Covestor and CVIM Blog

Site Developments

We have been spending a fair amount of time recently going through feedback from our members, and prioritizing projects. We receive a number of great suggestions and are sorry for the delay getting them up on the website.

The enhancements over the last couple of months have largely been behind the scenes, but should make for a better experience. For example you may have noticed that page load times are now significantly faster. We have also re-architected the calculation of all of the portfolio metrics, and so although the measures themselves have not changed it will be easier to add new ones, and to cope with the growing number of users.

Here are some of the larger projects that you have been asking for and their status:

• Display 'sell short' and 'buy to cover' rather than just sell/buy: We now display sell short vs sell both on the website and email notifications where this is available from the broker. Not all brokers provide this clarification.
• Include cash in portfolio performance: Version 1 coming shortly
• Allow me to invest directly alongside others: Coming shortly
• Further breakdown of rankings/help me find relevant portfolios: Coming later in the year
• Let me import my history: In progress. Challenging re data availability from the brokers
• Support for Options:  In progress. Challenging re non standardized symbols and rules to automate. Unlikely this calendar year

We are now monitoring your feedback on Get Satisfaction as well as through our support alias. We greatly value your input so please keep it coming!

Junior Freelance Front End HTML Web Developer

We are looking for a freelance junior front end web developer with strong HTML/CSS skills to work with directly with our President on an exciting new project.  We are based in Central London but some of the work can be completed remotely.

If you are a proficient web developer and available for a two to four week project please contact us with your CV and daily rate, referencing URLs to examples of sites you have personally built.

Please do not apply if you are not eligible to work in the UK or unable to attend an interview in London.

covestoritjobs {at} gmail [dot] com

NO RECRUITERS.

Share Your Feedback With the Community

Although we already receive lots of great feedback from members to our support email we have decided to trial using a more public forum to let you share your views and feedback with each other (as well as with us) on how we can improve Covestor.

The conversation is being hosted on Get Satisfaction. You can go there directly to create an account or leave public comments from us via the contact page on Covestor. We would value your feedback, positive or negative on the existing service and new features you would find of value. The team will be there participating in the discussion so you may also want to check the Covestor account occasionally as it should also become a valuable resource in addressing commonly experienced issues.

Introduction to Exchange Traded Funds

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have become a very popular form of investing over the last decade. These funds have substantially lower management fees compared to mutual funds and are traded just like a stock on the open market.

In 2006 Ultra ETFs emerged onto the scene which gives the classification of "double" the performance as they are leveraged to compound gains. For example a investor could purchase the QQQQ which is the ETF tracking the NASDAQ 100, or they could purchase the QLD which tracks double the performance of the same index.

Ultra ETFs tpyically have slightly higher management fees than a standard ETF, typically charging around .95% per year. Furthermore, the risk associated with buying an ultra ETF is realized at twice the norm. Just like buying on margin, every investor should have a set strategy before taking a position in an Ultra ETF.

Here on the Covestor Community several members have discussed ETFs in their recent blog posts. These posts should provide further insight into the strategies behind these leveraged investments:

• Inverse ETFs - Trade vs Sentiment by epicadv
• Triple ETFs - How to Trade Them by marketedge360
• Using Proshares PSQ Instead of Proshares QID by fjpenney

While most investors like to buy "long", betting that the market will go up, there are also ETFs setup to bet "short", or that a market index will go down. These are known as inverse ETFs, and they too have become increasingly popular over the recent years. The QID for example has a 2x inverse effect of the NASDAQ 100 index.

With that said, there are many ETFS to choose from. On my personal blog, stocktradingtogo.com, I have summarized a good majority of the ETFs available on the market today:

• 40 Great Inverse ETFs For Bearish Investors
• 24 Great Ultra Long ETFs For Bullish Investors

Like any investment the more educated a trader is on what they are looking to invest in the better off they are. This is especially true in today's volatile marketplace.