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Limnal Growth · A 4-sleeve portfolio — stocks, bonds, commodities, and managed futures — that follows the macro regime and automatically de-risks in downturns. See methodology.

Backtest · February 28, 2016July 29, 2026 · 3804 days · kill-switched allocation

+290.2% total · Sharpe 1.18 · max drawdown -12.2%

The base allocation reads five independent models — macro regime, treasury flows, valuation, momentum, and positioning — each scored on a 1-to-3 bullish-to-bearish scale, and shifts equity smoothly as those scores move. A kill switch on top caps total equity at 20% whenever DTS trend and US-equity supertrend both confirm bearish on the same day, a hard backstop for fast regime turns. Frictionless simulation; see methodology below.

MetricLimnal GrowthSPY60/40VFIFX
Total return+290.18%+354.01%+176.62%+229.26%
Annualized return+14.00%+15.68%+10.29%+12.16%
Annualized volatility9.68%17.75%11.13%15.00%
Sharpe (rf=0.72%)+1.18+0.79+0.74+0.70
Max drawdown-12.24%-33.72%-21.72%-31.36%
Calmar+1.14+0.47+0.47+0.39
95% 1-day VaR-0.97%-1.65%-1.02%-1.38%
Rebalance events106
§1 · Cumulative growth

$10,000 → over the backtest window

Pick up to five lines to compare. Mix and match the three Limnal Growth tiers (Limnal Growth, the 4-sleeve flagship; Growth Smooth, which adds a managed-futures diversifier basket; Growth Aggressive, which adds that basket plus a leverage sleeve for higher returns) against the three passive benchmarks. The first line you pick is the headline and gets the bold ink so the eye reads it as the protagonist.

Compare · 5 slots · mix-and-match
5 / 5 on chart
Limnal Growth
Limnal Growth Smooth
Limnal Growth Aggressive
SPY
60/40
Window
$8.2K$18.2K$28.2K$38.2K$48.2KFeb '16Aug '17Feb '19Aug '20Feb '22Aug '23Feb '2560/40 SPY/AGG100% SPYLimnal Aggressive · ADB · TrimLimnal Smooth · ADB · TrimLimnal Simple · ADB · Trim
Limnal GrowthLimnal Growth SmoothLimnal Growth AggressiveSPY60/40
§4 · Drawdown

How deep did each portfolio fall from its peak?

For each day, the percentage decline from the portfolio's running peak. The deepest trough is the max drawdown across the window: the worst paper-loss a buy-and-hold investor would have suffered. Risk-managed allocation shows up here — the benchmark areas plunge through tough stretches; the kill-switched Limnal cadences stay shallow.

0%-5%-10%-15%-20%-25%-30%-35%Feb '16Aug '17Feb '19Aug '20Feb '22Aug '23Feb '2560/40 SPY/AGG100% SPYLimnal Aggressive · ADB · TrimLimnal Smooth · ADB · TrimLimnal Simple · ADB · Trim
Limnal GrowthLimnal Growth SmoothLimnal Growth AggressiveSPY60/40
§1.1 · Growth Aggressive leverage

How much SSO the Aggressive tier held

Growth Aggressive adds a modest SSO sleeve and a diversifier basket on the Growth base, funded entirely from the US large-cap sleeves (SPY and QQQ) so international is left untouched. This is the SSO weight it held each day. The weight is capped at 25% and is driven entirely by Growth's base US large-cap allocation, so it needs no market timing of its own.

0%5%10%15%20%25%Feb '16Aug '17Feb '19Aug '20Feb '22Aug '23Feb '25Total SSO weight25% cap
SSO weight held25% cap

The SSO overlay is funded entirely from the US large-cap sleeves (SPY and QQQ), so international, value, and momentum are left untouched. Of the 25% cap, up to 15 points are a capital-neutral compression that swaps US large-cap into SSO to free cash for the diversifier basket, and up to 10 points are net leverage, adding roughly ten points of equity beta. Because the US large-cap pool is modest, the SSO weight sits well below the cap, at the 25% ceiling only 1% of days over this window, and scales down further whenever the regime models de-risk. The net-leverage leg is bounded near ten points of beta in a downturn, and the diversifier basket is designed to cushion it (in 2022 the managed-futures basket returned about +23%).

