Alpha in the Chop: +33.88% Over 6 Months and Our Strategic Expansion

It is easy for anyone to look like a market genius in a parabolic bull run. True systematic edge, however, is proven when the tide turns.

Over the last six months, the equity markets have been a brutal, choppy, sideways mess that has punished both buy-and-hold investors and trend-followers alike. From September 26, 2025, to March 20, 2026, the performance of the major indices tells the story:

• S&P 500 (SPY): -2.37%
• NASDAQ (QQQ): -4.35%
• DOW (DIA): -1.59%

In that exact same out-of-sample window, the core CNN-LSTM engine behind retailtrader.ai generated +33.88% across my live brokerage accounts.