Good morning investors!

Every month we publish our “Portfolio Update” — Edge+ members get a full access look into our portfolios, including holdings, performance, activity and our watchlists for the upcoming month.

On Wednesday, August 19 at 4pm EST Mark will be hosting our latest Member’s Only Meeting. These meetings are for Edge+ & Ultimate Edge members only, where we discuss my portfolio, any changes, market expectations moving forward, and also take your questions. We hope you can join the meeting.

Now let’s dive into our Portfolio Update.

For those new here, IE+ subscribers get full access to my monthly portfolio updates, which includes:

*Note - this is the ONLY place where people can find our entire portfolios.

As of the end of July 2026, my portfolio contained 46 total positions, same number as the prior month, however, there were plenty of moving parts during the month which you will see below.

You can see all the portfolio activity down below, but first, here is a snapshot of my entire portfolio:

In this section, I will highlight the performance of the portfolio both on a MONTHLY and Year-To-Date basis.

For comparison, here is how the benchmark S&P 500 did during those same time frames:

And here is how the equal weighted S&P 500 performed:

July was a solid month for the portfolio, bouncing back from a slight red month in the month of June. In July we saw the portfolio climb 1.2%, easily outpacing the S&P 500 which was actually down on the month.

In terms of Year-to-Date, my portfolio is up over 18%, essentially doubling up the returns we have seen in the S&P 500 and this is why people subscribe to The Stock Investor’s Edge, to get REAL RESULTS.

Now that we turn the page on most of the Summer, we head into the most difficult period for stocks from a seasonality perspective, and that is without any political input, but as you know, this year is a midterm election year, which can apply more pressure to stocks.

Although I remain bullish on the overall markets, I do not want us to lose sight on what is ahead, which is why I do not just buy all the time, but rather I look to appropriately manage risk, which is why you have seen me taking profits and raising cash for better opportunities.

August is off to a tremendous start, especially inside our Options Edge room, but again, do not forget about what is around the corner in September and midterm elections in November.

Stay tuned within our discord where Edge+ members get TRADE ALERTS, being notified of any changes I make to my portfolio in real time.

In this section, I detail out any transactions that were made within the portfolio during the month.

Every month, Investor’s Edge+ members get updates to my individual brokerage portfolio, which includes:

*Note - this update ONLY includes my brokerage portfolio. Retirement accounts, cryptocurrency, real estate and cash/cash equivalents outside of the brokerage are excluded from this update.

As of the end of July 2026, my brokerage portfolio contained 62 total positions — 60 stock holdings and 2 open options contract.

Here is a snapshot of my portfolio:

In this section, I will highlight the performance of my portfolio in July as well as for the full year.

For comparison, here is how the benchmark S&P 500 did during those same time frames:

And here is how the equal weighted S&P 500 performed:

July was another choppy month beneath the surface. The cooldown in the AI trade continued, technology spent much of the month working through a large consolidation, and we continued to see signs of money rotating into areas of the market that had spent much of the year lagging. That showed up in the Equal Weight S&P 500, which gained +0.92% even as the headline S&P 500 slipped -0.13%.

The portfolio gained +1.24% in July, outperforming both benchmarks. That brings the 2026 return to +17.73%, compared with +9.41% for the S&P 500 and +12.13% for the Equal Weight S&P 500. The portfolio is now ahead of the S&P by more than 8 percentage points and the Equal Weight S&P by more than 5.5 percentage points through the first seven months of the year.

July also showed why I continue to keep the portfolio net long while using cash, trims, and hedges to manage risk around it. The QQQ puts benefited from the weakness in technology and finished the month up roughly +155%. I also closed the remaining XLE calls for gains of +106%, +151%, and +106% as the US and Iran situation re-escalated and energy rallied. Those hedges helped during a difficult stretch for some of our growth exposure without requiring me to make wholesale changes to the long-term portfolio.

That balance has been a big part of the performance this year. I was able to protect capital better during the early-year weakness, participated heavily in the rebound, trimmed several big winners before the latest technology pullback, and used hedges when I thought the risk/reward justified them. Managing drawdowns will always be more important to me than squeezing every last percentage point out of a rally. Apparently, I've been able to do a decent job capturing the upside too.

Being net long continues to pay over time, but that does not mean sitting still regardless of what the market is doing. Leadership changes, sectors rotate, and periods of consolidation are normal. The portfolio remains diversified, we still have nearly 12% in cash, and the first seven months have shown how that flexibility can help us participate in rallies while limiting the damage when parts of the market turn against us.

In this section, I will go through the transactions that were made within the portfolio during the month.

Then you need to join the Discord! See our trades and portfolio moves as we make them and stay ahead of the market!

In addition, you can join Options Edge+ to see how we generate $1000s per month in income by utilizing our portfolio and stocks we want to buy, just at a lower price. Join today!

If you are only reading the newsletter, you are only getting a fraction of the benefits of being an Edge subscriber. Join us on Discord and level up your investing game.

We have seen a rise in the US Treasuries, which as I continue to state in discord, act as gravity to equities when rates are high. We saw this in 2023, and that was not a time to freak out and sell and I do not think it is time to sell this time either.

Rotation and seasonality are part of investing, but it is still important to keep up with the economic data so we can gauge where the markets are headed. Remember, the stock market is not backward looking but rather forward looking, which is why guidance matters more than earnings during earnings season.

The economy is on OK footing along with Jobs, not great by any means, just OK.

Don’t make emotional trades, but stick to your plan, analyze the company, buy at sound valuations, and wait.

Being part of our discord community is vital right now because that is where we post all the up to the minute updates and trades as they are made, so you can choose to follow or not.

I hope you can join on Wednesday August 19 at 4pm EST for our Member’s Only Meeting.

Here at The Stock Investor’s Edge, we are laser focused on helping educate investors of all levels, while also giving them full transparency into our personal portfolios.

We will continue to look for new ideas in the market and bring you as much information as we can to give you an EDGE in the markets.

If you enjoyed this Monthly Portfolio Update, then do us a HUGE FAVOR and SHARE THE INVESTOR’S EDGE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. It’s the best way to help us out as it lets us grow and be able to keep bringing you great investment content.

And don’t forget to LEAVE A COMMENT. Let us know your thoughts on our portfolios, share your watchlist for the month or even just let us know that you appreciate the content.

Thank you, and until next time investors!

Mark & Chris

The Investor’s Edge

Disclaimer

This article is intended to be for educational and informational purposes only. The views described in the article are those of the author’s and should not be construed as financial advice. Perform your own due diligence or contact your Financial Advisor before making any financial investment. I have positions in all of the stocks & ETFs mentioned below as of the publish date. This is a disclosure - not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks.