IWM Stock: MACD Signal Line Crossover Backtest — +22.0% vs +60.5% Buy-and-Hold
Real backtest of the MACD Signal Line Crossover strategy on IWM over 5 years: +22.0% return vs +60.5% buy-and-hold, 39 trades, 41% win rate, 15.8% max drawdown. Computed on real historical data, not simulated — full trade log and verdict inside.
- Total return: +22.0% (trailed buy-and-hold at +60.5%)
- Win rate: 41% over 39 trades
- Max drawdown: 15.8%
- Sharpe ratio: 0.05
- Period: 5 years of real historical price data
What the numbers say
On IWM, the MACD Signal Line Crossover trailed buy-and-hold over the five years through Nov 2026: +22.0% against +60.5% for simply holding — a gap of 38.5 percentage points. The strategy took 39 completed trades (16 profitable, 23 not), a 41% win rate.
That came with a shallower worst stretch: the strategy's max drawdown was 15.8% versus 27.5% for buy-and-hold. Dollar-cost averaging into IWM over the same window returned +36.1%. Best single trade: +17.9% (2023-11-02 to 2024-01-02); worst: -5.0% (2022-10-04 to 2022-10-14).
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.
A momentum strategy: buy IWM when the MACD line crosses above its signal line, sell when it crosses back below.
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