Comments on Ben Sharvy's articles RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.com/author/ben-sharvy/articles http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-607368 607368 The symbols are given in the charts, e.g. ADX. Dis./Fees is the discount/fees. > It's the basic way of measuring value in this system. Automatic sells > in this system happen if the dis/fee ratio falls below 5, or there > has been no insider buying in over a year. Sells that involve more > judgement are certainly possible, for example if a CEF had a dis/fee > ratio of 6 and insider buying 9 months ago, and its strategy was > already held by another CEF, I might dump it and buy something else. > The basic idea is to narrow the possibilities down to a small pool, > and then use best judgement within that pool. The best performing > CEFs that have qualified in this system have been emergining market > stocks: LAQ, CEE, ETF for example.]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:43:35 -0400

On 2008 Mar 04 11:14 PM bsharvy wrote:

> The symbols are given in the charts, e.g. ADX. Dis./Fees is the discount/fees.
> It's the basic way of measuring value in this system. Automatic sells
> in this system happen if the dis/fee ratio falls below 5, or there
> has been no insider buying in over a year. Sells that involve more
> judgement are certainly possible, for example if a CEF had a dis/fee
> ratio of 6 and insider buying 9 months ago, and its strategy was
> already held by another CEF, I might dump it and buy something else.
> The basic idea is to narrow the possibilities down to a small pool,
> and then use best judgement within that pool. The best performing
> CEFs that have qualified in this system have been emergining market
> stocks: LAQ, CEE, ETF for example.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-296468 296468 Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:20:28 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-240616 240616 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:05:30 -0400
As for dividing vs. subtracting, the answer is that I don't know. It's just a different system. As calclay says, a ratio of discount/fee prioritizes low fees, compared to simply subtracting the fee from the discount.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-235103 235103 Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:49:04 -0400
Making it a ratio seems to distort the importance of the fee, no?]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-234216 234216 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:16:17 -0400
What is your opinion of Central Securities (ticker CET)? It has a low expense ratio and high discount to NAV. Their top holding is Plymouth Rock which is private. It is a solid company, but the lack of liquidity might add to the CET discount.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-223670 223670 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:49:45 -0400
Kevintx is right about a nice feature of foreign funds. The Swiss Fund (SWZ) gives you access to Roche and Nestle, two blue chips that US investors can only trade in the Pink Sheets. The Swiss Fund also has a policy have not hedging currency, so it's an indirect way of buying the Swiss Franc (a traditional safe haven).]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-223668 223668 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:43:18 -0400
There's more detail about the system in the original article (this article is an update). Briefly, the fund never buys a CEF with a fee/discount ratio under 5 or no insider buying in the last year. Discounts have widened quite a bit since I first started testing the system, so now it is easy to find fee/discount ratios of 10 or more.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-223069 223069 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:02:49 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-223004 223004 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:03:54 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/89125-trading-closed-end-funds-an-update?source=feed#comment-222948 222948 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:55:44 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-130989 130989 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:10:40 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-130863 130863 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:17:16 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-127490 127490 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:03:09 -0400 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-123588 123588 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:32:55 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-122213 122213 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:14:14 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-122088 122088 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:35:17 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-121764 121764 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:19:12 -0500 http://seekingalpha.com/article/66789-a-system-for-trading-closed-end-funds?source=feed#comment-121760 121760 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:03:48 -0500 What do you use as a sell indicator?]]>