How the MACD Crossover Works
The macd crossover is one of the most widely-used signals in trading. It’s simple, mechanical, and removes emotional decision-making from your trading by generating clear entry and exit signals based on the MACD indicator.
On SPY, the MACD acts as a trend filter. It won’t catch every exact bottom, but it reliably captures the meat of major moves while keeping you out of chop.
5-Year Performance on SPY
Over five years (2021-08-30 → 2026-08-28), the MACD Crossover delivered a +10.0% total return on SPY, compounding at 1.9% annually.
At -0.05, the MACD earned less than one units of return for every unit of risk taken. For context, anything above 1.0 is considered good; above 1.5 is excellent.
The catch? A 14.9% max drawdown. At some point during this 5-year run, you’d have been down nearly 15% from peak equity. That’s significant territory for most traders. If you can’t handle that kind of drawdown, this isn’t for you — or you need to size down.
Risk Assessment
| Metric | Value | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Sharpe Ratio | -0.05 | ❌ Weak |
| Max Drawdown | 14.9% | ✅ Low |
| Win Rate | 44.2% | ⚠️ Below average |
| Profit Factor | 1.19 | ⚠️ Marginal |
| Trades/Year | ~52 total | Active |
The profit factor of 1.19 tells the real story: when the MACD fires, the winning signals are larger than the losing ones. Combined with a 44.2% win rate, this requires careful position sizing to be profitable.
Does the MACD Crossover Work on SPY?
The macd crossover struggled to generate meaningful edge on SPY over this 5-year period. With a -0.05 Sharpe ratio and 1.19 profit factor, the risk-adjusted returns are below what most systematic traders would consider acceptable.
This doesn’t mean the MACD is useless — it may work better on different assets, timeframes, or when combined with other filters. But on SPY with default parameters over 5 years, it didn’t produce a compelling standalone edge.
Our take: skip it on SPY unless you’re combining it with other confirmations or using it on different timeframes.
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Data source: Yahoo Finance (yfinance). Backtest engine: backtrader. 95% position sizing. 0.1% commission per trade. Last refreshed: August 29, 2026. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Year-by-Year Breakdown
| Year | Return | Trades | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | +5.7% | 2 | 44.2% |
| 2022 | -18.6% | 7 | 44.2% |
| 2023 | +26.7% | 10 | 44.2% |
| 2024 | +25.6% | 13 | 44.2% |
| 2025 | +18.0% | 13 | 44.2% |
| 2026 | +13.2% | 7 | 44.2% |
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