can compound nicely over the next 5 years. For now, both positions are where I want them.read more
This $NFLX chart is exactly why I still think strong earnings growth is ahead. Revenue is still growing, but the bigger story now is what happens underneath it. Advertising is scaling. Margins are expanding. Content spending is becoming more efficient. Buybacks are reducing the share count. Netflix doesn’t need explosive subscriber growth anymore. If revenue keeps compounding while margins improve and shares outstanding fall, EPS can keep growing much faster than the top line. That’s a big reason I still like $NFLX long term. read more
Another portfolio rebalance today. I decided to fully exit $FUBO and tax-loss harvest the position. At this point, I think the thesis is broken. The merger has not done what I hoped it would, I have not seen the leadership or transparency I want from management, and the path to sustainable cash flow still does not look strong enough to justify holding. There have been too many unanswered questions and not enough execution for me to keep giving the position more time just because the stock is down. The loss can help offset gains elsewhere this year, and it also frees up more cash for potential $UBER or $NFLX buys on weakness. I would rather redeploy into companies where I have much higher conviction. read more
-0.51% S&P 500 ($SPY) -0.60% Nasdaq ($QQQ) Good Afternoon everyone. If yesterday was a warning shot, today is the market holding its breath. Stocks are slipping again Tuesday as three separate pressure fronts converge ahead of tomorrow's Fed decision — and none of them are letting up. Oil just crossed $104. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.02%, its highest level since 2007. And the FOMC is meeting right now, with a rate hike almost fully locked in for tomorrow afternoon. This week is one of the most consequential in months, and it's only Tuesday. The 10-Year Just Broke a 19-Year High. The 10-year Treasury yield surged to 5.02% this morning — clearing the 2023 peak we flagged last Friday and reaching levels not seen since 2007. This is not a footnote. A 5%+ risk-free rate fundamentally changes the math on every growth stock and high-multiple name in your portfolio. When you can earn 5% sitting in Treasuries, the justification for paying 25–30× earnings on a tech stock requires a much stronger argument. The S&P is down 0.49% and the Nasdaq is off 0.26% — relatively contained for now, but the pressure is building. The VIX jumped 5% to 17.96, signaling rising anxiety ahead of tomorrow. Oil Is at $104 and Climbing. WTI crude is up another 2.64% today to $104.10 — that's a 20% gain for the month of September alone. Brent is above $107.90. The catalyst today is the continued fallout from Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline closure after drone strikes, which knocked out a route handling roughly 4% of global oil supply. The Pentagon disclosed $33.4 billion in costs from the ongoing US-Iran conflict, including the loss of four F-15s and up to 30 drones. The war is real, the disruption is real, and $100+ oil is not going away anytime soon. For everyday Americans, the national gas average just hit $4.32/gallon — and that number feeds directly into tomorrow's Fed thinking. The Fed Decides Tomorrow. Here's What You Need to Know. The FOMC's September meeting kicked off today, with Chair Kevin Warsh set to announce the decision at 2 PM ET Wednesday. Markets are pricing a 92.7% probability of a 25-basis-point hike, bringing the target range to 3.75%–4.00% — the first rate hike since July 2023. A Duke University survey of 32 former Fed governors and economists found 29 out of 32 said the Fed should hike. The case is airtight: energy prices haven't reversed, inflation is sticky, and AI infrastructure spending is adding to price pressures. The real question isn't whether Warsh hikes — it's what the dot plot says about what comes next. Deutsche Bank expects the median dot to show another hike before year-end, and futures are already pricing two more quarter-point moves by end of 2026. Warsh is known for "minimalist communication," so don't expect hand-holding from the press conference. Read the dots, not the words. What If He Pauses? Don't count on it — but if Warsh surprises and holds rates steady, the bond market would likely punish him anyway. The 10-year is already at 5.02%. A credibility-damaging pause could paradoxically push long rates even higher as inflation expectations surge. Kiplinger's economists put it plainly: "If he resists, the long-term Treasury bond market is likely to pitch a fit." There is no clean exit here. Today's Big Movers. Not everything is red. $SWKS is up 10% on optimism around its pending $22 billion merger with $QRVO and $AAPL product tailwinds. $DELL is adding 5.65% — its $95 billion AI server order backlog continues to be the story that keeps giving. On the downside, Enova International cratered 24% after pulling its application to acquire Grasshopper Bancorp. Dave & Buster's dropped 15.6% on a Q2 earnings miss. $AXON fell nearly 11% after announcing a $1 billion convertible note offering. $COIN is off 4.6% ahead of a Senate vote on the CLARITY Act crypto regulatory framework — Bitcoin sits at $76,957, down 1%. One More Thing. Elon Musk hinted at a possible Tesla/SpaceX merger at the All-In Summit in LA yesterday. Tesla is barely moving on the news but it's worth watching — a combined entity would reshape how both names are valued and would be one of the largest companies on earth. File it under things to monitor rather than trade on today. Bottom line: Tomorrow is the day. Fed decision at 2 PM ET, press conference to follow, dot plot released simultaneously. Get positioned before the open — volatility will spike at 2 PM regardless of direction. Watch the 10-year: above 5.1% on a hawkish dot plot tests the S&P's 7,600 support hard. A dovish surprise triggers a sharp relief rally in growth names. Either way, this is not the week to be passive. Know your levels, keep your stops tight, and check back tomorrow. read more
The biggest business transition happening inside some of my favorite stocks: $AMD Becoming a full AI infrastructure company, not just a chip company. $SOFI Becoming a broader financial platform, not just a lender. $UBER Becoming a cash-generating platform with multiple revenue streams, not just a rides business. $SNAP Becoming less dependent on advertising as subscriptions and direct revenue grow. $NOW Becoming a much broader enterprise platform as AI gets embedded across workflows. $ZETA Becoming a larger AI-driven marketing platform as enterprise relationships deepen. $OSCR Becoming a more efficient and profitable insurer as the underlying economics improve. $APP Becoming a broader advertising platform beyond its original mobile gaming roots. $NFLX Becoming a wider entertainment platform with advertising, live content, and new formats. $CRWV Becoming a much larger AI infrastructure provider as demand for compute continues to scale. read more
$UBER is making a bigger push into senior transportation. Older users can now create senior accounts independently, use a simplified app with larger text and icons, customize how drivers alert them at pickup, and Uber is also piloting easy-entry vehicles in nine markets. I like this because Uber is already massive, so future growth increasingly comes from making the platform useful for more types of riders and more situations. Seniors, teens, healthcare, business travel, AVs. The more use cases Uber can pull into one platform, the stronger the ecosystem gets. Small update, but another good example of $UBER continuing to widen its addressable market.read more
$SOFI Composer is now integrated into SoFi Invest. This is more important than just another AI feature. Management specifically said Composer can drive more investing activity, engagement, and assets onto the platform. SoFi acquired Composer earlier this year with the goal of bringing AI-powered, automated investing into the ecosystem. Now we’re starting to see that integration actually happen. Another example of SoFi continuing to make the Invest product deeper and potentially more valuable over time.read more
I don’t think the Crypto CLARITY Act failing to advance is a good thing overall. The U.S. needs clearer crypto regulation, and delaying that clarity is a negative for the industry in my opinion. But there could be a very interesting silver lining for $SOFI. Crypto companies still want deeper access to banking infrastructure, stablecoins and digital asset services, while the regulatory path just became less clear. SoFi already has a national bank charter and has been building the infrastructure to connect traditional banking and crypto. I don’t view today as bullish for crypto. But I do think it could make one of SoFi’s biggest competitive advantages even more valuable. read more
