"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.

“Always adhering to the absolute return philosophy in investing, with ‘controllable processes and a focus on minimizing drawdowns for defense’ as core principles, striving to create 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 stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, and commodities, covering markets in the U.S., China, Europe, and Japan.

She believes that women are inherently more cautious, resilient, and tolerant of adversity—traits that align closely with the demands for rationality, stability, and long-term focus in investment research. These qualities also help in making consistent and reliable judgments in complex market environments.

She emphasizes 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. Maintaining understandable investment logic throughout market cycles and pursuing sustainable net value growth are essential.

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

“Risk control is the core and bottom line of portfolio management,贯穿 the entire investment decision process. Portfolio construction prioritizes controlling drawdowns and emphasizing defense, with strict risk parameters set. Every trade has take-profit and stop-loss levels, volatility is monitored through quantitative methods, and night trading in U.S. stocks is increased. When trend reversals occur, positions are reduced immediately for observation, aiming to prevent large drawdowns,” she explains.

Looking ahead to the 2026 market, Zhu Dan is optimistic about the “Technology + Commodities” dual theme. She expects rotation within commodities—from precious metals (gold and silver) gradually shifting to industrial metals (copper and aluminum), and ultimately 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 against asset bubbles caused by high capital expenditure in AI that may not deliver profits.

In the face of market volatility and pressure, Zhu Dan insists on focusing on primary contradictions and reducing ineffective internal conflicts. She releases emotions through running and consolidates her thinking through reading, timely detaching from market sentiment, and recalibrating 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

(Edited by Xu Nannan)

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