Double Pop Bots l BrianE l Oct 28th 2011
Today’s Change (Mar 17, 2026)
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A symphony is an automated trading strategy — Learn more about symphonies here
About
A daily-rebalanced botnet using RSI momentum on 3x ETFs (TQQQ, SPXL, SOXL) to buy oversold signals and switch to UVXY on overbought/volatility signals, with a bond-market overlay (BIL, BND, IEF, TLT) to gauge macro regime. Equal-position sizing aims for multiple quick bets in a high-risk, high-leverage setup.
- RSI is a momentum indicator that measures how strong recent price moves are; higher numbers (close to 70–80+) suggest the price has risen a lot recently, while lower numbers (close to 20–30) suggest it has fallen recently. The strategy uses several RSI signals to decide what to buy.
- Core bets target three 3x leveraged equity ETFs: TQQQ (Nasdaq-100), SPXL (S&P 500), and SOXL (semiconductors). When the RSI of a given 3x ETF is very low (around or below 30), the bot buys that 3x ETF on the expectation of a rebound.
- When the RSI of a 3x ETF is very high (around or above 80), the bot goes into UVXY, a volatility-related ETF, to try to profit from a sharp move in market volatility (or to hedge risk).
- There are parallel routines that watch for extreme momentum in the same 3x ETFs and also consider a volatility-driven path (UVXY) tied to those signals.
- In parallel, the system runs a “Pop Bot (SPY vs BND)” layer that looks at momentum between the broad-stock market (SPY) and the bond market (BND) using longer RSI windows (e.g., 60-day and 200-day) to gauge whether the market environment is favorable for risk-on assets or for safer money in Treasuries. If signals imply stress or a non-risk-on regime, it may introduce short-term Treasuries (like BIL) into the mix.
- The whole setup uses cash-equal weighting, meaning when a signal fires, it allocates capital evenly across the active recommendations. The rebalancing cadence is daily.
- The ticker set includes UVXY (volatility), TQQQ/SPXL/SOXL (3x long), SPY (S&P 500), and bond-related ETFs like BND, BIL, IEF, TLT, to implement the macro overlay.
- Overall, it’s a high-risk, high-frequency style approach intended to ride rapid moves with leverage and to hedge with volatility during stressed periods.
Out-of-sample, this strategy targets ~64% annualized return with ~35% max drawdown, outperforming the S&P’s ~23% return and ~19% drawdown. Strong risk-adjusted performance (Sharpe ~1.40, Calmar ~1.81) from momentum plus volatility hedge and macro overlay.
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Invest in this strategy
OOS Start Date
Nov 10, 2022
Trading Setting
Daily
Type
Stocks
Category
Leveraged etfs, momentum, volatility hedge, macro overlay, daily rebalance
Tickers in this symphonyThis symphony trades 9 assets in total
Ticker
Type
BIL
State Street SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF
Stocks
BND
Vanguard Total Bond Market
Stocks
IEF
iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF
Stocks
SOXL
Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF
Stocks
SPXL
Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3x ETF
Stocks
SPY
State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
Stocks
TLT
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF
Stocks
TQQQ
ProShares UltraPro QQQ
Stocks
UVXY
ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF
Stocks