My Bear Market Journey

How I hedged my portfolio and positioned my self for the next bull run.

Bad Timing This Year

In February of 2022 I had the bright idea of buying into the stock market. After all if you look at the charts at that time we had been going up and it looked to me like this was just a pullback into very strong up trend. Perfect timing. Not!!!!

Since Then….

Since getting involved the market seemed to go straight down with no end is sight. I thought the summer bottom was it and we would climb from there, but to no avail as we continued lower into the October lows.

But I Was Hedged….

I had seen this story before so when I put on my positions in February I also made sure to hedge every single one. My whole portfolio was hedged. Did I still lose money? Yes (unrealized), but I never exited any of my positions and was able to use my hedge to increase my position size to create a bigger portfolio, in effect averaging down my share cost. Now I own almost twice the number of shares I started with and am well positioned for the next bull run.

Now What…..

With my portfolio bigger, when the bull move comes I am in a good spot to recoup my unrealized losses and take advantage of the upside. I am still hedged and will continue to add to my positions on any down move. While being hedged I was not swayed to sell any of my holdings since I knew my downside and my max loss was well contained within a reasonable level. The best opportunities come in bear markets, but most people are so beat up they are afraid to invest and really take advantage of it. Worse still, many people will sell there shares and take the loss just when the market turns around and rips higher.

Hedging can be very dynamic and risk levels can be adjusted to each persons particular risk tolerance. There are different types of hedging strategies ranging from married put positions, to collars, and straight vix hedging as well. In addition there are several option income producing trades like iron condors and credit spreads to help pay for hedging positions and reduce risk.

Moving Forward…..

This Blog is about my experience and journey navigating this bear market and using several hedging techniques and strategies to come out ahead and be ready for the next bull run. I will cover several of my trades and with specifics on how I hedged them and what type of adjustments were made. This will also include any income producing option strategies. I will post past and future adjustments made with the hope of helping you become more familiar with methods and tactics to protect your portfolio in the future.

Below is an image of when I entered the market.

If you would like to follow along and learn more about protecting your money and learning to invest for the long term subscribe below.