Quiet Strength in October’s ETF Portfolios

November 3, 2025

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Welcome to Portfolio Insights, your monthly performance overview of our Classic and Smart portfolios.

Equities rose in October while balanced portfolios held steady. Across our Classic and Smart ranges, long-term strategies stayed on track.

October saw a steady tone across our Classic range, with balanced portfolios holding their ground and growth-tilted ones quietly extending their lead. The Global Buffett-Inspired model gained 1.9% for the month and 19.3% YTD—just ahead of the Aggressive Allocation ETF benchmark (AOA +18.2% YTD). The Global 80/20 followed closely at 1.9% and 17.9% YTD, showing how global equity exposure has continued to reward patient diversification. On the U.S. side, the US Buffett-Inspired and US ESG 80/20 portfolios advanced 2.2% and 2.4% respectively, roughly in line with the S&P 500’s 2.4% gain. Balanced allocations such as Global 60/40, US 60/40, and All Weather-Inspired returned around 1.6–1.7%, consistent with the Core Growth Allocation ETF’s 1.5%. More defensive blends—Moderate and Conservative—added 0.8%, mirroring AOM’s 1.2%. Worth noting, the Sharia Compliant model rose 2.7% in October, bringing its YTD to 13.6%, a reminder that diversified construction can hold its own even in quiet months.

Our Smart range again highlighted the contrast between leveraged precision and steady balance. The US Leverage Growth portfolio climbed 4.7% in October and 25.0% YTD, while Aggressive Plus gained 5.5% and 24.4% YTD—both comfortably ahead of the benchmark allocation suite. Within thematic exposures, Innovation Ventures and its crypto extension advanced 4.7% and 4.5%, maintaining YTD gains just above 20%. The Core Trio and Growth & Stability portfolios, rising 2.9% and 2.6%, anchored the middle ground between balanced and growth profiles. In contrast, Conservative Plus barely moved at 0.5% and 1.6% YTD, consistent with its capital-preservation objective, while Dividend Focus slipped 0.2%. More traditional systematic models like All Weather+ and Bogle+ delivered 1.8–1.9%, a touch above AOR’s 1.5%. The spread between high-beta and defensive Smart portfolios remains wide, but both ends continue to illustrate how systematic design can align with very different investor temperaments.

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Takeaways

We stay focused on patience and discipline. Our systematic approach continues to favor time in the market over reaction to short-term noise.

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Happy Long-Term Investing!

Romain Gandon, CEO & Founder of Quantlake
🔗 LinkedIn

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