So…What Now??? It should not be news to anyone that the stock market just recently experienced the longest bull market in history. Beginning in March of 2009, the stock market has weathered a number of major hurdles to continue its upward trend to an incredible new record of 3,453 days. In its wake, the S&P 500 posted gains of over 320%. The financial media talking heads are now busy trying to figure out how and why the stock market has posted this milestone. Some experts say that the bull market has more upward potential while others feel it is spent all of its energy and will soon take a nose dive. The problem with superlatives such as “longest” or “strongest” is that they lend themselves to reversals. It just makes common sense that that the stock market will experience more bear markets and corrections in the future. No one knows when or how the market’s upward push may end, we just know that we’re closer to the next downward spike than we were this time last year. Those investors and Advisors who believe that the market can’t go up forever are adjusting their portfolios to include actively managed strategies that seek to manage the risks inherent when the market superlatives turn negative. In this issue of Theta News, I want to introduce you to three new actively managed strategies to the Theta database. One model is from a new Investment Manager and the others are from names you will recognize as being existing Investment Managers on the Theta database. Our newest Investment Manager is Greg Corneille, CRPC, President and CEO of Axcel Capital Management, LLC. Based in Pasadena, MD, Greg has submitted his ACM Advantage Strategy for tracking. Theta Research has independently reconstructed this strategy’s actual performance back to its inception date of January 1, 2017. Investment Manager, Vern Bell, President of Texas Elite Strategies of Plano, Texas has submitted another model for tracking. This newest tactical strategy is named the Elite Relative Value Strategy (ERVS-A) and Theta Research has independently verified its actual track record back to its inception date of July 3, 2017. Finally, long-time Theta Investment Manager, Len Fox, founder of Scarecrow Trading has submitted a new strategy named the Scarecrow Blue Ribbon Portfolio. This is a new strategy having just started trading in mid-2018. Theta Research has established a tracking account and will continue to track this model from its inception of June 1, 2018. All the best, Mike Mike Posey Marketing Director Theta Research, LLC (512) 826-5553 mike@thetaresearch.com

In this issue of Theta News, I want to announce the addition of two new strategies to the Theta database. One model is from a new Investment Manager and the other is from one of our existing model developers. Our newest Investment Manager is Ben Reppond of Reppond Investments, Inc. in Bigfork, Montana. Ben has established a tracking account for his Diversified Conservative Strategy. Theta Research has independently reconstructed this strategy’s actual performance back to its inception date of February 1, 2018. Existing Manager, David B Daughtrey, owner and portfolio manager of Copperwynd Financial, LLC, has submitted another model for tracking. The newest program is called the 10-Stock Momentum Strategy and is the sixth model being tracked for Copperwynd. Theta Research has independently verified the actual track record of this strategy back to its inception date of April 1, 2017. All the best, Mike Mike Posey Marketing Director Theta Research, LLC (512) 826-5553 mike@thetaresearch.com

