The trading signals for Bitcoin USD (BTC-USD) were selected for their reward/risk, longevity and parameter sensitivity characteristics. Backtests don't always generate reliable signals which can be counted on moving forward but many traders find value in knowing what buy and sell signals would have worked well in the past.

Returns for the Bitcoin USD (BTC-USD) signals

For the 208 week (4.0 year) period from Nov 9 2015 to Nov 1 2019, these signals for Bitcoin USD (BTC-USD) traded both long and short would have yielded $24,314,581 in profits from a $10,000 initial investment, an annualized return of 612.9%. Traded long only (no short selling) the signals would have returned $3,629,957, an annualized return of 341.8%. 42.5% of time was spent holding the currency long. The return would have been $235,929 (an annualized return of 124.1%) if you had bought and held Bitcoin for the same period. Minimum annual return for the four years in the analysis was 258.89%

Signals and Trades

We call this a weekly strategy as weekly OHLC data is used in the numerical analysis leading to at most one buy signal and one sell signal per week. However, not all signals result in trades. If you are already long in a security, buy signals are not acted upon, similarly if you are short you should ignore sell signals. There were 145 buy signals and 170 sell signals for this particular BTC-USD strategy which in turn led to 80 round trip long trades of which 56 were profitable, and 80 short trades of which 22 were profitable. There were only 15 clear buy signals and 40 clear sell signals, the remaining 130 signals were dual signals (buy and sell signals in the same week), which leads to a lot of reversals. Despite all the signal noise, drawdown was fairly constrained.

Drawdown and Reward/Risk

Drawdown (the worst case loss for an single entry and exit into the strategy) was 26% for long-short and 25% for long only. This compares to 83% for buy-hold. The reward/risk for the trading long and short was 19.70 compared to 1.41 for buy-hold, a factor of 14.0 improvement. If traded long only, the reward/risk was 11.50. We use drawdown plus 5% as our risk metric, and annualized return as the reward metric.

The backtests assume a commission per trade of $7.

Dec 02 2019

No signal last week (7857.354). The sell signal (above 7284.448) arrived at this weeks open, but this algorithm sells at the next open, so the sell time is next week's open 12:00am GMT on Dec 9th 2019.

The trading signals for Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Ex (DRIP) were selected for their reward/risk and parameter sensitivity characteristics. Backtests don't always generate reliable signals which can be counted on moving forward but many traders find value in knowing what buy and sell signals would have worked well in the past.

Note that if shorting DRIP is problematic, an alternative is to buy GUSH, the inverse stock which fairly closely tracks the effect of shorting DRIP, in the short term.

Returns for the Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Ex (DRIP) signals

For the 208 week (4.0 year) period from Nov 30 2015 to Nov 22 2019, these signals for Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Ex (DRIP) traded both long and short would have yielded $115,281 in profits from a $10,000 initial investment, an annualized return of 89.1%. The return would have been $7,319 (an annualized return of 14.9%) if you had shorted the stock for the same period.

Signals and Trades

Weekly OHLC data was used in the numerical analysis leading to at most one buy signal and one sell signal per week. There were 147 buy signals and 165 sell signals for this particular DRIP strategy which in turn led to 99 round trip long trades of which 66 were profitable.

Drawdown and Reward/Risk

Drawdown (the worst case loss for an single entry and exit into the strategy) was 21%. This compares to 97% for buy-hold and 157% for short-hold. The reward/risk was 3.48 compared to 0.09 for buy-hold, a factor of 38.1 improvement. We use drawdown plus 5% as our risk metric, and annualized return as the reward metric.

The backtests assume a commission per trade of $0. Returns have been adjusted for the worst case effects of 6 dividends.

Parameter sensitivity

We look for signals which are not too sensitive to changes in the buy or sell point. Here you see the effect on returns when the buy point or sell point is changed. The surface plot above can also be used for this analysis, here we just show the cross section of the surface at the buy and sell points.

The Bitcoin signals (BTC-USD) were selected for their reward/risk, longevity and parameter sensitivity characteristics. Backtests don't always generate reliable signals which can be counted on moving forward but many traders find value in knowing what buy and sell signals would have worked well in the past.

Returns for the Bitcoin USD (BTC-USD) signals

For the 208 week (4.0 year) period from Nov 9 2015 to Nov 1 2019, the Bitcoin signals (BTC-USD) traded both long and short would have yielded $3,672,070 in profits from a $10,000 initial investment, an annualized return of 343.1%. 69.7% of time was spent holding the currency long. The return would have been $236,728 (an annualized return of 124.3%) if you had bought and held the currency for the same period.

Signals and Trades

We call this a weekly strategy as weekly OHLC data is used in the numerical analysis leading to at most one buy signal. There were 145 buy signals and each purchase was sold at the subsequent weekly open (Sunday night midnight GMT). For this particular BTC-USD strategy this led to 145 round trip long trades of which 101 were profitable, and no short trades.

Drawdown and Reward/Risk

Drawdown (the worst case loss for an single entry and exit into the strategy) was 23%. This compares to 83% for buy-hold. The reward/risk for the trading long and short was 12.12 compared to 1.41 for buy-hold, a factor of 8.6 improvement. If traded long only, the reward/risk was 12.12. We use drawdown plus 5% as our risk metric, and annualized return as the reward metric.

The backtests assume a commission per trade of $7.

The trading signals for Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Ex (GUSH) were selected for their reward/risk, longevity and parameter sensitivity characteristics. Backtests don't always generate reliable signals which can be counted on moving forward but many traders find value in knowing what buy and sell signals would have worked well in the past.

