By CCN: A hypothetical exchange-traded fund composed of assets deemed as overvalued by the media such as Bitcoin and some tech stocks has so far this year posted a return of 17 percent, MarketWatch reports.
Currently, the bubble portfolio consists of among others Bitcoin, Argentina’s century bond and tech stocks such as Netflix, Tencent and Tesla.
The bubble portfolio was the brainchild of Bloomberg editor, Joe Weisenthal. Paul McNamara, an investment director at asset management firm GAM Investments, has been compiling the yields since its inception.
Bitcoin Gains 150% YTD in Bubble Portfolio
On Tuesday, McNamara tweeted that the bubble portfolio had recorded returns of 17 percent year-to-date.
Bubble Portfolio back in business. 17% return ytd from our collection of “obvious” shorts. Only TSLA and Argentina Century bonds losing money. @TheStalwart pic.twitter.com/N3KpnLBcBZ
— Paul McNamara (@M_PaulMcNamara) May 21, 2019
In the portfolio, bitcoin was the standout investment having registered a return of around 150 percent since the year started. The laggard in the portfolio was Tesla which made a negative return of 38.29 percent. Netflix went up by 30.06 percent while Tencent rose by 8.95 percent.
Bitcoin leads in gains in ‘bubble portfolio’ | Source: Paul McNamara/Twitter
Bitcoin Saves Tesla in the Bubble Portfolio!
With Bitcoin and each of the tech stocks given equal weighting, it means that without the cryptocurrency’s stellar performance this year, the bubble portfolio could not have performed as well. Since a 2018 low of slightly under $3,200, Bitcoin has more than doubled its value.
While the 17 percent year-to-date return might look impressive given that the first half is not even over, the bubble portfolio performed even better in 2017, the year it was started. Then it recorded an 80 percent return.
Last year, however, the bubble portfolio recorded a -23.5 percent return by December 20.
Epic Fail for Mainstream Media, Again
If the bubble portfolio serves any useful purpose, it is to prove that the mainstream media mostly gets it wrong when it comes to picking overvalued assets. Among all the portfolio’s assets, only Tesla’s stock and the Argentinian century bonds are in the red since January.
Yet, especially for bitcoin, the bubble labels are not expected to disappear as has been proven many times in the past. Even this year as bitcoin staged an impressive recovery bitcoin bashers continued to endlessly spout doomsday prophecies regarding the cryptocurrency. Just this month alone, the cryptocurrency has been the recipient of all manner of insults even as it rallied.
This included economics professor Nouriel Roubini calling cryptocurrencies the ‘mother and father of all bubbles’. Billionaire Warren Buffett also added another bitcoin slur to his long list by calling it a ‘gambling device’. Even then, to the chagrin of the skeptics, the bubble portfolio continues to outperform, with Bitcoin in the lead.
Warren Buffett: ‘Gambling Device Bitcoin Hasn’t Produced Anything’ https://t.co/IcXAIWZDB7
— CCN.com (@CCNMarkets) May 4, 2019