Skip to content
← All strategies
Momentum

Classic 12-Minus-1 Momentum

12-month return skipping the last month — the academic gold standard.

S&P 500 Universe · Monthly Rebalance · Jan 2023 – May 2026

Growth of $100

9520130741452020232025
Classic 12-Minus-1 Momentum
S&P 500

Performance Summary (2023–2026)

+384%
3-Year Cumulative Return
+281%
vs. S&P 500 (buy & hold)
1.69
Sharpe Ratio
-29%
Max Drawdown
59.6%
Annualized Return
39%
Monthly Turnover

How it's built

Buys the S&P 500 stocks with the highest return over the past 12 months, excluding the most recent month. This is the Jegadeesh & Titman (1993) momentum factor — one of the most replicated effects in academic finance, confirmed by Fama-French (1996), Asness, and dozens of others.

Signals used
mom_12m_1m

Why it works

Skipping the most-recent month avoids 1-month reversal noise; the 12-1 window captures sustained outperformance. Investors are slow to update their priors on company quality, so winners stay winners over medium horizons. Has historically beaten S&P 500 over long stretches but suffers severely in momentum crashes (e.g. 2009 Q1, 2022 H1).

Ready to customize this strategy?

Fork it into your AI chat. Adjust signals, filters, and universe in plain English — no code.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. Backtests are simulated and do not account for transaction costs, slippage, taxes, or the impact of large orders on market prices. All figures shown are hypothetical. This is not investment advice. See our full disclaimer for details.