Stratsemble

Time-Series Momentum strategy — on every asset

Time-series (absolute) momentum: go long while the asset's own trailing 12-month return — skipping the most recent ~1 month (the '12-1' rule, which drops the short-term reversal) — sits above the average of its OWN history, and flat otherwise. It measures the asset against ITSELF over time; it does not rank or compare securities. A slow trend rule with a long (~2-year) warm-up, prone to crash and whipsaw stretches. A mechanism to test, not a prediction or a recommendation.

Most of these did not beat buy & hold — finding out which did is the point. This one strategy was tested on 47 different assets. With that many attempts, some will beat buy & hold by chance alone — which is why these are listed neutrally, not ranked by which ones came out ahead. To see whether any single result survives scrutiny, run the out-of-sample, walk-forward and multiple-testing checks on its backtest.

Of the 36 with enough data to judge, 5 beat buy & hold · 11 didn't have enough data to judge yet. Results are simulated backtests over the last ~5 years (less for younger assets), shown whole — losses included — not live or future performance. These are famous names that still trade today. Companies that delisted or went bankrupt aren't in the set (survivorship bias) — and that history isn't available from the free public data this tool runs on — so this rate isn't a representative base rate for every stock that has ever traded.

Listed in a neutral catalog order — not ranked by performance. Combinations we can't judge yet — too little data — are grouped separately below.

Here, “beat” means only a higher total return than buy & hold over this one past window — not risk-adjusted, not luck-checked. The out-of-sample, walk-forward and luck checks live on each individual backtest.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This is an educational, analytical tool — not investment advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. You make all decisions and execute on your own broker.

HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE TRADES HAVE NOT BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER- OR OVER-COMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.

Stocks

Time-Series Momentum on stocks

ETFs

Time-Series Momentum on etfs

Commodities

Time-Series Momentum on commodities

Crypto

Time-Series Momentum on crypto

Where a backtest fits

Backtesting is one stage of preparing to trade, not the finish line. The full discipline runs five: Understand, Test, Stress-test, Forward-test, then Decide — eyes open. Most ideas should die in the first three, and every stage is a place to stop, for free.

See the five stages →