Each month, every ETF in the universe is ranked by a blended Strength score — a trailing-momentum measure combined with a secondary signal that rewards assets sitting near their highs. Higher Strength ranks higher.

Each ETF must be trading above its short-term trend average to qualify. ETFs that fail this filter are excluded — even if their Strength is high. This keeps the portfolio away from tickers in short-term downtrends.

If the broad U.S. market is trending down on both a medium- and a longer-term basis, the entire strategy rotates into a defensive mix of a traditional hedge asset and a high-quality bond allocation. This is the bear-market defense — it kept the strategy positive in 2008 when the market fell 44%.

When risk is on, the strategy buys the four highest-Strength qualifying ETFs, equally weighted at 25% each. A limited, diversified amount of leverage is allowed — spread across more than one underlying index rather than concentrated in one. Switch leverage off and those slots go to ordinary ETFs instead.

Positions are reviewed and rebalanced on the third trading day of each month. Winners are held, laggards are swapped out for the next best qualifier. On the rare month where fewer than four ETFs qualify, the empty slots fall back to the same defensive rotation used during a full risk-off regime — the strategy is never left idling in cash.

After each Friday's close, every large U.S.-listed stock is run through a fixed screen that looks for strong momentum, high quality and a reasonable valuation: profitable, cash-generating, growing companies in an uptrend. A stock is bought only once its signal is confirmed, so names that flicker on and off the screen never make it in.

There is no ranking and no top-N cut: every stock that qualifies is held, each bought at an equal share of the portfolio. There are no stop losses. A stock is sold when it leaves the screen.

Two signals on the broad U.S. market, a medium-term trend and a one-year trend, set the exposure. When the market weakens, the portfolio is frozen: no new buys and no resizing, while stocks leaving the screen are still sold.

When both signals turn down, the portfolio stays frozen and, with leverage off, its stocks are cut to half. Idle cash moves half into Treasuries (IEF) and half into gold (GLD). In 2008, when the market fell 37%, the leverage-off version lost 6%.

The list is set after Friday's close and traded at Monday's open. The portfolio as a whole is resized only when it is more than 10% off its target exposure. On the rare week where no stock qualifies outside a bear market, an equal-weight S&P 500 fund (RSP) is held instead, so the strategy is never left idling in cash.