GOOGL Stock: Golden Cross (50/200 SMA) Backtest — +106.5% vs +178.8% Buy-and-Hold
Real backtest of the Golden Cross (50/200 SMA) strategy on GOOGL over 5 years: +106.5% return vs +178.8% buy-and-hold, 2 trades, 100% win rate, 30.2% max drawdown. Computed on real historical data, not simulated — full trade log and verdict inside.
- Total return: +106.5% (trailed buy-and-hold at +178.8%)
- Win rate: 100% over 2 trades
- Max drawdown: 30.2%
- Sharpe ratio: 0.60
- Period: 5 years of real historical price data
What the numbers say
On GOOGL, the Golden Cross (50/200 SMA) trailed buy-and-hold over the five years through Nov 2026: +106.5% against +178.8% for simply holding — a gap of 72.3 percentage points. The strategy took 2 completed trades (2 profitable, 0 not), a 100% win rate — a small sample, so read this as a clue about the rule, not proof.
That came with a shallower worst stretch: the strategy's max drawdown was 30.2% versus 30.6% for buy-and-hold. Dollar-cost averaging into GOOGL over the same window returned +89.0%. Best single trade: +49.7% (2025-07-23 to 2026-10-29); worst: +37.9% (2023-05-03 to 2025-04-08).
Computed by StratIQ's backtest engine on real daily prices through Nov 2026 (generated 2026-11-12). Fills are assumed at the close with a 5% stop-loss; slippage and commissions are not modeled. This is a historical study of a rule — not a pick, not a recommendation, and not financial advice.
One of the most widely cited trend-following signals: go long Google (GOOGL) when the 50-day SMA crosses above the 200-day SMA (a 'golden cross'), exit when it crosses back below (a 'death cross').
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