ETF Investing Strategies: Buy and Hold vs. Moving Average Week Ending 11-6-09

The S&P 500 closed higher each day this week although the intra-day movements were pretty bumpy. Overall, the market closed higher about 33 points. As a result, our two investors saw their balanced ETF portfolios increase.


The buy and hold investor made about $350 this week. Total portfolio stands at $14,459 for a 44% overall gain since March of this year.

The moving average ETF investor made about $240 this past week. Total portfolio is $10,575 for a 5.3% gain since March of this year.

As a reminder, the buy and hold investor went long in all 10 ETFs from the balanced ETF portfolio in March, 2009. The moving average investor waited for the 50 day moving average to rise above the 200 day moving average before going long so it took him a lot longer to be invested in all 10 ETFs.

The most recent 12 weeks of performance are shown in the image above.