The best indicator for Corn (ZC)
We backtested 20 indicators across daily, weekly and hourly charts on real Corn (ZC) history. Here's what actually worked — risk-adjusted, out-of-sample, with costs.
MACD
On the weekly chart, this is the strongest risk-adjusted edge we found for Corn (ZC) over ~25.9 years — beating buy-and-hold by 3.0% 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 | MACD ✓ | Weekly | 6.1% | 0.4 | -46.9% | 42.6% | 47 | 3.0% |
| 2 | WaveTrend (8/6/4) ✓ | Weekly | 5.9% | 0.39 | -43.6% | 83.3% | 24 | 2.8% |
| 3 | Bollinger Mean-Reversion ✓ | Weekly | 3.2% | 0.33 | -38.4% | 78.3% | 23 | 0.1% |
| 4 | Bollinger Breakout ✓ | Weekly | 4.1% | 0.33 | -45.1% | 43.5% | 23 | 1.0% |
| 5 | Rate of Change ✓ | Weekly | 1.9% | 0.19 | -73.0% | 43.8% | 89 | -1.2% |
| 6 | Holy Grail Confluence ✓ | Daily | 1.6% | 0.18 | -50.9% | 69.4% | 36 | -1.8% |
| 7 | CCI | Daily | 1.4% | 0.17 | -47.9% | 65.9% | 123 | -2.0% |
| 8 | EMA-10 Trend ✓ | Weekly | 0.8% | 0.15 | -63.8% | 37.4% | 131 | -2.3% |
| 9 | RSI Mean-Reversion ✓ | Daily | 1.0% | 0.14 | -46.3% | 62.9% | 35 | -2.4% |
| 10 | Donchian Breakout ✓ | Daily | 0.8% | 0.13 | -50.7% | 31.5% | 111 | -2.6% |
| 11 | Stochastic ✓ | Weekly | 0.5% | 0.12 | -61.4% | 79.3% | 29 | -2.6% |
| 12 | Donchian Midline ✓ | Weekly | 0.2% | 0.12 | -65.5% | 35.8% | 81 | -2.9% |
| 13 | EMA 20/50 Cross ✓ | Daily | 0.1% | 0.11 | -73.8% | 30.0% | 70 | -3.3% |
| 14 | RSI Trend (>50) ✓ | Weekly | 0.1% | 0.11 | -68.0% | 34.3% | 99 | -3.1% |
✓ = held up out-of-sample. Hypothetical, costs included. See methodology.
For Corn (ZC), MACD on the weekly 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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