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Start Here

One move to get started. The rest can wait.

You do not need to understand everything before you begin. Here is the single thing to do first, then a map you can come back to whenever you want to go deeper. Your progress on the checklist saves on this device, so close the tab and pick up where you left off anytime.

How members use it

The simplest way in: one portfolio, four times a year.

Core 20 is our flagship model portfolio. The approach most members describe is mirroring its holdings in their own investment account, about fifteen minutes, then placing the updated trades each quarter when the rebalance publishes. We do the research and publish the trades. The actual holdings are the one thing Pro unlocks; the full track record, the methodology, the Market Normality Indicator, and the Sunday Edge are free to read. What you choose to do with any of it is up to you.

Educational research, not personalized advice.

Free and want a useful two minute win right now? See where the market sits in the Market Normality Indicator.

What this is, in one paragraph

Advising Alpha publishes curated stock portfolios built on top of institutional money flow research. Our work starts by tracking how the top-rated institutional money managers are positioned, then layers our own analysis, filters, and risk management on top to build published strategies you can study, follow, or use as a sleeve inside your own plan. Everything on the site, from the Sunday Edge to the daily indicators, is anchored in the same idea: watching where smart money concentrates is a better starting point than a market headline. Calmly.

Your orientation checklist

Made your first move above? Good. This is the rest of the map, at your pace. The quick, free wins come first; the deeper reading is further down for when you want it. Work in order or jump around. Your progress saves on this device, so come back anytime and pick up where you left off.

1.

See where the market sits today

2 min

The fastest useful thing on the site. The Market Normality Indicator shows where the broad market sits versus 75 years of history, in plain English. Two minutes and you already know more about market conditions than most investors. It's the calm answer to "the market is crashing" or "the market is the most expensive ever." Free for everyone.

See today's reading
2.

Start with Core 20

5 min

If you only do one thing, look at Core 20. It's the flagship and the smoothest ride, the one most members build on. The compare page puts every portfolio side by side (CAGR, volatility, holdings count, who it's best for) when you're ready to look wider, but Core 20 is the place to start.

See Core 20
3.

When you want the why: the methodology

2 min read

No homework required to start, but when you're curious how the portfolios are built, this is the cleanest single-shot explanation. Every portfolio uses the same playbook: track what top-rated institutional managers are holding, build a composite, layer our own filters and risk management, rebalance quarterly. Skim it once and the whole site clicks.

Read the methodology
4.

Go deeper: How the Market Behaves

20 min

The piece of research we'd point a curious friend at. The real distribution of S&P 500 returns since 1950: why the average year almost never happens, how far the market falls inside a typical year, and the odds of loss by holding period. Free for everyone. Most members tell us this is what reset how they think about the market. Save it for when you have the time.

Read on the site
Free members can stop here. Items 5 through 7 are Pro features. If you’re considering Pro, the pricing page is the next stop. Or skip ahead to “Three ways members use Advising Alpha” below for guidance on whether Pro fits how you want to invest.
5.

Find your trade alerts

1 minPro

When a portfolio rebalances, the trade list (sells, buys, holds) goes out by email to Pro members. The Thursday Inside Edge also recaps any rebalance activity from the prior week. Make sure your alerts land in your inbox, not spam, by adding the sender address to your contacts.

Unlock with Pro →
6.

Bookmark your dashboard

30 secondsPro

Your dashboard is the front door once you're logged in. Indices, market brief, the portfolio cards with live performance, your watchlist. Bookmark it so it's one click from your browser bar.

Unlock with Pro →
7.

Visit the Ideas page

5 minPro

Ideas is your cross-portfolio scan. What's working across all our models right now. High conviction consensus picks, relative-strength leaders, breakouts, drawdowns, sector tilts. Updated daily. The page exists so you have something useful to look at between quarterly rebalances.

Unlock with Pro →
FAQ

The questions everyone has

Click any question to expand.

Am I supposed to buy all these stocks myself?

Not necessarily. The portfolios are model portfolios. They show you what we hold and how we weight it. What you do with that information is your call. Some members mirror the portfolios in their own investment account at full weight. Some pick the names they like best and skip the rest. Some use a single portfolio as a sleeve inside a larger plan. Some just read along to learn how institutional money moves. All of those are valid. Talk to your own advisor about what fits your situation, your tax setup, and your risk tolerance.

