For your money
Bickford Trader
The software that runs the founder's own brokerage account, and how it has done against the index.
What it does
- It runs one account on its own: each market day it puts spare cash into VOO, an S&P 500 index fund, and it never sells. It pauses buying after a 20% fall, and new ideas reach the account only after six months on paper and the owner's approval.
- Before that it tried to beat the index by trading. From 7 to 12 October 2026 live trading experiments lost the lead it had built, and since 22 October 2026 it holds only VOO. The 26 ideas it tested, and why each failed, are in Trader Research.
- It is not for sale and manages no one else's money. Running other people's money needs a licence Bickford Technologies does not hold.
How it has done
The account's return next to simply holding VOO over the same days, in percent. Deposits don't count as gains.
| Period | This account | VOO | Ahead of VOO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Since it startedDec 3, 2025 – Oct 29, 2026 | +11.1% | +13.8% | −2.6 pts |
| Past 6 monthsApr 29, 2026 – Oct 29, 2026 | +11.6% | +8.7% | +2.9 pts |
| Past 3 monthsJul 29, 2026 – Oct 29, 2026 | −3.2% | +5.7% | −8.9 pts |
| Past monthSep 29, 2026 – Oct 29, 2026 | −3.7% | +0.7% | −4.4 pts |
As of the close on Oct 29, 2026. "Pts" are percentage points; a minus means behind VOO. Time-weighted returns from the broker's daily figures, after trading costs and before tax; VOO is its closing price on the same days with dividends added back, as if reinvested. Not investment advice and not an offer. Results are from a single small account and say nothing about what you would earn; past results do not predict future ones.