§1.2 · R&D Yield holdings

What the R&D-yield screen has held, week by week

The opt-in R&D Yield sleeve picks the 15 cheapest S&P-500 names by R&D-per-dollar-of-market-cap that are also above their 200-day moving average. Here is every name it has held across the last three years — a sticky value core (Gilead, GM, Ford, the pharma/biotech spine) with a rotating tail, drifting from beaten-down tech hardware in 2023 toward pharma in 2025–26 as R&D got cheap in different places. (No AI mega-caps — the screen buys what the market has written off.)

Both opt-in stock-picking backtest lines are scored point-in-time from SEC EDGAR filed-dated fundamentals — no hindsight. Net of that discipline, R&D Yield adds real alpha (27.8% / 1.12 Sharpe vs SPY 15.5% / 0.65), while Quality Compounders ≈ the index(15.3% / 0.64): its earlier outperformance was a today's-fundamentals look-ahead, now corrected to filed-dated quality scoring over the full 2016 window.

R&D Yield · holdings over time
166 weekly snapshots · 72 names · ~2.1 added/wk
2023202420252026HPEGMGILDVTRSEBAYINCYFNTAPFFIVINTCMRKQCOMCIENREGNSTXHPQBMYTRMBLITEMRNAIBMAPTVSOLVTXTBIIBDDWDAYNXPICSCOSWKSCTVACOHRGRMNKEYSIFFMUVRTXHASZBRABAXSNDKAKAMCMIKLACUBERGEGEHCDEVEEVABTBARTXALGNAXONCRMEWFTNTGEVMCHPNOCTDYADSKAMATAMDCRWDGDGLWKVUENFLXPODDSJMSWK
Each row is a stock; each column a weekly snapshot of the top-15 R&D-yield screen (above its 200-day MA). Filled = held that week; bold ticker + brighter cell = held now (2026-07-27). Reconstructed point-in-time: R&D-yield (R&D / market cap) + 200-day-MA gate, top-15 equal-weight, today's S&P 500 universe (mild survivor bias). Live weekly series will accumulate going forward.
§1.5 · Risk

Value at Risk & Expected Shortfall

Tail-risk view of the Limnal portfolio over the full backtest window. Historical reads percentiles directly off realized daily returns — fat tails baked in. Monte Carlo fits a Gaussian to the same series and draws 10,000 samples; the gap between the two is the size of the fat tail Gaussian VaR understates.

Risk metricHistoricalMonte Carlo
95% VaR · 1-day0.99%1.00%
99% VaR · 1-day1.89%1.43%
95% VaR · 1-month4.53%4.57%
95% VaR · 1-year15.69%15.83%
99% VaR · 1-year30.02%22.76%
95% Expected shortfall · 1-day1.54%1.26%
95% Expected shortfall · 1-month7.07%5.77%
95% Expected shortfall · 1-year24.50%19.97%
Annualized portfolio vol9.90%
Estimated from the 3,804-day Adaptive Weekly backtest (2016-02-282026-07-29). Values are losses: a 95% 1-day VaR of 0.95% means returns worse than −0.95% are expected on roughly 1 of 20 days. Historical = percentile of realized returns. Monte Carlo = 10,000 draws from a Gaussian fit to realized returns; when Historical > Monte Carlo the realized distribution is fatter-tailed than Gaussian.
Across portfolios (Historical)Limnal GrowthLimnal Growth SmoothLimnal Growth AggressiveSPY60/40VFIFX
95% VaR · 1-day0.97%0.82%1.04%1.65%1.02%1.38%
99% VaR · 1-day1.75%1.49%1.92%3.23%1.91%2.56%
95% VaR · 1-year15.48%12.96%16.52%26.26%16.18%21.89%
99% VaR · 1-year27.83%23.70%30.51%51.34%30.29%40.68%
95% Expected shortfall · 1-day1.50%1.24%1.60%2.72%1.68%2.25%
95% Expected shortfall · 1-year23.75%19.74%25.34%43.12%26.66%35.66%
§2 · Allocation over time

What Limnal was holding

Each rebalance, rolled up into six top-level buckets. Stack order from the ground up is risk-off → risk-on (cash, alts, commodities, credit, fixed income, equity), so the chart shape itself encodes the model's risk posture as a function of time. Trace the cumulative-growth chart above against this one to see what the model was holding when it earned (or lost) ground.

