Bollinger/Keltner squeezelong
Backtest Results @ TSLA • 10 Minutes

This strategy buys whenever Bollinger Bands is squeezed into Kelther Channel. This normally indicates that the market is going sideways. This strategy then sells whenever price goes below the Bollinger Bands middle line. The idea is to buy during the obviously sideways market, hoping for it to burst.

Equity Curve

Backtest covers 12.6 months of TSLA • 10 Minutes (Tesla, Inc.) data, from June 28, 2024 to July 11, 2025.

Equity curve is the strategy's performance over time. You should compare it to the asset's Buy & Hold performance. In general, you want the blue area to be well above the gray area.

Drawdown is how much losses (realized or unrealized) the strategy has had if compared to the highest equity peak. Compare this to the asset's drawdown to see whether your strategy does a decent job of isolating you from downside volatility. In general, the red area must be well within the gray area.

Equity Curve
Strategy
Asset
Strategy Drawdown
Asset Drawdown

So, we have backtested Bollinger/Keltner squeeze on 12.6 months of TSLA • 10 Minutes candles. This backtest resulted in 154 positions, with the average win rate of 40% and reward-risk ratio of 1.64. If you assume that 1.64 reward-to-risk ratio holds, you need a minimum win rate of 37.9 to be profitable. So you're looking good so far. The key metrics are as follows:

  1. Total Return: Total Return: 4.70% vs 59.00% for the asset
  2. Max Drawdown: Max Drawdown: -32.80% vs -55.30% for the asset
  3. Exposure: Exposure: 23.50% time in the market
  4. Win Rate: Win Rate: 40.0%, vs 37.9% minimum
  5. Reward/Risk Ratio: Reward/Risk Ratio: 1.64

With that exposure in mind, you can tell that for 24% time-in-market, you get 7.97% of the asset upside potential, and 59.31% of the asset downside potential.

Bollinger/Keltner squeeze: enter a position when

All of the following: # Whiskey
  10min Chart(close) (2 candles ago) < 10min Bollinger Bands ® (20, 2, 2, 0, close), Up (2 candles ago)
  10min Chart(close) (1 candles ago) > 10min Bollinger Bands ® (20, 2, 2, 0, close), Up (1 candles ago)
  10min Bollinger Bands ® (20, 2, 2, 0, close), Up (1 candles ago) < 10min Keltner Channel (20, SMA, 10, 2, 0, close), Up (1 candles ago)
  10min BB (20, 2, 2, 0, close) (1 candles ago) > 10min Keltner (20, SMA, 10, 2, 0, close) (1 candles ago)

Bollinger/Keltner squeeze: exit a position when

Any of the following: # Papa
  10min Chart(close) < 10min Bollinger Bands ® (20, 2, 2, 0, close), Middle

Bollinger/Keltner squeeze @ TSLA • 10 Minutes (4.7%) backtest results explained by Alex C

Alex C

Author

The numbers show some serious problems with this strategy. First, the win rate of 40% combined with a risk/reward of 1.64 looks mathematically ok - the minimal sufficient win rate of 37.9% confirms this. But the actual performance tells a different story.

The strategy is clearly underperforming the market significantly - while TSLA made 59% during the period, the strategy only made 4.7%. This is not good at all. The market exposure of 23.5% suggests the strategy misses lot of the upside moves. Also concerning is the maximum drawdown of 32.8% - this is too high for the small returns it generates.

What really makes me worried is the inconsistency in the time period results. While it shows amazing 107.1% CAGR for 3 months, it performs terrible in other periods. This hints at curve fitting and lack of robustness. The negative Sharpe ratio of -0.52 confirms that the risk-adjusted returns are poor. I would definetely not trade this strategy with real money.

