In 2024, I/O Fund posted a 35% return, significantly outperforming popular tech ETFs, which recorded an 8% return over the same period. On a cumulative basis, the results translate to a remarkable 219% outperformance compared to competing tech portfolios. 

• The I/O Fund outperformed the S&P 500 by 109% and outperformed the Nasdaq-100 by 82%. 
• In 2024, the I/O Fund returned 35%, outperforming the S&P 500 by 11% and the Nasdaq-100 by 10%. 
• Since inception, the I/O Fund has maintained a lead of up to 219% over institutional technology portfolios.

If you had invested $10,000 with the I/O Fund's picks versus other all-tech portfolios at inception, the difference would be a portfolio value of $31,026 with IOF versus $9,737 with institutional tech-focused portfolios. The difference in value is 219%. 

I/O Fund Surpasses Wall Street’s Most Successful Firms 

The I/O Fund actively manages risk through hedging and raising cash, therefore, the closest comparison in terms of style would be hedge funds. Our current performance since inception places us as one of the top-performing actively managed portfolios in the world, with an annualized return of 27.6% since May of 2020. Our ranking would be #2 in the United States, ahead of famous fund managers such as Pershing Square, Tiger Global and Citadel.    

Source: Levelfields and Chartartisan 

I/O Fund is a leading portfolio specializing in tech stocks - if we were a Hedge Fund, our performance would be ranked #2 in the US. We have consistently outperformed some of the biggest hedge funds like Pershing Square, Tiger Global Management, and Citadel.  

Even when considering leveraged ETFs, which tend to use future contracts to double the returns (and losses) of the underlying index, we would still place in the top 10 since our inception. This is remarkable considering SPX and the Nasdaq-100 had strong back-to-back annual performances.

Notably, leveraged ETFs are typically used as trading vehicles rather than as long investments. Considering they utilize future contracts, the longer they are held the more they deviate from their expected result. Therefore, Ark is the closest competitor to what we offer as an actively managed all-tech portfolio. As depicted in the chart above, our lead over Ark is 219%. 

I/O Fund’s cumulative returns of 210% notably outperformed some of the most popular tech stocks ETFs like XLK by 65%. Source: YCharts and InsiderMonkey 

Further, when we combine the entire universe of ETFs with Mutual Funds, which is another long option for investors yet are not exclusive to tech nor do they hedge, we would rank #8. 

The above list shows that I/O Fund is a top-performing tech portfolio with only Fidelity ranking higher in cumulative returns among tech-focused ETFs and mutual funds. Source: YCharts and InsiderMonkey 

When you consider these portfolios have billions of assets under management and are managed by those considered to be the best investors in the world, we feel what we offer is of immense value. 

2024 was the Year of Consistency: 

It has been a wild ride; yet we have strived for consistency. In 2024, we had ten positions outperform the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500. This follows seven positions beating the broad indexes last year in 2023.   

Although we reserve the complete list for our paid members, below are a few highlights we can share with you: 

• We held Nvidia as a top position and then trimmed ¼ of the position on June 13th with SMH topping in July. We further discussed our strategy to reduce exposure to AI semis in Q3 and Q4, spotting sector-wide weakness, which helped to minimize losses. 
• We kept Bitcoin as a top 3 allocation while providing 7 buy alerts, all of which closed the year up 50%+.  
• Our combined realized returns on an AI hypergrowth stocks was 243% while utilizing risk management to sidestep volatility.  
• We also captured an outsized 87% return on cybersecurity stock, yet closed the position before the stock saw a volatile drawdown.  
• We closed a crypto position for a quick 99% gain. 
• Netflix outperformed the Nasdaq in 2024 and was closed for 164% realized gain in 2024

Nvidia +172% 

Leading up to the release of the Hopper GPUs, we were net buyers of Nvidia in 2021 through early 2023. On average, it was held as a 15% position throughout 2022 – 2023. As we moved into 2024, Nvidia was allowed to exceed this allocation to become our first ever 20% position. We began taking heavy gains in the $130 - $140 region. Today, we are waiting for better prices to begin accumulating again. 

Bitcoin +121% 

We have been systematically accumulating Bitcoin since early 2023. In 2024, we issued seven buy alerts, all of which closed the year up more than 50%. We also began taking significant gains in our Bitcoin position between $80,000 - $106,000.

Super Micro +243% 

Super Micro was a high conviction play in 2023, which we closed for a sizable gain around the 2024 top. We attempted to re-establish a small position in mid-2024, but decided to close that attempt for a loss due to the accounting issues SMCI was facing. 

Netflix +164% 

NFLX was a high conviction stock that we began accumulating at the same moment that Wall Street’s best, such as Bill Ackman, were closing their positions. We felt the Street had this stock wrong. With multiple tactical buys, the average opening price to the average closing price came out to a 164% realized gain in less than 2 years.  The decision to close it was based on a combination of fundamental issues as well as technical targets being reached. 

