Last month I had my finals, and I passed all my courses. My major is 150 credits, but I also need to choose a 30-credit minor. I had chosen experimental physics, but I’m going to switch it to economics. Other than that, I rested completely this month, and as of today I’m getting back to work.
In February 2026, my portfolio returned -4.29%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 returned -1.40%, the DJ Commodity Index 6.45%, Bitcoin -13.73%, and the BIST 100 -0.26% in dollar terms. The main reason for the decline in my portfolio is its concentration in SaaS stocks, along with my BIST investments. They had actually been doing extremely well until late February, but stumbled a bit in the final days.
February 2026 was a highly eventful month, with escalating geopolitical tensions and economic turbulence both in Turkey and around the world. You can find the main political and economic developments below.
Pakistan–Afghanistan Conflict: Tensions between the two countries turned into open war. Hundreds of people lost their lives as a result of the Pakistani army’s cross-border operations and airstrikes on areas such as Kabul and Kandahar. Senior Taliban officials were among those targeted.
Rising Tensions in the Middle East: US military operations in Iran and attacks on regional allies, including Qatar, pushed tensions in the Middle East to a peak. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with the Emir of Qatar and voiced support for regional security.
US Domestic Politics: US President Donald Trump’s claims that Iran was developing ballistic missiles capable of striking the US were contradicted by US intelligence reports. In addition, the Supreme Court’s ruling that some of the tariffs imposed by Trump were unlawful drew wide attention in domestic politics.
The Aziz İhsan Aktaş Case: An interim ruling was announced in the closely watched case. The court ordered the release of 7 people, while ruling that 17 others, including CHP mayors, would remain in detention.
CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairmanship: At the Istanbul provincial organization, the focus of intra-party disputes, the continuation of the injunction keeping Gürsel Tekin and his administration in office was upheld.
The İmralı Message: Following the DEM Party delegation’s visit to İmralı, the message Abdullah Öcalan wrote on the anniversary of his February 27 “Call for Peace and a Democratic Society” was shared with the public. The message emphasized a transition from the politics of violence and division to democratic integration.
A New Act in the Trade Wars: The US’s moves to raise tariffs to as much as 15% and the European Union’s preparations to suspend the transatlantic trade agreement deepened uncertainty in global trade.
Growth and Inflation Dynamics: According to United Nations reports, global economic growth expectations remained sluggish at 2.7%. In the euro area, the economic sentiment indicator declined while annual inflation fell to 1.7%. By contrast, the US economy remained relatively resilient, with a strong growth expectation of 2.4%.
Commodity Markets: Oil prices posted a sharp rise of more than 13% during February, driven in particular by the conflicts in the Middle East and supply chain concerns.
Inflation Exceeds Expectations: According to data released in early February, monthly consumer inflation (CPI) came in at 4.84%, above market expectations, and annual inflation settled at 30.65%. Rising food prices were the decisive factor in this increase. According to the Association of Financial Institutions (FKB) survey, the year-end inflation expectation was measured at 25.54%.
Foreign Trade and Current Account Deficit: The 2025 current account deficit closed at $25.2 billion, above estimates, while the foreign trade deficit came in at $8.4 billion.
Industrial Production and the Budget: Although industrial production posted a modest 1.2% month-on-month increase, deficits in the central government budget and interest expenditures reaching record levels laid bare the challenges in fiscal policy.
(Summarized using AI.)
Compared to last month, I sold my Mastercard and Visa shares and invested in Google, Amazon, Netflix, and Microsoft. I also moved my VTI shares into VOO, and sold half of my ZETA shares to buy IREN. All of the individual stocks in my portfolio are SaaS (Software as a Service) companies. The reason this sector is in a big decline is, in short, that a company called Anthropic announced that it may be possible to build the companies in this sector with AI. That’s really quite utopian, so I’m not considering selling.
The two things that disappointed me this month were ZETA and IREN. Zeta recently reported really great earnings and rose around 10% that day, but since it had fallen so much from where I bought it, I didn’t see any benefit. I had also really wanted to buy IREN; I jumped in early and bought it, and on its earnings date it fell incredibly in after-hours trading, but I wasn’t able to add to it, which I regret.
I’ve realized that you shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to catch a falling knife, and that even when you feel sure in a falling market, you should see 1–2 days of positive closes before buying.
In my other funds & stocks, I closed my ASML position with a 100% gain. I sold NVO because I couldn’t be sure about its future, and I’m glad I did, because it fell another 15% after I sold. I sold VEU for now because, as much as I like Europe more than the US sociologically, when it comes to markets and companies there is still nothing better than the US. If that changes in the future, I’ll buy VEU again.
5% of my portfolio sits in a fixed-income fund. Another 5% is in Bitcoin (at a 12.25% loss), 9% in CS2, and 4% in gold (at a 19% gain).
Before moving on to the portfolio summary, I’d like to remind you that you can see how I’m currently directing my monthly investments on the “About” page.
Here is a one-page summary of my portfolio along with the new statistics I’ve prepared for my blog:
