For the three years ending 3/31/04, the top performing virtual fund returned 305.32%, or 59.44% annualized, while the 100th ranked virtual fund for the three year period returned 73.95%, or 20.27% annualized. In comparison, the S&P 500 Index returned just -2.94% over the same period. Marketocracy’s virtual portfolios must pass the same rigorous diversification testing put forth by the SEC as professionally managed funds. Thus, their returns are the result of dozens of good stock picks, not the result of making big bets on one or two stocks. The average number of positions in these portfolios is 25, with most holdings making up less than 5% of the portfolio’s total value.

Top Marketocracy members beat the pros
If Marketocracy’s virtual funds had been ranked against professionally managed domestic equity mutual funds, Marketocracy's top virtual portfolios would have accounted for 52 of the top 100 spots for the three-year period ending March 31, 2004. The top 5 funds, combining the professionally managed portfolios with Marketocracy's top performers, are seen below:

All off the top-performing professionally managed funds specialized in Precious Metals. Marketocracy’s top performing funds covered a wide variety of sectors and investing styles beyond Precious Metals, including Diversified Value, Diversified Growth, Sector Rotation, and Financials sector funds.

"Based on Morningstar's criteria for assigning star ratings to mutual funds, it's reasonable to assume that all 52 of our top-ranked Marketocracy portfolios would have a 5-star rating if they were real-world funds," said Robin Stevens, President of Marketocracy Data Services. "The virtual fund track records at Marketocracy are now long enough to directly compare to the professionals using standard performance measures - and Marketocracy's virtual managers are coming out on top."

A full list of the top 100 virtual fund managers for the three year period can be found on Marketocracy's Web in the rankings.