"Her Strength" | Guotai Fund International Business Department Head and Fund Manager Zhu Dan maintains a steady初心 with a global perspective

In traditional understanding, strength is often associated with rigidity and sharpness, but the capital markets are never short of edge. Female fund managers are redefining professional strength by combining firmness and flexibility. The current “her power” breaks this binary opposition—firmness means sticking to principles and bottom lines, while flexibility represents wisdom and guidance. Together, they forge an investment path that balances intensity and warmth, reflected in net value curves and long-term value.

“Investment always adheres to the concept of absolute returns, with ‘controllable processes and a focus on risk management’ as core principles, striving to generate steady and sustainable returns for investors,” summarized Zhu Dan, head of Guotai Fund’s International Business Department and fund manager.

Zhu Dan, Head of Guotai Fund’s International Business Department and Fund Manager

With 10 years of experience in securities, Zhu Dan specializes in global macro and asset allocation across categories including stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, and commodities, covering markets in the U.S., China, Europe, and Japan.

In her view, women are naturally more cautious, resilient, and tolerant of adversity. These traits align highly with the demands of rational, prudent, and long-term investment research, making it easier to make consistent and reliable judgments in complex market environments.

She believes that the core of long-term investing is anchoring on key variables such as liquidity, technological progress, and geopolitical factors, accurately mapping historical processes to investment opportunities. Staying committed to understandable investment logic within market cycles and pursuing sustainable net value growth are essential.

In her long-term investment practice, she has developed a global research perspective and experience in multi-asset allocation, enabling her to precisely identify cross-country and cross-category asset opportunities. She is also skilled at capturing core trends amid market noise, positioning early for major investment opportunities. Additionally, she emphasizes risk control discipline, iterating frameworks from past mistakes to effectively manage portfolio drawdowns and maintain steady performance.

“Risk management is the core and bottom line of portfolio management, running through the entire investment decision process. Portfolio construction prioritizes drawdown control and defense, with strict risk parameters, stop-loss and take-profit levels for each trade, volatility monitoring through quantitative methods, increased trading during U.S. night sessions, and immediate reduction of positions at trend reversals to prevent large drawdowns,” she explained.

Looking ahead to the 2026 market, Zhu Dan is optimistic about the dual main themes of “Technology + Commodities,” with commodities expected to rotate internally—from precious metals (gold and silver) gradually shifting to industrial metals (copper and aluminum), and eventually to energy commodities (oil and gas). She also favors non-U.S. stocks, including European, Japanese, Korean, and Latin American markets. At the same time, she warns investors to pay close attention to the AI narrative bubble and debt risks, cautioning that high capital expenditure on AI may not deliver expected profits, risking asset bubbles bursting.

In the face of market volatility and pressure, Zhu Dan insists on focusing on key contradictions and reducing ineffective internal conflicts. She releases emotions through running and consolidates her thinking through reading, timely stepping back from market sentiment to recalibrate her investment stance.

As a team leader, Zhu Dan is committed to building a flat, open, and efficient research culture, promoting the smooth flow of information and viewpoints, and encouraging independent thinking and bold expression. She adheres to the philosophy that “vague accuracy beats precise error” and that “opinions can be wrong, but they must be clear.” Through continuous review and debate, she rapidly iterates investment frameworks to ensure the team remains aligned with market dynamics.

Editor: Xu Nannan