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Trend-Following Backtester · Guide · backtest 한국어

etf · US

Principal U.S. Small-Cap ETF backtest

10 trend-following strategies were compared on the full daily history of Principal U.S. Small-Cap ETF. 1 beat buy-and-hold CAGR; ROC 모멘텀 ranks first by Sharpe, matching the main backtester. Its 97% market exposure makes it hold-like.

Data 2016-09-22 ~ 2026-07-31daily bars 2,477 (9.9 years)Costs 0.5%Venue XNASMonthly snapshot 2026-07-31

Results by strategy

1 of 10 beat buy and hold (CAGR 10.5%, drawdown -47.9%).

Sharpe leader (same as main): ROC 모멘텀 — CAGR 12.0%, MDD -28.3%, Sharpe 0.65, 97% exposure. With at least 95% exposure, it should be treated as hold-like, not strong evidence of timing skill.

No strategy retained at least 75% of buy-and-hold CAGR while reducing drawdown by both 20% relatively and 5 percentage points absolutely.

The alternative must retain 75% of buy-and-hold CAGR, improve drawdown by at least 20% and 5 percentage points, and stay below 95% exposure; the ranking weights return retention 60% and drawdown improvement 40%.

Strategy · parametersCAGRMDDSharpeCalmarTotalTradesExposure
ROC 모멘텀
Hold-like · Exposure 97%
n=19, threshold=-0.11
12.0%-28.3%0.650.423.0x1997%
EMA 크로스오버
fast=27, slow=195
6.6%-27.7%0.510.241.9x1562%
볼린저 밴드 돌파
n=26, k=3.1
2.6%-11.2%0.440.231.3x149%
Donchian 채널 돌파
entryN=113, exitN=96
4.6%-22.9%0.400.201.6x1154%
SMA 크로스오버
fast=49, slow=92
4.1%-38.7%0.330.111.5x2764%
Supertrend
period=23, mult=4
1.9%-35.7%0.200.051.2x7762%
MACD
fast=16, slow=23, signal=15
0.4%-35.7%0.100.011.0x14451%
Parabolic SAR
step=0.015, maxStep=0.36
-0.4%-47.4%0.05-0.011.0x16458%
Keltner 채널 돌파
emaPeriod=43, atrPeriod=26, mult=2.2
-1.4%-31.0%-0.05-0.050.9x7347%
ADX / DI 방향성
period=32, threshold=12
-1.6%-31.2%-0.08-0.050.9x7037%
Buy and hold10.5%-47.9%0.550.222.7x1100%
1x 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 ROC 모멘텀Buy and hold
ROC 모멘텀: Solid strategy line versus dashed buy-and-hold line. Log scale.
0% -12% -24% -36% -48% 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 Buy and holdROC 모멘텀
ROC 모멘텀 maximum drawdown -28.3% (2021-11-08 → 2022-09-30), recovered after 1,073 days.

Rules of the top strategy

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

Method and caveats

Past performance does not guarantee future returns. Parameters were selected on the same full-history sample using sharpe over 40 trials per strategy, so results contain in-sample bias. 0.5% trading costs are included; taxes, slippage and rejected orders are not.
Re-run the same setupMore US assetsAll asset reports

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