Buy and Hold vs. Moving Average ETF Investing 4-30-10

It was bound to happen. A sharp decline in the S&P 500 occurred this week. We have mentioned several times recently that the market will need a correction. Now we watch to see if it is a correction or a longer down trend.

Overall the S&P 500 lost more than 30 points for the week. As a result, our two ETF investors suffered significant losses. The buy and hold ETF investor portfolio lost about $360 in the balanced ETF portfolio. He gave up all of his gains from the previous week plus a little extra. His total portfolio balance is now at $16,021 and the total gain is now 59.5% since we starting tracking this portfolio in March of 2009.

The moving average ETF investor lost about $240 for the week. His portfolio is now valued at $11,626 (same balanced portfolio). He has gained 15.8% for the same time period.

The most recent 12 weeks are shown below:


Moving average update:

The 50 day moving average is still above the 200 day moving average for all 10 ETFs from the diversified ETF Portfolio. As a result, no changes are made to the moving average ETF portfolio.