Introduction

In our introductory lesson, we discuss the pitfalls of a transition from a bull market to a bear market, followed by a brief overview of the course contents.

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Lesson 1 – The History of Bear Markets

Understanding what to expect in a bear market helps get you mentally prepared in knowing what to expect with the downturn in various parts of the economy in addition to the stock market.  We dive into the bear markets that led to recessions and significant drawdowns in stock portfolios.

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Lesson 2 – Key Features of a Bear Market

This lesson helps you recognize when economic conditions are confirming a bear market. Typically, our system will have you in a defensive position with regards to your portfolio before the key features are confirmed. However, having the knowledge of these key features will help you maintain your hedges for as long as necessary.

Lesson 3 – Warning Signs of an Eminent Bear Market

An overview of how the technical indicators the we use in our bear market system work to provide you with a warning that the developing weakness in the market could be potentially devastating not only for your portfolio, but for the broader economy as well.  This when you need to take action!

Lesson 4 – Understanding The Indicator

Our bear market system start here. This is the key component to our bear market system. We go into comprehensive explanation of the indicator and what each plot represents. The signals that this provides will give you a heads up before the market runs into headwinds, as well as identifying the end of the bear market.

Lesson 5 – Understanding The Moving Averages

We go into the methodology we use with our moving averages to give us an integral part of the bear market warning system. Using chart examples, you will have a clear understanding of what to look for as market conditions deteriorate, and key levels to monitor.

Lesson 6 – Bear Markets VS Pullbacks

Using chart examples, you will learn to recognize when a drop in the market is likely to be a pullback, or when it could potentially be the start of a larger economic downturn. Knowing what to look for will help you better manage your portfolio.

Lesson 7 – Hedging Your Portfolio

In this Lesson you will learn what hedging is. We explain the various hedging options that are available, and the risk / rewards of hedging so you understand how it works before implementing a hedge on your portfolio.

Lesson 8 – Getting to Know Derivatives

Derivatives provide flexible tools to help protect your portfolio. This lesson will give a brief overview of what derivatives are and how they work.

Lesson 9 – Derivatives: Options

This lesson is a primer on options and how we utilize them with our bear market system. You will understand the different type of options and how you can use them as an insurance policy for your portfolio. You will also understand the mechanics of options, and how to best pick the option that is right for your portfolio.

Lesson 10 – Derivatives: Futures

A detailed explanation of futures, and how they can be used with the bear market system to hedge against market drops. We will go over the specific futures contracts that you can use, and how they change in value in relation to the stock market.

Lesson 11 – Derivatives: Invers ETFs

Another tool that you can use to protect you portfolio in an Inverse ETF. This lesson will explain ETFs and how the inverse ETF can help you hedge your portfolio. Depending on the type of brokerage account you have, this may be the only hedge available to use. Learn the difference between leveraged and non-leveraged ETFs. We will go over the specific ETFs that can be used to protect your portfolio.

Lesson 12 – Hedging With Cash

Not all hedging requires derivatives. In fact if you have a mutual fund or 401K you may only have the option of a cash equivalent fund to reduce your exposure to the market. Learn how we approach avoiding drawdowns in your portfolio by moving to cash. This lesson discusses the things to evaluate when implementing a hedge with cash.

Lesson 13 – Implementing The Bear Market Strategy

This lesson discusses the various options available to you depending on your situation. You will also learn when your hedge might be larger than at other times, depending on market conditions. We will also consider different scenarios and approaches that effect a long-term investor vs a short-term investor/trader.

Lesson 14 – Black Swans

Understanding black swan events is important with the volatility of world events going on around this. Knowing how to react if you find yourself in the middle of a black swan will help you navigate through it.

Lesson 15 – Understanding The FED and Macro Picture

It’s important to understand the Federal Reserve’s policy at any given time on the economy because the markets are Fed driven. Knowing how they are steering the markets is integral in identifying turning points in the market. This knowledge is an additional tool to compliment our bear market system. Learn what the different terms used by media outlets mean with regards to fed policy and where you can stay abreast of Fed policy month to month.

Lesson 16 – Signs The Bear Market is Ending

In this lesson we dive back into the technical indicators of our system and go over what signals will give you a heads up that the bear market is likely coming to an end. Using chart examples, you have clear understanding of what to look for at the end of a bear market. Knowing this will help super charge your portfolio performance relative to a buy and hold strategy as you will able to time removing your hedge near the bottom of the bear market. Not only does our bear market system help you avoid the drawdown in your portfolio value, you can amplify your portfolios returns!

Lesson 17 – Putting it All Together

This is a comprehensive lesson. We will go over 8 different historical examples of when the system triggered warnings. In each example we will walk you through what to consider and how it would affect the size of your hedge. For each example, we walk you through the start of the drop in the market, to the signal that the bear market is likely over, we also go over how you would manage your portfolio hedge through the entire example. This is going to give you a clear understanding of the different ways the system signals, and how to properly interpret it.

Lesson 18 – Conclusion

This lesson wraps up the course with a review of key points from the bear market course, and how we can further assist you in your trading journey.

Bonus Lesson

In this bonus lesson we go over two more outstanding signals form our bear market system. Using chart examples, you will learn to identify when you could expect a pullback in a trend and also identify when a move down is likely to reverse. Both of these signals will be helpful in maximizing your portfolio performance, and a great compliment to an already powerful bear market system!