Building a repeatable investment process — and documenting it in full.
Dong Capital Research is an independent equity practice. The aim is not a single year's return but a durable method: deep fundamental work, positions taken only where the risk and reward are asymmetric, and a record kept honestly so it can be judged over time.
A personal-account strategy, not a pooled vehicle or registered fund; no outside capital is managed. Figures self-reported and unaudited. Full disclosures →
Mission
To build and document a repeatable investment process — in the open. Returns matter, but the object is the method behind them: research, decisions, and outcomes recorded honestly, so the work compounds in judgment as well as in capital. Investing is a privilege; this is an attempt to take it seriously and leave a record worth standing behind.
Portfolio snapshot
Returns are self-reported, unaudited, and subject to revision. Benchmarks reflect total return over the same window. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Latest research
UnitedHealth Group
Bought into one of the largest healthcare drawdowns on record. The market is pricing a temporary Medicare Advantage utilization spike as a permanent earnings reset; the franchise, particularly Optum, says otherwise.
Nebius Group
A pure-play AI infrastructure provider with ARR scaling from ~$32M to ~$310M in twelve months. The market is still pricing today's earnings rather than tomorrow's deployed capacity.
Ondas Holdings
A small-cap drone-and-wireless company that has remade itself into a defense-autonomy platform. On the watchlist below $10—where backlog, cash, and growth start to price in honestly.
Every position, every memo, on one page.
The open book, a watchlist of names that cleared the work but not yet the price, and a closed record that keeps its losers alongside its wins. Tap any row for detail; open the memo for the full thesis.
| Direction | Company | Type | Entry | Memo | Status | Size | Realized | Unrealized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long | UnitedHealth Group NYSE: UNH · Healthcare |
Initiation | 16 May 25 | Memo | Open | 64.0% | — | +26.70% |
| Long | Nebius Group NASDAQ: NBIS · Technology |
Initiation | 29 May 25 | Memo | Open | 25.0% | — | +380.40% |
| Long | Nokia Corporation NYSE: NOK · Technology |
Initiation | 26 May 26 | Memo | Open | 7.0% | — | −8.89% |
Reported in full, measured against the index.
The objective is absolute return; the benchmarks are shown for context, not as the target.
Illustrative growth of $100 from inception. Equity-curve points reflect approximate monthly progression.
| Period | DCR | S&P | R2000 | +/−S&P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | +77.90% | +16.35% | −0.26% | +61.55 |
| 2026 (YTD) | +23.85% | +11.57% | +17.08% | +12.28 |
| Inception | +120.30% | +29.82% | +16.77% | +90.48 |
Methodology. Time-weighted returns, gross of fees. Figures self-reported, unaudited, and subject to restatement.
Inception-to-date returns reflect a concentrated book; performance has been driven disproportionately by a single position. Concentration of this kind amplifies outcomes in both directions, and a short track record cannot yet distinguish process from luck.
The Scorecard
DCR was developed privately through 2025 and made public in June 2026. Closed positions from the pre-launch period are documented here for the sake of a complete record.
67 weeks
19 weeks
19 weeks
Realized figures are self-reported and unaudited.
Portfolio composition
| Holdings | 3 |
| Largest position | 64.0% |
| Top-3 concentration | 96.0% |
| Long / short | 3 / 0 |
| Cash policy | ~3% |
Once a year, the whole story — in plain English.
What I bought and why, what I got wrong, how the book is positioned, and what I expect. Each letter is written and uploaded as a PDF.
Year in Review
Forthcoming — January 2027.
Annual letters will be published as PDFs once written.
One investor, accountable to the record.
My name is Derek Dong. I'm a quantitative economics and philosophy double major at Indiana University, nineteen years old, and I've just finished my freshman year.
Unlike many investors my age, I've built a business from the ground up. Sneakers and clothing were always an interest of mine, and in seventh grade I started a small reselling page on Instagram. By the end of its sixth and final year, it had done more than seven figures in total revenue, worked with over a hundred unique suppliers a year, and moved more than three thousand units annually.
I'm grateful for that experience, and I believe it shaped not only how I invest but who I am. I've since closed that chapter — the work ahead requires experiences that move my goals forward.
Why Dong Capital Research
I want to document my investing journey and build something real. More than returns, Dong Capital Research is an effort to create and document a repeatable process.
Being able to invest is, to me, one of the privileges of a life. There's a feeling that's hard to put into words when the research, the work, and the decisions all line up. This is where I keep the record of trying to make that happen, honestly, over a long time.
Everything here reflects my personal investing. It is not advice, and it is not an offer to manage anyone's money.
Follow the work
The research is public. For questions or to be added to the list for new writeups and the annual letter, get in touch by email.
The fine print, kept plain.
Nature of this site
Dong Capital Research reflects the personal opinions and personal investing of Derek Dong. It is published for informational and educational purposes only.
Not advice or an offer
Nothing here is investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice, a research recommendation, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security or to provide investment-management services. Dong Capital Research is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, or fund, and does not manage outside capital.
Positions and performance
The author may hold positions in the securities discussed and may change them at any time without notice. Positions, prices, and returns shown are self-reported, unaudited, may contain errors, and are subject to revision. Performance figures are time-weighted and reported gross of fees. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and any investment may lose value.
Forward-looking statements
Theses and outlooks reflect opinions as of the date written and rely on assumptions that may prove wrong. They are not guarantees of any outcome.
Do your own work
Readers are responsible for their own decisions and should consult their own qualified advisers. Reliance on anything published here is at the reader's own risk.
This is placeholder language for presentation, not legal counsel. Have a qualified attorney review your disclosures before you rely on them.