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

Does Smart Money: the liquidity sweep work on ULTA?

Smart Money: the liquidity sweep does not beat buy-and-hold on ULTA: -18.0 points a year over 19 years.

Total return
-22.7%
Buy and hold
×18
CAGR
-1.4%
Sharpe
-1.46
Max drawdown
-24.8%
Trades
56
Out of sample
—
Years
19
1×10×2008201020122014201620182020202220242026
StrategyULTA

Findings

  1. Smart Money: the liquidity sweep does not beat buy-and-hold on ULTA: -18.0 points a year over 19 years.
  2. Against the S&P 500 over the same window: -12.3 points a year.
  3. Total return -22.7% versus ×18 for buy-and-hold, with 56 trades.
  4. Maximum drawdown -24.8%.
  5. It beats in neither half of the history (split at 2017).
  6. It ranks #152 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 ULTA 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 ULTA → · Full page for Smart Money: the liquidity sweep →

How to cite

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

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