VOL. I · NO. 119 · standardpoorly.comTHU · MAY 28 · 2026FORWARD HORIZON · 1 d / 1 wk / 1 mo / 3 mo
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StandardtechnicalSP-5039

SPY 50/200 MA cross (golden/death)

Binary signal: 1 when 50d SMA above 200d SMA (golden-cross regime), 0 when below (death-cross regime). The famous one. Tested honestly.

the verdict —
At the 252d horizon, this signal hits in the predicted direction 67% of fires. Mean SPY forward return when it lights: +4.70%. Status: OOS validated. n = 6377. Bullish on the underlying when fired.
What to watch when it fires
SPY

Current state

Latest value · 2026-05-22
1.00
vs ~6 weeks ago
0.0%
vs 60 days ago
0.0%
vs 7 days ago
0.0%
Binary calendar indicator — value is 1 on event days, 0 every other day. A time-series sparkline isn't meaningful here (it's mostly zeros). The hit-rate / magnitude stats below are computed against the event days themselves; see the COMING UP strip on the home page for upcoming instances.

The series — full history

Daily readings, every reading we have. Pick a window with the time-period buttons; flip to candles via the global toggle in the masthead (or press C). Toggle the SPY overlay to see how this series and the S&P 500 have moved together.

SPY 50/200 MA cross (golden/death)
1.00
Hover for date + value · Toggle SPY to compare relative move
1.040.77000.50000.2300-0.0400May 25Aug 25Nov 25Feb 26May 26
2025-05-22 → 2026-05-22 · 252 bars

What it has historically predicted

On days when this signal fires (deviates 2+ standard deviations from its 30-day average, in either direction), SPY has historically averaged +4.7% over the next year, moving in the same direction as the signal 67% of the time.

53%
+0.03%
1 d
56%
+0.13%
1 wk
59%
+0.53%
1 mo
63%
+1.5%
3 mo
65%
+2.8%
6 mo
67%
+4.7%
1 yr

Beyond SPY — how this signal performs across markets

Same fire days, different forward returns. Each row asks: when this signal fires, what does that asset do? The big number is the average return; underneath is how often the asset moved the same direction as the signal (50% would be a coin flip).

target
1 d
1 wk
1 mo
3 mo
6 mo
1 yr
SPY
S&P 500 ETF
n=6,377
+0.03%
53% same direction
+0.13%
56% same direction
+0.53%
59% same direction
+1.5%
63% same direction
+2.8%
65% same direction
+4.7%
67% same direction
BTC
bitcoin
n=2,758
+0.07%
51% same direction
+0.62%
52% same direction
+2.8%
51% same direction
+8.6%
50% same direction
+18.8%
50% same direction
+49.6%
61% same direction
Analyst · 6 moreWTI · Gold · Copper · DXY · MOVE · VNQ see the full 8-target matrix with bootstrap confidence intervals.Join waitlist →

Each fire in history — when the signal popped, what SPY did next

Each bar is one historical fire — the indicator's value moved 2.5+ standard deviations from its rolling 180 trading-day mean (~9 months), or for monotonic “days since” indicators, crossed an 80th/90th/95th/99th percentile. Bar height = SPY's forward return at the selected horizon, signed by signal direction. Green above zero means the market moved with the signal; red below zero means it moved against.

horizon:
0 fires · 0% positive · avg +0.00%
⚠ This indicator hasn't fired since 2025-05-19 (374 calendar days ago). Currently quiet — chart shows historical fires only.
−5.0%−2.5%0%+2.5%+5.0%
Each bar = one fire day (|z|≥2.5 from 180-day rolling baseline). Bar height = SPY return over the the next year, signed by signal direction. Dashed line = average across fires.
shaded cell = each row's strongest horizon (green = bullish forward return, red = bearish)“same direction” means the asset moved the same way the signal moved — opposite of a coin flip.