Mike Philbrick iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT-Q BUY Apr 11, 2025

It is near its support zone so he has it as a potential trade in their aggressive account. He has a tight stop at $91.75 so if it goes below that for three or more days then he will sell at a 2 or 3% loss. The idea is that in the long term bonds will go up.

In his aggressive strategy. Doing nothing, struggling. In a longer-term base. He'd buy it for his conservative strategy if it broke out. If breaks below $92 and stays for a few days, he'll sell. His position is only 2%.

Must look at total return. Those that focus on the yield and don't understand the return are doomed to risk. Just hold TLT or ZTL -- US bonds at the long end of the treasury curve -- and don't go chasing yield.

He doesn't like the stock market, so he's looking for alternatives. This is one. Likes that there's the possibility of rates coming down in the US. His downside sell level is ~$86. First target is $95, second target is $100. Not correlated to stocks, so it will march to its own drumbeat (inflation, USD, and interest rate policy). Small dividend.

ZFL is Canadian long bonds. TLT is made up of Treasury long bonds. Both great vehicles in the context of trading and looking out for a recession. We're in a trading range for interest rates in general for the next few years. Bound on one end by colossal amounts of government debt, and on the other side inflation is driving rates higher as well. And all with the prospect of a slower global economy.

If you think there's going to be a harder economic landing, federal bonds will outperform provincial bonds as a rule of thumb. But you'll get a bit more yield in a provincial bond in the long run. 

Most recently he's been adding duration and maxing out long-bond exposure. After the markets rally a bit, he's trimming that back. He wouldn't say buy and hold. If you were to see the US 10-year get back to 4.75%, and the US long bond get back to 5%, those are great opportunities for longer-term trades.

The yield has been flat in the last two years though shares have been volatile with the bond market. The bond market is broken long term as a buy-and-hold; you have to be an active bond manager given inflation's impact.

(Note the short timeframe.)  He wanted to trade the trading range. He never uses physical stop losses, as you can get whipped out. It broke down from $85, so then he counts a minimum of 3 days -- yesterday, today, and he'll see what happens tomorrow. If it stays down, on Tuesday (US markets closed Monday) he'll sell the position.

Some trades don't work out. The best traders lose money on trades, but it's how much you lose that's important. You take a bit of a haircut and you move on. Rather than hanging on and hoping, while you watch it go down and down.