Weekly: one row per weekly rebalance (544 points).
0%25%50%75%100%Feb '16Jun '17Oct '18Feb '20Jun '21Oct '22Feb '24Jun '25CashAltsCommoditiesCreditFixed incomeEquity
Allocation range across the window · min · median · max
Equity2.2%73.0%87.0%range 84.8pp
Fixed income0.1%4.8%15.1%range 15.0pp
Credit0.0%1.5%4.6%range 4.6pp
Commodities3.3%11.6%18.7%range 15.3pp
Alts0.0%8.5%13.1%range 13.1pp
Cash0.0%0.0%72.4%range 72.4pp
§3 · Model regime score

What the model thought at each rebalance

Two envelope-level scores feed the allocation: the macro regime score (growth · inflation · liquidity composite) and the DTS score (Daily Treasury Statement liquidity proxy). Both run on a 1.0 → 3.0 scale where 1.0 is risk-off and 3.0 is risk-on. Trace this against §2 above: when the macro line dips toward 1, you should see the equity band in the allocation chart give ground to cash and fixed income; when it pushes toward 3, the equity band swells.

1.01.52.0 (neutral)2.53.0Feb '16Jun '17Oct '18Feb '20Jun '21Oct '22Feb '24Jun '25
Macro 3.25DTS 3.00

Scale: 1.0 risk-off · 2.0 neutral · 3.0 risk-on. These are the two envelope-level inputs to the allocation; macro shifts the envelope additively up to ±30pp, DTS up to ±10pp. Scores above are the most recent rebalance (2026-07-27). Hover the chart to scrub through prior weeks.

§5 · Monthly returns

Per-portfolio month-by-month performance

A standard fund-factsheet view: each cell is one portfolio's return for one calendar month, with cells color-graded by sign and magnitude. Limnal's row should read as fewer extreme months; the model's risk-management goal is to dampen the tails on both sides without giving up the median return.

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Total
Limnal Growth0.04.21.2-0.01.32.50.31.4-1.7-0.22.02.02.2-0.2-0.81.4-0.22.50.81.32.51.11.54.6-2.7-0.81.10.7-0.12.42.50.4-5.80.3-2.64.00.81.61.8-3.53.30.70.81.31.82.12.50.2-2.6-2.35.02.02.05.93.9-2.8-2.311.64.90.83.72.53.90.30.90.30.7-3.15.7-2.03.0-0.10.72.1-0.40.7-3.62.3-1.6-3.92.02.2-1.64.9-3.72.81.5-2.14.33.1-1.4-1.7-0.10.73.10.83.73.9-1.03.10.71.1-1.12.2-1.73.9-1.93.4-0.21.41.71.92.9-0.12.94.11.81.61.04.33.6-4.55.63.90.7-3.1+290.2%
Limnal Growth Smooth0.03.20.60.12.01.50.21.0-1.6-1.01.81.72.1-0.1-0.81.6-0.52.50.60.22.20.81.33.4-2.0-0.10.80.90.11.71.90.4-4.50.5-1.53.60.22.41.1-2.72.90.61.40.91.22.01.80.9-2.2-1.03.91.51.85.02.4-2.5-2.09.44.40.83.12.13.70.30.80.30.4-2.55.2-2.02.80.40.72.71.10.8-2.61.2-0.8-2.71.80.9-1.33.5-3.12.11.7-1.93.52.4-0.8-0.70.1-0.21.61.23.43.6-0.22.40.70.8-1.01.8-1.83.0-1.52.80.01.51.21.42.2-0.52.63.71.31.61.03.93.6-3.84.52.80.3-1.6+236.4%
Limnal Growth Aggressive0.04.71.5-0.11.92.20.11.0-2.00.12.31.52.6-0.5-0.91.30.12.50.51.42.51.31.64.3-3.0-0.91.00.6-0.02.62.00.7-5.80.7-3.14.40.91.81.7-3.64.00.60.81.41.32.52.30.3-3.1-3.16.12.31.96.33.7-3.0-2.512.25.20.64.13.04.30.70.60.40.6-3.36.5-2.94.30.20.72.3-0.40.7-4.22.8-1.9-4.52.72.3-1.74.8-4.32.51.8-2.74.83.2-1.6-1.8-0.30.92.81.14.14.2-1.03.10.71.4-0.82.2-2.14.3-2.63.6-0.21.31.71.92.9-0.13.04.11.51.71.14.53.8-4.95.63.20.1-1.1+306.0%
SPY0.06.70.41.70.33.60.10.0-1.73.72.01.83.90.11.01.40.62.10.32.02.43.11.25.6-3.6-2.70.52.40.63.73.20.6-6.91.9-8.88.03.21.84.1-6.47.01.5-1.71.92.23.62.9-0.0-7.9-12.512.74.81.85.97.0-3.7-2.510.93.7-1.02.84.55.30.72.22.43.0-4.77.0-0.84.6-5.3-3.03.8-8.80.2-8.29.2-4.1-9.28.15.6-5.86.3-2.53.71.60.56.53.3-1.6-4.7-2.29.14.61.65.23.3-4.05.13.51.22.32.1-0.96.0-2.42.7-1.3-5.6-0.96.35.12.32.13.62.40.20.11.5-0.9-4.910.55.3-1.0-0.8+354.0%
60/400.04.40.41.01.02.4-0.00.0-1.41.21.31.22.60.11.01.10.41.40.61.01.51.80.92.9-2.5-1.3-0.01.70.42.22.10.1-4.41.5-4.65.21.92.02.4-3.14.61.00.20.91.42.11.70.8-4.2-7.18.33.21.44.13.8-2.2-1.76.92.3-0.91.12.33.50.51.71.91.7-3.24.2-0.42.6-3.9-2.21.1-6.80.5-5.66.5-3.6-7.24.34.9-3.85.1-2.63.31.2-0.23.71.9-1.2-3.9-1.97.34.20.92.52.3-3.43.72.51.72.01.8-1.54.0-2.11.80.1-3.3-0.13.53.71.31.72.61.70.4-0.11.00.1-3.76.33.3-0.5-0.8+176.6%
VFIFX0.06.81.20.60.03.80.40.6-1.91.41.82.42.61.01.51.70.72.30.41.91.91.91.34.8-3.9-1.20.40.9-0.42.71.10.2-7.11.6-6.67.42.51.23.1-5.36.00.2-1.71.82.32.43.1-1.0-6.7-13.310.34.62.94.75.3-2.6-2.011.34.5-0.32.42.43.81.41.30.62.1-3.74.5-2.33.5-4.5-2.51.3-7.50.4-7.66.6-3.8-9.05.57.9-4.17.1-3.02.71.2-1.15.23.3-2.7-4.0-2.88.55.1-0.03.92.9-3.44.11.52.22.22.2-2.33.6-2.72.9-0.3-3.10.95.04.30.92.83.31.80.30.93.01.8-6.08.44.2-0.2-1.7+229.3%
Cells in % per month · color-graded by sign and magnitude · partial first month measured from start-of-window
§6 · Rolling-window robustness

