In previous U.S. presidential elections, September and October have mostly been bearish for the NDX. Additionally, FLU can be profitable during bearish periods. However, it tends to hit stop-losses more frequently if those bearish times are uncertain. If there is a strong drop due to poor stock earnings, then FLU remains safe. But if the NDX price declines slowly due to uncertain factors, the market becomes too choppy, which is not favorable for FLU.
- 2020: September - Bearish, October - Bearish
- 2016: September - Bullish, October - Bearish
- 2012: September - Bearish, October - Mixed (Bearish, then recovery)
- 2008: September - Bearish, October - Bearish
Given this historical context, I will change the trading parameters for FLU for September and October. On November 18, I will revert to the current setup, which has shown good historical performance so far.
I will use bearish tendency settings, which have performed well from 2018 to the present. I prepared these settings using data optimizations from January 2022 to June 2022 and then forward-tested from July 2022 to December 2022. I then ran all these settings on unseen data from 2018 to the present. Even in a bullish market, these bearish-biased settings were profitable, though the total gains were 3x smaller than the current bullish parameters.
If we keep the current "optimistic" settings, we could experience at least a 4% drawdown in September or October. The current settings went into drawdown during the September 2020 elections. We would have had the opportunity to avoid drawdown entirely and earn approximately +4% profits during those two challenging market periods.
Here are the results for the current "optimistic" EA settings:
And here are the results for the "pessimistic" EA settings:
Therefore, even if my analysis is incorrect and this election cycle's September and October turn out to be bullish for NDX, the risk is the same as with the current settings. The only difference is that earnings might be 3x smaller. But in case of bearish months - potential to earn 4% or even 8% in those 2 months are much higher.
I am informing all of you, my dear investors, about this so you can decide on your own how to proceed during these two challenging months.
For now, FLU is at an all-time high, having been profitable for six consecutive months. This is an additional warning sign that with the current settings, a drawdown is very possible.