How to mirror the stock portfolio of Wall Street legends

Artificial intelligence is making it easier for Main Street investors to emulate the investment portfolios of Wall Street titans like Warren Buffett, Cathie Wood, and Ray Dalio.

“So-called mirrored trading is a strategy worth following, especially since the most successful investors such as Warren Buffett tend to hold concentrated portfolios with little turnover,” said David I. Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Still, it’s worth knowing what picks and strategies work and what don’t before mirroring the market’s top-performing portfolios. Here’s what investment experts advise keeping and discarding when tracking the market masters' stock portfolios.

Follow the 13F filings

It’s relatively easy to track top investors' portfolios by viewing their 13-F filings (SEC EDGAR) for each quarter. 

“13-F filings can be a great place to source investment ideas,” said Asher Rogovy, chief investment officer at New York City-based Magnifina, LLC. “It can be intimidating to pick a portfolio from thousands of stocks. By seeing what legendary investors are holding, it's possible to prescreen several ideas for further research.”

When browsing 13Fs, try to see when a position was established. “Don’t just look at the latest filing to copy a portfolio,” Rogavy said. “Many positions could be old and are no longer ripe for new investment."

There’s a big caveat with 13-F reports, as they’re required to be filed with the SEC 45 days after the end of the quarter, and are then made available to the public.

“Even with modern screeners like WhaleWisdom or Tiburon AI offering near-instant access once filings drop, you’re still reacting to past trades,” said Sergey Ryzhavin, director of copy at Dubai-based B2Broker. “Reading 13F documents is a good source of ideas for market entries, but they are significantly delayed, so they are not signals for copying passively.”

Use mobile trading apps that make tracking easier

In the commercial space, AI-powered mobile market trading apps like Magnifi, TickerTags, and CloneMyPortfolio simplify portfolio-mimicking strategies and give investors a sturdy jumping-off point for tracking the moves of high-profile investors. They let users scan institutional investors' quarterly 13F filings and create and manage portfolios that automatically adjust buy and sell positions immediately after market mavens like Buffett’s and Wood make a move.

Still, there are risks in relying too heavily on AI trading strategies. “So many AI models are based on patterns in text and words, but investing is a numbers game," said Rogovy.

Go the ETF route

For mirroring investors seeking a packaged solution, ETFs like Global X’s GURU offer automated exposure to 13F-based strategies. “For thematic exposure, single-ticker proxies like ARKK (Wood), BRK.B (Buffett), or GLBL (Dalio) offer simplified access to flagship strategies,” Ryzhavin said.

Alternatively, investors can build their own approach. Ryzhavin advises acting like a Wall Street portfolio manager to glean the best information from big traders. “Monitor filings within 48 hours of release, concentrate on high-conviction additions, and rebalance quarterly,” he said. “Low-cost platforms and fractional-share brokers make this more accessible than ever.”

Dig deeper with favored stock market gurus

Some Wall Street legends have published details of their methodology. For example, Joel Greenblatt's method, which involves ranking stocks using two financial metrics, is detailed in "The Little Book That Beats the Market." “While this sounds simple enough, it’s not so straightforward in practice," said Rogavy. "Financial data is notoriously messy. Even the best approach becomes stale and requires updating.”

Rogavy said he also follows the investing style of former Fidelity Investments’ portfolio manager Peter Lynch, which entails finding opportunities in disregarded stocks outside of the S&P 500. Still, that raises its own challenges. "Lynch has shown that outperforming doesn't require tremendous resources like hiring a team of analysts," Rogavy said.

Be aware of the risks

Market regulatory experts say mirror-minded investors should cover their tracks and stay vigilant over portfolio tracking strategies.

For starters, investors should know that portfolio emulation requires portfolio segmentation, not blind duplication.

“I tell clients to isolate themes, like AI, commodities, and sovereign debt, and construct satellite positions based on conviction-adjusted weightings, not raw holdings,” said Chad D. Cummings, chief executive officer and certified public accountant at Cummings & Cummings Law.

Also, be aware that publicly disclosed portfolios, like 13F filings, are filtered through success. “Remember, the graveyard of failed hedge funds never gets published,” Cumming said. “Emulating only the survivors bakes selection bias into your strategy, distorting both perceived risk and expected return."

It’s worth noting that the Buffetts and Dalios of the world have access to robust market information that average investors don’t. “Family offices, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth entities often receive private placements, non-public management calls, and early analyst revisions long before retail investors even digest the last earnings release,” Cummings said.

In practice, Buffett’s or Dalio’s trades are not merely reflections of public filings: they‘re often informed by privileged access to data, proprietary models, or geopolitical intelligence. 

“Retail investors who aren’t 'in the club' must operate within a shallower informational pool, making any attempt to mirror elite portfolios inherently lagged and incomplete,” Cummings added. “This reality doesn’t make emulation impossible, but it raises the risk ceiling considerably.”