Learn › Strategies › SMA 10/50 Trend › USDU

SMA 10/50 Trend on USDU

WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund: a long-dollar position against a broad currency basket. 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 USDU turned $10,000 into $12,203 (22.0% total, 3.5% CAGR): it trailed buy-and-hold by 1.7% per year, with a maximum drawdown 1.6 points shallower than holding (7.4% vs 9.0%).
3.5%CAGR
5.2%buy & hold CAGR
−7.4%max drawdown
0.74Sharpe ratio
15round trips
53%win rate
■ SMA 10/50 trend   ■ buy & hold, $10,000 invested 2021-01-04

Year by year

YearSMA 10/50 trendbuy & hold
20210.7%4.1%
20228.7%7.4%
20230.9%3.0%
202411.2%14.3%
20250.3%−3.1%
2026−1.0%4.8%

Month by month

YearJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
20210.0%0.0%0.8%−1.4%0.0%−0.4%0.2%0.5%0.6%−0.4%1.7%−0.8%
20220.4%−0.2%0.8%3.8%−1.2%2.4%0.8%2.4%3.4%0.2%−4.0%0.0%
20230.0%1.1%−1.5%−0.2%1.0%−0.5%−1.8%1.1%2.4%1.5%−2.0%0.0%
20240.4%1.0%0.6%2.1%−0.7%1.9%−0.7%−0.2%0.0%1.6%1.8%3.1%
20250.1%−1.4%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%1.6%−1.3%−0.2%2.2%0.0%−0.6%
2026−2.1%0.0%1.4%−1.8%−0.2%2.3%−1.0%−0.3%0.5%0.3%––

Every trade

SMA 10/50 trend on USDU made 15 closed round trips and one position still open at the end of the test, an average hold of 86 days, an average winner of 3.21%, an average loser of −0.79%, a profit factor of 4.41, a longest losing streak of 2. It held a position at the close on 62.1% of trading days.

EntryEntry priceExitExit priceReturnDays held
2021-03-17$20.502021-04-22$20.37−0.6%36
2021-06-22$20.522021-09-10$20.51−0.1%80
2021-09-21$20.672022-01-10$21.061.9%111
2022-02-07$21.002022-02-09$20.95−0.2%2
2022-03-03$21.142022-11-14$22.978.7%256
2023-02-17$22.652023-04-03$22.51−0.6%45
2023-05-19$22.852023-07-17$22.53−1.4%59
2023-08-08$23.072023-11-17$23.753.0%101
2024-01-22$23.782024-08-12$24.844.5%203
2024-10-09$24.972025-02-21$26.295.3%135
2025-07-28$25.222025-09-18$25.250.1%52
2025-09-30$25.422025-12-17$25.821.6%78
2026-01-16$25.992026-01-27$25.43−2.1%11
2026-03-05$25.962026-04-21$25.85−0.4%47
2026-05-26$26.212026-08-10$26.410.8%76
2026-09-24$26.83open–0.9%–

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
2022-09-272023-07-13−7.4%2892024-06-07330
2025-11-212026-05-29−3.9%189not yet–
2022-05-122022-05-27−2.9%152022-06-1317

Buy-and-hold's deepest drawdown ran from 2022-09-27 to 2023-02-01 and reached −9.0%.

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)3.5%−7.4%$12,2030.74
5 basis points3.3%−7.6%$12,0210.69
10 basis points3.0%−7.8%$11,8410.63

Changing the parameters

VersionCAGRMax drawdownRound tripsWin rateFinal value
Published rules3.5%−7.4%1553%$12,203
SMA 5/503.0%−7.5%2450%$11,853
SMA 20/502.8%−8.7%1464%$11,738
SMA 10/1003.5%−7.6%1070%$12,190

How USDU behaved

MeasureUSDU
Data in this test2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02 (1444 sessions)
Total return, buy and hold34.4%
Annualized volatility6.4%
Deepest drawdown−9.1% (2022-09-27 to 2023-02-01)
Up days50.9%
Average daily range0.54%
Average overnight gap0.26%
Correlation to SPY-0.34
Correlation to QQQ-0.30
Correlation to TLT-0.24
Sessions above the 200-day average79.0%
Crossings of the 200-day average34
Falls of 10% or more from a 20-day high0

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 USDU 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 USDU?

Over 2021-01-04 to 2026-10-02, SMA 10/50 trend on USDU returned 3.5% annualized vs 5.2% for buy-and-hold: it trailed buy-and-hold by 1.7% per year, with a maximum drawdown 1.6 points shallower than holding (7.4% vs 9.0%).

How many trades did it make?

15 completed round trips over 5.7 years (31 fills), with 53% 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

SMA 10/50 Trend on all 59 ETFsfull results table All strategies on USDU12 templates compared RSI(14) Mean Reversion on USDUsame ETF, different rulesRSI(2) Dip Snapback on USDUsame 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.