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The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Investment Strategies / Mechanical Investing
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Author: rayvt 🐝  😊 😞
Number: of 6131 
Subject: Timing period examined, 200 vs 325 days
Date: 03/18/26 9:59 AM
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No. of Recommendations: 15
What with the current mentions of timing with the 325 day SMA it seems worthwhile to examine that using the timing spreadsheet I created a while back.

This is the S&P 500 (including dividends) from 1950 to 2024. This is weekly, not daily or monthly.
To avoid whiplash near the SMA crossover point, the sell signal is when the current price drops 1% below the SMA. The buy signal is at or above the SMA.
When OUT, the return is that of the 1 year T-bill.

Two interesting metrics that are not usually shown are the CAGR return when IN and when OUT. A positive return when OUT is money that is left on the table.

GTT is Growth and Trend Timing (do not sell if two FRED economy indicators are positive).
43 weeks ~= 10 months ~= 215 days
65 weeks ~= 15 months ~= 325 days

Buy & hold (no timing)
When IN When OUT
11.4% N/A 11.4% CAGR
-51% MaxDD
2/5/1950 1.05 Sortino
3/4/2024 15% stdev


===============================================
SMA 43 week (~200 days) -1% sell
When IN When OUT
13.3% 6.4% 9.5% CAGR
-24% MaxDD
2/5/1950 1.28 Sortino
3/4/2024 11% stdev

---------------
SMA 65 week (~325 days) -1% sell
When IN When OUT
13.1% 6.3% 9.7% CAGR
-26% MaxDD
2/5/1950 1.28 Sortino
3/4/2024 11% stdev


===============================================
GTT 43 week (~200 days) SMA -1% sell
When IN When OUT
13.9% -1.2% 11.6% CAGR
-26% MaxDD
2/5/1950 1.90 Sortino
3/4/2024 12% stdev

---------------
GTT 65 week (~325 days) SMA -1% sell
When IN When OUT
13.2% 2.6% 10.9% CAGR
-26% MaxDD
2/5/1950 1.52 Sortino
3/4/2024 12% stdev

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