Insights

With volatility remaining subdued, our overall performance has been restrained this year. The multi-day component of our strategy continues to deliver strong results, while intraday trading has largely been a pattern of “one step forward, one step back” over the past few months.

Our intraday trading component has continued to weigh on overall performance, primarily due to a sharp decline in volatility as markets trend higher. In contrast, the multi-day portion of our portfolio remains a strong performer and is positive for the year

Trading activity remains subdued, with limited success, as intraday market volatility continues to be low. The S&P and Nasdaq have reversed their previous downtrends and are now trending higher. While this shift signals strength in the broader market, it presents challenges for intraday trading, as sustained upward moves often come with reduced tradeable volatility. This period has been particularly difficult for systems traders

Market volatility in the S&P 500 suddenly dropped, leading to a pullback in our systematic performance. Intraday price movements lacked follow-through, with most of the action occurring overnight. Despite this, our overnight systems remained profitable—successfully capturing one strong move while getting stopped out on another.

All programs have rebounded and are now at, or near, new highs. As expected in this more volatile environment, both intraday and overnight trades performed well. That said, the month was marked by chaotic trading as the S&P attempted a significant pivot.

The Soaring Pelican Blended Advantage program gained 1.41% in March, while the S&P 500 dropped by around 6% during the same period. We’ve talked before about how volatility can benefit our trading strategy, and now we want to explain how that actually works.

As the market begin the sell-off we have been anticipating, our systems are in re-calibration mode and are experiencing chop. Unfortunately no one can tell when these situations will arise, and it's not as easy as saying "why not just turn it off and wait" since that next trade could be the winner that erases the drawdown.

Soaring Pelican wrapped up a strong 2024, posting a 1.24% return for December, bringing the year's total to a solid 11.74%. While performance slowed in January, it remained positive with a 0.91% return. Since the significant sell-off in December, new volatility has entered the market...

November continued a trend of diminishing volatility which time and again has hindered intraday trading. The overnight component of our work was not able to offset as the month offered only one trend pullback. We made two entries, one was profitable and the other was exited for risk management reasons.

A Trump win was likely priced into the markets in the few weeks before election, we find it somewhat surprising to not see a "sell on the news" reaction. Of course there are numerous...

US markets are remarkably complacent ahead of the elections. Looking at polling and betting data on the election winner

While the markets have recently been tumultuous, Soaring Pelican programs continue to thrive due to the elevated volatility in the global markets. Volatility is a force that drives market participants to make emotional decisions, but it also impacts larger players who may have no choice but to alter their positions. When this occurs, opportunities arise for nimble traders.