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SMA 10/50 Trend on ALTY

Global X Alternative Income ETF: a multi-asset income basket: MLPs, REITs, preferreds and more. Backtest 2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, $10,000 starting capital, computed by the same engine that runs live DeployQuant strategies.

Result: SMA 10/50 trend on ALTY turned $10,000 into $11,790 (17.9% total, 2.9% CAGR): it trailed buy-and-hold by 4.7% per year, with a maximum drawdown 3.2 points shallower than holding (15.0% vs 18.3%).
2.9%CAGR
7.6%buy & hold CAGR
−15.0%max drawdown
0.46Sharpe ratio
17round trips
41%win rate
■ SMA 10/50 trend   ■ buy & hold, $10,000 invested 2021-01-04

Year by year

YearSMA 10/50 trendbuy & hold
20215.0%23.9%
2022−10.1%−11.4%
202310.6%10.7%
20241.0%10.1%
20259.4%11.1%
20262.2%3.9%

Month by month

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
20210.0%0.0%−0.7%6.2%1.2%1.3%0.1%0.3%−1.5%0.0%−1.9%0.0%
2022−2.9%0.0%−0.1%−4.9%0.1%0.0%1.7%−3.4%−0.4%0.0%1.9%−2.4%
20236.8%−2.3%0.9%0.7%−2.6%0.4%2.5%−3.5%0.0%0.0%3.6%4.1%
2024−0.1%−0.3%2.3%−4.4%−0.9%0.8%3.2%2.1%2.1%−0.9%0.9%−3.5%
2025−0.7%1.7%−1.6%0.1%0.5%2.3%1.0%1.3%1.4%1.1%1.8%0.3%
20262.8%2.5%−4.1%0.8%0.1%1.1%0.0%0.4%−1.2%0.0%––

Every trade

SMA 10/50 trend on ALTY made 17 closed round trips, an average hold of 83 days, an average winner of 5.71%, an average loser of −2.13%, a profit factor of 1.83, a longest losing streak of 5. It held a position at the close on 66.8% of trading days.

EntryEntry priceExitExit priceReturnDays held
2021-03-17$8.492021-07-26$9.218.5%131
2021-08-02$9.342021-09-27$9.22−1.2%56
2021-10-22$9.422021-11-30$9.23−1.9%39
2022-01-04$9.502022-01-26$9.22−3.0%22
2022-03-30$9.302022-05-02$8.83−5.0%33
2022-07-28$8.782022-09-08$8.59−2.1%42
2022-11-16$8.382023-03-07$8.794.8%111
2023-04-14$8.732023-05-16$8.56−2.0%32
2023-06-13$8.732023-08-16$8.67−0.7%64
2023-11-14$8.562024-02-20$9.217.6%98
2024-03-01$9.292024-04-19$9.09−2.2%49
2024-05-13$9.542024-11-05$10.166.5%176
2024-11-11$10.372024-12-20$10.10−2.6%39
2025-01-22$10.532025-03-17$10.47−0.6%54
2025-03-28$10.472025-04-01$10.480.1%4
2025-05-15$10.302026-03-23$11.4611.3%312
2026-04-16$11.942026-09-14$12.081.2%151

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
2021-06-142022-12-28−15.0%5622025-08-22968
2026-03-022026-04-16−4.7%45not yet–
2021-05-102021-05-12−4.0%22021-06-0120

Buy-and-hold's deepest drawdown ran from 2022-01-04 to 2022-10-14 and reached −18.3%.

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)2.9%−15.0%$11,7900.46
5 basis points2.6%−15.5%$11,5970.42
10 basis points2.3%−16.0%$11,4070.37

Changing the parameters

VersionCAGRMax drawdownRound tripsWin rateFinal value
Published rules2.9%−15.0%1741%$11,790
SMA 5/504.1%−12.4%1947%$12,570
SMA 20/502.0%−18.4%1638%$11,196
SMA 10/1001.4%−17.4%1429%$10,808

How ALTY behaved

MeasureALTY
Data in this test2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02 (1444 sessions)
Total return, buy and hold55.4%
Annualized volatility10.4%
Deepest drawdown−18.6% (2022-01-04 to 2022-10-14)
Up days52.1%
Average daily range0.81%
Average overnight gap0.41%
Correlation to SPY0.75
Correlation to QQQ0.65
Correlation to TLT0.23
Sessions above the 200-day average75.3%
Crossings of the 200-day average29
Falls of 10% or more from a 20-day high1

The rules

A faster moving-average crossover: hold while the 10-day average is above the 50-day.

  1. WHEN the market opens · IF not invested AND SMA(10) > SMA(50) · THEN buy with 98% of the sleeve
  2. WHEN the market opens · IF invested AND SMA(10) < SMA(50) · THEN sell the whole position

A faster version of the golden cross. The 10- and 50-day averages catch intermediate trends measured in weeks rather than years. It enters recoveries earlier and exits breakdowns earlier, with more whipsaw trades in sideways markets. Useful for seeing how signal speed changes a strategy's results.

Good for: trending assets with multi-week swings, such as leveraged index ETFs.
Watch out: several false signals a year is normal; each whipsaw costs a small loss and they add up in flat markets.

Run SMA 10/50 trend on ALTY 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 SMA 10/50 trend beat buy-and-hold on ALTY?

Over 2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, SMA 10/50 trend on ALTY returned 2.9% annualized vs 7.6% for buy-and-hold: it trailed buy-and-hold by 4.7% per year, with a maximum drawdown 3.2 points shallower than holding (15.0% vs 18.3%).

How many trades did it make?

17 completed round trips over 5.7 years (34 fills), with 41% of round trips closing profitably.

Why 10 and 50 days?

A common intermediate-trend pairing. It reacts within weeks and ignores single bad days. Both windows are editable parameters in DeployQuant.

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.