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Does Keltner channel breakout actually work on GLD? We tested it

We ran Keltner channel breakout on GLD through walk-forward testing and a 100-run random-entry gauntlet. 3 of 4 unseen periods positive. Beat 86 of 100 random-entry runs.

WALK-FORWARD VERIFIED EDGESTACKER ENGINE
Return +50.7%
Win rate 45.0%
Max drawdown −13.9%
Trades 40
Sharpe 0.57
Equity curve

Equity curve over Aug 2016 to Jul 2026. Hover any point for its value. Turn on buy and hold to compare.

PeriodWindowReturnSharpeTrades
1 Aug 2018 to Jul 2020 +19.1% 1.25 9
2 Jul 2020 to Jul 2022 −0.1% 0.03 4
3 Jul 2022 to Jul 2024 +11.3% 0.73 9
4 Jul 2024 to Jul 2026 +15.8% 0.68 10
3 of 4 periods positive. Mean Sharpe 0.67. Worst period −0.1%.
Market matrix
Edge held on 5 of 28

The same rules, tested on 28 tickers. Edge held on 5. We ship it on those.

GLD SHIPPED
86/100 EDGE
RIOT
99/100 EDGE
TSLA
95/100 EDGE
MSTR
87/100 EDGE
AMD
80/100 EDGE
Show every ticker we tested
MARA
89/100 NONE
NVDA
69/100 NONE
BA
66/100 NONE
NFLX
62/100 NONE
AAPL
59/100 NONE
COIN
57/100 NONE
SOFI
57/100 NONE
META
54/100 NONE
MSFT
53/100 NONE
UBER
52/100 NONE
PLTR
50/100 NONE
GOOGL
48/100 NONE
JPM
47/100 NONE
XOM
44/100 NONE
SMCI
39/100 NONE
AVGO
33/100 NONE
DIA
30/100 NONE
MU
23/100 NONE
AMZN
21/100 NONE
IWM
20/100 NONE
QQQ
6/100 NONE
SPY
1/100 NONE
HOOD
too new TOO NEW
The rules
Entrywhen close crosses above KELTNER upper band of close over 20 bars
Exitwhen a signal fires (close crosses below KELTNER midline of close over 20 bars)
Sizing**Position size:** no fixed stop distance to size against. This strategy exits on signal only. Size by conviction, or add a hard stop for a size-by-risk number.
Diagnosis

This strategy made money overall, turning a 50.66% total return on GLD over the test period. The ride was fairly lumpy, with a Sharpe ratio of 0.57 and a max drawdown of -13.87%, which happened in a concentrated stretch from late January to early February 2026. The worst drawdown was sharp and brief, lasting only a few days, but it cut deeply into your account. The result is not driven by just a few lucky trades, as the average trade returned a modest 1.12% and the win rate was 45%, meaning profits came from a mix of winners and losers. The entry timing is doing most of the heavy lifting here, since your real entries beat 86% of random entry runs, so the exits are not the main source of edge. The edge is not consistent across all periods, as the strategy was profitable in only 3 out of 4 walk-forward test periods, meaning one losing stretch hurt the overall result.

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