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RSI(2) Dip Snapback on ROM

ProShares Ultra Technology: 2x daily leveraged technology sector. Backtest 2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, $10,000 starting capital, computed by the same engine that runs live DeployQuant strategies.

Result: RSI(2) snapback on ROM turned $10,000 into $26,547 (165.5% total, 18.5% CAGR): it trailed buy-and-hold by 11.7% per year, with a maximum drawdown 27.6 points shallower than holding (39.2% vs 66.8%).
18.5%CAGR
30.2%buy & hold CAGR
−39.2%max drawdown
0.66Sharpe ratio
158round trips
61%win rate
■ RSI(2) snapback   ■ buy & hold, $10,000 invested 2021-01-04

Year by year

YearRSI(2) snapbackbuy & hold
202182.9%81.7%
2022−16.2%−63.0%
202329.0%125.8%
2024−0.9%31.1%
202512.1%35.5%
202620.8%75.0%

Month by month

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
20214.9%5.0%15.7%1.7%8.1%4.6%7.6%6.7%−0.2%6.1%2.9%−0.3%
2022−11.3%2.5%−0.6%0.2%−7.8%−12.8%11.8%0.6%−12.1%8.5%4.5%2.8%
20238.7%−3.2%10.0%1.4%10.7%−0.3%3.8%−3.9%1.7%−1.7%0.0%0.0%
20241.7%10.7%5.5%−3.6%7.6%−3.6%−2.3%−10.9%−6.8%5.8%−4.1%1.3%
20258.5%−9.0%−12.3%14.8%7.0%0.0%3.3%−2.0%7.8%7.1%−9.7%−0.2%
20261.7%−0.5%11.2%−0.5%5.4%10.0%−11.3%−2.5%6.1%1.3%––

Every trade

RSI(2) snapback on ROM made 158 closed round trips, an average hold of 5 days, an average winner of 3.51%, an average loser of −3.67%, a profit factor of 1.40, a longest losing streak of 7. It held a position at the close on 36.4% of trading days.

Best 10 round trips

EntryEntry priceExitExit priceReturnDays held
2025-04-21$43.482025-04-24$48.2010.9%3
2021-05-19$36.942021-05-21$40.6310.0%2
2025-10-23$94.012025-10-27$102.378.9%4
2023-05-24$35.502023-05-26$38.608.7%2
2022-11-29$25.652022-12-01$27.868.6%2
2022-10-03$23.992022-10-05$25.978.3%2
2022-03-14$40.182022-03-17$43.428.1%3
2021-01-19$35.282021-01-21$38.057.8%2
2022-10-28$24.032022-11-01$25.907.8%4
2022-12-06$26.652022-12-13$28.687.6%7

Worst 10 round trips

EntryEntry priceExitExit priceReturnDays held
2025-02-21$73.782025-03-06$59.23−19.7%13
2022-06-10$31.892022-06-16$27.55−13.6%6
2022-09-15$28.642022-09-29$25.10−12.4%14
2024-07-31$62.972024-08-12$56.80−9.8%12
2024-08-30$63.912024-09-11$58.50−8.5%12
2021-12-30$64.892022-01-12$59.45−8.4%13
2021-04-29$44.082021-05-10$40.43−8.3%11
2022-03-02$46.222022-03-10$42.49−8.1%8
2025-11-03$106.442025-11-11$99.13−6.9%8
2026-07-14$143.882026-07-22$134.92−6.2%8

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
2024-05-202025-04-08−39.2%3232026-03-31357
2021-12-152022-10-12−35.2%3012023-05-25225
2026-06-302026-07-29−19.3%29not yet–

Buy-and-hold's deepest drawdown ran from 2021-12-27 to 2022-11-03 and reached −66.8%.

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)18.5%−39.2%$26,5470.66
5 basis points15.4%−40.7%$22,7510.58
10 basis points12.3%−42.2%$19,4930.51

Changing the parameters

VersionCAGRMax drawdownRound tripsWin rateFinal value
Published rules18.5%−39.2%15861%$26,547
RSI(2) < 5 / > 7021.7%−34.1%14661%$30,889
RSI(2) < 15 / > 7019.4%−38.3%16562%$27,665
RSI(2) < 10 / > 6024.3%−37.9%16862%$34,782
RSI(2) < 10 / > 8019.0%−40.8%15362%$27,141

How ROM behaved

MeasureROM
Data in this test2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02 (1444 sessions)
Total return, buy and hold381.1%
Annualized volatility52.1%
Deepest drawdown−67.6% (2021-12-27 to 2022-11-03)
Up days55.9%
Average daily range3.41%
Average overnight gap1.41%
Correlation to SPY0.90
Correlation to QQQ0.97
Correlation to TLT0.07
Sessions above the 200-day average70.7%
Crossings of the 200-day average36
Falls of 10% or more from a 20-day high53

The rules

Buy extreme 2-day RSI washouts under 10, exit as soon as RSI(2) recovers above 70.

  1. WHEN the market opens · IF not invested AND RSI(2) < 10 · THEN buy with 98% of the sleeve
  2. WHEN the market opens · IF invested AND RSI(2) > 70 · THEN sell the whole position

A short-horizon mean-reversion template popularized by Larry Connors' RSI-2 research. A 2-period RSI under 10 flags a sharp multi-day selloff. In assets with a persistent upward drift, those selloffs have tended to snap back within days. Trades are frequent and short. This is the highest-turnover template in the library.

Good for: liquid index ETFs with strong long-term drift; turnover is high so per-trade edges are small.
Watch out: high trade counts make results sensitive to execution quality; a crash that keeps crashing will hand this template several losing entries in a row.

Run RSI(2) snapback on ROM 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 RSI(2) snapback beat buy-and-hold on ROM?

Over 2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, RSI(2) snapback on ROM returned 18.5% annualized vs 30.2% for buy-and-hold: it trailed buy-and-hold by 11.7% per year, with a maximum drawdown 27.6 points shallower than holding (39.2% vs 66.8%).

How many trades did it make?

158 completed round trips over 5.7 years (316 fills), with 61% of round trips closing profitably.

How often does RSI(2) trade?

Far more than RSI(14), with dozens of round trips per year on a volatile ETF. The backtest table on each page shows the exact count over the test window.

Is RSI(2) too fast for daily bars?

It is designed for daily bars. The 2-day window catches short, sharp washouts rather than long regimes.

Related

RSI(2) Dip Snapback on all 59 ETFsfull results table All strategies on ROM12 templates compared RSI(14) Mean Reversion on ROMsame ETF, different rulesGolden Cross (SMA 50/200) on ROMsame ETF, different rules

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.