Trendlyne, a platform specialising in stock and mutual fund data analytics, has launched Starfolio, a free basket-investing product. With Starfolio, investors can either purchase featured Starfolio baskets or create their customised ones, offering the flexibility to add or remove stocks or ETFs and set stop loss and rebalancing reminders. Investors can transact these baskets through affiliated brokers such as IIFL, 5Paisa, Fyers, Motilal Oswal, Zerodha, and Angel One.

Understanding Starfolio

The Starfolio website, backed by Trendlyne, serves as a hub for basket investing, allowing users to engage with pre-constructed portfolios or craft their personalised ones while monitoring performance trends. These baskets encompass a variety of assets, including stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Trendlyne has been developed by Giskard Datatech Private Limited.

Baskets on the Starfolio website can be created by users or entities registered with SEBI, such as investment advisors or research analysts. The company primarily offers technological solutions and corresponding backend infrastructure.

Also read: The good and bad about curated stock baskets

A Starfolio basket may consist of a combination of stocks and ETFs. Investors can choose from various prebuilt baskets tailored to different segments. Notably, there is no charge for using Starfolio, with only broker charges, if any, applicable.

Basket Options

Trendlyne introduced Starfolio to bridge the gap from analytics to transactions within their platform, enabling investors to efficiently manage portfolios. Users can log in to Trendlyne to execute buy and sell actions for their screeners, watchlists, or stock lists through their preferred brokerage services.

Starfolio stands out by offering investors the flexibility to create their own baskets or use featured ones, unlike traditional stock basket platforms that typically offer only pre-built options. Of course, this flexibility caters to more sophisticated investors with a strong do-it-yourself (DIY) approach.

Creating Your Own Basket: Personalised baskets can be created using two modes - self-basket and auto-basket. Users can include a variable number of stocks, ranging from 2 to 50, aligning their baskets with specific themes, sectors, or future prospects. To initiate the basket creation process, users can select from a diverse array of expertly curated screeners, encompassing both fundamental and technical screening criteria, or create their unique screeners.

Two types of weight options are available for investors when creating a basket—Equi-weight (equal allocation) or Custom weight. Once the Starfolio basket is created, it can be saved for tracking or immediate investment. Advisors can also ‘Publish’ their Starfolio baskets for others to use.

In the case of auto baskets, investors can customise their investments according to their strategies. The ‘Auto Basket’ feature tailors baskets based on factors such as investment amount, time horizon, desired number of stocks, rebalancing frequency (weekly, quarterly, half-yearly), and investment style (risk tolerance and preferred stock types - Growth/Value).

Featured Baskets: Starfolio offers 15 featured baskets, some of which mimic the stock selections of prominent investors like Anil Kumar Goel and associates, Ashish Kacholia, Sunil Singhania, Vijay Kedia, and Nemish S Shah. These shadow portfolios are updated quarterly as companies report holdings of investors with over a 1 per cent stake. Other featured baskets include Target 2060, Target 2055, Target 2050, Target 2045 (with varying equity and bond ETF allocations), Diversified Basket, and High and Consistent Yield Stocks Baskets.

Our take

Recently, several platforms and brokers have introduced stock basket investing, some with associated fees. However, Starfolio currently offers its services for free (excluding brokerage fees).

It’s important to note that building your own baskets on Starfolio is more suitable for sophisticated investors. Beginners may not achieve favourable results if they create baskets without a deep understanding of the companies and businesses involved. Hence, novice investors are advised to stick to expert-built baskets, mutual funds, ETFs, or index funds.

While shadowing prominent investors can be advantageous, there are drawbacks to consider. These include reduced control over decision-making, potential delays in information updates, the risk of an imbalanced portfolio, and the possibility of a mismatch in risk tolerance and financial objectives when following experienced investors.

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