How often does the edge hold across different start dates?

A single backtest window can be lucky. The honest test is does the edge hold across many overlapping start dates? For each window length below, every possible starting date in the year-long base is tested independently. Limnal's edge is most decisive at the 180-day horizon: the noise washes out and the signal stabilizes.

Median Sharpe across rolling windows · longer windows ⟶ more reliable signal
Portfolio30d60d90d180d
Limnal Growth+1.65+1.46+1.31+1.13
Limnal Growth Smooth+1.64+1.44+1.33+1.16
Limnal Growth Aggressive+1.74+1.50+1.30+1.07
SPY+1.85+1.49+1.35+1.16
60/40+1.89+1.51+1.42+1.17
VFIFX+1.65+1.29+1.16+0.98
% of rolling windows where Limnal beats benchmark on Sharpe
Limnal vs30d60d90d180dWindows (180d)
SPY42.3%37.5%38.6%43.5%2545
60/4043.1%38.3%37.3%44.3%2545
VFIFX45.5%40.5%42.4%41.4%2545
§7 · Methodology

How this backtest was run

The full description of how the regime is scored, how the score becomes an allocation, what data feeds the models, and the honesty caveats around the published numbers lives on the methodology page. Short version: six independent quantitative strategies score the regime daily on a 1.0 → 3.0 scale, the consensus drives a sleeve-by-sleeve allocation across a fixed 17-ETF universe, the backtest uses point-in-time inputs (no look-ahead) over the roughly 10-year window (January 2016 to today) for which the full model suite has data, and the published numbers are frictionless — real-world transaction costs, taxes, and slippage will subtract from realized returns.

This is information, not investment advice. Past backtest performance does not guarantee future results. Hypothetical simulated returns reflect frictionless execution and don't account for transaction costs, tax effects, individual circumstances, or the reality that your model can be wrong. Limnal Research provides analytics; investment decisions are yours.

Backtest data refreshed October 20, 2018
DisclaimerLimnal Research provides information and analytics, not investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Privacy · Terms.v0.1 · macro_regime · 2026-07-29