Sterling Canyon
| Trades | Win rate | Profit factor | Return / DD | Period | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backtest Hypothetical | 798 | 51.6% | 1.42 | 7.8x | 2017-10-10 → 2026-08-21 |
| Live tracking Verified forward | Not yet trading — this row fills in from the tracked account, and cannot be edited afterwards. | ||||
These figures do not depend on position size. A percentage return would: it is decided by the lot size and money management chosen when the test was run, so the same trades can be made to show a modest gain or a spectacular one without a single entry changing. Profit factor and return-per-drawdown are unaffected by that, and they mean the same thing on one instrument as on another. Both include spread, commission and swap. Because we hand over the strategy itself rather than a locked program, you can re-run it at whatever size you actually intend to trade and see the money figures for yourself.
StrategyQuant divided this backtest on 2022-01-03, holding back 423 trades as out-of-sample — marked on the chart. We do not count it as independent evidence: strategies whose held-back period disappointed were never published, so that period took part in choosing this one. The split is in the trade list, which you can download and check.
Backtested results are hypothetical. They come from running the strategy over historical data, with the benefit of hindsight and no capital at risk, and do not represent live trading. The shaded region marks out-of-sample data, which was not used to build the strategy. Past performance, whether backtested or live, is not a reliable indicator of future results. Risk disclosure
This strategy file has not changed since the date above. Verify the copy you download by running shasum -a 256 Full publication ledger →
Catch gold when a strong trend pushes it to a fresh extreme — and don't linger once the move is done.
This strategy watches gold on the hourly chart for periods of confirmed trend strength, then looks for price to break beyond its recent high or low before committing to a trade. Entries only trigger on a genuine push through that range, not in anticipation of one. Both the stop loss and profit target are set as percentages of the entry price, so they scale automatically with gold's price level rather than staying fixed in dollar terms. Positions are given a short window to work before being closed out regardless of outcome, and any order that hasn't triggered is cancelled quickly if the breakout doesn't materialize.
Entries are placed as stop orders once a 40-period ADX reading confirms trend strength, combined with a breakout beyond the 58-period Highest High or below the 58-period Lowest Low. This pairs a trend-strength filter with a breakout trigger, aiming to catch moves that already have directional momentum behind them rather than reacting to noise. The initial stop loss is set at 6.6% of the entry price, while the profit target sits at 4.4% of the entry price — both scaling with gold's prevailing price rather than using a fixed distance. If a trade hasn't resolved within 11 hourly bars it is closed automatically, and pending stop orders that haven't triggered within 2 bars are cancelled. All open positions are closed before the weekend to avoid holding gold exposure over the Saturday/Sunday gap.
- Instrument / Timeframe
- Gold (XAUUSD), H1
- Entry logic
- 40-period ADX trend-strength filter combined with a breakout beyond the 58-period Highest High / Lowest Low
- Order type
- Stop entry (enters on confirmed breakout, not in advance)
- Risk management
- 6.6% percentage-based initial stop → 4.4% percentage-based profit target
- Time management
- 11-bar maximum hold, 2-bar pending order expiry
- Session rules
- Closes all positions before the weekend
- Backtest window
- October 2, 2017 - August 25, 2026