Trend-Following Backtester · Guide · backtest 한국어

equity · US

First Merchants Corporation backtest

10 trend-following strategies were compared on the full daily history of First Merchants Corporation. 0 beat buy-and-hold CAGR; ROC 모멘텀 ranks first by Sharpe, matching the main backtester. Its 100% market exposure makes it hold-like.

Data 1989-06-20 ~ 2026-07-31daily bars 9,347 (37.1 years)Costs 0.5%Venue XNASMonthly snapshot 2026-07-31

Results by strategy

0 of 10 beat buy and hold (CAGR 5.4%, drawdown -83.0%).

Sharpe leader (same as main): ROC 모멘텀 — CAGR 4.9%, MDD -85.0%, Sharpe 0.31, 100% 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 100%
n=1, threshold=-0.15
4.9%-85.0%0.310.066.0x5100%
Donchian 채널 돌파
entryN=90, exitN=100
3.6%-65.4%0.270.063.8x4562%
SMA 크로스오버
fast=57, slow=116
3.6%-64.5%0.270.063.8x9360%
EMA 크로스오버
fast=76, slow=115
0.6%-76.0%0.150.011.3x6363%
볼린저 밴드 돌파
n=55, k=3.5
0.2%-53.8%0.060.001.1x298%
ADX / DI 방향성
period=31, threshold=31
0.1%-9.2%0.050.011.0x41%
Supertrend
period=23, mult=5
-2.1%-77.6%0.04-0.030.5x9558%
Keltner 채널 돌파
emaPeriod=73, atrPeriod=30, mult=3.7
-0.8%-47.1%0.02-0.020.7x7522%
Parabolic SAR
step=0.005, maxStep=0.32
-7.5%-96.8%-0.18-0.080.1x30053%
MACD
fast=21, slow=41, signal=16
-10.2%-99.1%-0.28-0.100.0x48849%
Buy and hold5.4%-83.0%0.330.077.1x1100%
1x 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 ROC 모멘텀Buy and hold
ROC 모멘텀: Solid strategy line versus dashed buy-and-hold line. Log scale.
0% -21% -43% -64% -85% 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Buy and holdROC 모멘텀
ROC 모멘텀 maximum drawdown -85.0% (2008-04-18 → 2009-12-17), recovered after 3,136 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 carried forward from the latest full optimization and replayed on this monthly dataset. 0.5% trading costs are included; taxes, slippage and rejected orders are not.
Re-optimize the same period and setupAll asset reports

Read next