EdgeStacker
Library
Trend · AAPL · 1D

Does EMA 20/50 trend rider actually work on AAPL? We tested it

We ran EMA 20/50 trend rider on AAPL through walk-forward testing and a 100-run random-entry gauntlet. 3 of 4 unseen periods positive. Beat 79 of 100 random-entry runs.

WALK-FORWARD VERIFIED EDGESTACKER ENGINE
Return +142.6%
Win rate 40.0%
Max drawdown −22.7%
Trades 25
Sharpe 0.82
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 +33.6% 1.34 3
2 Jul 2020 to Jul 2022 +8.7% 0.47 5
3 Jul 2022 to Jul 2024 +44.7% 1.64 4
4 Jul 2024 to Jul 2026 −11.3% −0.67 5
3 of 4 periods positive. Mean Sharpe 0.70. Worst period −11.3%.
Market matrix
Edge held on 7 of 28

The same rules, tested on 28 tickers. Edge held on 7. We ship it on those.

AAPL SHIPPED
79/100 EDGE
NFLX
97/100 EDGE
META
95/100 EDGE
AMD
94/100 EDGE
MSTR
89/100 EDGE
QQQ
86/100 EDGE
NVDA
80/100 EDGE
Show every ticker we tested
RIOT
94/100 NONE
COIN
93/100 NONE
XOM
80/100 NONE
UBER
68/100 NONE
MSFT
66/100 NONE
SPY
58/100 NONE
IWM
53/100 NONE
PLTR
52/100 NONE
GLD
45/100 NONE
AVGO
44/100 NONE
DIA
39/100 NONE
GOOGL
30/100 NONE
MU
30/100 NONE
JPM
30/100 NONE
AMZN
29/100 NONE
TSLA
26/100 NONE
BA
19/100 NONE
SOFI
14/100 NONE
SMCI
5/100 NONE
MARA
5/100 NONE
HOOD
too new TOO NEW
The rules
Entrywhen EMA of close over 20 bars crosses above EMA of close over 50 bars
Exitwhen a signal fires (close crosses below EMA of close over 50 bars), or stop-loss at -10%
Sizing**Position size:** risk 1% of account → position ≈ 10.0% of account (1% ÷ stop 10%).
Diagnosis

This strategy made money, turning a 142.57% total return, but the ride was very lumpy. The worst stretch was a painful 22.70% drawdown that lasted from mid-2024 into April 2026, which is where it hurt the most. With only 25 trades over the entire period, the result is driven by a relatively small number of trades, and the 40% win rate means most trades lost money, but the winners were big enough to carry the overall profit. The entry-timing edge shows that real entries beat 79% of random entries, so the entry signal itself is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. The consistency figure shows the edge was reliable, as the strategy was profitable in 3 out of 4 walk-forward test periods, meaning the performance wasn't just from one lucky stretch.

Run this on your own account.

Sign up free. EdgeStacker runs a fresh backtest for you, then alerts you on the Today screen when the setup fires.

Test it yourself, free
Backtested results, not live trading returns. Fees and slippage included. Not investment advice.