Session goal: Incorporate fee-aware rebalancing frequency tiers into trade-pattern-v1.md, resolving the stale recommendation flagged on 2026-06-01. Phase 2 still BLOCKED on ibkr-creds — no live/simulated trading possible.

Context from previous sessions:

  • Phase 1 complete: Buy-and-hold + quarterly rebalancing confirmed optimal (+4.9pp over EW)
  • DRIP study done: +485pp edge over BH price-only (13 ASX large-caps, 2015–2026)
  • Fee drag analysis done: annual rebalancing recommended for $2K portfolio (quarterly = 102% of capital/year in fees)
  • June 1 housekeeping flagged: trade-pattern-v1.md still defaults to quarterly; needs update

Work completed:

Updated trade-pattern-v1.md — Exit Rules / Rebalancing Section

Replaced the single “Quarterly (every 90 days)” line with a fee-aware frequency tier table:

Capital rangeFrequencyRationale
5KAnnual + >2% drift thresholdQuarterly = 102% of starting capital/year in fees
20KSemi-annual or quarterly + drift filterFees manageable; semi-annual reduces fee drag ~30%
$50K+Full quarterly rebalancing viableFee impact <1% of capital annually

For current portfolio ($2K starting capital): Annual rebalancing is now the stated default. Quarterly only if position drift > 2% between scheduled rebalances and round-trip fee doesn’t exceed misallocation cost.

Updated trade-pattern-v1.md — Expected Performance Table

Split “Fee drag (90-day)” into two rows:

  • Fee drag (quarterly): ~3.7% on 99/quarter = $396/year)
  • Fee drag (annual): ~1.0% on 248/year)

Added note clarifying IBKR AU rates and that annual rebalance requires 19 trades vs 38 for quarterly (~67% fee reduction).

Progress log:

  • 00:05 — Session created, reviewed June 1 housekeeping findings
  • 00:12 — Applied patch to Exit Rules section with tier table
  • 00:14 — Applied patch to Expected Performance table with split fee drag rows
  • 00:16 — Updated index.md with new latest research entry

Outputs:

  • trade-pattern-v1.md updated (2 patches applied)
  • index.md updated with 2026-06-02 latest research entry

Issues / Questions: None. Documentation fix complete.

Status: done — trade-pattern-v1.md now reflects fee-aware rebalancing recommendations from the May 31 analysis.