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Drawdown Dip Buyer + 8% Target on SPDN

Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 1X Shares: Direxion's -1x daily S&P 500 fund. Backtest 2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, $10,000 starting capital, computed by the same engine that runs live DeployQuant strategies.

Result: dip buyer on SPDN turned $10,000 into $9,046 (−9.5% total, −1.7% CAGR): it beat buy-and-hold by 7.9% per year, with a maximum drawdown 22.1 points shallower than holding (24.1% vs 46.2%).
−1.7%CAGR
−9.7%buy & hold CAGR
−24.1%max drawdown
-0.23Sharpe ratio
2round trips
100%win rate
■ dip buyer   ■ buy & hold, $10,000 invested 2021-01-04

Year by year

Yeardip buyerbuy & hold
20210.0%−24.3%
202216.8%18.2%
20230.0%−14.7%
20240.0%−12.6%
2025−15.7%−10.7%
2026−8.2%−8.1%

Month by month

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
20210.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%
20220.0%0.0%2.0%6.2%0.0%0.0%0.0%6.8%0.9%0.0%0.0%0.0%
20230.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%
20240.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%
20250.0%0.0%0.0%−0.3%−5.4%−4.3%−1.5%−1.3%−2.8%−1.8%0.3%0.5%
2026−1.0%1.3%5.5%−8.9%−4.3%1.3%0.6%−2.1%0.9%−0.9%––

Every trade

dip buyer on SPDN made 2 closed round trips and one position still open at the end of the test, an average hold of 24 days, an average winner of 8.24%. It held a position at the close on 27.2% of trading days.

EntryEntry priceExitExit priceReturnDays held
2022-03-30$11.942022-04-25$12.958.5%26
2022-08-11$12.722022-09-01$13.748.0%21
2025-04-28$10.93open–−23.0%–

Prices are adjusted for splits and dividends, so they sit below the quotes printed at the time. An open position is marked at the last close.

Largest drawdowns

PeakLow pointDepthDays to lowRecoveredDays to recover
2025-04-282026-08-13−24.1%472not yet–
2022-08-112022-08-16−2.1%52022-08-226
2022-08-232022-08-25−1.6%22022-08-261

Buy-and-hold's deepest drawdown ran from 2021-01-04 to 2026-08-13 and reached −46.2%.

With trading costs

The headline run fills at the bar price. These runs charge slippage on every fill.

Slippage per fillCAGRMax drawdownFinal valueSharpe
None (headline)−1.7%−24.1%$9,046-0.23
5 basis points−1.8%−24.1%$9,031-0.23
10 basis points−1.8%−24.1%$9,026-0.23

Changing the parameters

VersionCAGRMax drawdownRound tripsWin rateFinal value
Published rules−1.7%−24.1%2100%$9,046
-7% drawdown / 8% target−5.8%−41.7%2100%$7,095
-15% drawdown / 8% target0.0%−0.0%0–$10,000
-10% drawdown / 6% target−2.4%−24.1%2100%$8,690
-10% drawdown / 10% target−1.2%−24.1%2100%$9,348

How SPDN behaved

MeasureSPDN
Data in this test2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02 (1444 sessions)
Total return, buy and hold−46.2%
Annualized volatility16.4%
Deepest drawdown−47.1% (2021-01-04 to 2026-08-13)
Up days45.6%
Average daily range1.14%
Average overnight gap0.44%
Correlation to SPY-1.00
Correlation to QQQ-0.94
Correlation to TLT-0.08
Sessions above the 200-day average22.6%
Crossings of the 200-day average48
Falls of 10% or more from a 20-day high7

The rules

Wait for a 10% drawdown from the 20-day high, buy it, and take profit at +8%.

  1. WHEN the market opens · IF not invested AND the 20-day drawdown is worse than −10% · THEN buy with 98% of the sleeve
  2. WHILE invested · a managed limit order rests at entry price × 1.08

A rule-based buy-the-dip. The entry is a measured 10% drawdown inside the trailing 20 sessions, and the exit is a resting +8% limit order. Between signals the sleeve sits in cash, so the template can wait months for an entry.

Good for: assets that sell off hard and recover; it trades volatility without chasing strength.
Watch out: no stop-loss: if the dip keeps falling, the position rides it down until the +8% target is reached or the strategy is stopped. Trade counts are low, so single trades dominate results.

Run dip buyer on SPDN yourself, free →

Build it from blocks (or type it in English), backtest it on 5.7 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

Did dip buyer beat buy-and-hold on SPDN?

Over 2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, dip buyer on SPDN returned −1.7% annualized vs −9.7% for buy-and-hold: it beat buy-and-hold by 7.9% per year, with a maximum drawdown 22.1 points shallower than holding (24.1% vs 46.2%).

How many trades did it make?

2 completed round trips over 5.7 years (5 fills), with 100% of round trips closing profitably.

What counts as a 10% dip?

The engine computes the worst peak-to-trough move within the last 20 sessions. When it is deeper than −10%, the entry condition is met. Both the window and the threshold are editable parameters.

Related

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Backtests are hypothetical, computed by DeployQuant's engine on minute-resolution consolidated US market data (2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, $10,000 starting capital, no margin, no fees or slippage in the headline run; buy-and-hold puts 98% of the account in at the first open, as the templates do) and do not guarantee future results. Nothing on this page is investment advice. Live trading involves risk of loss.