OUR PROCESS
Our investment process was engineered specifically for conservative investors.
Goals
The foundation of our investment process begins with two very simple goals:
- Prevent large, unrecoverable losses and reduce volatility
- Produce satisfying, risk-adjusted returns over a market cycle
Whether it be a diversified or single asset strategy, all Ocean Park programs are managed with the same goal-based approach.
Investment Process
When to Sell
This is the simplest step in our investment process, largely due to our strict sell-discipline.
- We manually review each holding daily to identify those which have fallen below our trailing stop level.
- When the price of a holding declines below the applied trailing stop, it triggers a Sell Signal, and we sell it.
- The stop-loss discipline is quantitative, and the stops are proportionate to the historic volatility of each distinct asset class.
- Trailing stops limit the impact of any sustained decline on the overall portfolio.
A trailing stop is a special type of trade order where the stop-loss price is not set at a single, absolute dollar amount, but instead is set at a certain percentage or a certain dollar amount below the market price.
When to Buy
Our buy discipline includes trend following, and is not designed to buy at the absolute low. Our goal is to participate in a substantial part of any sustained uptrend in a selected investment.
- Our Buy Signals are also quantitative, and the discipline is the contrary of our trailing stops for Sell Signals.
- Once a given asset class begins an uptrend adequate enough to generate a Buy Signal under our proprietary discipline, we analyze all mutual funds in that asset class to determine which to buy.
- We buy only when we are confident a sufficient asset class uptrend has begun or is in progress.
A trailing stop is a special type of trade order where the stop-loss price is not set at a single, absolute dollar amount, but instead is set at a certain percentage or a certain dollar amount below the market price.
What to Buy
This is the most complex step in our process.
- Often there are multiple asset classes in uptrends, generating multiple Buy Signals.
- Our priorities for asset allocation:
- Asset classes in the strongest uptrends
- Asset classes that exhibit lowest volatility
- Holdings that feature low correlation to existing holdings
- Identification of best-in-breed Alpha managers
Alpha measures the difference between a fund’s actual returns and its expected performance, given its level of risk (as measured by beta). Alpha is often seen as a measure of value added or subtracted by a portfolio manager.
Investment Discipline
A PIONEER IN TACTICAL GLOBAL MULTI-ASSET MANAGEMENT
Ocean Park is widely considered a pioneer in pursuing absolute return goals, which is pursuing positive results across a market cycle regardless of traditional benchmark movements. Portfolios are invested without constraint across global markets and are adjusted dynamically as opportunities arise. Investment results are created by identifying potential sources of return, informed by decades of data, to attempt to increase total return while managing risk.
RESILIENCE
Ocean Park employs a rigorous sell discipline that attempts to keep our clients out of trouble. All strategies employ a proprietary stop-loss approach which has been in use since the inception of the firm. The methodology is designed to limit the impact on the overall client experience of any sustained decline in a given holding or in the overall portfolio. As part of this integrated risk-management discipline, each holding is monitored daily to limit drawdowns. Programs are not passive buy and hold approaches, but dynamic and flexible, creating resiliency in up and down markets.
Keys to Success
FOCUS ON WHAT CAN BE CONTROLLED
Successful investment results are created by focusing on what can be controlled. Volatility has, and always will be, an element of investing and our programs focus on attempting to control portfolio risk. Bear markets can destroy wealth and more volatile portfolios generally underperform less volatile ones. Our programs attempt to control volatility and drawdown by employing a proprietary sell discipline which includes daily manual review of all positions to identify those which have fallen below the trailing stop level. This potentially limits the impact of any sustained decline in an individual holding on the overall portfolio.
CUT LOSSES SHORT - LET PROFITS RUN
Our investment management style incorporates trend following. As a result, the discipline is not designed to buy at the absolute low or to sell at the absolute high, but to participate in a substantial part of any sustained uptrend in a selected investment. Trend following is the imperative to cut short your losses and let your profits run. Profitable investing comes from sizing up an entire market and its trend.
A TACTICAL, DISCIPLINED APPROACH
In our tactical style, the asset allocation of any program can, and does, change dynamically over time as portions of the portfolio are re-allocated. Allocations are driven by the trend changes in the U.S. and global economy as well as in various fixed income and stock markets. Asset classes are selected based on the expectation of their response to different economic forces and only managers that can best participate in those trends are chosen. An unusually broad diversification of investment categories, markets, industries and issuers are utilized to achieve the goals of any particular program and attempt to limit downside risk.
EXPERTISE
The investment team, consisting of portfolio managers and investment analysts, drives the broad asset class exposure and market segment allocation. These decisions are made based on expectations for future returns, correlations to existing holdings and historical volatility observations. The team meets weekly to evaluate the current outlook and key decisions, and to make tactical adjustments. On a daily basis, buy, hold and sell decisions are reviewed for same-day execution. The proprietary process enables the team to consistently navigate through all market and economic environments.