The best indicator for Silver (SLV)
We backtested 20 indicators across daily, weekly and hourly charts on real Silver (SLV) history. Here's what actually worked — risk-adjusted, out-of-sample, with costs.
Rate of Change
On the daily chart, this is the strongest risk-adjusted edge we found for Silver (SLV) over ~20.1 years — beating buy-and-hold by 3.2% 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 | Rate of Change ✓ | Daily | 10.9% | 0.56 | -43.0% | 40.3% | 315 | 3.2% |
| 2 | RSI Trend (>50) ✓ | Daily | 7.4% | 0.42 | -52.0% | 33.8% | 260 | -0.3% |
| 3 | Donchian Midline ✓ | Daily | 7.4% | 0.42 | -53.6% | 37.5% | 253 | -0.4% |
| 4 | MACD ✓ | Daily | 6.7% | 0.39 | -46.9% | 36.1% | 194 | -1.0% |
| 5 | Stochastic ✓ | Weekly | 5.3% | 0.39 | -40.9% | 85.2% | 27 | -2.3% |
| 6 | WaveTrend (8/6/4) ✓ | Daily | 5.9% | 0.38 | -58.3% | 71.8% | 71 | -1.9% |
| 7 | MACD ✓ | Weekly | 5.9% | 0.36 | -61.7% | 47.6% | 42 | -1.8% |
| 8 | Money Flow Index ✓ | Daily | 4.6% | 0.34 | -45.9% | 76.5% | 17 | -3.1% |
| 9 | Williams %R ✓ | Weekly | 4.5% | 0.34 | -41.0% | 84.8% | 33 | -3.2% |
| 10 | SMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 6.7% | 0.38 | -59.7% | 30.8% | 13 | -1.1% |
| 11 | EMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 5.0% | 0.32 | -68.9% | 31.2% | 16 | -2.8% |
| 12 | RSI Mean-Reversion ✓ | Daily | 2.9% | 0.31 | -44.4% | 77.4% | 31 | -4.8% |
| 13 | Holy Grail Confluence ✓ | Daily | 4.2% | 0.31 | -47.6% | 76.5% | 34 | -3.6% |
| 14 | CCI ✓ | Daily | 4.2% | 0.3 | -59.9% | 71.2% | 104 | -3.5% |
✓ = held up out-of-sample. Hypothetical, costs included. See methodology.
For Silver (SLV), Rate of Change on the daily timeframe gave the best balance of return and risk in our test. It beat buy-and-hold — 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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