The best indicator for AUD/USD
We backtested 382 indicators across daily, weekly and hourly charts on real AUD/USD history. Here's what actually worked — risk-adjusted, out-of-sample, with costs.
Where AUD/USD stands
Computed from our own daily OHLCV history, not quoted from a third party. Moving averages use closing prices; "52-week" is the last 252 trading sessions.
DMI Direction
On the daily chart, this is the strongest risk-adjusted edge we found for AUD/USD over ~20.7 years — beating buy-and-hold by 8.9% CAGR.
AUD/USD on the daily chart
The timeframe our backtest found best for this asset. The chart is live market data; the results above are hypothetical and historical.
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Best multi-indicator combo
Going long only when all 2 agree was the strongest confluence setup we found for AUD/USD — beating buy-and-hold by 6.3% CAGR, out-of-sample. Fewer, higher-conviction trades than any single indicator.
The winner on each chart
Every indicator, ranked
Ranked by Sharpe (risk-adjusted return). Hypothetical, fees included.
| # | Indicator | TF | CAGR | Sharpe | Max DD | Win | Trades | vs B&H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DMI Direction ✓ | Daily | 8.5% | 1.12 | -11.1% | 28.2% | 255 | 8.9% |
| 2 | Fisher Transform ✓ | Daily | 8.8% | 1.09 | -21.7% | 38.7% | 519 | 9.2% |
| 3 | Parabolic SAR (fast) ✓ | Daily | 7.6% | 0.97 | -28.6% | 38.5% | 392 | 8.0% |
| 4 | DeMarker (7) ✓ | Daily | 5.7% | 0.76 | -30.0% | 34.2% | 383 | 6.1% |
| 5 | Woodies CCI ✓ | Daily | 4.7% | 0.7 | -14.5% | 35.4% | 435 | 5.1% |
| 6 | DeMarker (21) ✓ | Daily | 4.8% | 0.65 | -11.3% | 29.5% | 220 | 5.2% |
| 7 | Parabolic SAR ✓ | Daily | 4.9% | 0.63 | -32.7% | 37.8% | 254 | 5.3% |
| 8 | DeMarker (14) ✓ | Daily | 4.4% | 0.59 | -28.3% | 35.9% | 270 | 4.8% |
| 9 | ADXR ✓ | Daily | 3.2% | 0.58 | -15.1% | 34.1% | 135 | 3.6% |
| 10 | Vortex (7) ✓ | Daily | 4.2% | 0.57 | -28.6% | 33.0% | 376 | 4.6% |
| 11 | SMC: Fair Value Gap ✓ | Daily | 4.3% | 0.57 | -22.2% | 41.3% | 259 | 4.7% |
| 12 | ADX / DMI ✓ | Daily | 2.9% | 0.53 | -18.0% | 33.3% | 114 | 3.3% |
| 13 | Vortex ✓ | Daily | 3.2% | 0.44 | -21.2% | 34.8% | 264 | 3.6% |
| 14 | CCI Trend ✓ | Daily | 3.1% | 0.43 | -15.8% | 31.3% | 259 | 3.5% |
✓ = held up out-of-sample. Hypothetical, costs included. See methodology.
What it would take to beat buy & hold on AUD/USD
50 of 1264 tested setups beat buy-and-hold on AUD/USD outright. Another 76 could get there with leverage they would survive — but 23 would be liquidated by their own drawdown before they caught it.
| Indicator | Beats B&H unlevered | Leverage needed | Leverage survived |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeMarker (21) | 1 | 1.11× | 8.75× |
| Projection Bands | 1 | 1.11× | 8.36× |
| Murrey Math Lines | 1 | 1.61× | 21.74× |
| Woodies CCI | 1 | 1.67× | 6.54× |
| Connors RSI-2 | 1 | 3.0× | 11.17× |
| Bollinger Mean-Reversion | 1 | 3.22× | 7.94× |
Out-of-sample, costs included. A setup is only listed if the leverage it needs is less than the leverage its own worst drawdown survives — when it isn't, no amount of leverage gets there. Volatility drag isn't modelled, so these are the optimistic case. Every indicator, ranked this way
For AUD/USD, DMI Direction on the daily timeframe gave the best balance of return and risk in our test. It beat buy-and-hold — but remember: this is a hypothetical backtest of a standard rule, not a recommendation. Markets change. See the methodology and disclaimer.
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