Larry Connors
RSI(2) mean reversion
A short-term mean-reversion system: while price is above its 200-day average, buy extreme two-day weakness (RSI(2) under 5) and exit on the first close back above the 5-day average.
Win rate
73.3%
Share of trades that closed in profit
Trades
30
Completed trades in the test
Profit factor
2.07
Above 1 means profit beat loss
Return
42.1%
Account change over the window · buy & hold 963.8%
Max drawdown
20.4%
Worst fall from a peak
Step by step, exactly as executed
Timeframe
1D
Setup / filter
close > SMA(200)
Entry
RSI(2) < 5 → market at the next candle open
Stop
NONE — no stop-loss rule was provided, so no stop is placed
Target / exit
Target: no fixed target · Rule exit: a close above SMA(5) closes the trade at the next open
Risk
1% of equity as trade notional (there is no stop, so this is not risk to a stop)
Executable rules
Published sources
Known limitations
The published rules, verbatim
Timeframe
daily.
Trend filter
the close is above the 200-day simple moving average.
Entry
RSI(2) closes below 5.
Exit
the close crosses back above the 5-day simple moving average.
No stop loss
the published rules exit on the moving-average signal only.
Sources
What this test cannot reproduce
Short trades (the mirror rules below the 200-day average) cannot be executed on Spot, so only the long side is tested.
The published rules use NO stop loss, so R-based statistics are undefined and the position size is a fixed notional, not risk to a stop.
Connors published this for US equities and ETFs; this test runs on the crypto pair you named.
Connors reports RSI(2) thresholds of 10, 5 and 2; the book's core table uses 5, which is what is tested.
Portfolio — every backtest of this strategy
Each row prints the exact window it was measured on. Rows with different windows measure different market periods, so their numbers differ without contradicting each other.
Backtestify house test
- SOLUSDT1D2018-09-02 → 2026-08-31 · 8.0 yearsRecommended
Measured on 2920 days of candles · run 2026-08-31
17 tradesWR 70.6%PF 1.49+16.2% / hold +2984.7%DD 13.9% - BNBUSDT1D2018-09-02 → 2026-08-31 · 8.0 yearsRecommended
Measured on 2920 days of candles · run 2026-08-31
28 tradesWR 57.1%PF 2.91+62.5% / hold +5923.2%DD 12.9% - ETHUSDT1D2018-09-02 → 2026-08-31 · 8.0 yearsRecommended
Measured on 2920 days of candles · run 2026-08-31
29 tradesWR 69.0%PF 2.85+58.9% / hold +718.1%DD 9.5% - BTCUSDT1D2018-09-02 → 2026-08-31 · 8.0 yearsRecommended
Measured on 2920 days of candles · run 2026-08-31
30 tradesWR 73.3%PF 2.07+42.1% / hold +963.8%DD 20.4%
Sign in to run these rules yourself and see your own results here.