The 18 System Portfolio NQ, released on May 25, 2025 hit equity peaks today with some nice shorts.
NQ Open Range (old version) went short for +$4,730 while, two Cobra strategies went short with +$2,875 (profit targets)
The Diversified 57, NQ Only also hit equity peaks today.
The 18 System Portfolio is a good case study of out of sample performance. It was released about a year ago and hit a worse case drawdown in January of 2026. Since then, it has hit equity peaks twice in February, three times in March and now two times in May.
We anticipate future worse case drawdowns when we release strategies and portfolios. It is the nature of trading and markets for markets to change and systems to degrade. Starting after a drawdown allows us to hold through a worse case drawdown in an effort to hold for a bounce back to equity peaks.
The latest report for this portfolio is shown from the Portfolio Calculator.
18 System Portfolio NQ
Hypothetical Performance Summary
Many traders have the tendency to use a momentum mindset and start at equity peaks and stop before or near a worse case drawdown. Starting during drawdowns can improve the average trade profit for a cycle of trading that returns to equity peaks which can help with slippage.
The best opportunities right now are in the Two and Three System Portfolio based on the opportunity to start or add during a drawdown.
The stock indexes had a rare sell off today with the Nasdaq 100 futures trading below and closing below yesterday's session lows.
CPI was hotter than expected, Crude Oil is up, interest rates are climbing. The Dow closed up on the day and the S&P and Nasdaq had major recoveries off the lows. The VIX is also down on the day.
The Nasdaq morning and day session high to 1:00 pm low price on the day was 554 points while the 1:00 pm EST low to afternoon high was 446 points.
Copper continues to rally after we discussed the Copper Wave trader (trading the Gold Wave strategy) earlier this week and generated the recent trading system signals. I regret not taking these signals as it has recovered from an equity pullback to equity peaks this week.
Some of our narrower and small portfolios such as the Two System Portfolio and Three System Portfolio are near worse case drawdowns as well. These drawdown levels can be a good place to enter for a bounce and reduce initial risk when starting or adding.
Hypothetical Trading System Signals on 05-12-2026
25 System Portfolio NQ = +$7,810
7 System Portfolio NQ = -$2,760
3 System Portfolio NQ = -$1,050
2 System Portfolio NQ = -$1,050
Stock Index Portfolio 18 = +$10,540
Diversified Portfolio 57 (NQ Only) = +$6,965
Silver Portfolio = -$1,425
50K Portfolio (Micros) = -$1,416 (without Gold and Silver)