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"Pullback Entry Timing on gate60 (price-only, daily)"

2026-08-26

Window: 2023-10-26 .. 2025-10-11 (352 days, 336 gate60-long days) | feature: pullback depth = 1 - close / trailing-N-day-high (N=5/10/20) while gate60 ON | shifted +1d | gross returns

VariantDaysLongDaysRetSharpePFMaxDD
baseline (gate60)352336+112.56%1.531.25-31.95%
skip pb5<0.02352143+39.96%0.981.26-24.63%
skip pb5<0.03352115+4.72%0.321.09-29.60%
skip pb5<0.0535258+0.00%0.171.06-17.33%
skip pb5<0.0835230+14.32%0.681.38-13.33%
skip pb5<0.1035213+10.75%0.731.75-8.59%
skip pb5<0.153522+16.76%1.34inf0.00%
enter only pb5>=0.05 (strict)35258+0.00%0.171.06-17.33%
enter only pb5>=0.10 (deep)35213+10.75%0.731.75-8.59%
skip pb10<0.02352178+62.81%1.261.29-20.64%
skip pb10<0.03352151+29.30%0.811.19-24.85%
skip pb10<0.05352106+39.39%1.031.31-20.04%
skip pb10<0.0835262+54.41%1.481.67-13.33%
skip pb10<0.1035239+27.35%1.001.56-13.33%
skip pb10<0.153528+17.92%1.284.02-3.79%
enter only pb10>=0.05 (strict)352106+39.39%1.031.31-20.04%
enter only pb10>=0.10 (deep)35239+27.35%1.001.56-13.33%
skip pb20<0.02352205+41.27%0.951.20-22.51%
skip pb20<0.03352182+19.35%0.621.13-26.13%
skip pb20<0.05352147+37.70%0.961.24-22.00%
skip pb20<0.08352101+70.35%1.651.58-13.33%
skip pb20<0.1035274+43.60%1.321.56-13.33%
skip pb20<0.1535221+42.80%2.386.46-3.79%
enter only pb20>=0.05 (strict)352147+37.70%0.961.24-22.00%
enter only pb20>=0.10 (deep)35274+43.60%1.321.56-13.33%

gate60-long-day forward returns by pullback depth quintile

pb10 bucketMean daily retDays
0-2%+0.219%158
2-5%+0.264%72
5-8%-0.167%44
8-15%+0.585%54
>15%+2.173%8

IS/OOS split at 2025-01-01 (rule picked by IS Sharpe, frozen before OOS)

Top-5 rules on IS:

SegmentVariantLongDaysRetSharpePFMaxDD
ISbaseline246+63.75%1.471.24-29.34%
ISskip pb20<0.1519+37.92%2.585.94-3.79%
OOSbaseline90+29.81%1.681.28-22.71%
OOSskip pb20<0.152+3.54%2.34inf0.00%

OOS gated long-days: 2 | mean +1.7625% | bootstrap p(gate adds nothing): 0.787 | NULL-R permutation p (2000): 0.249

Rule neighbors (pb20 family), full window

VariantLongDaysRetSharpePF
skip pb20<0.02205+41.27%0.951.20
skip pb20<0.03182+19.35%0.621.13
skip pb20<0.05147+37.70%0.961.24
skip pb20<0.08101+70.35%1.651.58
skip pb20<0.1074+43.60%1.321.56
skip pb20<0.1521+42.80%2.386.46
enter only pb20>=0.05 (strict)147+37.70%0.961.24
enter only pb20>=0.10 (deep)74+43.60%1.321.56

Confound controls (full window)

Control variantLongDaysRetSharpePF
control: skip if prior-dayret>3%229+175.56%
control: skip if prior-day ret<0183-9.66%-0.030.99
winner AND skip priorret>3%13+15.78%
half size when NOT in pullback zone336+82.55%1.961.35

Per-year: baseline vs winner

YearBase retGated retBase LDGated LD
2023+25.42%+0.00%640
2024+36.42%+33.30%18219
2025+33.48%+3.52%902

Cross-coin: same frozen rule via vectorized twin

CoinVariantLongDaysRetSharpePFMaxDD
BTCbaseline522+149.14%1.601.28-24.05%
BTCskip pb20<0.1590+41.56%1.261.57-9.46%
SOLbaseline379+293.61%1.801.30-49.24%
SOLskip pb20<0.15171-18.69%-0.030.99-49.65%

Decision memo

VERDICT (2026-08-25): REJECT — family to ledger

The full-window grid shows scattered improvements at extreme thresholds (pb20>=0.15: Sharpe 2.38, 21 days; pb20>=0.08: Sharpe 1.65, 101 days) but every adoption criterion fails:

  1. OOS: IS winner skip pb20<0.15 deployed on only 2 OOS days (+3.5% vs +29.8% baseline). Statistically meaningless — 2 observations cannot validate anything.
  2. Significance: bootstrap p=0.787, permutation p=0.249. No signal.
  3. Knife-edge: the 0.15 cell (2.38 Sharpe) sits between 0.10 (1.32) and zero — classic threshold-fitting artifact with n=21.
  4. Cross-coin: SOL goes from +293.6% to -18.7% under this rule — the effect is not general.
  5. Per-year: 2025 captures only +3.5% vs +33.5% baseline — massive missed opportunity.
  6. Confound: "skip if prior-day |ret|>3%" (shock-day family) alone achieves Sharpe 2.28 with 229 days — the pullback depth adds nothing beyond the shock-day effect already tested in round 2.

The less extreme pb20>=0.08 variant (101 days, Sharpe 1.65) has the best balance of trade count and Sharpe, but its edge is modest (+0.12 Sharpe points over baseline) and it wasn't the IS-picked winner — using it would be post-hoc data-dredging. The pullback mechanism per se does not add exploitable timing information for gate60 longs at daily cadence.