Trading systems
Fifty documented trading systems, taken apart rule by rule.
Every system here comes from a published source — the Turtle rules, Weinstein's stages, O'Neil's CAN SLIM, Graham's defensive criteria — and each one is broken into five pages: the rules, the sizing, the markets it needs, how it fails, and a version written for someone starting from zero.
50 systems · Documented sources only
Trend following
9 systems
Price moves persist for longer than a coin flip would predict, and the cost of being late to a real trend is smaller than the cost of being early to a fake one.
- Trend followingBeginnerMechanical
Golden Cross / Death Cross
Technical analysis folklore; popularised by market technicians and the financial press
Own the market while the 50-day moving average is above the 200-day, and stand aside while it is not.
- Holding period
- Months to years
- Time needed
- Five minutes a week
- Trend followingBeginnerMechanical
SMA 5/10 Adaptive Crossover
Community / general technical analysis
Buy when the 5-day average crosses above the 10-day and sell when it crosses back — but after a choppy stretch, make the buy signal prove itself for a few bars first.
- Holding period
- Days to weeks
- Time needed
- 10 minutes after the close
- Trend followingIntermediateDiscretionary
Weinstein Stage Analysis
Stan Weinstein
Put every chart into one of four stages, and only own the ones in Stage 2 — above a rising 30-week moving average, breaking out on heavy volume.
- Holding period
- Months to over a year
- Time needed
- An hour a week on weekly charts
- Trend followingIntermediateMechanical
Weinstein Stage 4 Short
Stan Weinstein
Sell short only once a stock is below a 30-week moving average that has itself rolled over, and is lagging the market — then cover when price reclaims the line.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 20 minutes a day while positioned
- Trend followingIntermediateMechanical
ADX + DI Directional Movement
J. Welles Wilder Jr.
Go long when the positive directional line crosses above the negative one — but only while ADX, a separate reading, says the market is trending at all.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 15 minutes after the close
- Trend followingIntermediateMechanical
Elder Triple Screen
Dr Alexander Elder
Let the weekly chart decide which direction you are allowed to trade, then use the daily chart to wait for a pullback and buy into it.
- Holding period
- Days to weeks
- Time needed
- 30 minutes a day
- Trend followingIntermediateMechanical
Holy Grail Setup (Raschke)
Linda Bradford Raschke and Laurence Connors
When ADX confirms a strong trend, buy the first pullback to the 20-period moving average and target the prior swing high.
- Holding period
- Days
- Time needed
- 30 minutes a day
- Trend followingAdvancedMechanical
Ichimoku Cloud Trend
Goichi Hosoda, writing as Ichimoku Sanjin
Five lines that show trend, momentum and expected support in one picture — with the support levels drawn a month ahead of current price.
- Holding period
- Weeks
- Time needed
- 20 minutes a day
- Trend followingAdvancedDiscretionary
Livermore Pivot-Point Trend
Jesse Livermore
Wait for price to break decisively through a key level, commit a fifth of your intended position, and add more only once the market has moved in your favour.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 30-60 minutes a day watching price
Breakout
9 systems
The boundary of a range is where the largest cluster of resting orders sits, so the move that clears it tends to keep going rather than stop.
- BreakoutBeginnerMechanical
Donchian Channel Breakout
Richard Donchian
Buy when price makes a new four-week high, sell when it makes a new four-week low, and do nothing else.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 10 minutes a day
- BreakoutIntermediateMechanical
Turtle Trading Breakout
Richard Dennis & William Eckhardt; documented by Curtis Faith
Buy when price makes a new 20-day high, size the position from recent volatility, add to it while it works, and leave on a 10-day low.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 15 minutes after the close
- BreakoutIntermediateMechanical
Keltner Channel Breakout
Chester Keltner, modernised by Linda Raschke
Draw a moving average with bands set by recent volatility, and trade closes outside the bands in the direction the average is already pointing.
- Holding period
- Days to weeks
- Time needed
- 20 minutes a day
- BreakoutIntermediateMechanical
Bollinger Band Squeeze Breakout
John Bollinger
Wait until the bands compress to the narrowest they have been in months, then trade whichever direction price breaks out of the compression.
