Daily Spotlight: What is the Best Alternative?

Argus

•

Jan 30, 2026

Summary

Alternative investments are often added to diversified portfolios to hedge against banal marketplace weakness and trim the riskiness of wide returns. At slightest that's what the textbooks say. Real-time marketplace show tin beryllium different matter. Of each the alternatives successful the marketplace, lipid and golden often zig erstwhile the wide U.S. equity marketplace zags, and tin service arsenic comparatively dependable alternate options. In 2022, erstwhile the S&P 500 dropped 19%, lipid prices roseate 4% and golden was steady. Last twelvemonth was a coagulated twelvemonth for stocks, portion lipid tumbled and golden soared. And determination are years erstwhile each determination successful lockstep. For our asset-allocation models, which are featured successful our Investment Portfolio Guide and comprise the model of our ETF Model Portfolios, we typically person alternatives represent up to 1%-3% of the portfolios. (As of this writing, fixed the existent signifier of the equity bull market, we are recommending an under-weighting successful alternatives.) We deliberation it is aboriginal to beryllium adding cryptocurrency-related securities to astir portfolios, though we are encouraged astir the semipermanent opportunities for blockchain technology. Bitcoin eased 7% successful 2025 aft doubling successful back-to-back years 2023 and 2024. In 2022, bitcoin plunged 64%. That stings. Wh