Your quarterly portfolio review checklist for crypto

Checking in on your crypto holdings does not need to be a daily habit. A quarterly portfolio review checklist gives you a calm, structured way to confirm your allocation, performance, and risk are still on track, without falling into the trap of constant monitoring. This article walks through exactly what to check every three months and why each step matters.

This piece follows on from our guide on rebalancing your crypto portfolio, which covers when and how often to rebalance in more depth. Think of this checklist as the practical companion: a short, repeatable routine you can run in under 30 minutes each quarter.

Why does a quarterly cadence work for crypto portfolios?

A quarterly review strikes a useful balance. It is frequent enough to catch meaningful shifts in your allocation or risk exposure, but infrequent enough to avoid reactive decisions driven by short-term price swings.

Crypto markets move quickly, so it can feel tempting to check in daily. However, frequent checking tends to encourage emotional trading rather than better outcomes. Diamond Pigs' own guidance echoes this: the second of the 5 Golden Rules of Diamond Pigs is to trust your strategy rather than switching it mid-trade, because frequent changes force trades at unfavorable prices and disrupt bot performance.

A quarter also lines up naturally with how most active strategies operate. Bots monitor markets 24/7, but they trade infrequently by design, because strategies that trade too often tend to generate more fees and weaker long-term results. Your own review habit should follow the same principle: consistent, structured check-ins instead of constant tinkering.

If you want a broader view of market conditions before your review, the Crypto Sentiment Dashboard is a free way to see where sentiment, liquidity, and volatility stand before you dig into your own numbers.

How do you review your crypto allocation and current holdings each quarter?

Start by listing what you actually hold today, not what you intended to hold three months ago. Crypto prices move fast, so allocation can drift significantly even without any trading on your part.

For each holding, check:

1. What percentage of your total portfolio it represents now
2. How that compares to your target allocation
3. Whether any single coin has grown to dominate the portfolio due to price appreciation alone

If your wallet is above $2,000, you may be running multiple strategies at once. In that case, confirm each strategy still meets the minimum 20% allocation guideline, and that no single strategy has drifted far outside its intended weight. According to Investopedia's overview of portfolio rebalancing, allowing allocations to drift too far from target increases concentration risk without you actively choosing it.

How do you know if your crypto strategy still fits your goals and wallet size?

Your strategy choice should match your wallet size and risk appetite, and both can change over time. A quarterly review is the right moment to check this still holds true.

As a reminder, Diamond Pigs recommends:

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If your wallet has grown past one of these thresholds, or your goals have shifted from growth to stability (or the other way around), it may be worth exploring other options via the investment strategies page. The Strategy Matching Tool can also help confirm whether your current strategy is still the best fit, based on a short set of questions about your goals and risk tolerance.

How do you check your portfolio's performance and fees each quarter?

Look at how each strategy has performed over the quarter, not just in absolute terms but relative to what you expected going in. A strategy that is down in a broad market downturn is a different story than one underperforming its peers in a flat or rising market.

For a wider view of how your results compare, market data sites such as CoinGecko are useful for checking the broader market context behind your own numbers.

How do you assess risk and drawdown protection in your portfolio?

Risk conditions change every quarter, even if your strategy has not. Established crypto assets can see drawdowns of 70% or more during bear markets, so it is worth confirming your risk protection is still doing its job.

Ask yourself:

• Has the strategy's "Protect" mechanism triggered an exit during the quarter, and did that match a genuine downturn?
• Are you still comfortable with the volatility you have actually experienced, not just the volatility you expected?
• Have you excluded any coins you want to hold outside of active bot trading?

If you have not used the Exclude Coins feature and want to protect specific holdings from being traded, this is a good time to set that up. For a deeper look at how downside protection works across strategies, the risk management page breaks down the mechanics in more detail.

How do you decide if your portfolio actually needs rebalancing?

Not every quarterly review should end in action. In many cases, the right decision is to make no changes at all. That said, a few clear signals suggest rebalancing is worth considering:

• Allocation has drifted more than 5-10 percentage points from your target
• Your wallet size has crossed a strategy threshold (for example, growing past $2,000)
• Your goals or timeline have genuinely changed, not just your mood about recent price moves

If none of these apply, the fifth Golden Rule is worth remembering: reach out for support if you are unsure, whether through the monthly newsletter, the Knowledge Base, the Piggy AI chatbot, or customer support, rather than making a change based on uncertainty alone.

Key takeaways

• A quarterly portfolio review checklist gives you a structured, low-effort way to stay on top of your crypto holdings without daily monitoring.
• Start each review by checking your actual allocation against your target, since prices drift even without any trading.
• Confirm your strategy still matches your current wallet size and goals, using the wallet size guidance as a reference point.
• Review performance and fees together, and remember that Diamond Pigs' high watermark model only charges performance fees on genuinely new gains.
• Check that your risk protection is working as expected, and use the Exclude Coins feature for any holdings you want to shield from active trading.
• Only rebalance when allocation drift, wallet growth, or a real change in goals justifies it, not based on short-term price moves.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I review my crypto portfolio?
A quarterly cadence works well for most long-term crypto investors. It is frequent enough to catch meaningful allocation drift or risk changes, but infrequent enough to avoid reactive, emotion-driven decisions.

What should I check first in a quarterly portfolio review?
Start with your actual current allocation versus your target allocation. Crypto prices move quickly, so allocation can drift significantly over three months even without you making any trades.

Do I need to rebalance every quarter?
No. A review does not have to end in a trade. Rebalance only when allocation has drifted meaningfully, your wallet has crossed a strategy threshold, or your goals have genuinely changed.

How does the high watermark model affect my quarterly review?
It means performance fees only apply once a strategy exceeds its previous highest value. When you check your fees each quarter, confirm any performance fee charged corresponds to a new high, not simply a recovery back to a past peak.

Can I use a portfolio checklist alongside an automated strategy?
Yes. Automated strategies handle day-to-day trading decisions, but a quarterly checklist is still useful for confirming your allocation, wallet size fit, and risk comfort are aligned with your broader goals.

Glossary

Rebalancing - Adjusting a portfolio's holdings back toward a target allocation, typically by trimming positions that have grown too large and adding to those that have shrunk.

High watermark (HWM) - The highest value a strategy has reached for a given user. Performance fees only apply to gains above this level, not to a simple recovery back to a past peak.

Drawdown - The percentage decline from a portfolio or asset's peak value to its lowest point before recovering, used as a common measure of downside risk.