AN
INTRODUCTION
The Ubique Fund has been designed to offer flexibility and robustness by actively developing, refining, and researching different investment and trading strategies across a myriad of different markets. The name Ubique, meaning everywhere, harks to the fact that the investments contained within it could be from anywhere. Why limit our investing options if better opportunities present themselves in areas we aren’t currently exploring.
As a by-product, it means that as certain investment strategies lose their potency due to changing market conditions, the portfolio has the ability to move into more advantageous ones. This, combined with the spreading of risk by diversifying market exposure to multiple strategies at once aims to give Ubique a foot up on other traditional buy-and-hold portfolios.
One common theme throughout all of the trading strategies which make up Ubique is their systematic, quantitative approach. To be considered eligible to be part of the fund, we believe there can be no discretionary elements to a strategy. Why? For a number of reasons. Firstly, you cannot systematically test discretionary investing as there are no hard rules which dictate your actions. Secondly, discretionary trading requires a human, and humans pose a major issue when investing. They are emotional creatures, are easily influenced by opinions and emotions, and are rarely running at 100%. As such, we prefer a mechanised approach, which is testable, repeatable, and results observable. In other words, we are turning the art of investing into the science of investing. It also allows us to quantify its expected efficiency, giving us a fair warning if the approach is no longer profitable in the current climate.
The other common theme throughout the portfolio is the cyclical nature of our investment strategies. Markets over the long-term have shown to be cyclical in nature and it is much more productive to go with the tide than try to fight it. As such, we look to take advantage of markets when they are in bullish conditions and go on the defensive when they are bearish.
It is important to note, that all figures stated below are net of all fees, based upon a performance fee of 25%, and for backtested numbers, we have added an additional 0.40% monthly surcharge into our returns to cover things like slippage, missing exact pricing and other miscellaneous happenings which backtested results cannot legislate for. In our forward testing, we have found that this is closer to 0.25% but we would rather err on the side of caution, however. Please also note, all references to the S&P500 are calculated using the SPY ETF.
BY THE
NUMBERS
EQUITY
GROWTH
Theoretical Starting Balance $100,000.00 - January 1990
LOGARITHMIC
GROWTH
BACKTESTED
MODEL
REAL TIME
WALK FORWARD
LIVE
RESULTS
* Annual number derived from adding Q1 from Backtest to Q's 2,3 and 4 from Walk Forward
** Not a full quarter of trading, only April & May, as June, we went live.
*** Not a full quarter trading, only June, as April & May were in our Walk forward.
^ This number denotes full year including walkforward and live numbers
INVESTMENT
STRATEGIES
The portfolio which makes up the Ubique Fund is broken into three distinct, yet complementary strategies. This diversification is just one of the ways we are able to lower our expected risk and try to keep the equity curve as smooth as possible. Below is a look at how each strategy works and what part it plays within Ubique
GOLDEN RATIO +
This Golden Ratio + Strategy has been built around the interplay the indices have with gold during bull and bear markets. As a default harbour against inflation, we have identified and quantified a statistical relationship between the two.
One constant trend we see repeated time and time again is the way people treat gold as a hedge during 'bad times'. That is, when the markets are under performing or are bearish, there appears to be a migration from the stock market into precious metals as a safe haven until we see a reversal. This strategy looks to take advantage of this using a proprietary ratio between the S&P500 and Gold to try to be on the right side of strongest trend. The one downsize of a binary oscillator is that when both markets are bearish, our choice is limited to which one is going down at a lesser rate. To that end, we use this oscillator and run it through a qualified economic filter which we have developed which adds in an additional position of cash, allowing the strategy to take on zero risk at certain time.
MINI GOLDEN RATIO
Mini Golden Ratio is like its big brother in many respects, that of looking at the relationship between the markets and gold but looks to exploit its edge over a much shorter time horizon. Using probabilistic relationships between the underlying assets over an intraday outlook, whilst looking at outlying events which will result in a short-term significant price movement.
Unlike Golden Ratio + where we are looking to hold for months at a time, this strategy averages a hold time of just over 36 hours, looking to take advantage of the shorter cycles and market moving conditions which present in the intraday environment.
SLICK WITCH
Our Slick Witch Strategy's primary purpose was to offset the correlation between Ubique and the S&P500. Using a proprietary algorithm which identifies a seasonal relationship between certain futures contract expiry dates which occur on the 'Witching Friday's' and the 'Triple Witching Friday's' throughout the year. As such, we can leverage these occasional occurrences into the oil market.
Oil being a relatively uncorrelated asset to both the markets and gold, this strategy compliments the wider portfolio, which is more market and gold driven, allowing for the funds equity curve to be more smoothed out. Of course, this comes at a cost but that decorrelation of the portfolio as a whole offers better risk management for the long term.
PLATINUM WINTER
This seasonal strategy focusing on platinum looks to take advantage of observable phenomenon dating back over 50 years. Although not active in the summer months (northern hemisphere) this strategy compliments the main market driven strategy through diversification and its risk management protocols in a similar way to Slick Witch does.
Its edge is to look for a discount in the relative price based upon historical seasonal performance to catch the uptrend during these times.
PORTFOLIO
ALLOCATION
DRAWDOWN
RECOVERY HISTORY
HISTORICAL
DRAWDOWN
Yellow - Ubique
Red - S&P500
UBIQUE vs
S&P500
One of the founding tenants of Ubique is to be able to imperically beat the S&P500 over the long term whilst using a same or lower, risk to reward ratio. Below is the summary of how Ubique has stood up against the S&P500 since 1990.
ROLLING
RETURNS
Result statistics are based on non-annualised rolling returns over full calendar year periods
FEES AND
REMUNERATION
The traditional fund model approach to fees is broken. It usually includes a 2% annual fee irrespective of performance and then an additional percentage of any profits generated in that period. However, with most funds underperforming the S&P500, and fund managers being able to charge their clients anyway, the net result isn't great for the investor. Warren Buffet even placed a $2m wager that over a ten year period, simply buying and holding the S&P500 would generate a higher net return for the investor than any aggregation of funds. He won the bet, mainly on the back of the fee's fund managers charge.
We do things a little differently. There are no fees at all for simply letting us manage your money. We don't charge our clients anything until they have made a profit, it is that simple. If we don't make the client money then we don't make any. The net result is that even after fees, the average return to our clients far exceeds that of the market and the traditional 60/40 Portfolios.
All fees are charged on a monthly basis at the end of the month, to coincide with how we rebalance Ubique. Below is the structure of how and what we charge.
We also operate to a high watermark principle, meaning if we are in negative territory at the end of any period, that is added to the next month to ensure we are only profiting from actual market gained profit, and not clever accounting.
HOW TO
JOIN
If you would like to know more about the Ubique fund or how to join, simply fill in the form below and we will get in contact to discuss.