Hi everyone,
I began stock picking 16 months ago. To be honest, I was an ETF investor. I made my DCA every month and I was kind of happy. Finally, I learnt more and more about stock market. And the idea of ETF was less and less convincing for me :
– Why buying a bag of companies you don't know anything about them ?
– Some companies are very promising and you can beat the index's annual performance in some weeks/months.
So I begin and I did what professional advise : diversification.
I bet on several sectors :
– IA (semi conductor, network, services)
– Energy (utilities and cooling)
– gold/silver (i bought more to avoid the risk of fail, so some producter and explorater)
– Defense (military and rare earth)
I bought maybe 2 stocks per sub sector. And finally, I got around 20 stocks.
And my performance ? better than index, but not so better … In 2025, my nasdaq etf in euro got 4%, and my PF was 20% after change into euro.
I notice something :
– When nasdaq gets 1%, my portfolio got 3-4%
– When nasdaq falls 1%, my porfolio falls 3-4%
Today, I've just the feeling to get a Nasdaq etf with X4 leverage.
what do you think ?
thank you.
Posted by SidonyD
10 Comments
You’re investing in volatile stocks. AI, semiconductors… are known for that: they fluctuate a lot. Try Apple (AAPL) or stocks like BRK.A (or BRK).
Congrats, you’ve learned what beta is
You answered your question. Its all about risk vs reward.
When your portfolio is over 100k/1M or you put all your savings, every 1% swing means a lot of money made or lost. In bull market everyone is genius, but during bear market you wish to be full port in VWRP having -3% instead of -30%.
If you are not scared to lose money and stay disciplined, pick indv stocks.
I just buy an individual stock if I really like it and think it’s a good deal. It sounds like you forced diversification by buying a ton of stocks in a bunch of different sectors all at once, essentially just making your own ETF.
OP discovers beta
You bought too many, focus on just a few you’ve researched well.
Yeah ive never understood the etf people. Its not that hard to beat the s&p
I think the sentiment is pushed by vanguard and large institutions because they profit when people buy their etfs
Add lower beta stocks if you want to flatten your volatility.
I think you learned how stock picking isnt the best idea.
The thing about diversification is that not everything makes you more diversified. Owning three semiconductor stocks is not much better than owning one semiconductor stock, because they usually move together. Real diversification to lower portfolio volatility requires finding assets that are not correlated.