Crypto Altcoin +99% 

While Bitcoin was clearly in a strong uptrend, we decided to play the momentum in a crypto altcoin. With an opening average cost basis and closing average cost basis in 2024, we logged a relatively quick 99% in less than a year.  

Cybersecurity Stock +87% 

We opened a position in a cybersecurity stock in early 2023 and began taking gains in early 2024. We ended up closing the entire position for a realized gain of 87%, just before the stock fell 41% from a streak of bad news. We were early to exit due to the fundamentals team listening closely to the earnings call and sensing weakness. 

📢 You can read our full press release here: “I/O Fund Dominates Tech Sector with a Staggering 210% Cumulative Return in Less than 5 Years”  📈 Read the Full Press Release

Key Points on How the I/O Fund is Different 

Real-time trade alerts are sent to our members the minute we decide to buy, sell, trim or add to a stock. For those who may not be aware, this is extremely challenging to do as it combines the two most advanced forms of portfolio management. 

• One of the most advanced forms of portfolio management is real-time trade alerts. This places immense pressure on a portfolio manager as the stakes are high to record what you do every second in real-time. To voluntarily choose to have the highest level of accountability in retail is nearly unheard of, yet registered fund managers are required to do this and file their stock trades.  
• Logging trades in real-time also places immense pressure on the analysts at the I/O Fund, as well, who are not allowed to simply choose a stock but must also determine the allocation for the stock. After recommending a stock, the analysts must help the portfolio manager actively manage the position, which can change at any time. 
• Hedging up to 100% of a portfolio is also a large psychological hurdle, and traditionally a risky one. Markets spend the vast majority of their history in uptrends, for one. Secondly, the amount you can lose on a short is literally infinite, to where one’s downside risk is capped at 0 on the long side. Although hedging must be reviewed with each Member’s financial advisor, many of our members simply use the information as a critical risk-on and risk-off signal.  

These are rare offerings in stock investing research. However, since day one – we refused to publish reports without risk management.  

We recently published an article “The Harsh Truth: Retail Investors Take the Brunt of Wall Street Losses” to illustrate why retail investors should not accept a low standard when choosing a stock research site. 

There is a reason most services do not provide this level of transparency and activity. The more granularity that is offered, the more skill is required. The stakes are much higher when what you do is recorded the minute the action is taken, but overall, having the highest level of accountability possible has made the I/O Fund much sharper investors. 

Verified Returns 

In addition to a lack of risk management tools, I believe a lack of verified returns in the retail space contributes to the losses this investor type experiences. Smart money is careful about who they consider a good investor -- they do not take someone’s word they are a good investor; they make the investors or firms they follow prove it. Every single hedge fund must report their returns, which reduces the chances of posturing. 

How the I/O Fund Sets a High Bar for Accountability 

Over the past few years, the I/O Fund has invested over $175,000 into accountability and transparency for our members. When we launched in July of 2019, for the first year or so, we used a forum hosted by Tribe for our trade alerts for a cost of about $10,000 per year, but by January of 2021, we had migrated to SMS and email tools that were the least likely to experience an outage for our real-time trade alerts (Twilio and Mailchimp). This costs us $30,000 to $40,000 per year, depending on our trading frequency.  

In addition to this, we use an auditor from a large firm in San Francisco to mathematically review and verify the performance of our I/O Fund portfolio trading account and crypto account. The process is quite extensive, and it takes up to four months to complete. This costs $4,500 per audit and we’ve completed six audits for a total of $27,000 spent on this process. Accountability is expensive but we feel it’s worth it. 

Conclusion: 

When I founded the I/O Fund in 2019, it began as an experiment -- one that, candidly, I was unsure would succeed. Upon speaking to mentors and others in the field, I was urged to go to the institutional side and to "not bother with retail." This is because institutions pay a higher price for research and are not as emotional during drawdowns. But therein lies the pain point I was trying to solve -- which is that retail is offered breadcrumbs -- such as stock research that does not provide the most important part of a portfolio (trades or allocations), boastful claims of returns with no accountability plus an utter lack of risk management tools. To worsen the matter, popular tech ETFs greatly underperform the broader indexes -- leaving little to no options for retail to participate in the highly rewarding tech sector.  

In sharp contrast to other research sites, the I/O Fund logs every trade in real-time, our portfolio is independently verified by an accounting firm in San Francisco, and our deep dive research is early and actionable -- proven to identify some of the market's biggest winners years before the Street. In tech, the rubber meets the road with risk management, which our firm has championed since day one with technical analysis, weekly 1 hour webinars that focus entirely on risk management, and even hedging up to 100% of the portfolio to offer clear indications of whether the market is risk-on or risk-off. 

I am pleased to say the results have truly shattered my expectations.

📢 You can read our full press release here: “I/O Fund Dominates Tech Sector with a Staggering 210% Cumulative Return in Less than 5 Years”  📈

Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. Please consult with your financial advisor in regards to any stocks you buy.

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