STEADYTRADE
Strategy backtests · past-window simulation, not investment advice
BTC/USDTETH/USDT

Donchian Breakout · BTC/USDT

The Turtle rule: buy the N-day high, exit the N-day low. Pure trend following.

Total return
1266.3%
10,000 → 136,629
vs buy & hold
+736.4%
over the same period 529.9%
Max drawdown
48.8%
10,000 → 7,190
Longest underwater
756
756 days · 94% of the period
Settings that beat it
4 / 4
of 4 parameter settings tested
Win rate
50%
95% CI 34%–66% · n=32
This beat simply buying and holding.

Over 2018-01-01 → 2026-09-23 it returned 1266.3% against 529.9% for buying once on the first day and never touching it — 736.4% better. All 4 parameter settings tested beat the benchmark; the median returned 694.8%.

It spent 756 days below its previous high at the longest stretch — 94% of the whole period under water.

The win rate on this page is not a readable number. With 32 closed trades the 95% confidence interval runs 34%–66% — it spans a coin flip, so the headline 50% cannot be distinguished from chance at this sample size. It is shown because leaving it out would be worse, not because it supports a conclusion.

Price & fills

Equity

account equitybuy & holddashed = starting capital

65 fills. Signals are taken on the close and filled at the next open.

A 0% risk of ruin here is a property of the test, not a safety rating. These runs are long-only spot with no borrowed money, so there is no margin call and nothing can force the position closed. The account cannot be wiped out — it gets stuck holding the asset instead. Capital deployed (17×) and max drawdown (48.8%) are the numbers that carry the risk on this page. The same rules run on margin would be a different measurement, and this figure would not stay at zero.

Outcome distribution

A single return is one chosen start date. These are 95 runs of the same rules with the start shifted forward 30 days at a time.

Worstp10p25Medianp75p90BestLosing starts
-43.0%-29.8%-14.1% 21.7%87.6% 188.2%593.8%35%

Does it survive its own parameters?

The headline above uses one parameter setting. Here is every setting tested: 4 combinations, median 694.8%, best 1266.3%, worst 635.1%. 4 of them beat buy & hold.

Parameter grid

Donchian Breakout run across its own parameter range over the full period. The same rules flip from profit to loss depending only on the numbers you picked — which is why a single headline return is meaningless on its own.

length 10length 20length 55length 100
635%1266%1238%695%

Hover a cell for trade count and drawdown. “·” = invalid combination (fast ≥ slow).

Year by year

Year201820192020202120222023202420252026
Return-24%75%230%40%-39%36%49%-22%20%
Max DD32%48%24%32%44%20%42%35%12%
Trades332334452

Recent closed trades

ClosedP&L (USDT)Held
2026-09-16 +18842.75 63 bars
2026-05-23 +4151.47 79 bars
2026-01-26 -6752.92 21 bars
2025-11-05 -20764.02 34 bars
2025-09-26 -10575.23 9 bars
2025-08-26 -18735.58 12 bars
2025-08-02 +2607.90 23 bars
2025-06-06 +12900.58 44 bars
2025-02-25 +50226.19 159 bars
2024-09-07 -19992.85 14 bars
2024-08-05 -14532.36 20 bars
2024-06-15 -764.04 30 bars
2024-05-02 +33388.06 84 bars
2024-01-23 +31070.92 113 bars
2023-07-25 +2038.48 34 bars
2023-06-06 +2824.54 83 bars
2023-03-09 -8811.26 21 bars
2023-02-11 +14018.79 59 bars
2022-11-09 -13908.41 57 bars
2022-08-20 -10084.34 31 bars
2022-04-12 -10093.27 63 bars
2021-11-19 +9248.00 44 bars
2021-09-22 +11680.42 58 bars
2021-05-18 +58448.56 219 bars
2020-09-04 +5648.92 150 bars

What it is

Reference — Glowwiki: 기술적 분석
The definitions and formulas below follow that article. It states its own limit plainly:
“지표 교차를 매매 시점으로 보는 해석이 통용되나, 이는 관행적 해석이며 실제 수익으로 이어지는지는 이 문서에서 다루지 않음.”
That is the question this page answers.

Formulas

Channel
upper = max(Hₙ) ; lower = min(Lₙ)
Entry on a new n-period high, exit on a new n-period low

Established

Conventional reading

Listed as convention, not as established fact.

Sources

  1. 기술적 분석 — Glowwiki (ko)
  2. Technical analysis — Wikipedia (en)

Assumptions

Period2018-01-01 → 2026-09-23
Parameters{"length":20}
Fees0.10% taker + 0.05% slippage, both legs
Starting capital10,000 USDT · long-only spot, no leverage
Rolling test365 bars × 95 start dates
Input hash8b67842ea7715cdd

Other strategies · BTC/USDT

Buy & HoldMartingaleGridDCAMA CrossEMA CrossRSI ReversionMACD CrossBollinger ReversionDonchian BreakoutSupertrendStochastic CrossParabolic SAR