Turn market volatility into opportunity with Sharesight

When financial markets are filled with volatility and uncertainty, many investors are searching for a way to cut through the noise and create a roadmap for success. While some portfolio trackers focus on historical returns, we know that the key to investing success is foresight and continuous planning. This is why Sharesight is built to look forward. Rather than reacting to short-term market swings, Sharesight helps you stay focused on what you can control. In this article, we’ll explore some of our future-focused tools — including the future income report, income calendar, risk report, exposure report and app — and how they can help you turn uncertainty into insight, regardless of the market conditions.

If you want to set yourself up for investing success, the first step is always to determine what your goals are and how you’re going to get there. This will shape what your portfolio actually looks like, and give you clear targets to hit. Clear goals are especially important during volatile periods, when emotional decision-making can derail long-term plans. To figure this out, here are some questions you should ask yourself:

Defining your financial goals

• What is the specific purpose of this portfolio, and what is my target dollar amount? (E.g. Retirement, home deposit, passive income)
• When will I need to access the money in this portfolio? (This informs your time horizon and risk window)
• How much can I consistently contribute to the portfolio? (This determines how feasible your goals are)

Shaping your investment strategy

• What kind of investor am I? (E.g. dividend investor, growth investor, long-term, short-term)
• What is my target annualised rate of return (ARR) or passive income goal? (This translates your purpose into a measurable performance objective)
• What is my risk tolerance, and how much am I prepared to see my portfolio drop in a downturn
• Do I have a specific diversification/asset allocation target?

Once your goals, risk parameters and allocation targets are clearly defined, it’s time to translate those goals into action, using Sharesight’s portfolio planning tools.

1. Uncover hidden concentration risk in your portfolio

If you want to futureproof your portfolio, you need to start by taking stock of what you’re actually exposed to — in terms of assets, sectors and geographies — and whether there’s any unnecessary overlap, as unintended concentration can amplify losses during volatile market conditions. The best way to do this is by running Sharesight’s exposure report.

Available to Sharesight users on Starter, Standard and Premium plans, the exposure report displays every holding in your portfolio, broken down by its monetary value and weight in your portfolio. You have the option to sort the results by market, currency, sector, industry, investment type or country, which displays your portfolio’s exposure to these different factors.

Sharesight’s exposure report shows you the composition of your portfolio, including holdings that you own directly or as part of your ETFs’ underlying holdings.

One of the key advantages of this report is that it helps you see your true diversification. For example, you may think that your ETFs are helping diversify your portfolio, but they could actually be a source of hidden concentration risk. By having a quick and easy way to get an x-ray view into your ETFs and compare their holdings with the rest of your portfolio, you can make strategic rebalancing decisions that reduce vulnerability to market shocks and better position your portfolio to weather volatility.

2. Identify your portfolio’s overall risk profile

Once you have a clear idea of your risk tolerance, the next step is ensuring your portfolio is positioned to withstand periods of market volatility. The quickest and easiest way to assess this is by running Sharesight’s drawdown risk report, which compares the performance of your assets against their maximum drawdown — a key measure of how much they have historically fallen during market downturns.

Available to Sharesight users on Standard, Premium and Business plans, the report plots your assets along a risk–return axis, providing a clear visual comparison of how much risk each asset has taken on to achieve its returns. This makes it easy to identify assets that may be contributing disproportionate volatility to your portfolio, such as those with high drawdowns but relatively low returns.

You can also see how the overall risk profile of your portfolio (and any benchmark you’ve set) compares to your individual holdings, helping you understand whether risk is concentrated in a small number of assets or more evenly distributed. This clarity is essential during volatile periods, when correlations between assets can shift and amplify risk.

An example of a portfolio with a large majority of investments in the lower left quadrant of the chart, indicating that the majority of investments in this portfolio have low drawdown risk, but also low returns.

Used alongside your other risk assessment tools, this report gives you the insights needed to rebalance your portfolio — reducing exposure to excessive downside risk and improving its resilience during volatile market conditions.

3. See upcoming dividends and future income estimates

Whether you’re investing for income, reinvesting dividends to grow your portfolio, or simply trying to get a clearer picture of your cash flow, being able to track your dividend income is essential. This is particularly important during periods of market volatility, when capital values can fluctuate sharply but income often remains more stable. Sharesight’s future income report makes this easy, as it allows you to view your income broken down month-by-month, across the time period of your choice.

Available to Sharesight users on Standard, Premium and Business plans, the report displays upcoming announced dividends across all your assets, mapped to payment dates and aggregated across the time period you select. This allows you to project your expected cash flow, which is especially useful for those who rely on dividends for income or plan to reinvest them regularly. Having this visibility can help investors stay disciplined during volatile periods, rather than being driven by short-term price movements. The future income report can also forecast dividend income up to three years into the future, based on dividend growth rates and past income — giving you longer-term visibility into your income.

The future income report displays paid dividends, pending payments, announced dividends and estimated future dividends in your portfolio over the time period of your choice.

Tracking your historical dividend income is just as important as forecasting future income, and the future income report allows you to do both. By running the report over past periods — such as the previous financial year, calendar year, or even over multiple years — you can see how your income has held up through different market conditions, identify investments delivering more reliable income, and assess how resilient your income strategy has been during periods of volatility.

The future income report can be run over past periods to review changes in dividend income over time. Income is visually represented in an interactive chart, with a filterable breakdown of the data below.

If you prefer to view this information in a calendar format, Sharesight’s income calendar tool lets you monitor upcoming dividend payments (including forecasted income) while also reviewing income that has already been paid — helping you maintain a clear, steady view of cash flow even when markets are less predictable.

4. Track your portfolio on the go

When markets move quickly, having visibility over your portfolio makes it much easier to stay informed and make timely decisions. Available on iOS and Android, the Sharesight app lets you track your investments on the go, with real-time updates on returns and easy access to key details on your investments.

Beyond simply keeping you informed, the app can also help you turn volatility into opportunity. By reviewing your individual holdings and monitoring your watchlist, you can identify assets that have pulled back sharply, moved outside your target allocation, or present potential entry points. Rather than reacting emotionally to short-term market swings, having your portfolio data at your fingertips supports more measured decision-making — whether that’s rebalancing, reinvesting income, or adding to positions when volatility creates attractive opportunities.

Used in tandem, these tools give you a clearer, more complete view of your portfolio — helping you manage risk, maintain discipline and make confident decisions when markets are at their most unpredictable.

Stay confident even in volatile markets

Get the insights you need to understand your portfolio, manage risk, and stay on track when markets are unpredictable. Sign up for a free Sharesight account to start tracking your performance today.

FURTHER READING

• See what’s inside your ETFs with Sharesight’s exposure report
• Calculate portfolio risk with Sharesight's risk reporting tool
• See upcoming dividends and future income estimates with Sharesight
• Track your portfolio on the go with the Sharesight app