The current market conditions have been quite volatile, leading to significant fluctuations in various funds. As investors seek safe havens, the iShares Gold Producers ETF (SPGP) has seen a substantial increase of almost one-third in 2025.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, some funds have not fared as well. The WisdomTree Blockchain ETF (BKCN) has experienced a decline of a quarter, while Molten Ventures (GROW) and Augmentum Fintech (AUGM) are each down by around 20%.<\/p>\n
It is essential to approach these niche funds as small, ‘satellite’ positions in your investment portfolio. While they have the potential to generate growth when performing well, it is crucial not to heavily rely on them.<\/p>\n
Maintaining a significant portion of your portfolio in a ‘core’ fund that covers a diverse range of markets is a wise strategy. These core funds can include tracker funds or actively managed funds that invest in global equities and other asset classes.<\/p>\n
However, it is essential to exercise caution with tracker funds, especially considering that US equities now constitute 70% of the MSCI World Index. As US equities face challenges this year, funds tracking this index, such as the SPDR MSCI World ETF (SWLD), have experienced losses.<\/p>\n
Diversifying beyond US equities has provided some relief, with funds like the iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (SSAC), which includes exposure to emerging markets, showing slightly better performance.<\/p>\n
Equal-weight strategies, such as Invesco’s MSCI World Equal Weight ETF (MWEQ), have proven resilient this year, with minimal losses compared to traditional market-cap weighted funds.<\/p>\n
Global trackers that focus less on dominant US stocks, like Vanguard’s LifeStrategy funds, have also performed well. These funds have a bias towards UK equities and lower US allocation, which has helped mitigate losses.<\/p>\n
Additionally, multi-asset funds, such as EdenTree Managed Income, have performed well within the Investment Association’s Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares sector. These funds, which mainly invest in equities for yield, have benefited from the resilience of income shares and UK large-cap stocks.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, diversification remains a crucial strategy for investors, especially in volatile market conditions. While tracker funds can adapt to market changes over time, it is essential to avoid overexposure to a single subset of companies. Diversifying across different asset classes and regions provides the best protection during challenging times. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The current market conditions have been quite volatile, leading to significant fluctuations in various funds. As investors seek safe havens, the iShares Gold Producers ETF (SPGP) has seen a substantial increase of almost one-third in 2025. On the other hand, some funds have not fared as well. The WisdomTree Blockchain ETF (BKCN) has experienced a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1442,1620,1618,1122,1619],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-funds","tag-handling","tag-popular","tag-selloff","tag-tracker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasebelgrave.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}