Build and backtest your own cycle strategies

How it works

1. Step 01

   Choose a mode

   Standard mode tests the days when two bodies form an aspect, a set angle between them such as 90°. Cycle mode splits the angle between two bodies into phases you define, each marked long or short.

2. Step 02

   Set the rules

   Pick two bodies, from the Sun to Pluto plus the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu, an orb (how far from exact still counts) and a date range. Add aspects, a direction and an exit, or in Cycle mode your phase angles and timeframe.

3. Step 03

   Run the backtest

   Each run finds every signal in your date range and tests it on E-mini S&P 500 futures (ES=F) prices. Trades are rebuilt on every run, so each change to a rule is tested across the whole range.

4. Step 04

   Review and save

   Read the trade list, equity curve, regime overlay and exit tables. On the Pro plan you can save a strategy to your library, and the upcoming signal dates shown when you saved it appear on your Trade Calendar.

Total Trades, Win Rate and Total Return

Total Trades counts closed trades, with winners and losers in brackets. Win Rate is winners divided by closed trades, and only a trade that made money counts as a win. Total Return adds up the per-trade percentage returns without compounding, with the average trade below it.

Upcoming Signals

Signal dates from today through the End Date of your test, each labeled with its aspect or phase. On the Pro plan, a bookmark on each date adds it to your watchlist.

Trade chart and Trade History

A daily ES=F candlestick chart marks the entry and exit of each closed trade. The table lists every trade, newest first, with entry and exit dates, percent return and W or L, and a dash where a trade has no exit yet.

Equity Curve & Regime Cycles

Your trades compounded from an editable starting capital (default $1,000), with End Equity, Total Return, Max Drawdown and Win Rate. This Total Return compounds, so it differs from the stat card’s simple sum. Max Drawdown is the largest fall from a previous high.

HOT and COLD regime

Green (HOT) dots mark trades where the fitted cycle (solid orange line) was rising, red (COLD) dots where it was falling. A dashed line extends the fit ahead, and the regime forecast summarizes where that extension sits relative to the midline. It is a fit to past trades, not a prediction.

Bartels test

Checks whether wins and losses bunch up at particular phases of the strongest detected cycle. A lower p-value means the bunching is less likely to be chance. Low enough p-values are labeled Strong, Significant or Weak, with Strong for the lowest. A result that covers too few turns of the cycle is marked low confidence.

Trade Filter Comparison

Compares all trades with two subsets. Williams A/D keeps trades where the Williams Accumulation/Distribution indicator, a running total of buying and selling pressure, supported the trade’s direction on the entry day. EC HOT keeps trades where the strategy’s recent trades, the trade itself included, were mostly winners with a net gain.

Take-Profit and Stop-Loss Optimizers

Tests your trades with one fixed take-profit or stop-loss, a set gain or loss that ends a trade, across a range of levels. Hit Rate and Trigger Rate show how often price rose or fell that far from entry. Each table marks a Suggested level based on those rates.

Yearly Returns

One bar per calendar year of entry, green or red by sign, showing that year’s trade returns added together. The tooltip also shows the year’s profit in price points for one unit.

Questions about Strategy Builder

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