Seasonality: 18 Backtests
We backtested 18 seasonality strategies across crypto, ETFs, US stocks. 0 beat buy-and-hold before correction; best −6.6 pts/yr.
Every result below is the strategy's annualized return minus buy-and-hold on the same assets and days, charged real trading costs and scored only on data up to the discovery cutoff. See the full family index, the full method and every result, or download the raw registry (JSON).
0 of these 18 strategies were significant at p < 0.05 before any correction for multiple testing, and 0 of 18 beat buy-and-hold on the raw excess-return number across crypto, ETFs, US stocks. Across the whole registry we ran 260 tests and applied one Benjamini-Hochberg correction; only 0 of those survived it, which is why a single significant p-value inside one family isn't treated as a working edge here — the correction is explained in full on the evidence page. This family was last re-scored on 2026-09-18, using only data up to the 2025-03-15 discovery cutoff — the same freeze point every family in the registry is held to, so none of them can see data the others couldn't. Seasonality is tested across 3 asset classes (crypto, ETFs, US stocks); a strategy only joins this family because of the signal it trades on, not the asset it's tested against.
- Sell in May and go away (Halloween effect) (ETFs): −6.6 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Bouman & Jacobsen 2002 AER; Jacobsen & Zhang 2020 working paper.
- Sell in May and go away (Halloween effect) (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −6.6 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Bouman & Jacobsen 2002 AER; Jacobsen & Zhang 2020 working paper.
- Month-of-year crypto seasonality (Uptober) - rob1 neighbouring months (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −9.1 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Retail/crypto-media seasonality claims (e.g. CoinGlass monthly return tables).
- Monthly options expiry week drift (US equities, QQQ proxy) (ETFs): −12.3 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Stivers & Sun 2010 J. Banking & Finance; CBOE expiry-week studies.
- Santa Claus rally rob1 (last 6 + first 3 days, +25% window) (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −12.5 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Stock Trader's Almanac (Yale Hirsch).
- FOMC announcement drift (ETFs): −12.9 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Lucca & Moench 2015 J. Finance; EDGE RESEARCH.md §30 follow-up note.
- January effect (small-cap outperformance) - QQQ proxy (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −13.1 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Rozeff & Kinney 1976 J. Financial Economics; Keim 1983 J. Financial Economics.
- January effect (small-cap outperformance) - QQQ proxy (ETFs): −13.1 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Rozeff & Kinney 1976 J. Financial Economics; Keim 1983 J. Financial Economics.
- Santa Claus rally (last 5 + first 2 days of year) (ETFs): −13.3 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Stock Trader's Almanac (Yale Hirsch).
- Pre-holiday drift (off-by-one fixed) (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −13.3 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Ariel 1990 J. Finance; Lakonishok & Smidt 1988.
- Pre-holiday drift (ETFs): −13.7 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Ariel 1990 J. Finance; Lakonishok & Smidt 1988.
- FOMC announcement drift (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −15.0 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Lucca & Moench 2015 J. Finance; EDGE RESEARCH.md §30 follow-up note.
- Month-of-year crypto seasonality (Uptober) (crypto): −15.4 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Retail/crypto-media seasonality claims (e.g. CoinGlass monthly return tables).
- Monthly options expiry week drift (US equities, QQQ proxy) (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −15.7 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Stivers & Sun 2010 J. Banking & Finance; CBOE expiry-week studies.
- Day-of-week seasonality (Monday effect) (ETFs): −18.6 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: French 1980 J. Financial Economics; Steeley 2001 replication.
- Day-of-week seasonality (Monday effect) — DIA proxy (wide US stocks) (US stocks): −24.6 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: French 1980 J. Financial Economics; Steeley 2001 replication.
- Crypto weekday seasonality (long Sundays only) (crypto): −79.0 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: retail folklore of a crypto 'weekend pump'/Sunday effect (UTC calendar day). Weekday fixed before the first run per README, not chosen from the data..
- Crypto hour-of-day seasonality (crypto): −143.4 pts/yr, behind buy-and-hold, p=1.000. Source: Baur, Dimpfl, Kuck 2018 Finance Research Letters (BTC intraday patterns).
Related families: Equity factors, Machine learning, Macro and intermarket.