First Year Performance
Research, measured against the tape.
Every position published to the community between 2025-06-18 and 2026-09-21, priced from the session after it was posted and compared with the S&P 500 over the identical window. Winners and losers both.
This is a point-in-time report covering that period only. It is produced when a full audit is run, not updated continuously, and the figures will not track the market after the date above.
It measures individual research positions published to the community — not the model portfolios. Those are a different thing, tracked live and time-weighted on the membership page. The two sets of figures measure different objects and are not meant to reconcile.
against +15.6% for the S&P 500 over the same windows — an edge of +52.7%
The framework
Three things have to line up before a name becomes a position. It is the same institutional lens a research desk would apply, run against retail-sized accounts.
A business worth owning — durable margins, real growth, a balance sheet that survives a bad year.
Bought below what the fundamentals justify, not after the move has already happened.
Institutional, insider and congressional activity confirming the thesis rather than contradicting it.
What the record shows
26 high-conviction positions spanning 20 companies returned +68.4% on average, against +15.6% for the S&P 500 bought on the same dates. 69% are in profit; the median position returned +7.7%.
A useful control sits alongside it. Names flagged with the same conviction but never taken as positions returned +11.6% against +15.1% — behind the index. Identifying a candidate was not the thing that mattered. Committing to it was.
The average is concentrated. Excluding the single best position it is +37.7%; excluding the best three, +6.1%. Counting each company once rather than per entry gives +48.6%. 8 of 26 positions are underwater, the worst at −40.8%.
Every high-conviction position
The full list, sorted by result. Nothing removed — the losing positions are here too, with what was written at the time. Positions closed in the channel, or stopped at a level stated when the position was opened, are measured to that exit rather than to today.
| Ticker | Entered | Result | vs S&P | Held | Status | Published reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MU | 2025-08-08 | +834.6% | +810.9% | 409d | held | MU Entry 111.55 Stop 103.24 Target 137. High conviction trade, 3.27:1 I bought 100 shares |
| MU | 2025-08-29 | +755.1% | +733.9% | 388d | held | I was in at 111 got stopped out at 121. Got back in at 114 |
| DUOL | 2026-04-20 | +47.8% | +38.0% | 154d | held | Im in DUOL at 100. 40 shares. Stop loss 85. High conviction |
| UNH | 2025-08-15 | +29.0% | +7.6% | 402d | held | I still just bought some.. If it falls I'll just avg down. No brainer long hold |
| ETHU | 2025-08-11 | +27.6% | +4.5% | 2d | closed | im in ethu yall ... its movin, runnin a stop below the breakout |
| BTCI | 2026-03-09 | +20.4% | +3.3% | 196d | held | I bought 3k of btci just now. 35-40% annual yield |
| SCHG | 2026-03-12 | +18.9% | +2.7% | 193d | held | I started a 20k position in schg 2 days ago cuz it was dowm 10% and on the 200 day sma |
| META | 2025-11-10 | +18.5% | +2.9% | 315d | held | Good day to buy META ... I started buying today |
| AMZN | 2025-10-23 | +18.4% | +1.3% | 333d | held | Im buying amzn and meta today |
| META | 2026-06-12 | +16.9% | +11.9% | 28d | trimmed | i bought META today / shares / super cheap |
| AMPX | 2025-09-16 | +14.2% | −4.4% | 370d | held | I'm investing in Amprius Technologies... charging up my portfolio with AMPX |
| IWM | 2025-12-12 | +12.1% | −1.6% | 283d | held | I bought a dec next year call. Lol fully expecting 500+ % |
| PATH | 2026-06-02 | +9.8% | +7.0% | 111d | held | first target 15 for thos trading / im holding this mf / measured move is 16.25 / holding almost 5,000 shares o |
| ETH | 2025-07-09 | +5.7% | −20.3% | 439d | held | honestly I'd buy some and stake it.. and hold it for the long run. Infact, I just bought 5k worth. |
| NVO | 2025-08-15 | +5.7% | −15.8% | 3d | trimmed | Entered a large position in nvo. For the long haul. |
| AMZN | 2025-09-26 | +4.0% | −14.7% | 13d | stopped | Buy here / I just bought 25 shares |
| META | 2025-10-23 | +1.8% | −15.4% | 333d | held | Im buying amzn and meta today |
| SPY | 2025-11-14 | +1.0% | −16.6% | 0d | stopped | Just bought the spy call |
| GRAB | 2026-09-16 | −0.9% | −3.0% | 5d | held | Just bought 400 shares oversold at huge support |
| SPY | 2026-06-10 | −1.1% | −7.2% | 0d | stopped | were in the gap on SPY now / im in calls |
| ETHU | 2025-09-10 | −2.4% | −22.4% | 0d | trimmed | Ight im in ethu... Super tight stop at 143. Heavy. 50 shares |
| SOL | 2025-07-18 | −2.7% | −27.4% | 14d | stopped | SOL BREAKING OUT. Just bought 2k at 184 / STOP 171 / Short term target 240 |
| MCD | 2026-08-10 | −3.1% | −3.6% | 7d | closed | I bought a leap on MCD at 274 today. A 250C expiring June of next year. Selling .30 calls against it |
| MSTX | 2025-12-03 | −5.3% | −20.2% | 2d | stopped | I bought mstx for freaking 5 bucks yesterday its already 6.10.. lol |
| BTC | 2025-11-19 | −7.2% | −25.6% | 306d | held | I bought a ton last night at 89k |
| HIMS | 2025-10-28 | −40.8% | −54.7% | 328d | held | Im buying hims while its under 50 fyi yall |
Income positions
These were run as short-premium trades — selling puts, or the wheel — rather than buying the security outright. Their payoff does not track the underlying: the gain is capped at the premium collected, and the downside starts at the strike rather than the market price. Scoring them on the security's move would overstate both ends, so they are listed here rather than folded into the figures above.
| Ticker | Opened | Status | Published reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| OSCR | 2025-07-21 | held | Selling puts on OSCR HOPING to get filled. Will put my cost basis at 11.22 |
| SLV | 2025-09-02 | held | i added a new channel for the wheel strat... I will be using SLV for now |
| ETHU | 2025-12-01 | closed | Im buying it down here by selling puts on ethu and eth mini |
| NVDX | 2026-08-24 | trimmed | I bought 100 shares and sold a put at 18 for another 100 |
How to read these numbers
- This report covers 2025-06-18 to 2026-09-21 and is point-in-time. It is regenerated only when a full audit is run.
- Each position is priced from the open of the first session beginning after it was posted — never the same session, so no figure benefits from hindsight. Where a post named a fill price, that price is not used, even when it was better than the open.
- Where a stop was stated and the price reached it, the position is closed at that stop whether or not an exit was posted separately.
- Returns are dividend-adjusted. A position closed, stopped or trimmed in the channel is measured to that announced exit; a position still held is marked to 2026-09-21. Each row shows which it is.
- The comparison is SPY bought on the same date and held the identical window, computed per position rather than as one period figure.
- Positions are equal-weighted. Actual sizing varied, so this is not an account statement and does not represent any member's realised return.
- A position counts only where the original post states plainly that it was taken. Anything taken without saying so is not captured, making this a subset rather than a complete record.
- Where options were bought, the position is measured on the move in the underlying security rather than contract profit and loss — which understates the outcome in both directions.
Past performance does not indicate future results. Educational content only — never personalised financial advice. Leaving The Matrix is not a financial adviser and does not make personalised recommendations. These figures describe research published to the community. You are responsible for your own decisions.
The full framework, the education library, and every position as it is published.
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