What happens when a portfolio rebalances?

Every quarter, sometime between the 20th and 25th of February, May, August, and November, we publish a refreshed holdings list. The cadence aligns with the SEC 13F filing window so we’re working from current institutional data. When it happens, Pro members get an email with the exact trades. The Thursday Inside Edge also recaps the changes. The portfolio detail page updates, and the official growth chart re-baselines to the new rebalance.

How often should I check the site?

Depends what you’re checking.

The Market Normality Indicator, the dashboard, and the Ideas page update overnight every weekday. Checking them daily makes sense if you want to know where current market conditions sit in historical context. Many members read the MNI when financial news has them spooked.

The portfolio holdings only change four times a year, at the quarterly rebalances. Daily checking the holdings themselves is unnecessary; the rhythm we built is the Sunday Edge on Sunday evening for free members, and the Inside Edge on Thursday morning for Pro. Those are designed to be the regular touch points. The rebalance alerts come when they come.

What if the market crashes?

The portfolios were built to survive crashes. The backtests span 2001 through today, which includes the dot com bust, the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 pandemic crash, and 2022. Max drawdowns are disclosed on every portfolio page so you know what the historical worst case looked like. When a crash actually starts, your job as a long term member is to remember that drawdowns are normal. The MNI page exists to remind you of that with 75 years of history. The portfolios will rebalance on schedule, the Sunday Edge will keep coming, and the market will do what it does.

Free vs Pro: what's actually different?

Free members get every portfolio’s full performance record (growth charts, year by year returns, methodology, philosophy, backtest stats), the Market Normality Indicator, the weekly Sunday Edge, and every piece of research we publish. Pro members get the actual stock holdings for the diversified portfolios, the per holding investment thesis, rebalance trade alerts, the Inside Edge on Thursday mornings, the Ideas page, and full access to historical research. Pricing details and current promo offers are on the pricing page.

What if I want to cancel?

Pro comes with a 14 day money back guarantee. After that, you can cancel anytime from your account page. We’ll pause your subscription for 30 days rather than cancel if you’d rather come back later. When you’re done you’re done; nothing locks you in.

Is this investment advice?

No. Advising Alpha is an investment publication. We publish educational research about how top-rated institutional managers are positioned, with full backtests. We don’t know your situation, your goals, your taxes, or your timeline, so we can’t tell you what to do with the information. That’s what an investment advisor is for. We publish under the publisher exemption (Section 202(a)(11)(D) of the Investment Advisers Act). Read the disclaimer page for the full framing.

Three ways members use Advising Alpha

You don’t have to pick one. Most members shift over time. But knowing which mode you’re in right now helps the rest of the site click.

Path 1: The active member

You're following our portfolios closely. Maybe replicating them in your own investment account, maybe using one as a sleeve inside a bigger plan. You'll subscribe to Pro, watch the rebalance alerts, and check the dashboard a few times a week.

What to lean on: The trade alerts email, the rebalance schedule, the dashboard's "since last rebalance" tracker on each portfolio card, the Inside Edge on Thursdays.

Path 2: The sleeve allocator

You have your own plan already (an advisor, an existing portfolio, or your own picks), and you want to use one of our portfolios as a specific sleeve. Sleeve allocation is exactly what specialty portfolios like BioTech 10 were built for.

What to lean on: The methodology page for the portfolio you're sleeving, the year by year returns chart for volatility context, and the specialty portfolios like BioTech 10 built specifically for sleeve allocation.

Path 3: The learner

You're here because the topic interests you and the research is calm and rigorous. You're not necessarily looking to trade anything tomorrow; you want to understand how institutional money flow works, how factor investing actually plays out, how to read market conditions without panic.

What to lean on: The Sunday Edge, the Market Normality Indicator, the research library (start with How the Market Behaves), the glossary, the methodology page. You can do all of this on the free tier.

What to read next

If you’ve made it through the checklist, here’s where to go for more depth.

Stuck on something?

The FAQ covers the most common questions. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, try the glossary, or read the methodology page end to end. We’re working on a dedicated support contact; for now those resources cover most cases.

Advising Alpha publishes educational investment research, not personalized investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Backtested returns are derived from historical data and have inherent limitations. See the Investment Disclaimer for the full risk discussion.