FINAXIONResearch
Finaxion Research · Smart Money: the liquidity sweep · single stocks · Recomputed 2026-09-10

Does Smart Money: the liquidity sweep work on MSTR?

Smart Money: the liquidity sweep does not beat buy-and-hold on MSTR: -10.7 points a year over 28 years.

Total return
-30.9%
Buy and hold
×13
CAGR
-1.3%
Sharpe
-1.04
Max drawdown
-39.0%
Trades
66
Out of sample
overfit
Years
28
0.1×1×10×38×19992001200320052007200920112013201520172019202120232025
StrategyMSTR

Findings

  1. Smart Money: the liquidity sweep does not beat buy-and-hold on MSTR: -10.7 points a year over 28 years.
  2. Against the S&P 500 over the same window: -10.3 points a year.
  3. Total return -30.9% versus ×13 for buy-and-hold, with 66 trades.
  4. The result does not hold out of sample: it is overfit.
  5. Maximum drawdown -39.0%.
  6. It beats in neither half of the history (split at 2012).
  7. It ranks #65 of 227 markets for this strategy by annual excess over the S&P 500.

Findings derived from the full panel. Each carries its number and its denominator; the computations are reproducible with artifact 2544360d2bb7.

Exactly what was tested

Mechanical approximation: 25-bar low pierced with a close back above it on the same bar → entry; exit after 20 bars.

How to read it

The verdict compares the strategy with buying and holding MSTR over the same window, with round-trip costs per asset class. “Out of sample” is walk-forward: the rule is fit on one stretch and judged on the next. A result that beats in the full sample but not out of it is overfit. Full methodology in the protocol. How we test.

Open this backtest with its trades   Trades (CSV)

Every strategy on MSTR → · Full page for Smart Money: the liquidity sweep →

How to cite

Finaxion Research (2026). Does Smart Money: the liquidity sweep work on MSTR?. Daily backtest 1962-01-01–2026-08-31, artifact 2544360d2bb7. https://finaxion.app/en/research/liquidity-sweep/mstr

Not a recommendation. Past performance does not guarantee future results.