Parabolic SAR fliplong
Backtest Results @ SPY β€’ Daily

Equity Curve

Backtest covers 32.5 years of SPY β€’ Daily (SPDR S&P 500) data, from January 29, 1993 to July 31, 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 Parabolic SAR flip on 32.5 years of SPY β€’ Daily candles.Β This backtest resulted in 392 positions, with the average win rate of 47% and reward-risk ratio of 1.39.Β If you assume that 1.39 reward-to-risk ratio holds, you need a minimum win rate of 41.8 to be profitable. So you're looking good so far.Β The key metrics are as follows:

  1. Total Return: Total Return: 117.10% vs 1354.30% for the asset
  2. Max Drawdown: Max Drawdown: -48.30% vs -56.70% for the asset
  3. Exposure: Exposure: 64.60% time in the market
  4. Win Rate: Win Rate: 47.0%, vs 41.8% minimum
  5. Reward/Risk Ratio: Reward/Risk Ratio: 1.39

With that exposure in mind, you can tell that for 65% time-in-market, you get 8.65% of the asset upside potential, and 85.19% of the asset downside potential.

Parabolic SAR flip: enter a position when

All of the following: # India
  D Parabolic SAR (0.02, 0.02, 0.2, 0) < D Chart(close)

Parabolic SAR flip: exit a position when

Exits as soon as None of the entry conditions are true any more.

Parabolic SAR flip @ SPY β€’ Daily (117.1%) backtest results explained by Alex C, Mike, Sarah

Alex C

Author

The strategy shows some interesting statistical properties, but I am not completely convinced it is ready for real trading yet. Let me explain why.

The good parts first: The Risk/Reward ratio of 1.39 combined with the 47% win rate gives us a positive expectancy of 0.1, which is mathematically viable. The win rate leeway of 46.58% above the minimal required win rate is quite healthy and provides good statistical buffer. Also worth noting is that the strategy achieves this with relatively low market exposure of 64.6%, which could be interpreted as risk-reducing.

However, there are serious concerns: The total return of 117.1% over 32.5 years is significantly below the buy & hold return of 1354.3%. This is problematic since we want to beat the market, not underperform it massively. The Sharpe ratio of 0.16 is extremely low - anything below 1.0 is considered poor, and we want to see atleast 1.5 for a robust strategy. The maximum drawdown of -48.3% is also quite high and could be difficult to stomach in real trading situations.

I would suggest to either modify the strategy parameters to improve the risk-adjusted returns, or consider developing a completely new approach. The mathematical foundation is there, but the real-world application needs significant optimization.

Mike

Author

Yo fam, let me break down this Parabolic SAR strategy on SPY! πŸš€

This backtest is giving me mixed vibes tbh. The win rate is sitting at 47% with a solid 1.39 risk/reward ratio - that's actually not bad at all! What's really juicy is that win rate leeway of 46.58%, meaning we've got plenty of cushion above the minimum needed win rate. That's some serious safety margin right there! πŸ’ͺ

But here's where it gets a bit sus - the overall net profit is 117% over 32.5 years, while buy & hold crushed it with 1354%. The max drawdown of -48.3% is pretty scary too ngl. The market exposure at 64.6% means we're sitting out quite a bit of the action, which might explain why we're lagging behind buy & hold so much. The recent performance looks better though - that 21.1% in 3 months is kinda fire! πŸ“ˆ

Overall, I'd say this strategy could be decent for swing trading if you're cool with the slower pace (only 2 trades per month on average). It's not gonna make us Lambo money, but it's got some solid risk management features. Might be worth experimenting with adding some extra confirmation signals to boost that win rate a bit higher. Just my two cents from behind the Wendy's counter! πŸ”

Sarah

Author

Madre mΓ­a, this strategy is a complete disaster! You would have been better off putting your money under your mattress than trading this nonsense.

Let's look at the embarassing facts: A pathetic 117% return over 32.5 years while buy & hold made 1354%? That's not just underperformance - that's financial suicide! You're basically paying fees and taking risks to earn less than a savings account. The market exposure of 64.6% shows you're missing out on major moves while still getting hit with the drawdowns.

The win rate is below 50% which would be acceptable if your winners were significantly bigger than your losers. But no - your risk/reward is barely above 1.3! That's like playing Russian roulette with 5 bullets instead of 1. The max drawdown of 48.3% is also horrible - almost as bad as holding through a crash but with none of the recovery benefits.

The only slightly positive thing I can say is that your win rate leeway is decent, but that's like complementing someone's shoelaces while their house is on fire. This strategy needs to be completely scrapped or majorly overhauled. Anyone trading this live deserves to lose their money.