Returns for the Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Ex (GUSH) signals

For the 208 week (4.0 year) period from Nov 2 2015 to Oct 25 2019, these signals for Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Ex (GUSH) traded both long and short would have yielded $263,892 in profits from a $10,000 initial investment, an annualized return of 130.2%. 73% of the weeks was spent in the market. The return would have been $9,524 (an annualized return of 18.4%) if you had shorted the stock for the same period.

Signals and Trades

We call this a weekly strategy as weekly OHLC data is used in the numerical analysis leading to at most one buy signal and one sell signal per week. Each week there can be zero, one or two signals and all open positions are closed at the subsequent weekly open.  There were 123 buy signals and 147 sell signals for this particular GUSH strategy which in turn led to 152 trades of which 115 were profitable.

Drawdown and Reward/Risk

Drawdown (the worst case loss for an single entry and exit into the strategy) was 22%. This compares to 43% for short-hold. The reward/risk for the trading long and short was 4.89 compared to 0.38 for short-hold, a factor of 12.8 improvement.  We use drawdown plus 5% as our risk metric, and annualized return as the reward metric. Note that the strategy was chosen for peak reward/risk rather than peak annualized return (which was 204% for $817,831 return over the period for buy-point 7.47% and sell-point 0.57%).

The backtests assume a commission per trade of $0. Returns have been adjusted for the worst case effects of 6 dividends.

The trading signals for Direxion Daily Gold Miners Inde (NUGT) were selected for their reward/risk, longevity and parameter sensitivity characteristics. Backtests don't always generate reliable signals which can be counted on moving forward but many traders find value in knowing what buy and sell signals would have worked well in the past.

Returns for the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Inde (NUGT) signals

For the 52 week (1.0 year) period from Oct 22 2018 to Oct 18 2019, these signals for Direxion Daily Gold Miners Inde (NUGT) traded both long and short would have yielded $5,649 in profits from a $10,000 initial investment, an annualized return of 58.1%. Traded long only (no short selling)  the signals would have returned $4,169, an annualized return of 42.8%. 10.6% of time was spent holding stock long. The return would have been $8,360 (an annualized return of 86.1%)  if you had bought and held the stock for the same period.

Signals and Trades

We call this a weekly strategy as weekly OHLC data is used in the numerical analysis leading to at most one buy signal and one sell signal per week. The strategy detailed has cover/buy and sell/short signals, which often result in a buy and sell each week or short and cover, but any open positions must be closed out at the following open. For the 52 week period here, positions were only held for 37% of the weeks, leaving capital free to be used for other purposes for the remainder.

Drawdown and Reward/Risk

Drawdown (the worst case loss for an single entry and exit into the strategy) was 8%. This compares to 35% for buy-hold. The reward/risk for the trading long and short was 4.42 compared to 2.17 for buy-hold, a factor of  2.0 improvement. We use drawdown plus 5% as our risk metric, and annualized return as the reward metric.

The backtests assume a commission per trade of $7. Returns have been adjusted for the worst case effects of 3 dividends.

For completeness, below is the 8 year performance for the same algorithm. This would have averaged 60% annualized return a year which translates to $412,966 for a $10,000 outlay. Short-hold would have returned $9,977 (9.1% annualized return) over the period with a drawdown of 17.9% and efficiency 122% (weeks in mkt=49%).

Algorithm didn't trade in Dec 2019, but yesterday shorted at 31.98. Performance is pretty flat right now for the algorithm and the underlying.

These ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) signals traded as directed would have performed around 2.8 times better than buy-hold with an ROI of 549% for the period 24-Oct-16 to 18-Oct-19 with relatively low drawdown.

The algorithm is a little unusual, the buy point is usually above the sell point, which means that they act as defensive stops for each other, however hitting both buy and sell point in the same week only happened 20 times in the last 3 years and generally the position has been closed out at the following week open, at a profit.

"The trading signals for ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) were selected for their reward/risk, longevity and parameter sensitivity characteristics. Backtests don't always generate reliable signals which can be counted on moving forward but many traders find value in knowing what buy and sell signals would have worked well in the past.

Returns for the ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) signals

For the 156 week (3.0 year) period from Oct 24 2016 to Oct 18 2019, these signals for ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) traded both long and short would have yielded $54,918 in profits from a $10,000 initial investment, an annualized return of 87.6%. Traded long only (no short selling) the signals would have returned $46,325, an annualized return of 78.9%. 67.9% of time was spent holding stock long. The return would have been $19,792 (an annualized return of 44.4%) if you had bought and held the stock for the same period.

Signals and Trades

We call this a weekly strategy as weekly OHLC data is used in the numerical analysis leading to at most one buy signal and one sell signal per week. For this algorithm, all open positions must be exited at the start of the week. There were 116 buy signals and 47 sell signals for this particular TQQQ strategy which in turn led to 96 round trip long trades of which 72 were profitable, and 27 short trades of which 19 were profitable.

Drawdown and Reward/Risk

Drawdown (the worst case loss for an single entry and exit into the strategy) was 17% for long-short and 9% for long only. This compares to 56% for buy-hold. The reward/risk for the trading long and short was 4.02 compared to 0.73 for buy-hold, a factor of 5.5 improvement. If traded long only, the reward/risk was 5.56. We use drawdown plus 5% as our risk metric, and annualized return as the reward metric.

The backtests assume a commission per trade of $7. Returns have been adjusted for the worst case effects of 2 dividends. "

Please refer to trades below. Algorithm is doing ok with annualized returns running at around 180% since inception. Buy-hold has also been good with this stock around twice the returns of the algorithm. Hard to compete with that.

This table shows the trades since publication. Current profit is around 21% (163% annualized), with drawdown around 5.4%. 8 of 12 trades were good.