Making the Most of Star Institutions’ Positions

Making the Most of Star Institutions’ Positions

Can we ride on the coattails of star institutions to the moon? Moomoo app allows us to see the positions of top funds based on 13F filings (Quotes > Explore > Star Institutions). Compared to retail investors, institutional investors (sovereign funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds, etc) have the advantage of immense capital, teams of dedicated analysts and connections retail investors can only dream of. They may be aware of information that retail investor are not aware of or get the information earlier and they can influence the price of a stock due to the size of their trades. Thus, the positions they take can serve as a useful clue of which stocks are undervalued or overvalued.
$ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF.US)$  $ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK.US)$  $ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ.US)$  $ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW.US)$  $Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO.US)$  $SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.US)$  $Apple (AAPL.US)$  $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$  $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$  $Tesla (TSLA.US)$  $Meta Platforms (FB.US)$  $Netflix (NFLX.US)$  $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$  $Amazon (AMZN.US)$  $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$  $Lucid Group (LCID.US)$ $Berkshire Hathaway-A (BRK.A.US)$  $Berkshire Hathaway-B (BRK.B.US)$ $Tiger Global Holdings (LIST2121.US)$  $BYD Co. (BYDDF.US)$  $Alibaba (BABA.US)$  $DiDi Global (Delisted) (DIDI.US)$  $PDD Holdings (PDD.US)$  $Temasek Holdings (LIST2536.US)$  $Snowflake (SNOW.US)$  $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$  $TAL Education (TAL.US)$ 
Having said that, institutional investors are not infallible. They have made their share of costly mistakes because they too cannot predict the future (the regulation in China against the private education sector was a prime example $New Oriental (EDU.US)$ which caught institutional funds like Temasek Holdings by surprise).
Most importantly, the structuring of one’s investment portfolio should be guided by one’s investment objective, financial needs, time horizon of investment and risk profile which would not match those of institutional investors. What is a suitable investment for the fund may not be suitable for oneself due to differences in the depth of the pocket and exposure to risks, among others.
In addition, the information from 13F may be too late for retail investors to leverage on as the price may have changed since the trades. It also does not tell us the whole story; for instance, institutional funds may take up long positions as a hedge against short positions.
While we all desire our investments to fly to the moon, the positions of star institutions should be used with care; it should be one of many things to consider as part of our research rather than something to be followed blindly. 
Disclaimer: The above is my personal opinion. It is not financial advice or a recommendation to invest. Please consult a financial advisor before making any investment decision.