Beat the SPY with Bonds - 20020726
Today’s Change (Mar 18, 2026)
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A symphony is an automated trading strategy — Learn more about symphonies here
About
Daily up/down rotation between SPY and TLT to beat SPY by using bonds when risk rises; stay in SPY on positive trend and calm market signals, switch to longs bonds if volatility climbs or trend weakens.
- Assets used: SPY (US stocks) and TLT (long-term US Treasuries).
- Core idea: Be mostly in stocks when the market looks healthy, but shift into bonds when stock signals weaken or volatility rises.
- How it decides to stay in SPY: If SPY’s longer-term trend is positive (100-day simple moving average above SPY’s 150-day exponential moving average) and short-term price signals aren’t tipping the balance the other way, it aims to allocate fully to SPY (100% stock exposure).
- How it decides to move toward bonds: If the market signals weaken (e.g., SPY price relative to a 5-day average suggests weakness, or SPY’s 10-day volatility exceeds a threshold around 3%), the rule shifts exposure toward TLT (bond exposure).
- Rebalancing: Daily. The two-weight logic with SPY and TLT means the portfolio wavily tilts between the two assets based on the conditions.
- What this means for you: If markets look calm and uptrending, you largely own stocks. If markets get choppier or trend signals weaken, you tilt toward bonds to dampen risk.
- Important caveat for lay readers: This is a mechanical, backtested-looking rule set and does not guarantee outperformance. Real-world results depend on execution, transaction costs, and market regime changes.
In short: The strategy tries to keep you in stocks when things look good and move you into bonds when risk appears higher, with daily checks on trend and recent volatility to guide the decision.
Dynamic SPY/TLT rotation keeps you invested in stocks when uptrends hold and shifts to bonds in riskier markets. Out-of-sample: Sharpe ~0.69, Calmar ~0.61, and drawdowns similar to SPY, delivering disciplined, diversified growth.
1M
3M
6M
YTD
1Y
3Y
Max
Performance
Compared to selected benchmarks
| Alpha | Beta | R2 | R | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.07 | 0.73 | 0.76 | 0.87 |
Performance Metrics
| Cumulative Return | Annualized Return | Trailing 1M Return | Trailing 3M Return | Sharpe Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,107.98% | 11.13% | -1.77% | 0.2% | 0.65 | |
| 3,315.18% | 16.14% | -1.77% | 0.2% | 1.03 |
Initial Investment
$10,000.00
Final Value
$341,517.53Regulatory Fees
$442.59
Total Slippage
$2,944.70
Invest in this strategy
OOS Start Date
Nov 23, 2024
Trading Setting
Daily
Type
Stocks
Category
Market timing, equity/bond rotation, daily rebalance