Strategy library · Baselines
Buy and hold backtest on NQ and ES futures
Buy and hold
Also called: buy and hold futures, buy and hold benchmark, long and hold strategy
What happens if you buy and hold NQ futures?
What it is
Buy and hold goes long from the first bar of the test and does nothing else. The position is held to the last bar.
What it did
On NQ futures from 2024-10-08 to 2026-10-07, the buy and hold strategy took 1 trade on the daily chart and finished 9,329.25 points ($186,585 on one NQ contract), before commission and slippage (small sample: 1 trade). On ES futures from 2024-08-28 to 2026-08-27, the buy and hold strategy took 1 trade on the daily chart and finished 1,613.25 points ($80,663 on one ES contract), before commission and slippage (small sample: 1 trade). This strategy was tested on the daily chart only; every trade is listed on this page.
How it was tested
CE Market Solutions tested the buy and hold strategy on NQ (2024-10-08 to 2026-10-07) and ES (2024-08-28 to 2026-08-27) futures, before commission and slippage, with each signal filled at the next bar's open, intraday positions flat at 15:59 ET and textbook default indicator settings; every trade is listed on this page.
See it tested with one change · $19
Tested by CE Market Solutions on 2026-10-26. Every trade is listed below. Gross, no commission or slippage. Last 2 years.
Results
Rule as tested: Long from the first bar of the test. Exit: Held to the last bar.
| Timeframe | NQ · 2024-10-08 to 2026-10-07 | ES · 2024-08-28 to 2026-08-27 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trades | Win % | Avg pts | Profit factor | Net pts | Net $ (1 NQ) | Max DD pts | Trades | Win % | Avg pts | Profit factor | Net pts | Net $ (1 ES) | Max DD pts | |
| Daily | 1 | 100.0% | 9,329.25 | — | 9,329.25 | $186,585 | 0.00 | 1 | 100.0% | 1,613.25 | — | 1,613.25 | $80,663 | 0.00 |
NQ Daily: small sample (1 trade). ES Daily: small sample (1 trade).
Free to use with credit to CE Market Solutions (CC BY 4.0).
ES daily: the equity line
Long and short
| Side | Trades | Net pts |
|---|---|---|
| Long | 1 | 1,613.25 |
| Short | 0 | — |
By month
| Month | Trades | Net pts |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-08 | 1 | 1,613.25 |
Every trade, ES daily1 trades
Daily results show the table and the equity line; there is no chart viewer for them yet.
All trades (1), newest first
Times are New York time; points are gross.
| Session date | Side | Entry (ET) | Entry price | Exit (ET) | Exit price | Exit reason | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-08-28 | long | 2024-08-27 18:00 | 5643.75 | 2026-08-27 16:59 | 7733.00 | window end | 1,613.25 |
Page 1 of 1
The other trades quoted above
Every trade, NQ daily1 trades
Newest first. Times are New York time; points are gross.
| Session date | Side | Entry (ET) | Entry price | Exit (ET) | Exit price | Exit reason | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-08 | long | 2024-10-07 18:00 | 20025.75 | 2026-10-07 16:59 | 31403.75 | window end | 9,329.25 |
Questions and answers
How did the buy and hold do on NQ futures?
On NQ futures from 2024-10-08 to 2026-10-07, the buy and hold strategy on the daily chart took 1 trade and finished 9,329.25 points ($186,585 on one NQ contract), before commission and slippage.
How did the buy and hold do on ES futures?
On ES futures from 2024-08-28 to 2026-08-27, the buy and hold strategy on the daily chart took 1 trade and finished 1,613.25 points ($80,663 on one ES contract), before commission and slippage.
How these were run
- Gross: no commission and no slippage.
- The last 2 years of each market, from the first to the last session of its window.
- A signal on a closed bar fills at the next bar’s open.
- A stop and a target touched in the same minute count as the stop.
- Intraday positions are flat at 15:59 ET.
- Textbook TradingView default settings for every indicator; nothing is tuned.
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