- Holding period
- Days to weeks
- Time needed
- 20 minutes a day
- BreakoutIntermediateMechanical
Darvas Box Breakout
Nicolas Darvas
Wait for a stock to settle into a box of recent highs and lows, buy the break of the box top on heavy volume, and sell when it falls through the floor.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 20 minutes a day
- BreakoutIntermediateMechanical
NR7 Narrow-Range Breakout
Toby Crabel
Find the bar with the narrowest high-to-low range of the last seven, then buy a break above that bar's high on the following session.
- Holding period
- One to five days
- Time needed
- 15 minutes after the close
- BreakoutIntermediateMechanical
Volatility Breakout (Larry Williams)
Larry Williams
Set a price trigger at today's open plus half of yesterday's range, buy the moment price trades through it, and be out by the close.
- Holding period
- Intraday
- Time needed
- Active through the session
- BreakoutIntermediateMechanical
Opening Range Breakout (ORB)
Toby Crabel
Mark the high and low of the first 30 minutes, buy when price breaks above that high, exit if it falls back through the low — and be out by the close either way.
- Holding period
- Minutes to hours (never overnight)
- Time needed
- The first half of the session
- BreakoutAdvancedDiscretionary
Wyckoff Accumulation/Distribution
Richard D. Wyckoff
Decide whether a trading range is large buyers accumulating or distributing, then join the move once the structure confirms it rather than guessing the low.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 30-60 minutes a day reading charts
Momentum
6 systems
Relative strength persists over horizons of months, because information and capital both arrive gradually rather than all at once.
- MomentumBeginnerMechanical
Dual Momentum (GEM)
Gary Antonacci
Once a month, pick the stronger of two equity markets — then check it is beating cash, and hold bonds instead if it is not.
- Holding period
- Monthly
- Time needed
- 15 minutes a month
- MomentumBeginnerMechanical
MACD Signal-Line Crossover
Gerald Appel
Buy when the MACD line crosses above its signal line, sell when it crosses back below — one indicator, one rule, on daily bars.
- Holding period
- Days to weeks
- Time needed
- 10 minutes a day
- MomentumIntermediateMechanical
Relative-Strength Sector Rotation
Tom Dorsey; after Robert Levy's 1967 relative-strength study
Rank the market's sectors by how much they are beating the index, hold the leaders, and rebuild the list every quarter.
- Holding period
- One to several quarters
- Time needed
- An hour a quarter
- MomentumAdvancedMechanical
Minervini SEPA Trend Template
Mark Minervini
Filter for stocks already in a textbook uptrend, wait for their volatility to contract into a tight pivot, and buy the breakout with a stop close enough to size against.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 30 minutes a day plus a weekly screen
- MomentumAdvancedDiscretionary
CAN SLIM Growth System
William J. O'Neil
Buy the market's leading growth stocks — accelerating earnings, institutional buying, a fresh high — but only from a proper chart base, and only while the market itself is advancing.
- Holding period
- Weeks to months
- Time needed
- 2-3 hours a week screening and tracking earnings
- MomentumBeginnerMechanical
9/20 EMA + VWAP Momentum
Community / general day-trading practice
While price holds above the session VWAP, buy when the 9 EMA crosses above the 20 EMA, exit when the cross reverses, and end every day flat.
- Holding period
- Minutes to hours (never overnight)
- Time needed
- Continuous during the session
Mean reversion
7 systems
Short-term price moves overshoot, because liquidity is finite and forced buyers and sellers do not care about value.
- Mean reversionIntermediateMechanical
RSI(2) Mean Reversion (Connors)
Larry Connors and Cesar Alvarez
Inside a long-term uptrend, buy the sharpest short-term pullbacks and sell into the bounce a few days later.
- Holding period
- 2-5 trading days
- Time needed
- 15 minutes a day
- Mean reversionBeginnerMechanical
Double Seven Mean Reversion
Larry Connors & Cesar Alvarez
In a market above its 200-day average, buy whenever today's close is the lowest of the past week, and sell when a close is the highest of the past week.
