Dear investors,
March was a weak month for the AEX, with the index falling by 2.50%.
For March, the figures for the RVM systems were: RVM Strategy +4.34%; RVM Retirement +1.83%.
The systems therefore outperformed the index.
Our system gave us short indications for the Dutch AEX at the beginning of March. So the positions had to be adjusted accordingly.
The reasons for this market weakening are never really important; the methodology is designed to detect the trend, and the algorithm must calculate where the price targets and turning points are located.
The causes of current trends do not play a role in the system, and the price targets are derived from an algorithmic formula that has a mathematical basis rather than a fundamental one.
Why was RVM Strategy slightly better in March than RVM Retirement?
Retirement also has fixed positions in its portfolio, and these did not perform well in March, falling significantly.
However, the option strategy was just as positive as with Strategy, which explains why Retirement was still positive.
A word about the month of April, because what the US president did first on April 4 and then on April 9, when this piece was written, is a dirty trick, typical of Trump.
You could laugh at the cruel cleverness, if it weren't for the fact that so many people on earth are affected by it, ordinary people who have nothing to do with the markets.
First came the cruel clown from the White House who will do anything for ratings and anything to hurt others (he enjoys that) with a ridiculous series of import tariffs, announced on April 4 after the market closed in the White House Rose Garden.
Have you really heard anyone, anyone with a good economic education and understanding of the issues, say anything positive about these kinds of import tariffs? Or about how a trade deficit with a country is wrong and should be "punished"? If so, they were either fearful people who don't want to lose their jobs with Trump, the president's sycophants who talk with their mouths full of flour, like Bessent and Ludnick, or supporters on Fox News who approve of everything the president does.
Don't think Trump is stupid, that he doesn't understand anything; he's not stupid and knows exactly what he's doing. He tries to serve his own interests in a way that suits him. He makes statements like "You don't have any cards." That's how he thinks. He knows very well what cards he has, and for him, everything revolves around money. He's not a businessman, because his casinos went bankrupt. I've read several books about him. Don't try to understand it, but for him, money is not something you can earn; you have to take money from someone else, otherwise you won't get any satisfaction from it. That's how he thinks. Maybe he once tried to think differently, maybe he once heard someone else say that sharing doesn't make you poorer, but he himself is incapable of thinking or acting that way. Money must be taken from others and then end up in your own bank account; that is his rationale.
So if you have the power that he currently has, you can easily manipulate the market, as he did on April 4 (insiders were able to sell in time) and on April 9 (insiders were able to buy in time).
My opinion: it's corruption on an unprecedented scale, and insider trading.
In his campaign speeches, he repeatedly announced: "Kamala Harris, if she is elected, we will see a stock market crash like we have never seen before."
You guessed it: with Trump, everything you say is who you are. At that point, he obviously already knew that he himself would crash the stock market if he became president. Unlike in a casino, where you can earn a lot when others lose, in his current position, there is nothing more lucrative than insider trading.
In the past, when he was still a talk show host, he often talked about how much he liked stock market declines; they are so nice because you can buy stocks cheaply. That was his opinion at the time.
As long as Trump is in power, there is no rational economic position in the US; the country has become unreliable as a trading partner. Unfortunately, the American president can turn the global market upside down; he clearly has that power, while Senator Rand Paul is right: import tariffs are a tax, and in the US, taxes are decided by the House of Representatives, not the president.
Trump sets the house on fire, and then he says to everyone: "Why are you whining, you wimps? Can't you take it? We'll put it out again, at least eventually, if you all do what I want you to do."
How did it go on April 9, this time while Europe was closed but America was open? He announced on social media that most countries would be given a 90-day reprieve from their "punishment," except for China, because they had dared to announce countermeasures.
A few hours earlier, he had written on his Truth Social platform: "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT."
Whoever did that earned a lot of money a few hours later.
Later, his cronies, Scott Bessent and Karoline Leavitt, the Beloved Leader's lapdog, came to explain that this had always been the intention, that you should not take countermeasures against the Beloved Leader, that they had emphatically told the punished countries this, that the Beloved Leader had always made this clear, and that everything would be fine.
The day before, this blonde lapdog had told the press that the president had no intention of revising his tariff measures. Of course, by April 9, she had already forgotten what she had said on April 8.
It's all so corrupt that you really think this can't be reality, but a joke, an alternate universe. But unfortunately, it's all really happening. And this will continue for the time being. If he manages to stay in power, we'll have to deal with this for another three years in the financial world and in the real world.
What we can say is that the legitimacy of our trading system at RVM Systems does not appear to have been disrupted by this market manipulation for the time being.
We will see if that remains the case, and we certainly hope so. The system is designed to cope with many market situations, and so far it has been successful. That is striking, and it gives us some hope that the laws that usually govern the market are still in place.
That concludes this update. Good luck with your investments!
Sincerely,
On behalf of Van Megen Systematic Trading,
Ruud van Megen
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