Q: What is ReturnsGuard?
A: ReturnsGuard is a financial data service designed for investment tracking. It provides insightful metrics and tools to help investors make informed decisions, such as tracking performance against the S&P 500, analyzing stock trends, monitoring dividends, and more.
Q: How does ReturnsGuard help with investment decisions?
A: ReturnsGuard provides health indicators for each investment, such as Fall from High, Total Return, Return vs. S&P 500, and Chandelier Exit. These metrics allow you to monitor the performance of your investments and protect your gains or minimize losses by setting alerts for specific thresholds.
Q: How do I start using ReturnsGuard?
A: Simply enter your investment's ticker, the number of shares purchased, the purchase date, and optionally the purchase price. ReturnsGuard will calculate various performance metrics and provide insights into your investments.
Q: What does "Return Since Purchase" mean?
A: This represents the total return percentage for a specific lot, including dividends. It helps you understand how much value your investment has gained or lost since the purchase date.
Q: What is "Fall from High"?
A: Fall from High is the percentage drop in value of a stock from its highest price since the purchase date. It can be used as a trailing stop-loss to protect your investment from further declines.
Q: What does "Return vs. S&P 500" indicate?
A: This metric shows how your investment performed compared to the S&P 500 during the same timeframe. It's a useful way to gauge whether your investment is outperforming or underperforming the broader market.
Q: What is the "Latest Closing Price"?
A: This is the most recent market closing price for the stock. It is updated daily around 3:30 PM CST and displayed in green if above the Chandelier Exit or red if below.
Q: What is "Chandelier Exit - Long"?
A: The Chandelier Exit - Long is a volatility-based system used to identify price movements. It is calculated using the formula:
Month High - (Average True Range at 22 periods x ATR Multiple)
It helps signal strength or weakness in a stock's trend and can also be used as a trailing stop-loss.
When the stock price is above the "Chandelier Exit - Long" value (noted in green text on the tracked-stocks page), it signals strength in the existing trend. Similarly, when the stock price is below the "Chandelier Exit - Long value" (noted by red text), it signals weakness.
Q: What does "Trend" mean?
A: The trend is determined by analyzing the Average Directional Index (ADX), positive directional indicator (+DI), and negative directional indicator (-DI).
If ADX >= 25 and +DI > -DI, the stock is in an uptrend.
If ADX >= 25 and +DI < -DI, the stock is in a downtrend.
Stronger trends are indicated by higher ADX values.
Q: What is "Risk Profile" and how is it calculated?
A:The Risk Profile is based on the weighted beta value of all your investments, which measures the volatility or systematic risk of your portfolio compared to the market. A beta of 1 represents the same level of volatility as the S&P 500, placing it in the middle of the Risk Profile gauge. Values to the left indicate lower volatility and risk, while values to the right indicate higher volatility and risk.
Q: What is "Total Value"?
A: Total Value is the current value of your investment lot, calculated as the number of shares multiplied by the current stock price. This does not include dividend returns.
Q: What does "Total Return" represent?
A: Total Return includes both the unrealized gains and dividends for a specific lot, giving you a complete picture of your investment's performance.
Q: What is "Total Dividends Earned"?
A: This is the cumulative amount of dividends earned from a specific investment lot since the purchase date.
Q: How is "Marketcap" determined?
A: Market capitalization (Marketcap) categorizes stocks into the following groups:
- Mega-cap: $200 billion or more
- Large-cap: $10 - $200 billion
- Mid-cap: $2 - $10 billion
- Small-cap: $300 million - $2 billion
- Micro-cap: Less than $300 million
Q: How do alerts work in ReturnsGuard?
A: You can set custom thresholds for your investments. For example, you can be notified when a stock falls a certain percentage from its high, helping you stay proactive with your portfolio management.
Q: Can I customize the Chandelier Exit calculation?
A: Yes, you can adjust the ATR (Average True Range) multiple used in the Chandelier Exit calculation. The default value is 3, but you can change it in your Account Preferences.
Q: How often are the metrics updated?
A: For the Advanced and Premium plans, most metrics are updated every 2 hours on market days. For the Basic plan, they are updated at 8:30am, 12:30pm, and 3:30pm CST.
Q: What other information is shown?
A: ReturnsGuard provides detailed information about your stock entries, including Sector and Industry classifications, as well as Dividend Yield and Total Dividends Earned per entry.