Tabular metrics of Bollinger/Keltner squeeze backtested on TSLA • 10 Minutes

Total Trades154Net Profit4.7%Buy & Hold Profit59.0%
Win Rate40%Reward/Risk Ratio1.64Max Drawdown-32.8%
Asset Max Drawdown-55.3%Exposure23.5%Avg Candles in Position14.3
Sharpe Ratio-0.52Sortino Ratio-0.11Realized Volatility28.34%
Max Winning Streak4Avg Winning Streak1.5Max Losing Streak10
Avg Losing Streak2.3Avg Trades per Month24.4Avg Trades per Day0.8
Return Std Dev2.5Loss Std Dev1.6Win Std Dev2.2
Expectancy0.0Beta0.2

All backtests for Bollinger/Keltner squeeze

backtestexposurepeformance vs assetdrawdown vs assetwin%reward/risk
BTCUSD • 1 Minute
13%(0.2%/9.8%) 0.02x(-0.4%/-1.6%) 0.25x491.2
EURUSD • 1 Minute
17%(-0.1%/-0.9%) 0.11x(-0.5%/-1.2%) 0.42x282.4
GLD • 1 Minute
18%(3.6%/0.0%) Infinityx(-1.0%/-5.5%) 0.18x354.0
NVDA • 1 Minute
24%(8.1%/16.7%) 0.49x(-1.8%/-4.4%) 0.41x432.4
SPY • 1 Minute
23%(1.0%/4.6%) 0.22x(-1.6%/-2.1%) 0.76x332.4
TSLA • 1 Minute
23%(-14.5%/-10.3%) 1.41x(-15.5%/-21.4%) 0.72x281.3
WMT • 1 Minute
18%(-3.8%/-5.4%) 0.70x(-3.9%/-6.4%) 0.61x311.4
BTCUSD • 10 Minutes
19%(1.0%/27.2%) 0.04x(-6.3%/-12.1%) 0.52x351.9
EURUSD • 10 Minutes
24%(-0.3%/6.5%) -0.05x(-4.3%/-4.3%) 1.00x302.3
GLD • 10 Minutes
19%(-4.0%/43.7%) -0.09x(-8.0%/-8.3%) 0.96x371.4
NVDA • 10 Minutes
25%(-12.1%/32.9%) -0.37x(-24.9%/-42.8%) 0.58x361.6
SPY • 10 Minutes
26%(-0.3%/14.3%) -0.02x(-5.6%/-20.7%) 0.27x381.6
TSLA • 10 Minutes
24%(4.7%/59.0%) 0.08x(-32.8%/-55.3%) 0.59x401.6
WMT • 10 Minutes
27%(17.3%/40.1%) 0.43x(-6.2%/-23.8%) 0.26x441.9
BTCUSD • 1 Hour
25%(19.1%/71.4%) 0.27x(-21.5%/-31.0%) 0.69x421.7
EURUSD • 1 Hour
26%(4.9%/8.2%) 0.60x(-2.8%/-9.0%) 0.31x411.9
GLD • 1 Hour
16%(6.2%/117.6%) 0.05x(-18.6%/-22.2%) 0.84x421.6
NVDA • 1 Hour
26%(364.4%/3126.3%) 0.12x(-34.2%/-68.0%) 0.50x492.5
SPY • 1 Hour
22%(8.9%/106.7%) 0.08x(-12.4%/-35.1%) 0.35x411.7
TSLA • 1 Hour
21%(505.6%/1395.5%) 0.36x(-34.5%/-75.1%) 0.46x433.1
WMT • 1 Hour
25%(25.8%/138.2%) 0.19x(-9.3%/-26.9%) 0.35x461.6
BTCUSD • Daily
28%(2515.4%/67440.2%) 0.04x(-51.5%/-83.8%) 0.61x454.2
EURUSD • Daily
25%(5.2%/10.8%) 0.48x(-9.1%/-23.3%) 0.39x391.9
GLD • Daily
17%(13.2%/595.1%) 0.02x(-21.1%/-45.3%) 0.47x391.9
NVDA • Daily
26%(577.6%/373678.5%) 0.00x(-51.4%/-90.0%) 0.57x432.5
SPY • Daily
22%(14.1%/1316.3%) 0.01x(-39.4%/-56.7%) 0.69x391.9
TSLA • Daily
24%(1451.6%/24185.2%) 0.06x(-38.8%/-75.0%) 0.52x473.9
WMT • Daily
26%(-44.0%/9978.0%) -0.00x(-74.7%/-50.6%) 1.48x361.6