Theta is pleased to announce nine new strategies that have been added to our list of tracked models. What’s unique about these additional models is that they were all developed by existing managers on Theta Research.  In the past, I have discussed the importance of investment managers developing multiple models. The recent volatility in the stock market has made a lot of investors nervous, so I think it would be beneficial to revisit the importance of managers developing multiple strategies in today’s Theta News. The development of active investment management strategies is no small feat. Investment Managers who develop quantitative formulas and trading systems must not only have a keen sense of the interrelationships inherent in the markets, but also must be students of investor behavior, especially during periods of extreme highs and lows in the markets. Most of all, however, active managers must have an abiding belief in the ability to maximize gains and/or minimize losses over and above what is available in a passive, buy-and-hold portfolio. Theta Research is built upon the idea that risk management is an attainable goal as evidenced by the actual performance of real-time trading accounts tracked in the Theta database. Since there is no single “Holy Grail” tactical investment strategy out there, most active managers build multiple systems designed to address one or more facet of the market. These typically include such factors as trading a specific asset class or sector, moving to cash in down markets, or even long/short strategies based on one of the major stock market indices, etc. These systems also often include complex algorithms that incorporate trend following, rotational, mean reversion, momentum, technical analysis and a myriad of other techniques. In some cases, Managers combine their strategies with others of their own, or even of other Investment Managers to illustrate a composite portfolio. In this way, Managers can leverage their own knowledge and expertise with that of other sophisticated professionals. Theta Research makes it easy to illustrate  such a composite portfolio as part of our Professional Subscription. See the Subscriptions tab on the Theta home page for more information about this subscription feature. The bottom line is that Investment Managers with multiple strategies are an important resource, allowing for additional diversification in client portfolios. Now, let’s explore some of the new strategies that have most recently been added by four of our existing Theta Investment Managers: Paul Glance, PhD, and son, Brian, of Glance Financial Advisors in Troy, MI announce the replacement of their Glance USO strategy with Glance XXX. This new strategy trades stocks, futures and options as directed by proprietary quantitative computer signals developed by Glance Financial. Theta Research has independently verified the track record of this trading model back to its inception date of January 1, 2018. Another existing Manager, Robert F. (Bob) Thompson of Bay Capital Securities has established a tracking account for his Silk Purse Strategy. This is an aggressive model that trades high-volatility equities long and short using leverage. Theta has documented and verified the actual performance of the Silk Purse strategy back to its inception date of December 01, 2017. Also adding a new strategy is Bruce DeLaurentis, owner and portfolio manager of Kensington Analytics in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The new program is called the Convertible Income Strategy and is based on a quantitative, trend-following model that seeks to take advantage of the merger of equity and bond characteristics found in convertible bonds. Theta Research has independently verified the actual performance of this strategy back to its inception date of January 1, 2015. And last but not least, existing Investment Managers, Steve Rumsey and Paul Hewitt of Optimus Advisory Group in Irvine, CA announce the addition of six strategies for tracking purposes. While new to Theta Research, these strategies all have at least two years of actual trading history, which Theta has independently verified back to their respective inception dates. The Optimus strategy names and inception dates of each model are as follows:                 Bond  Rotation                              March 01, 2014                 Dynamic Equity                             January 01, 2016                 Equity Rotation                             January 01, 2016                 Global Advantage                         April 01, 2012                 Global Long/Short                         August 01, 2013                 Hedged Equity                              January 01, 2016 When we asked Steve why he was taking the step to have so many of his existing strategies tracked by Theta Research, he replied: “Due diligence professionals are increasingly requesting actual performance that has been third-party verified. Theta Research fills this need in a way that we find to be integral with our future success.” We, too are hearing more and more about investment managers being asked for performance that has been third-party verified. Don’t wait for a due diligence team to ask you for verified performance. Call or e-mail Theta Research today to get the ball rolling on tracking and verifying your actual investment returns.

I recently announced major Theta website enhancements in an issue of Theta News. Never ones to be idle, our IT team has continued to work on even more enhancements, a few of which I am pleased to share with you today. As you review these most recent enhancements, notice that they include improvements to both the Subscription and Manager websites, thus making it easier to not only find and compare active investment strategies on the database, but also to manage your own strategies if you are among our tracked models. Here are our most recent improvements: * On both the subscriber and manager sites, we have upgraded our benchmark for the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index to the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX). This replaces the iShares Bond ETF (AGG) benchmark which can drift significantly. We’re also proud to announce that this change was the result of direct input from one of our tracked Investment Managers. * Another manager requested modification was to use the S&P 500 Total Return Index rather than the price index on both the Subscription and Manager websites. * And yet another subscriber-requested improvement is to offer a 50/50 Equity/Bond benchmark in addition to the existing 60/40 allocation. * Switching over to the Manager side, we have enhanced the use of our unique Guest Pass feature by allowing Managers to enter a date range to review. Just as a reminder, here are all of the other recently announced enhancements to the Theta Research Subscriber Site: • Complete Site Face Lift – Font sizes have been increased and color schemes standardized, making data and analytics easier to read; • Enhanced Report Formats – Page layouts are now simple, clean and efficient; • Faster Page Loading – Data retrieval and metric calculation speed have been dramatically increased, especially for models with long track records; • Standardized Performance Rankings – All rankings are now based on month-end values; • Daily Performance Still Available – For those strategies tracked on a daily basis, detailed statistics and analytics are still available on the individual program pages; • Easy to Navigate Model Statistics – Tabbed pages make it easier to find performance and risk statistics for all models; • Mobile Device Friendly – Now you can check in with your favorite Investment Managers and run ranking reports using your smart phone or other mobile device; and • Expanded Analytics – Added benchmarks and statistical analytics are available to aid in evaluation and comparison of model. We here at Theta Research are excited about our new, streamlined websites. The bottom line is if you are not taking advantage of Theta’s subscription services, you’re really missing out. If nothing else, the recent market volatility should convince you of the need for strategies with the flexibility to move in and out of the markets. To learn more, check out our Subscription Page describing both our Professional and Basic subscriptions options. The bottom line is that you can have access to some of the most well-known active managers in the industry all for a cost as little as $195. So, what are you waiting for? The next market correction could be a real bear! As always, should you have any questions about Theta’s enhanced subscriptions or suggestions for future enhancements, feel free to contact me at (512) 628-5201, Option #1 or by e-mail at mike@thetaresearch.com.