17 popular trading strategies, run as Pine v6 scripts through the free tester's engine, costs charged, the last third held out. On daily data from 2016 to 2026, 4 of 14 rules made money traded both ways and 13 of 14 long only; on 5-minute data, 0 of 3 day-trading rules did. 0 of 117 runs beat holding their symbol. Each page has every run, every trade and the script.
Traded both ways with their textbook settings, most of these rules lost money on the index in a period when SPY returned +277.8%: 4 of 14 daily rules made money after costs. Long only, 13 of 14 did. The short side, shorting an index that kept rising, is where most of the losses came from; the long side mostly owned the rise and sat out part of the falls.
0 of 117 runs beat holding their symbol, and 49 survived their held-out third. A rule that is out of the market part of the time has a lot to make up against a rising index; what it usually gets you is a smaller drawdown, and the pages show the drawdown next to the return.
On 5-minute charts the picture is simpler. Of the day-trading rules (VWAP, Opening range breakout, Time-of-day), 0 of 3 made money over the last 600 sessions, and of the daily rules moved to 5-minute data, 0 of 7 did. With hundreds or thousands of trades, 0.15% a round trip is the whole story; each page shows what the costs came to.
Two studies read all of these runs at once: long only against long and short, year by year, and win rate against profit factor, with the runs that won most of their trades and still lost.
The classic setting on SPY first, then the same rule long only, then the best run on the page.
RSI 14, 30/70 on SPY, long and short: lost 30.4% on 69 trades, 34.8% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 14.1% on 21 trades, held-out survived.
12 runs · 7 made money · 6 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 34.3% · best: RSI(2) 5/95, 200-day trend, 5-day exit on SPY, long and short: +25.2%, held-out survived
The resultsATR 10, factor 3 on SPY, long and short: lost 17.8% on 93 trades, 37.6% won, held-out survived. Long only: made 100.1% on 47 trades, held-out survived.
9 runs · 5 made money · 6 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 47.3% · best: ATR 10, factor 3 on NVDA, long only: +3902.6%, held-out survived
The results12/26/9 on SPY, long and short: lost 4.5% on 231 trades, 39.8% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 46.4% on 115 trades, held-out decayed.
7 runs · 2 made money · 1 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 23.4% · best: 12/26/9 on SPY, long only: +46.4%, held-out decayed
The results0.02 / 0.02 / 0.2 on SPY, long and short: lost 27.5% on 261 trades, 34.9% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 86.6% on 130 trades, held-out survived.
6 runs · 2 made money · 2 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 50.6% · best: 0.02 / 0.02 / 0.2 on SPY, long only: +86.6%, held-out survived
The results20, 2.0 on SPY, long and short: lost 28.2% on 138 trades, 54.4% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 2.0% on 66 trades, held-out survived.
7 runs · 3 made money · 4 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 38.5% · best: 20, 2.5 on SPY, long and short: +7.5%, held-out survived
The results9/21 on SPY, long and short: made 11.7% on 94 trades, 40.4% won, held-out decayed. Long only: made 58.2% on 47 trades, held-out survived.
8 runs · 6 made money · 4 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 19.4% · best: 9/21 on SPY, long only: +58.2%, held-out survived
The results50/200 on SPY, long and short: made 20.1% on 8 trades, 50.0% won, held-out too few trades to judge. Long only: made 95.4% on 4 trades, held-out too few trades to judge.
10 runs · 10 made money · 1 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 42.0% · best: 50/200 on NVDA, long only: +4114.9%, held-out too few trades to judge
The results20-day entry, 10-day exit on SPY, long and short: lost 30.0% on 117 trades, 35.9% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 24.8% on 76 trades, held-out survived.
6 runs · 3 made money · 3 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 39.8% · best: 20-day entry, 10-day exit on QQQ, long only: +100.6%, held-out survived
The results50-day EMA on SPY, long and short: lost 19.5% on 191 trades, 31.4% won, held-out survived. Long only: made 91.1% on 95 trades, held-out survived.
7 runs · 4 made money · 5 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 40.5% · best: 50-day EMA on SPY, long only: +91.1%, held-out survived
The results14, 3, 3, 80/20 on SPY, long and short: lost 54.2% on 142 trades, 38.0% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 28.0% on 41 trades, held-out survived.
6 runs · 2 made money · 2 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 56.9% · best: 14, 3, 3, 80/20 on SPY, long only: +28.0%, held-out survived
The results20, 2.0 on SPY, long and short: lost 34.9% on 83 trades, 36.1% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 12.8% on 51 trades, held-out survived.
