Prismatic portfolios · Our flagship · Portfolio v3
The portfolio developed as v3, now named. Six algorithms across 20 currency, gold and index markets, combined into one. A hypothetical backtest of a $50,000 account, January 2020 – July 2026, measured against the S&P 500 and through every market decline in between.
The headline
| Prismatic Spectrum | S&P 500 | Dow Jones | Nasdaq-100 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ending value | $701,737 | $127,314 | $103,435 | $168,072 |
| Compound annual return | 49.4% | 15.3% | 11.7% | 20.2% |
| Deepest decline | −9.9% | −33.7% | −36.7% | −35.1% |
| Sharpe ratio | 2.99 | 0.67 | 0.52 | 0.75 |
| Longest stretch below a high | 93 days | 709 days | 694 days | 716 days |
| Months with a gain | 91.1% | 64.6% | 64.6% | 62% |
Hypothetical backtested results — not actual trading. Prismatic Spectrum trades fixed position sizes on a $50,000 account, so profits are not reinvested. Indexes are ETF total returns with dividends reinvested. Simulated results have inherent limitations and do not guarantee future results.
Inside the portfolio
A sleeve is one algorithm trading one market. Spectrum runs 20 of them side by side. They are deliberately unalike: what hurts one is often what pays another.
That is the whole argument for a portfolio in one picture. Run separately, the five largest algorithms suffered worst declines adding to −$45,680. Run together, the portfolio’s worst decline was −$9,794 — because they did not have their bad days at the same time.
| Algorithm | Markets | CAGR | Deepest decline | Profit factor | Sharpe | Share of profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobalt | EUR/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, EUR/GBP, AUD/NZD | 33.2% | −3.2% | 3.38 | 7.76 | 42.8% |
| Vermilion | GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, NZD/USD, EUR/JPY, CAD/JPY, EUR/USD, US 500, Germany 40, Japan 225, US 30 | 28.0% | −39.2% | 1.15 | 1.09 | 31.2% |
| Teal | XAU/USD | 17.0% | −7.4% | 1.63 | 1.37 | 13.9% |
| Amber | XAU/USD | 12.8% | −8.2% | 1.84 | 1.68 | 9.3% |
| Magenta | USD/JPY | 4.8% | −15.6% | 1.36 | 0.24 | 2.8% |
| Violet | AUD basket | 0.1% | −4.3% | 1.04 | -2.33 | 0.0% |
| All together — Prismatic Spectrum | 20 sleeves across currencies, gold and indices | 49.4% | −9.9% | 1.37 | 2.99 | 100% |
Hypothetical backtested results — not actual trading. Prismatic Spectrum trades fixed position sizes on a $50,000 account, so profits are not reinvested. Indexes are ETF total returns with dividends reinvested. Simulated results have inherent limitations and do not guarantee future results.
Turbulence
Since 2020 the S&P 500 has had seven declines we consider worth measuring — six of 7% or more, plus the three-day shock around the Silicon Valley Bank failure. Each chart below puts $50,000 into both Spectrum and the S&P 500 on the day the index peaked, and follows them to its trough.
Profit factor is what every dollar the portfolio lost bought in winnings: above 1.00 it made money, below 1.00 it lost. It is the honest companion to a win rate — in the 2020 tech sell-off Spectrum won 66.4% of its trades, better than its 63.7% average, and still lost money, because the losers were bigger. Its profit factor that month, 0.91, says so plainly.
2020-02-19 → 2020-03-23 · 23 trading days
Markets repriced a pandemic in five weeks. Spectrum’s gold and currency positions gained while shares fell.
2020-09-02 → 2020-09-23 · 14 trading days
The one decline Spectrum lost money in. Its loss was still smaller than every index’s fall.
2022-01-03 → 2022-10-12 · 195 trading days
Nine months of rising rates. The longest window we measured, and Spectrum’s largest dollar gain.
2023-03-08 → 2023-03-13 · 3 trading days
Three days around a bank failure — short, sharp, and barely visible in the portfolio.
2024-07-16 → 2024-08-05 · 14 trading days
The yen carry trade unwound in three weeks. A currency shock is the kind of move these algorithms trade.
