LEADERBOARD: The Leaderboard lists funds by rank based on the strength of their recent trend or momentum (MO). I have two Leaderboards. One ranks all of the funds that I am following and the other ranks funds that may be available from a funds network at no transaction fee.
TRAILORBOARD: The Trailorboard is a list off the worst trending funds. Dip buyers to help spot coming opportunities can use this board. It is not advisable to chase weakness. I have run many tests over various one-year time frames. Each test has shown that if two investors started the year with equal size portfolios, with one switching to the top fund on the Leaderboard every two weeks and the other switching to the top fund on the trailorboard every two weeks, the one chasing strength wound up the year with a portfolio that was at least twice the value of that of the one chasing weakness.
RANK: Position of the fund in order of momentum (MO).
FAMILY: This is the name of the Mutual fund family that sells the fund. The data is gathered by ticker symbol for any fund that has a ticker symbol. If the family or fund name does not match, then the ticker symbol is the one that is correct. The exception is any fund with ticker symbol XXXXX. This fund has no ticker symbol that I know of and its' data comes from the fund family.
FUND: This is the name of the fund. Like the family name the fund name is less reliable than the ticker symbol in the same manner.
SYMBOL: The Nasdaq ticker symbol for the fund. If XXXXX is in this column the fund has no Nasdaq ticker symbol that I know of.
MO: This is my computers' evaluation of the tendency of the funds price to rise over the last few months. It is one of many possible ways to attempt to filter out part of the cyclical bias of performance numbers to help one follow good trends.
CH: This is the change in the momentum rating from the previous days' rating. Since momentum tends to travel in cycles that tend to precede price, rising momentum is better than falling momentum. Falling momentum is a signal that a correction may be on the horizon or be in progress. A lot of funds with falling momentum is a sign of a weak or weakening market. A fund, that has a large CH that is equal to its' MO, is likely being ranked for the first time.
VLT: The volatility of the fund. I use the average of the magnitudes of the daily percentage price change of the fund to calculate this. It is figured over a two year time frame if I have that long of a record of the fund. It is wise to limit the volatility of your portfolio to within your comfort zone. Too much volatility in your portfolio will likely lead you to panic moves. Too little will leave you traveling too slowly to reach your desired destination. If you divide the volatility of one fund by that of another you have an approximation of how much more your portfolio will move in a given day. A fund with a volatility of 80 will move about twice the percentage daily as that of a fund with a volatility of 40.
STRONG: A shorter-term momentum indicator is used to spot changes in trend. A pare of floating trend lines that tend to track the trend of the fund are used. These lines are spaced based on the characteristics of the fund. If the NAV (net asset value) of the fund is above the upper of the two lines the fund is rated short term strong. If the NAV of the fund is between the two trend lines the fund is considered short term neutral. If the NAV is below the lower trend line then the fund is considered short term weak. In a healthy market nearly all funds will be short term strong.
NAV: The price for a share of the fund after any load that might apply is paid. NAV stands for net asset value.
WEAK: See Strong. When many funds are weak the market is high risk.
COLOR: The color of the print has significance. What the color signifies is listed at the bottom of the Leaderboards.
NTF: The symbols "1","c", "e", "f", "m", "s", and "w" are listed after the fund if the fund is no transaction fee at a funds network service as follows:
1 indicates fund is listed as NTF at Firstrade.
c indicates fund is listed as NTF at Scottrade.
e indicates fund is listed as NTF at e*trade.
f indicates fund is listed as NTF at Fidelity.
m indicates fund is listed as NTF at M. Siebert.
s indicates fund is listed as NTF at Schwab.
w indicates fund may be NTF at Wells Fargo.