The best indicator for Financials (VFH)
We backtested 20 indicators across daily, weekly and hourly charts on real Financials (VFH) history. Here's what actually worked — risk-adjusted, out-of-sample, with costs.
SMA 50/200 Cross
On the daily chart, this is the strongest risk-adjusted edge we found for Financials (VFH) over ~22.3 years — beating buy-and-hold by 0.2% 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 | SMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 6.8% | 0.5 | -45.3% | 50.0% | 14 | 0.2% |
| 2 | Donchian Breakout ✓ | Weekly | 6.6% | 0.56 | -20.6% | 66.7% | 12 | 0.1% |
| 3 | EMA 20/50 Cross ✓ | Daily | 4.5% | 0.37 | -28.4% | 38.9% | 54 | -2.1% |
| 4 | Donchian Midline ✓ | Weekly | 4.5% | 0.36 | -41.9% | 53.2% | 62 | -2.0% |
| 5 | EMA 50/200 Cross ✓ | Daily | 4.6% | 0.38 | -37.1% | 50.0% | 14 | -1.9% |
| 6 | Stochastic ✓ | Daily | 4.7% | 0.35 | -41.3% | 69.7% | 109 | -1.9% |
| 7 | CCI ✓ | Daily | 4.5% | 0.33 | -42.0% | 69.9% | 113 | -2.1% |
| 8 | MACD ✓ | Weekly | 3.3% | 0.29 | -50.1% | 52.0% | 50 | -3.2% |
| 9 | Bollinger Mean-Reversion ✓ | Daily | 3.5% | 0.28 | -39.9% | 76.5% | 102 | -3.0% |
| 10 | Williams %R ✓ | Daily | 3.2% | 0.26 | -45.3% | 67.1% | 158 | -3.3% |
| 11 | Holy Grail Confluence ✓ | Daily | 2.9% | 0.25 | -49.5% | 76.5% | 34 | -3.6% |
| 12 | RSI Trend (>50) ✓ | Weekly | 2.6% | 0.25 | -44.3% | 56.1% | 66 | -3.9% |
| 13 | Stochastic ✓ | Weekly | 2.5% | 0.24 | -58.1% | 81.2% | 16 | -4.0% |
| 14 | Rate of Change ✓ | Weekly | 2.6% | 0.24 | -49.0% | 59.2% | 76 | -3.9% |
✓ = held up out-of-sample. Hypothetical, costs included. See methodology.
For Financials (VFH), SMA 50/200 Cross 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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