7 runs · 4 made money · 4 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 47.2% · best: 20, 2.0 on NVDA, long only: +987.2%, held-out survived
The results9/21 cross, 3 ATR trail on SPY, long and short: made 79.8% on 94 trades, 39.4% won, held-out survived. Long only: made 147.4% on 47 trades, held-out survived.
6 runs · 5 made money · 5 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 24.0% · best: 9/21 cross, 3 ATR trail on QQQ, long only: +239.0%, held-out survived
The results20/50 on SPY, long and short: made 1.9% on 109 trades, 36.7% won, held-out survived. Long only: lost 7.4% on 89 trades, held-out did not survive.
5 runs · 3 made money · 4 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 13.7% · best: 20/50 on QQQ, long only: +13.6%, held-out survived
The results20-day MA, 3% envelope on SPY, long and short: lost 34.4% on 86 trades, 46.5% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: made 16.7% on 44 trades, held-out survived.
5 runs · 2 made money · 2 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 40.4% · best: 20-day MA, 3% envelope on SPY, long only: +16.7%, held-out survived
The results2-candle confirm, 1.5 ATR stop on SPY, long and short: lost 98.3% on 2919 trades, 10.8% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: lost 85.8% on 1449 trades, held-out did not survive.
6 runs · 0 made money · 0 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 98.3% · best: 2-candle confirm, 1.5 ATR stop on QQQ, long only: -88.4%, held-out did not survive
The results09:30–10:00 range, out by 15:55 on SPY, long and short: lost 52.4% on 597 trades, 35.7% won, held-out did not survive. Long only: lost 36.7% on 414 trades, held-out did not survive.
6 runs · 0 made money · 0 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 54.1% · best: 09:30–10:00 range, out by 15:55 on QQQ, long only: -28.4%, held-out did not survive
The resultsin 09:30, out 15:55 on SPY, long only: lost 42.2% on 600 trades, 45.8% won, held-out did not survive.
4 runs · 0 made money · 0 survived held-out · 0 beat holding · worst drawdown of the classic run 44.1% · best: in 09:30, out 15:55 on QQQ, long only: -35.8%, held-out did not survive
The resultsEvery page used the same engine, data, costs and held-out rule, stated on the page and in full on the data and methodology page: Pine v6 scripts from the strategy library, Alpaca daily data since 2016 (and 5-minute data from the last 600 sessions for the day-trading rules) adjusted for splits and not dividends, one position at a time with the whole account, fills at the next open, 0.05% commission and 0.025% slippage on every fill, the last third of the history judged alone. The settings are the textbook ones and every variant is listed; nothing was tuned.
Describe it in your own words or paste the script. The Free plan writes the Pine v6 script with the AI, runs it on any US stock or ETF with the same costs and the same held-out check, and shows every trade on the chart. No card.
Every concept with its Pine v6 script drawn on real market data: RSI, MACD, SuperTrend, Bollinger Bands, Donchian and Keltner channels, moving averages, VWAP and more.
Traded both ways with textbook settings on daily data from 2016 to 2026, 4 of the 14 daily rules made money after costs (EMA crossover strategy, Golden cross strategy, Trailing stop strategy, EMA pullback strategy); RSI strategy, SuperTrend strategy, MACD strategy, Parabolic SAR strategy, Bollinger Bands strategy, Donchian breakout (turtle) strategy, Moving average strategy, Stochastic strategy, Keltner Channel strategy, Mean reversion strategy lost. Long only, 13 of 14 made money. Each page lists every run with its trades.
0 of 117 runs beat holding their symbol, which returned +277.8% for SPY over the period. The best run across the pages was SuperTrend: +3902.6% on NVDA, held-out survived. What a timing rule usually gets you is a smaller drawdown, not a bigger return; the pages show both.
Not here. The day-trading rules (VWAP, Opening range breakout, Time-of-day) were run on 5-minute data over the last 600 sessions and 0 of 3 made money after costs; the daily rules moved to 5-minute data made money in 0 of 7 cases. With hundreds or thousands of trades, 0.15% a round trip is the whole story: each page shows what the costs came to.
With the free Alpha Charts tester's own engine: Pine v6 scripts from the strategy library on Alpaca daily data since 2016, and 5-minute data from the last 600 sessions for the day-trading rules and the intraday rows, split-adjusted and not dividend-adjusted, one position at a time with the whole account, fills at the next candle's open, 0.05% commission and 0.025% slippage on every fill, the last third of the history held out and judged alone. The settings are the textbook ones and every variant is stated.
Every number here is the output of the Alpha Charts backtest engine on 25 October 2026, on Alpaca market data, for the scripts shown on each page. Past results are not a forecast and nothing here is investment advice. TradingView and Pine Script belong to TradingView, Inc.; Alpha Charts is not affiliated with it.