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Stockpickr-on-steroids AlphaClone launched its long awaited investment accounts service. The research platform, 
which I’ve declared the cure for investor insanity, allows subscribers to build portfolio based on the holdings of top hedge fund and mutual fund managers, essentially creating either a clone of a particular manager (i.e. The Warren Buffett Portfolio) or a compilation of holdings from different managers (Value Masters, top holding of famous value investors). With the ability to continuously backtest, the platform is really valuable in the research and portfolio building process.
From research to actual money running
Now, with investment accounts, AlphaClone allows investors to automate the investing tied to a variety of these types of portfolios (see table below). Through broker Folio Institutional, the upstart service enabled investors to invest a variety of pre-programmed strategies developed by AlphaClone. My sources say that, while it’s too early to have any meaningful data post-launch, it appears that there was pretty substantial demand for this service.
Mazin Jadallah, CEO and cofounder of AlphaClone, told me they broke seven figures in AUM in less than 48 hours.
Below you’ll see a table of available portfolio and backtested returns.
Total Return Backtest Results as of May 27, 2010
| Strategy |
YTD |
1Y |
3Y |
5Y |
10Y |
| Value Masters |
1.7% |
32.8% |
8.3% |
64.0% |
253.8% |
| Activist Masters |
9.1% |
27.2% |
-10.7% |
32.3% |
72.4% |
| Tiger Cubs |
-6.4% |
20.4% |
4.9% |
92.6% |
125.4% |
| High Conviction |
3.6% |
25.0% |
4.4% |
43.6% |
169.0% |
| ETF Ideas |
-0.9% |
18.7% |
27.4% |
83.4% |
n/a |
| International |
8.7% |
43.9% |
-0.2% |
129.5% |
60.9% |
| Benchmark | |||||
| S&P 500TR |
-0.3% |
26.1% |
-22.1% |
2.2% |
-8.5% |
| BNY ADR Comp |
-13.1% |
7.8% |
-34.6% |
-1.1% |
-28.6% |
Investors get access to any or all of these portfolios — which have all done really well long-term versus their respective benchmarks. I’d be interested in seeing AC push the limits on the system and allow investors to build and customize their own portfolios for investment purposes. That’s probably a technical and regulatory mess but would be such a killer app.
