Straight from the Lab
What is Straight from The Lab?
Straight from The Lab is a collection of 385 summaries of peer-reviewed academic articles in finance, specifically presented and summarized in clear actionable language to cater for the needs of investors, who pursue investment ideas to create alpha in their portfolios. These summaries cover more that than 1,200 studies, all of which can be downloaded with a single click. New summaries are continuously being added to the collection.
What does a summary of Straight from The Lab contain?
Each summary is structured around a specific investment theme, which aims to identify sources of outperformance (alpha).
The length of the article varies according to the importance of the topic. Each article includes an investment summary, one or more references on the same topic and access to the original article.
Our aim is to convey the relatively simple conclusions of the original studies, without forcing the reader to go through the complex mathematical proofs and the obscure presentation of the findings that are usually included in theses original articles.
What is the primary objective of Straight from The Lab?
Our primary objective is to provide private investors with the best of academic research in finance. All members of our team strongly believe that universities, think tanks and research institutes regularly deliver breakthrough results that improve asset management.
Unfortunately, much of their research is often overlooked by professionals and the mainstream financial media. Straight from The Lab aims to fill this gap, giving the private investment community convenient access to academic research.
Does Straight from The Lab make specific recommendations on which stocks to buy or sell?
No, not directly.
The articles present investment methods (recipes, in short), in which assets of defined characteristics are identified for purchase or sale.
This approach has the great advantage of being, in part, timeless. A theme developed in 2008, for example, can be applied in 2021 or later. On the other hand, direct recommendations that were made would not be valid for very long.
Conversely, once a method has been appropriated by the private investor and tested, it is usually usable for many years and can be applied in different forms, depending on the portfolio, timing and risk preferences of the investor.
Are all the articles in Straight from The Lab easily applicable to a private investor?
No. Some of the topics covered are clearly more technical than others (especially those related to options).
Our publications were originally designed to meet a demand from various investor circles. That said, out of every 100 topics covered, it is estimated that each reader can find at least a dozen strategies that correspond to their profile.
How many scientific journals are being reviewed?
Our team reviews over 70 leading scientific journals.
The number and length of the original articles can vary greatly, as well as the frequency of publication, but let’s say that on average a scientific journal publishes a good ten articles per edition, and each article is a good thirty pages long.
Put together, this corresponds to more than 400 issues per year, about 4,000 scientific articles and about 120,000 pages to decipher.
How can I contact you?
You can contact us by going to our contact page.
Solution Orion
What is Solution ORION?
Solution ORION is an investment strategy based on an exclusively scientific approach that aims to exploit market anomalies, whether in France, Europe or the United States.
The performances obtained between 2008 and 2020 (depending on the market) are higher than 17% per year (“Unleveraged” portfolio) and 34% per year (“Leveraged” portfolio).
Solution ORION is a strategy accessible to all investors, even those with no prior knowledge of the financial markets. The provided help documents allow even the most novice investors to apply the ORION Solution of their choice. Solution ORION is applicable to a capital investment from only €5,000, although we recommend allocating a larger sum in order to benefit from an optimal return after deduction of the subscription cost of Solution ORION.
Another notable feature of Solution ORION is its investment scope. The subscriber can choose between three distinct markets. Two of them focus exclusively on companies with large market capitalisations (Europe and the United States), while the third concentrates on 100% French companies of varying sizes (from the CAC 40 to the CAC Small, with a minimum liquidity guarantee).
The low portfolio turnover rate (between 20 and 33 buy orders per year, on average over the years) means that the level of commissions and other fees charged by your broker is significantly limited. Buy orders are grouped together every first and third Monday of the month (at market close) so that it is possible to plan, at least in part, the monitoring of the portfolio.
For the French and European markets, we also provide access to a “Fiscal” portfolio which allows certain investors to follow our recommendations in an optimal way, fiscally speaking. These portfolios have been designed for people who do not wish to use margin accounts or short selling in a downturn.
The possibility of investing in shares belonging to different indices (CAC All-Tradable, Euro Stoxx TMI and S&P 500) allows you to diversify your capital.
Is the ORION solution accessible to all investors, even beginners?
Yes, absolutely. Our main objective is to make the latest scientific research in finance accessible to everyone, and our team has designed ORION Solution with this in mind. All our documents have therefore been designed to guide a private investor with no prior experience of the investment world. More experienced investors or professionals will also find their way around, concentrating on the chapters that are relevant to them.
How much time should I spend on ORION Solution each month?
Solution ORION focuses on medium to long-term investments. Historically, we have carried out between 40 and 66 transactions per year (purchases and sales, depending on the market).
Please note that these figures are based on historical averages only. It may be that there are no transactions to be made for six months, just as it may happen that you are recommended to liquidate ten or twenty positions in one go.
However, our aim is to avoid unnecessary activity. This is why we have decided to group orders to buy new positions at the close of the markets on the first and third Mondays of the month.
For a person used to placing buy orders on the stock market, this means perhaps one minute to find out what order to place, and another minute to place the order, so a total of two minutes for each transaction. It then takes the same amount of time to close the position when the sell alert is sent to you.
For someone who has never bought or sold shares before, you will first need to open a brokerage account (which takes between 30 and 45 minutes on Interactive Brokers, following our account opening guide, which can be found on your ‘My Documents’ page).
After that, all you need to do is familiarise yourself with the various operations (allow about half an hour for Interactive Brokers, if you want to be completely reassured; that said, a buy order is ultimately just a matter of writing down a stock symbol and then a couple of mouse clicks).
A complete user’s guide will help you in this sense by explaining, step by step, how to proceed concretely to place a stock market order.
