The best indicator for Alphabet Inc. (Class C) (GOOG)
We backtested 20 indicators across daily, weekly and hourly charts on real Alphabet Inc. (Class C) (GOOG) history. Here's what actually worked — risk-adjusted, out-of-sample, with costs.
RSI Trend (>50)
On the daily chart, this is the strongest risk-adjusted edge we found for Alphabet Inc. (Class C) (GOOG) over ~21.8 years — trailing buy-and-hold by 6.5% CAGR.
The winner on each chart
Every indicator, ranked
Ranked by Sharpe (risk-adjusted return). Hypothetical, fees included.
| # | Indicator | TF | CAGR | Sharpe | Max DD | Win | Trades | vs B&H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RSI Trend (>50) ✓ | Daily | 19.3% | 0.91 | -39.3% | 41.0% | 249 | -6.5% |
| 2 | Donchian Midline ✓ | Daily | 16.5% | 0.81 | -47.6% | 43.2% | 278 | -9.3% |
| 3 | Rate of Change ✓ | Daily | 14.8% | 0.75 | -50.4% | 44.1% | 320 | -11.0% |
| 4 | RSI Trend (>50) ✓ | Weekly | 15.5% | 0.75 | -35.2% | 61.8% | 55 | -9.7% |
| 5 | MACD ✓ | Weekly | 13.1% | 0.74 | -27.8% | 51.1% | 47 | -12.1% |
| 6 | EMA 20/50 Cross ✓ | Daily | 14.6% | 0.73 | -33.6% | 51.1% | 45 | -11.2% |
| 7 | Rate of Change ✓ | Weekly | 14.3% | 0.71 | -34.4% | 56.2% | 64 | -10.9% |
| 8 | MACD ✓ | Daily | 13.2% | 0.68 | -43.9% | 43.1% | 216 | -12.6% |
| 9 | EMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 13.0% | 0.64 | -50.1% | 46.7% | 15 | -12.8% |
| 10 | Donchian Breakout ✓ | Weekly | 10.4% | 0.6 | -28.5% | 60.0% | 20 | -14.8% |
| 11 | Donchian Midline ✓ | Weekly | 11.2% | 0.6 | -42.5% | 61.8% | 55 | -14.0% |
| 12 | SMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 12.7% | 0.64 | -44.6% | 71.4% | 14 | -13.1% |
| 13 | EMA-10 Trend ✓ | Daily | 11.0% | 0.59 | -59.5% | 43.2% | 470 | -14.8% |
| 14 | ADX / DMI ✓ | Weekly | 10.8% | 0.59 | -37.6% | 52.4% | 42 | -14.4% |
✓ = held up out-of-sample. Hypothetical, costs included. See methodology.
For Alphabet Inc. (Class C) (GOOG), RSI Trend (>50) on the daily timeframe gave the best balance of return and risk in our test. It still trailed buy-and-hold on raw return — but remember: this is a hypothetical backtest of a standard rule, not a recommendation. Markets change. See the methodology and disclaimer.
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