Market Indicator: SPY v TLT
Today’s Change (Mar 17, 2026)
—
A symphony is an automated trading strategy — Learn more about symphonies here
About
Daily, a simple RSI(5) momentum check compares SPY vs TLT. If SPY’s RSI(5) > TLT’s RSI(5), allocate 100% to TLT; else allocate 100% to SPY. Fully invested, with a daily rebalance and no cash cushion.
What it does, in plain language:
1) The strategy compares two popular exchange-traded funds: SPY (stocks) and TLT (long-term U.S. Treasuries). It uses a momentum measure called RSI, calculated over the last 5 trading days. RSI is a gauge of how strong and recent price moves have been.
2) If SPY’s RSI is higher than TLT’s RSI, the rule tells the system to invest fully in TLT. If SPY’s RSI is not higher, it invests fully in SPY.
3) The system holds 100% of your capital in the chosen asset and 0% in cash, and it checks/rebalances once per trading day.
4) The idea is to tilt toward the asset that has shown stronger short-term momentum; SPY > TLT momentum pushes you into bonds (TLT), otherwise into stocks (SPY).
Note: RSI is a momentum indicator and this approach is a simple, binary decision between two assets based on very short-term momentum; it can switch direction quickly in choppy markets.
RSI(5) SPY/TLT rotation offers resilient risk control with upside. OOS return ~11.49% vs SPY ~15.49%, yet max drawdown ~16.89% vs ~18.76% and Calmar ~0.68—stronger downside protection and steadier performance than SPY.
1M
3M
6M
YTD
1Y
3Y
Max
Performance
Compared to selected benchmarks
| Alpha | Beta | R2 | R | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.09 | 0.56 | 0.34 | 0.58 |
Performance Metrics
| Cumulative Return | Annualized Return | Trailing 1M Return | Trailing 3M Return | Sharpe Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,091.46% | 11.08% | -1.77% | 0.2% | 0.65 | |
| 2,947.55% | 15.59% | -0.74% | 1.67% | 0.89 |
Initial Investment
$10,000.00
Final Value
$304,754.91Regulatory Fees
$2,736.41
Total Slippage
$18,773.15
Invest in this strategy
OOS Start Date
Nov 25, 2024
Trading Setting
Daily
Type
Stocks
Category
Momentum tilt, spy vs tlt, rsi(5), daily rebalance