What is the minimum amount for the ORION Solution?
ORION Solution is applicable from an amount equivalent to €5,000. Depending on the brokerage account you use, this amount may not be sufficient to obtain a margin account (which is required for the application of the “Unleveraged” and “Leveraged” portfolios).
Without a margin account, you can however apply Solution ORION by replicating the “Fiscal” portfolio (specific to the French and European markets) or by adjusting the “Unleveraged” portfolio on the US, to never hold negative cash positions.
As mentioned in the “Trading” section of the FAQ, we recommend using Interactive Brokers for the ORION Solution application. A margin account can be opened with the equivalent of $10,000.
We would like to make it clear that “minimum applicable amount” is not necessarily synonymous with “minimum amount to benefit from ORION Solution”. We recommend that everyone deduct the cost of the ORION Solution subscription (depending on the options chosen) from the capital to be invested in order to weigh the real benefits (net of fees) of our services. In this spirit, we recommend a minimum investment of €25,000.
What is the maximum investment to still benefit from ORION Solution?
There is no upper limit for private investors with up to a few million euros to invest.
However, it is possible that if several hedge funds wanted to replicate ORION Solution by investing several hundred million or even billions of euros, their investments could put pressure on the recommended share price.
However, our objective is to ensure that all private investors with between €50,000 and €5,000,000 have sufficient liquidity to replicate Solution ORION, particularly on the European (Euro Stoxx TMI) and American (S&P 500) markets. In the French market (CAC All-Tradable), liquidity may be more limited on some stocks. However, we only select stocks that have recorded a daily trading volume of at least €300,000 on average over the last 21 business days (i.e. about one month) and an entry price of at least €5.
We remind you that these are only buy positions on the securities, not short sales. Liquidity should therefore not be a particular problem.
What is required to take full advantage of ORION Solution?
No basic knowledge of finance is required. In the end, you only need four things:
- An Internet connection to connect to your secure platform (where you are right now)
- An e-mail address to receive our alerts and other communications
- A minimum capital to invest
- A brokerage account, if possible, online, so that you can make the transactions yourself (although it is possible to go through your banker)
Is it possible to lose money with ORION Solution?
Yes, ORION Solution is a strategy that invests in publicly traded stocks and, by definition, includes a risk of loss.
However, optimal diversification and rigorous selection based on a scientific approach to investment, as practised by ORION Solution, can limit this risk. On this subject, we recommend that you read our Disclaimer and Terms and Conditions, which can be found at the bottom of this page.
Our objective is obviously to make you gain at least 50% over five years.
As historical performance shows, we can expect even higher gains (although not guaranteed): our “Unleveraged” portfolios have indeed performed over 17% per year and our “Leveraged” portfolios have performed over 34% per year, on average.
Any investor (even a beginner) knows that what goes up may one day go down. It would be not only wrong, but dishonest to claim the contrary. We can therefore state with almost certainty that your portfolio will not go up every week or every month. There will necessarily be negative periods.
Just as we can state, again with near certainty, that a proportion of trades will end in losses, albeit often small ones.
Historical data on the French market, for example, tells us that only 59% of our transactions ended with a positive performance. This means that 41% of transactions ended in the red. Taking all transactions into account, the average gain is 14%.
Losses can occur. However, in general, since the ensuing rebound is relatively large, we strongly recommend that our subscribers do not liquidate their positions when such a situation arises, but rather take advantage of the upcoming rise.
In order to subscribe to Solution ORION, you need to be able to stay the course, and this for a period of five years. Otherwise, it is better to invest in government bonds, even if the yield (1% to 2% per year) will certainly not cover the real increase in consumer prices.
Is access to ORION Solution immediate?
Yes, absolutely. As soon as your ORION Solution subscription payment (by credit card) is confirmed, we will give you full access to all the pages of the market you have subscribed to. You can then quickly replicate the portfolio of your choice by following the instructions in the user manual. However, we advise you to wait for the next edition (which is published every first and third Monday of the month) to follow our recommendations as closely as possible.
What documents do I receive when I subscribe?
As soon as your subscription is confirmed, you will receive several documents, as well as full access to the ORION Solution you have selected:
- A complete user manual: this document describes in detail everything you need to know to apply the ORION Solution in practice.
- For those who subscribe during our promotions, you will receive an exclusive bonus. This bonus cannot be purchased separately.
- Full, unrestricted access to all ORION Solution pages for your selected market.
How many ORION Solutions are there?
As you will have understood, Solution ORION is available in three different markets (Solution ORION – France, Solution ORION – Europe and Solution ORION – USA). It is therefore possible, for example, to subscribe only for the French market, or for a combination of Europe and the United States. From no geographical diversification to optimal investment in all three markets.
What is the historical performance of ORION Solution?
Solution ORION was created using only the latest financial research to exploit market anomalies. In order to test the relevance of the algorithm used, our team carried out countless back testing (simulation) tests over a period of fifteen years for the French (CAC All-Tradable), European (Euro Stoxx TMI), and American (S&P 500) markets.
Strictly applying the ORION Solution algorithm over the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 August 2021 the historical performances are as follows (for the “Unleveraged” portfolios)
- FRANCE: 15.92% per annum, as a historical average
- EUROPE: 20.16% per annum, historical average
- UNITED STATES: 17.40% per annum, historical average
We would like to point out here that these performances are based on past data and that these are averages over several years. It is therefore possible, at least in theory, that these performances will not be achieved in the future. They may be higher or lower than these figures.
In addition, performance is volatile from year to year, with triple-digit performance (>100%) in one year and negative performance in the next.