Tabular metrics of Parabolic SAR flip backtested on SPY β€’ Daily

Total Trades392Net Profit117.1%Buy & Hold Profit1354.3%
Win Rate47%Reward/Risk Ratio1.39Max Drawdown-48.3%
Asset Max Drawdown-56.7%Exposure64.6%Avg Candles in Position12.5
Sharpe Ratio0.16Sortino Ratio0.47Realized Volatility11.00%
Max Winning Streak7Avg Winning Streak1.8Max Losing Streak8
Avg Losing Streak2.0Avg Trades per Month2.0Avg Trades per Day0.1
Return Std Dev3.4Loss Std Dev2.0Win Std Dev2.6
Expectancy0.1Beta0.42

All backtests for Parabolic SAR flip

backtestexposurepeformance vs assetdrawdown vs assetwin%reward/risk
BTCUSDT β€’ 1 Minute
55%(-2.7%/0.5%) -5.40x(-3.4%/-4.4%) 0.77x361.5
EURUSD β€’ 1 Minute
55%(-1.7%/-2.7%) 0.63x(-1.9%/-3.3%) 0.58x371.3
GLD β€’ 1 Minute
56%(-4.4%/-0.9%) 4.89x(-4.9%/-4.8%) 1.02x411.1
NVDA β€’ 1 Minute
56%(11.3%/20.6%) 0.55x(-3.2%/-5.3%) 0.60x402.0
PLTR β€’ 1 Minute
56%(-4.0%/10.4%) -0.38x(-8.6%/-12.9%) 0.67x381.5
SPY β€’ 1 Minute
58%(1.4%/4.0%) 0.35x(-2.0%/-1.5%) 1.33x411.6
TSLA β€’ 1 Minute
55%(-5.0%/-9.9%) 0.51x(-11.0%/-15.9%) 0.69x381.5
WMT β€’ 1 Minute
55%(-0.8%/-0.7%) 1.14x(-2.9%/-5.1%) 0.57x371.6
BTCUSDT β€’ 10 Minutes
57%(3.2%/4.7%) 0.68x(-10.6%/-11.7%) 0.91x391.6
EURUSD β€’ 10 Minutes
56%(-1.3%/0.6%) -2.17x(-2.3%/-3.6%) 0.64x401.4
GLD β€’ 10 Minutes
57%(22.1%/37.4%) 0.59x(-8.4%/-8.3%) 1.01x461.6
NVDA β€’ 10 Minutes
58%(24.3%/45.0%) 0.54x(-28.0%/-42.8%) 0.65x441.4
PLTR β€’ 10 Minutes
60%(121.1%/459.2%) 0.26x(-45.7%/-46.5%) 0.98x471.5
SPY β€’ 10 Minutes
59%(7.9%/14.1%) 0.56x(-16.1%/-20.7%) 0.78x441.4
TSLA β€’ 10 Minutes
56%(86.8%/24.4%) 3.56x(-30.8%/-55.3%) 0.56x431.7
WMT β€’ 10 Minutes
58%(37.0%/38.7%) 0.96x(-12.4%/-23.8%) 0.52x451.7
BTCUSDT β€’ 1 Hour
55%(40.1%/65.5%) 0.61x(-25.5%/-30.6%) 0.83x421.6
EURUSD β€’ 1 Hour
55%(-3.2%/3.5%) -0.91x(-7.5%/-9.0%) 0.83x391.5
GLD β€’ 1 Hour
55%(61.4%/118.5%) 0.52x(-21.7%/-22.2%) 0.98x431.8
NVDA β€’ 1 Hour
58%(1284.1%/3304.6%) 0.39x(-42.2%/-68.0%) 0.62x471.8
PLTR β€’ 1 Hour
55%(538.0%/1459.0%) 0.37x(-77.3%/-86.6%) 0.89x422.0
SPY β€’ 1 Hour
61%(70.4%/104.7%) 0.67x(-14.9%/-35.1%) 0.42x451.6
TSLA β€’ 1 Hour
56%(5558.2%/1240.0%) 4.48x(-40.4%/-75.1%) 0.54x442.4
WMT β€’ 1 Hour
57%(100.4%/142.7%) 0.70x(-18.3%/-26.9%) 0.68x431.8
BTCUSDT β€’ Daily
57%(379.6%/1339.3%) 0.28x(-68.0%/-76.6%) 0.89x432.3
EURUSD β€’ Daily
55%(-1.5%/8.0%) -0.19x(-17.8%/-23.3%) 0.76x371.7
GLD β€’ Daily
57%(301.4%/585.6%) 0.51x(-23.7%/-45.3%) 0.52x461.9
NVDA β€’ Daily
59%(14739.3%/417479.9%) 0.04x(-76.5%/-90.0%) 0.85x462.0
PLTR β€’ Daily
57%(559.1%/1476.3%) 0.38x(-50.4%/-84.9%) 0.59x492.7
SPY β€’ Daily
65%(117.1%/1354.3%) 0.09x(-48.3%/-56.7%) 0.85x471.4
TSLA β€’ Daily
57%(440.9%/25131.3%) 0.02x(-75.3%/-75.0%) 1.00x372.6
WMT β€’ Daily
59%(476.7%/10620.7%) 0.04x(-60.7%/-50.6%) 1.20x451.6