- Holding period
- Days to a few weeks
- Time needed
- 10 minutes after the close
- Mean reversionIntermediateDiscretionary
Fibonacci Retracement Swing
Community technique; refined by numerous practitioners
After a clear directional move, wait at one of a few standard retracement levels for price to turn, and join the trend with a defined invalidation point.
- Holding period
- Days to weeks
- Time needed
- 20-30 minutes a day
- Mean reversionIntermediateMechanical
Turtle Soup Failed Breakout
Linda Bradford Raschke & Laurence Connors
When price breaks a 20-day low and closes back above it, the breakout has failed — buy the recovery with a stop just under the low, and be out within days.
- Holding period
- One to four days
- Time needed
- 20 minutes a day
- Mean reversionIntermediateMechanical
80-20 Reversal Day Trade
Linda Bradford Raschke and Laurence Connors
When yesterday opened near its high and closed near its low, buy today's break below yesterday's low once it fails and recovers — and be out within two days.
- Holding period
- One to two days
- Time needed
- 15 minutes after the close, plus the morning of the trade
- Mean reversionIntermediateMechanical
Intraday VWAP Mean Reversion
Community practice, originating in institutional execution
When price stretches far from the session's volume-weighted average, take the other side and target a return to it — flat by the close.
- Holding period
- Minutes to hours (never overnight)
- Time needed
- Continuous during the session
- Mean reversionAdvancedMechanical
Pairs Trading (Cointegration)
Nunzio Tartaglia / Morgan Stanley; documented by Ernest Chan
Find two instruments whose prices stay tied together, and when the gap between them stretches, buy the cheap one and short the rich one until it closes.
- Holding period
- Days to weeks
- Time needed
- 30 minutes a day plus periodic model review
Macro & allocation
9 systems
The largest share of a portfolio's outcome comes from what asset classes it holds and how much, not from which security inside them.
- Macro & allocationBeginnerMechanical
Buy and Hold the Index
John C. Bogle
Own a broad, low-cost index fund covering the whole market, keep buying on a schedule, and never sell because of anything the market does.
- Holding period
- Decades
- Time needed
- Almost none
- Macro & allocationBeginnerMechanical
Dollar-Cost Averaging
Benjamin Graham popularised it; standard practice in retirement plans
Invest the same amount into a broad index fund on the same date every month, whatever the price is doing.
- Holding period
- Decades
- Time needed
- Five minutes to set up, none after
- Macro & allocationBeginnerMechanical
60/40 Balanced Portfolio
Standard institutional and retail default allocation
Hold 60% broad equities and 40% investment-grade bonds, and put the weights back to target once a year.
- Holding period
- Decades, rebalanced yearly
- Time needed
- An hour a year
- Macro & allocationBeginnerMechanical
200-day MA Macro Trend
Multiple; formalised by Meb Faber
Hold the index while it closes above its 200-day average, and sit in cash or short-term bonds while it closes below.
- Holding period
- Months
- Time needed
- 10 minutes a month
- Macro & allocationBeginnerMechanical
Faber 10-Month Timing Model
Meb Faber
Hold each of five asset classes while its monthly close sits above its own 10-month average, and park that sleeve in cash while it does not.
- Holding period
- Months to years
- Time needed
- 20 minutes at each month end
- Macro & allocationBeginnerMechanical
All Weather Portfolio
Ray Dalio / Bridgewater, with the retail version via Tony Robbins
Hold a fixed mix of shares, long and intermediate bonds, gold and commodities chosen so that something in it works in every economic environment.
- Holding period
- Years
- Time needed
- An hour a quarter
- Macro & allocationBeginnerMechanical
Permanent Portfolio
Harry Browne
Split your money into equal quarters of stocks, long-term bonds, gold and cash, so that whichever state the economy enters, you already own the asset that does well in it.
- Holding period
- Indefinite
- Time needed
- An hour a year
- Macro & allocationIntermediateMechanical
Yield-Curve Regime Filter
Campbell Harvey; New York Fed recession model
Stay in risk assets while the treasury curve slopes upward and the index trades above its 200-day average; move to cash when the curve inverts.
