Trend-Following Backtester · Guide · Assets 한국어

Assets

Apple (AAPL) backtest

Over forty years of daily bars, spanning several crashes and recoveries — enough history to see how a strategy behaves when things break.

Data 1980-12-12 ~ 2026-07-30 Daily bars 11,499 (45.6y) Costs 0.5%Venue Nasdaq

Results by strategy

1 of 10 beat buy and hold (CAGR 18.8%, drawdown -82.2%). Sorted by CAGR.

Strategy · parametersCAGRMax drawdown SharpeCalmarTotal return TradesTime in market
Donchian channel breakout
entryN=32, exitN=50
20.4%-72.6% 0.720.284733.4x 11170%
Supertrend
period=25, mult=3.4
18.2%-55.9% 0.720.332064.2x 27957%
EMA crossover
fast=5, slow=149
17.9%-85.8% 0.690.211819.2x 18364%
Parabolic SAR
step=0.005, maxStep=0.04
17.5%-63.7% 0.690.271539.7x 30757%
MACD
fast=35, slow=67, signal=24
16.8%-61.5% 0.680.271185.6x 30753%
Bollinger band breakout
n=38, k=1.5
16.4%-64.8% 0.720.251038.3x 30145%
ROC momentum
n=53, threshold=-0.03
16.2%-83.2% 0.630.19942.2x 52568%
SMA crossover
fast=11, slow=34
15.6%-55.9% 0.630.28731.8x 35558%
Keltner channel breakout
emaPeriod=42, atrPeriod=19, mult=3.2
12.0%-55.9% 0.630.22179.7x 17134%
ADX / DI directional
period=46, threshold=14
11.1%-46.9% 0.590.24122.2x 18130%
Buy & hold18.8%-82.2% 0.620.232582.5x 1100%
1x 10x 100x 1,000x 1981 1987 1993 1999 2005 2011 2017 2023 Donchian channel breakoutBuy & hold
Donchian channel breakout (solid) vs buy and hold (dashed). Log scale.
Parameters were optimized over the full history. The same data chose them and scored them, so these run above live results. With two or three parameters the distortion is bounded, but read them as a relative ranking, not a return target. Settings match the backtester's defaults (0.5% costs, Sharpe objective, 120 trials). More in optimization and overfitting.

The rules, strategy by strategy

Donchian channel breakout

A new high means a trend starting; a new low means it’s over (turtle-trading style).

CAGR
20.4%
Max drawdown
-72.6%
Sharpe
0.72
Trades
111
Time in market
70%
Win rate
52%

Supertrend

Trades the direction of a volatility-based trend line that trails below/above price.

CAGR
18.2%
Max drawdown
-55.9%
Sharpe
0.72
Trades
279
Time in market
57%
Win rate
51%

EMA crossover

Uses two exponential averages (more weight on recent prices) and trades their crossover.

CAGR
17.9%
Max drawdown
-85.8%
Sharpe
0.69
Trades
183
Time in market
64%
Win rate
52%

Parabolic SAR

Trades around the Parabolic SAR dots that accelerate toward price.

CAGR
17.5%
Max drawdown
-63.7%
Sharpe
0.69
Trades
307
Time in market
57%
Win rate
51%

MACD

Looks at the gap (MACD) between a short and long average crossing its own signal line.

CAGR
16.8%
Max drawdown
-61.5%
Sharpe
0.68
Trades
307
Time in market
53%
Win rate
51%

Bollinger band breakout

Breaking above the upper band (average plus a multiple of volatility) signals a strong move up.

CAGR
16.4%
Max drawdown
-64.8%
Sharpe
0.72
Trades
301
Time in market
45%
Win rate
51%

ROC momentum

Rides the trend when recent return (momentum) over a window is above a threshold.

CAGR
16.2%
Max drawdown
-83.2%
Sharpe
0.63
Trades
525
Time in market
68%
Win rate
50%

SMA crossover

When the short average rises above the long average, it reads that as an uptrend starting.

CAGR
15.6%
Max drawdown
-55.9%
Sharpe
0.63
Trades
355
Time in market
58%
Win rate
51%

Keltner channel breakout

Breaking above the channel top (average plus a multiple of volatility) signals an upside breakout.

CAGR
12.0%
Max drawdown
-55.9%
Sharpe
0.63
Trades
171
Time in market
34%
Win rate
52%

ADX / DI directional

Looks at both the direction and the strength of the trend; holds only in a strong uptrend.

CAGR
11.1%
Max drawdown
-46.9%
Sharpe
0.59
Trades
181
Time in market
30%
Win rate
52%
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