It is with great pleasure that I present the I/O Fund’s 2024 audited returns of 34.6%, leading to a spectacular outperformance of 219% since inception when compared to popular tech ETFs. When compared to the broader indexes S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, we outperform by 109% and 82% respectively, since our portfolio’s inception in May of 2020.
These have been some of the most variable years on record when considering the immense volatility tech has seen, the market’s rotation out of cloud and into AI – which required meticulous analysis to capture, plus a strong two-year back-to-back performance from the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100. This has made it particularly challenging for stock pickers to compete. Yet, the I/O Fund was able to defy the odds to deliver what is one of the highest 5-year cumulative performances on record.
We issued a press release on Wednesday entitled “I/O Fund Dominates Tech Sector with a Staggering 210% Cumulative Return in Less than 5 Years”
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 Offers a Staggering Lead in the Tech Sector
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.
*While our track record has been exemplary, past results are not a guarantee of future outcomes. Please read our terms and conditions here.terms and conditions here.
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. Source: Levelfields and ChartartisanLevelfields and Chartartisan
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 InsiderMonkeyYCharts 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 InsiderMonkeyamong tech-focused ETFs and mutual funds. Source: YCharts and InsiderMonkey
When you consider these portfolios have billions of assets under managementbillions of assets under management and are managed by those considered to be the best investors in the worldthe 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.
The positions that beat the indexes this year include: NFLX, CRWD, NET, BTC, ETH, SOL, LINK, COIN, SMCI, NVDA.
Highlights included holding Nvidia as a top position and then trimming 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 Super Micro were 243% while utilizing risk management to sidestep volatility. CrowdStrike was similar, where we captured outsized 87%, yet closed the position before the stock saw a volatile drawdown. We also closed Solana for a 99% quick gain and Netflix for a 164% realized gain in 2024. You can find more highlights on our 2024 trading history in Knox’s section below.
A Few More Important Stats About our Performance:
- 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 both the Nasdaq-100 and Invesco QQQ ETF by 10%.
- Since inception, the I/O Fund has maintained a lead of up to 219% over institutional technology portfolios.
- 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.
2024 Winning Positions Overview:
By Knox Ridley
We had 10 positions outperform the NASDAQ-100 in 2024. Half of these positions were held for the entire year, while some were tactically closed, which allowed us to log a realized gain that exceeded the NASDAQ-100.
Positions that we held for the entirety of 2024 that exceeded the NASDAQ-100:
- NVDA +172%
- Bitcoin +121%
- Ethereum +47%
- Chainlink +34%
- NET +32%
Positions that we tactically opened and/or closed in 2024 for a realized gain that surpassed the NASDAQ-100's 2024 return:
- Super Micro: +243%
- Solana: +99%
- Coinbase +67%
- Netflix +164%
- CrowdStrike +87%
*Calculations are based on the average opening price and the average closing price for each position.
Overview of 2024’s Biggest Winners
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.
Solana +99%
While Bitcoin was clearly in a strong uptrend, we decided to play the momentum in crypto through Solana. With an opening average cost basis and closing average cost basis in 2024, we logged a relatively quick 99% in less than a year.
CrowdStrike +87%
We opened CrowdStrike 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 vertical drop took CRWD down 41% from our final closing price. This was due to the fundamentals team listening closely to the earnings call and sensing weakness.
Our Performance:
Below is the engagement letter from the firm that reviews and verifies our performance. Our terms and conditions with the accounting firm state that this engagement letter is to only be shared with paying customers to avoid advertising another firm’s IP and services. For that reason, our performance letter resides behind our paywall.
The I/O Fund owns the performance review and we do not authorize our customers or any person on our site to share a confidential engagement letter or performance review outside of our paywall. As the owner of the report, we will at times market our performance number outside of the paywall.
With that said, any paying customer can access the engagement letter which is posted on io-fund.com for this purpose.
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.
It’s only natural for stock investing research sites to want to ease the pressure of having to report in real-time – yet we do not think investors should accept a lower standard than professionals who must report their trades.
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:
We started with a cloud-focused portfolio in 2020 that captured the hypergrowth market during the pandemic, then we utilized risk management to stave off losses in 2021 and 2022, before pivoting to a high AI allocation of 45% entering 2023.
This past year, in 2024, we’ve proven our consistency by offering ten positions that beat both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100 compared to seven positions the previous year. We held large allocations in some of the market’s biggest winners in 2024 (Nvidia, Bitcoin, Super Micro in H1, Coinbase in H2, plus crypto).
The Consistency of 2024 helped propel our cumulative return from 131% in less than four years to 210% in less than five years. Not only do we easily place in the 90th percentile but we are in the top 10 in nearly every category out of thousands of portfolio options. When looking at hedge funds, we would place as #2 with our annualized return of 27.6% — beating out some of Wall Street’s best investors.
The I/O Fund's mission since inception has been to provide institutional-level research and tools to retail investors, and the results have shattered our expectations. What we have accomplished is no small feat, and our team reflects on these results with immense gratitude.
Many of you supported us from early days and stuck with us through immense volatility – we hope your unwavering commitment to us has been rewarded many times over. Others are newer to our site and have stumbled upon a more polished team than when we first started (or should I say, a more humbled team). If you are newer to the I/O Fund, then I can assure you that no team takes their role more seriously in terms of delivering our very best every single day.
We want to thank you for your business and your vote of confidence in our abilities. We are honored to officially close out 2024 and to now turn our full attention to delivering for you in 2025 and beyond.
Please note, past results are not a guarantee of future outcomes. Reference our terms and conditions here.terms and conditions here.
New Discovery Tier – Now Live:
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Discovery tier, an endeavor we have been diligently working toward for nearly a year. Our team is limited in the number of positions we can own with 10 positions at a minimum, and up to 20 positions maximum. We also may have a different risk profile than many of our members, which means that we have passed on some notable winners over the years. There are many strong-performing stocks in the market to consider and our new tier is designed to surface these ideas so our members can access a wider range of research that goes well beyond the I/O Fund’s portfolio.
Here is some coverage we have published over the past month on the Discovery tier:
- A high beta stock with 21X growth potential from supplying power quickly to key AI hyperscalers
- Power management integrated circuits (PMICs) company with signals for strong growth in H2
- Nuclear and natural gas supplier for AI data centers
- Coming soon: Biggest incoming IPO in the AI sector
Current members can get 50% off Discovery for just $199 through April 10th with code SAVE200DISC. Click the link to send a request to Customer Service to subscribe. Link
Please note: The I/O Fund conducts research and draws conclusions for the Fund’s positions. We then share that information with our readers. This is not a guarantee of a stock’s performance. Please consult your personal financial advisor before buying any stock in the companies mentioned in this analysis.
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