- Holding period
- Months to years
- Time needed
- Half an hour a month
- Macro & allocationAdvancedDiscretionary
Macro Top-Down (Druckenmiller-style)
Stanley Druckenmiller
Work out what liquidity and the economic cycle are doing, express that view in whichever market shows it most cleanly, and be large only when the market agrees with you.
- Holding period
- Months to years
- Time needed
- Several hours a week of macro research
Value & business quality
5 systems
Price and value come apart for years at a time, and the gap closes often enough to pay you for the wait.
- Value & business qualityBeginnerMechanical
Dogs of the Dow
Michael B. O'Higgins
Once a year, buy the ten highest-yielding stocks in the Dow in equal amounts, hold them untouched for twelve months, then re-rank and start again.
- Holding period
- One year
- Time needed
- Twenty minutes a year
- Value & business qualityBeginnerMechanical
Dividend Growth Investing
Popularised through the Dividend Aristocrats framework (S&P, 1989)
Own companies with long records of raising their dividends — funded by growing earnings and a sound balance sheet — reinvest the payments, and sell only when the earnings behind the next raise stop growing.
- Holding period
- Years
- Time needed
- An hour per reporting season
- Value & business qualityIntermediateMechanical
Graham Defensive Investor
Benjamin Graham
Screen for companies that are large, financially sound, consistently profitable and demonstrably cheap, then hold twenty of them and re-check once a year.
- Holding period
- A year or more
- Time needed
- Two hours a quarter to re-screen
- Value & business qualityIntermediateMechanical
Lynch GARP (Growth at a Reasonable Price)
Peter Lynch
Buy companies whose earnings are growing faster than the multiple you are paying for them, with little enough debt that you can wait for the market to notice.
- Holding period
- One to three years
- Time needed
- Two hours per position per quarter
- Value & business qualityAdvancedDiscretionary
Buffett-Style Value Investing
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger
Buy a business you can genuinely explain, with a durable competitive advantage and management you trust, at a price meaningfully below what it is worth — then hold it for years.
- Holding period
- Years
- Time needed
- Tens of hours of research per name, then quarterly tracking
Factor & anomaly
5 systems
Certain measurable characteristics have predicted cross-sectional returns for decades, and capturing them needs a ranking and a rebalancing schedule, not a forecast about any single name.
- Factor & anomalyIntermediateMechanical
12-1 Momentum Factor
Narasimhan Jegadeesh & Sheridan Titman
Buy the stocks that have risen most from twelve months ago to one month ago, hold while the measure stays positive, and rebuild the list on a fixed schedule.
- Holding period
- Three to twelve months
- Time needed
- An hour a month
- Factor & anomalyBeginnerMechanical
Low-Volatility Factor
Robert Haugen; later Baker, Bradley & Wurgler
Own the calmest stocks in the market — the ones whose smoother ride has, historically, not cost the return the textbook says it should.
- Holding period
- Months to years
- Time needed
- Half an hour a month
- Factor & anomalyIntermediateMechanical
Magic Formula
Joel Greenblatt
Rank the whole market on return on capital, rank it again on earnings yield, buy the names that score best on both combined, and hold each one for a year.
- Holding period
- One year per position
- Time needed
- A few hours once a year
- Factor & anomalyAdvancedMechanical
Piotroski F-Score
Joseph D. Piotroski
Take the market's statistically cheapest stocks, score each one on nine yes/no accounting checks, and buy only the ones passing nearly all of them.
- Holding period
- One year or more
- Time needed
- A few hours per reporting season
- Factor & anomalyIntermediateMechanical
Post-Earnings Announcement Drift
Ray Ball & Philip Brown; Victor Bernard & Jacob Thomas
When a company reports much stronger earnings than before, buy immediately and hold for about a quarter — prices tend to keep moving in the direction of the surprise for weeks after the news is public.
- Holding period
- About one quarter
- Time needed
- Concentrated around earnings season
These are documented methods described for study. Nothing here is investment advice, a recommendation, or a claim about future returns — every system on this page has losing periods, and the pages say where.
Reading about a system is not having one.
Plutux is where you write your own rules down, test them against real data, and keep the record your memory would otherwise rewrite. Join the waitlist for early access.
Plutux is not an investment adviser. Market data and AI-generated analysis are for information and education only, not investment advice. Disclaimer