Portfolio Update #1 – February 2025 (25 Year Trading Experiment)

It’s been one month since launching the 25 Year Trading Experiment, and I’m excited to share my first performance update along with some initial reflections. While I may not update monthly moving forward, I plan to deliver a more comprehensive update at least once every quarter. All trades are shared live on x.com/tradergu and can be tracked via my public trading dashboard.

Active vs Passive Portfolio

The actively managed portfolio has outperformed the benchmark by 19.7 percentage points:

• Trader Gu: Achieved a 17.7% realized profit
• Global Index: Experienced a 2.0% decline

While I don’t expect to maintain this high performance indefinitely, it’s encouraging to start off on the right foot.

Portfolio Overview, 2025-02-21

Trades Taken

I executed two trades during this period—one on $BABA and another on $HUSQ—with one trade resulting in a profit and the other in a loss.

The $BABA Trade

My preferred entry for $BABA was $80.06, tapping the monthly order block. Since this level had already been tested and price had started moving toward my target, I decided to force an entry at $85.50. This move paid off as price quickly advanced to my target. While I hold a larger position in $BABA on my main accounts with higher timeframe targets, for this account, I aimed for a final TP at $121.30.

Trade Execution

📌 Entry: $85.50
⛔ SL: $58.01
🧲 Target: $121.3
💰 TP1: 33% at $108
💰 Final TP at $126.37

The $BABA Trade

What Went Well 👏

• Followed my trading strategy
• Not being greedy with my entry as I had a higher timeframe target in mind

Areas to Improve 🤔

• Could have left 33% of the position running for potential higher targets

The $HUSQ Trade

The $HUSQ trade was an aggressive entry. I went long based on the monthly timeframe showing strength at a monthly +OB. Since we had closed the month above the 0.5 level and started building momentum for a potential weekly bullish market structure, I entered on a daily bullish MS shift, anticipating a weekly confirmation.

Price initially moved in my favor, but when the new monthly candle opened below the order block’s 0.5 level, it increased the likelihood of further downside, invalidating the setup. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the open until two days later, which meant I closed the trade at -0.3R (-7%) instead of closer to entry. I might consider re-entering if a weekly bullish MS develops, but for now, I’m out.

Trade Execution

📌 Entry: 58.38
⛔ SL: 38
🧲 Target: 78.46
🔴 Exited at 54.16

The $HUSQ Trade, daily timeframe

The $HUSQ Trade, monthly timeframe

What Went Well 👏

• Followed my trading strategy

Areas to Improve 🤔

• Didn’t pay attention to the monthly open — could have improved my exit

Portfolio Update Reflections

This challenge is quite different from my main trading accounts, so I expect my strategy to shift or evolve over time. Over the past 30 days, two things stood out to me:

• Feeling a sense of fulfillment when the global index drops since it gives me more time to accumulate—kind of rooting for the market to move south 😅. At the same time, I’m aiming to outperform the index, so there’s this extra satisfaction in beating it while watching the index portfolio struggle in a downturn.

• Hesitated to open a new position. After locking in a 17.7% profit, I didn’t follow through with a $CRSP opportunity. I held back on entering because I didn’t want to risk lowering the monthly performance. Trade triggers don’t come often for me, and I know I should be taking all A-type setups when they align. Short-term performance shouldn’t be my focus here. I’ll revisit this topic as my mindset evolves, but no doubt, the performance would have been even better if I had taken the trade 🫣.

Summary

Overall, February has been an incredible start to the 25 Year Trading Experiment. With just two trades, the actively managed portfolio outperformed the benchmark by 19.7 percentage points. It’s been a long 30-day stretch, but now it’s finally time to add another 10,000 SEK (about $1000) and see what opportunities the coming weeks bring.

Are you working on a similar project or took any of these trades? Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences!