iQUANT | U.S. Mega Cap 10 Strategy
iQUANT Strategic Brief
The Methodology

The Cure for
Lazy Capital.

Most investors "rent the index" out of convenience.
The iQUANT U.S. Mega Cap 10 owns the giants on purpose.

"You don't rise to the occasion; you fall to the level of your experience. This model is our experience. It follows the rules without exception, because sentiment is a liar and data is the truth."

The Model sticks to a strict, no-shortcuts process. Out of the 90 biggest U.S. companies, we don’t go by headlines or hype—we look for the ones that are truly leading on the fundamentals: strong margins, efficient earnings, and solid profit margins. We narrow it down to the top 10, weight them equally, and tune out the noise.

18.3%
Historical CAGR
80%
Downside Capture
8.5
Ulcer Index
01 // The Problem with Passive

Avoiding "Diworsification"

The financial industry loves "Diworsification." They tell you to buy the index because it is safe. But when you buy the haystack to find the needle, you end up buying the **chaff** too. Cap-weighting is a momentum strategy that buys more of a stock simply because it has gone up.

Our Operating Tenets

01. Discipline Over Guesswork
Investment decisions follow a defined process: how we build portfolios, when we rebalance, how we size positions, and when we sell. The rules don’t change just because markets feel scary or exciting.
02. Facts Over Fear
The Model is guided by data, not emotion. It follows a time-based rebalancing approach rather than reacting to market events—because over the long run, that discipline has consistently delivered better outcomes.
03. Radical Transparency
We reject "black boxes." We favor clean, honest structures where everyone knows how and why the money is being invested.
04. Verified by History
We don’t just go by theory—we put everything through real-world stress tests. By seeing how things hold up in every kind of market cycle, we build a framework that’s truly proven, not just predicted.
Win Rate (Positive Years) 33 of 36 Years (91%)
Max Drawdown (Preservation) -38.9% (vs -50.9% Index)
Ulcer Index (Stress Level) 8.5 (Low) vs 13.7 (High)
02 // The Result

Aggressive
Defense.

By sticking to a disciplined process that weighs key factors like valuation, capital efficiency, and strong earnings, we’ve historically been able to reduce downside risk. It’s not about chasing headlines — it’s about casting a wide net, focusing on fundamentals, and making decisions rooted in what actually drives risk-adjusted performance.

Protect First, Then Pursue Growth

Our first job is to prevent blowups. We focus on drawdown control and liquidity. Only after downside is managed do we reach for upside. "Live to fight another day" is a core investment value.

The Subscription Advantage

We charge a low flat fee, not a percentage of assets. This eliminates AUM drag, ensuring that as the portfolio grows, the upside stays with the client rather than compounding fees for the manager.

Upside Capture (Wealth) 113% Capture
iQUANT MEGA CAP 10
S&P 500 BENCHMARK (100%)
Downside Capture (Control) 80% Capture
iQUANT MEGA CAP 10
S&P 500 BENCHMARK (100%)

"The secret to winning is simply losing less."

03 // The Evidence

Stress Tested
by History.

Narratives crumble under pressure. Math does not. We do not ask "what if." We look at "what happened."

The Crisis Protocol

When markets crack, most people panic. A disciplined approach doesn’t flinch—it sticks to the plan. By sidestepping the worst drops, the recovery isn’t just quicker—it starts from a better place.

Metric iQUANT S&P 500
Max Drawdown -38.9% -50.9%
Ulcer Index (Pain) 8.5 13.7
Downside Capture 80% 100%
Recovery Factor High Low

The Compounding Effect

Staying steady beats getting emotional. By regularly cutting out weak or overpriced companies, we keep the odds in our favor—and that’s what helps build real wealth over time.

Metric iQUANT S&P 500
CAGR (Since 1990) 18.3% 11.5%
Best Year +68.5% +37.6%
Positive Years 33 30
Sharpe Ratio 0.96 0.62
"The math of survival is simple: If you lose 50%, you need 100% to get back to even. If you lose 38%, you only need 61%. We prefer the easier path."
04 // The Verdict

The Compounder's Edge.

Superior returns are not generated by swinging for fences. They are generated by staying on the field.

Growth of $100k (Since 1990)
$35.8 Million
vs $3.4M Benchmark
Risk-Adjusted Return (Sortino)
1.42
vs 0.85 Benchmark

*These results depend on staying committed to the strategy through every market cycle. Stepping away during downturns can significantly impact long-term outcomes.

05 // Appendix

Definitions & Disclosures

CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate)
The mean annual growth rate of an investment over a specified period of time longer than one year.
Max Drawdown
The maximum observed loss from a peak to a trough of a portfolio, before a new peak is attained.
Ulcer Index
A measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns in price. The lower the index, the less stress an investor would have likely felt.
Sortino Ratio
A variation of the Sharpe ratio that differentiates harmful volatility from total overall volatility by using the asset's standard deviation of negative portfolio returns.
Downside Capture
Measures an investment manager's performance relative to an index during down markets. A ratio of less than 100 indicates that the investment manager has outperformed the index during down markets.
Down Market Beta
A measure of the volatility, or systematic risk, of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole during down markets.
Down Market Correlation
A statistic that measures the degree to which two securities move in relation to each other during down markets.