3-Month Momentum Switch on Charles Schwab
Hold while the trailing 3-month return is positive momentum (>+5% to enter, <0% to exit). Deployed to your own Charles Schwab account — no code, your assets never leave the broker.
Setup on Charles Schwab
- Click Connect on the Brokerage page — you'll authorize DeployQuant on Schwab's own site with scoped trade & read permissions.
- Build or fork a strategy and backtest it on minute-resolution history.
- Deploy to Schwab with its own cash allocation, isolated in a sleeve.
- Confirm live trading explicitly before the first real order.
- Monitor every decision in the journal; pause anything with one switch.
The strategy
- WHEN the market opens · IF not invested AND the 63-day return > +5% · THEN buy with 98% of the sleeve
- WHEN the market opens · IF invested AND the 63-day return < 0% · THEN sell the whole position
Good for: assets with long, persistent cycles — index, sector, and even managed-futures ETFs.
Watch out: a three-month lookback is slow; V-shaped crashes and recoveries can see it exit near the bottom and re-enter well off the low.
Strongest backtests for this strategy
| ETF | CAGR | max DD | trades |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOXL | 23.1% | −74.2% | 24 |
| SOXX | 15.4% | −35.5% | 15 |
| QLD | 13.1% | −36.1% | 15 |
| CLSE | 12.8% | −8.0% | 6 |
| TQQQ | 10.8% | −55.5% | 20 |
| VOX | 10.1% | −13.0% | 11 |
| IAU | 9.7% | −19.2% | 8 |
| SPUU | 9.5% | −38.6% | 16 |
Top-8 by CAGR shown of 59 tested — hindsight selection; see the full table including the losers.
Build it from blocks (or type it in English), backtest it on 5.5 years of minute data in seconds, tweak any parameter, then paper trade it on live data. No card, no broker needed to start.
Frequently asked questions
How do I automate 3-month momentum on Charles Schwab?
Connect Charles Schwab to DeployQuant (trade & read permissions only), pick the 3-Month Momentum Switch template or describe it in English, backtest it on your chosen ETF, allocate cash, and confirm live trading. The strategy then runs every session in its own sleeve inside your Charles Schwab account.
Why 63 days?
63 trading days ≈ one quarter — the classic momentum lookback. It's a parameter you can sweep in DeployQuant to see how horizon changes behavior.
Backtests are hypothetical, computed by DeployQuant's engine on minute-resolution consolidated US market data (2021-01-04 to 2026-07-17, $10,000 starting capital, no margin, fees and slippage not modeled) and do not guarantee future results. Nothing on this page is investment advice. Live trading involves risk of loss.