The best indicator for Interactive Brokers (IBKR)
We backtested 20 indicators across daily, weekly and hourly charts on real Interactive Brokers (IBKR) history. Here's what actually worked — risk-adjusted, out-of-sample, with costs.
WaveTrend (8/6/4)
On the daily chart, this is the strongest risk-adjusted edge we found for Interactive Brokers (IBKR) over ~19.1 years — trailing buy-and-hold by 4.9% 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 | WaveTrend (8/6/4) ✓ | Daily | 10.0% | 0.5 | -61.4% | 79.7% | 74 | -4.9% |
| 2 | EMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 9.1% | 0.48 | -54.8% | 29.4% | 17 | -5.8% |
| 3 | SMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 9.1% | 0.47 | -53.7% | 35.3% | 17 | -5.8% |
| 4 | ADX / DMI ✓ | Weekly | 7.1% | 0.46 | -42.1% | 43.3% | 30 | -7.7% |
| 5 | Donchian Breakout ✓ | Weekly | 7.6% | 0.45 | -51.7% | 50.0% | 16 | -7.2% |
| 6 | RSI Trend (>50) ✓ | Weekly | 7.7% | 0.44 | -67.2% | 35.1% | 57 | -7.1% |
| 7 | Williams %R ✓ | Weekly | 7.0% | 0.44 | -53.7% | 65.4% | 26 | -7.8% |
| 8 | Donchian Breakout ✓ | Daily | 6.9% | 0.43 | -54.4% | 47.4% | 78 | -8.0% |
| 9 | EMA 20/50 Cross ✓ | Daily | 7.4% | 0.42 | -60.7% | 40.5% | 42 | -7.5% |
| 10 | Bollinger Mean-Reversion ✓ | Daily | 6.5% | 0.42 | -40.8% | 67.1% | 76 | -8.4% |
| 11 | Bollinger Breakout ✓ | Weekly | 6.4% | 0.42 | -41.7% | 50.0% | 20 | -8.5% |
| 12 | Donchian Midline ✓ | Weekly | 7.3% | 0.41 | -65.8% | 40.7% | 54 | -7.5% |
| 13 | MACD ✓ | Weekly | 6.7% | 0.39 | -56.3% | 40.5% | 37 | -8.1% |
| 14 | Rate of Change ✓ | Weekly | 6.7% | 0.39 | -56.5% | 37.7% | 61 | -8.1% |
✓ = held up out-of-sample. Hypothetical, costs included. See methodology.
For Interactive Brokers (IBKR), WaveTrend (8/6/4) 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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