2025-02-19 → 2025-04-08 · 34 trading days
A seven-week slide on trade policy. Spectrum gained while the S&P 500 lost nearly a fifth.
2026-01-27 → 2026-03-30 · 43 trading days
The most recent decline, and the closest to today’s market conditions.
| Decline | Window | Prismatic Spectrum | S&P 500 | Dow | Nasdaq-100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covid crash | 2020-02-19 → 2020-03-23 | +31.8% | −33.7% | −36.3% | −27.9% |
| 2020 tech sell-off | 2020-09-02 → 2020-09-23 | −3.2% | −9.4% | −7.9% | −12.7% |
| 2022 inflation bear market | 2022-01-03 → 2022-10-12 | +246.5% | −24.5% | −18.9% | −34.3% |
| SVB banking crisis | 2023-03-08 → 2023-03-13 | +6.3% | −3.4% | −2.9% | −2.4% |
| Yen carry-trade unwind | 2024-07-16 → 2024-08-05 | +16.3% | −8.4% | −5.5% | −12.3% |
| Tariff tantrum | 2025-02-19 → 2025-04-08 | +14.9% | −18.8% | −15.4% | −22.8% |
| Early-2026 sell-off | 2026-01-27 → 2026-03-30 | +22.4% | −8.9% | −7.4% | −11.4% |
Spectrum’s figures are profit and loss as a percentage of the $50,000 account, because it trades fixed position sizes rather than reinvesting. The index figures are the return on $50,000 invested at the peak. Over the 2022 window that difference is large: Spectrum’s $123,262 of profit is +246.5% of the starting account, earned over 195 trading days.
Hypothetical backtested results — not actual trading. Prismatic Spectrum trades fixed position sizes on a $50,000 account, so profits are not reinvested. Indexes are ETF total returns with dividends reinvested. Simulated results have inherent limitations and do not guarantee future results.
The risk side
Returns are the part everyone reads. The chart below is the part that decides whether you are still holding the portfolio when the returns arrive.
Measured on daily closes the deepest decline was −9.9%. Measured trade by trade — the way an account actually experiences it, including positions closing within a day — the worst run was −$11,533, or 23% of the starting account. Both are real; the second is the one to plan around.
Hypothetical backtested results — not actual trading. Prismatic Spectrum trades fixed position sizes on a $50,000 account, so profits are not reinvested. Indexes are ETF total returns with dividends reinvested. Simulated results have inherent limitations and do not guarantee future results.
Disclosures
Prismatic Spectrum has never been traded with real money. Everything on this page is a simulation run in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester on historical tick data. It is published so you can examine the construction method and judge the evidence — not as a record of results any account achieved.
HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE TRADES HAVE NOT BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER-OR-OVER COMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFIT OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN.
What is shown. Prismatic Spectrum results are a hypothetical backtest of six algorithms running 20 market sleeves in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester on historical tick data from December 31, 2019 to July 31, 2026, combined at fixed position sizes chosen for a $50,000 account. Profits are not reinvested. Results are closed-trade (realized) profit and loss after modelled commissions, gold slippage and an execution haircut on one algorithm; they exclude swings in open positions, financing differences between brokers, and any management or performance fees. Several algorithms’ settings were chosen or tuned using data from within this period, so the results are partly in-sample. Three sleeves have no data before 2021–2022 and one algorithm begins in 2024; each contributes nothing before its data begins. The portfolio as a whole has not been traded with real money.
Indexes. S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq-100 are represented by the SPY, DIA and QQQ exchange-traded funds with dividends reinvested (adjusted closes, Yahoo Finance), which include each fund’s expense ratio. Sharpe ratios use the 3-month U.S. Treasury bill rate (FRED DTB3). Market-decline dates are the S&P 500 ETF’s closing peak and trough.
Risk. Trading foreign exchange, gold and index CFDs on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Leverage can work against you as well as for you, and losses can exceed deposits. Past performance, whether actual or simulated, is not indicative of future results. This material is for information only and is not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security, fund interest or advisory service.
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