BTS Universal Market Timer Performance — Dow Jones Industrials
Return
11.6% vs. 12.1%
Drawdown
5.2 pp shallower
Capital
19.1 pp lower
Executive summary
The defining Dow result remains defensive consistency: across all 30 securities with 5-year Standard results, cohort-median Typical CAGR was lower than buy-and-hold while drawdown, volatility, capital deployment, and Sharpe were favorable for the Timer.
The Timer had the higher Typical CAGR in 11 securities and trailed in 19, with no ties. It had the shallower Typical Max Drawdown in 28 of 30 securities, lower Typical Capital Deployed and lower Typical Volatility in all 30, and the higher Typical Sharpe Ratio in 19. The return trade-off is therefore clear even as the defensive effect remains broad.
Universe scorecard
All five rows show cohort medians of security-level 5-year Standard Typical results. The last column is the difference of those cohort medians; it is not the median of the security-level paired differences shown in the Breadth section.
| Metric | UMT | Buy & Hold | Difference of cohort medians |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAGR | 11.6% | 12.1% | -0.5 pp |
| Max Drawdown | -33.8% | -39.0% | 5.2 pp shallower |
| Capital Deployed | 80.9% | 100.0% | 19.1 pp lower |
| Volatility | 26.0% | 28.9% | 2.9 pp lower |
| Sharpe Ratio | 0.62 | 0.56 | +0.06 |
Breadth of the effect
Breadth is important evidence because cohort medians can hide concentration. Across all 30 securities with 5-year Standard results, the Timer had the higher Typical CAGR in 11 and trailed in 19, with no ties. It had the shallower Typical Max Drawdown in 28, lower Typical Capital Deployed and lower Typical Volatility in all 30, and the higher Typical Sharpe Ratio in 19. The final column reports the median paired security-level difference, so it need not match the scorecard’s difference of cohort medians.
| Metric | UMT-favorable securities | Cohort share | Median paired difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAGR | 11 of 30 | 36.7% | -0.9 pp |
| Max Drawdown | 28 of 30 | 93.3% | 3.3 pp shallower |
| Capital Deployed | 30 of 30 | 100.0% | 19.0 pp lower |
| Volatility | 30 of 30 | 100.0% | 2.5 pp lower |
| Sharpe Ratio | 19 of 30 | 63.3% | +0.02 |
Where the Timer added the most value
Microsoft is the clearest overlap between the return and drawdown leaders. Its 5-year Standard Typical CAGR was 23.7% versus 19.7% for buy-and-hold, while its Typical Max Drawdown improved from -37.1% to -25.5%. NVIDIA also combined a higher CAGR with a materially shallower drawdown.
Largest CAGR advantages
| Ticker | Security | UMT CAGR | Buy & Hold CAGR | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSFT | Microsoft | 23.7% | 19.7% | +4.0 pp |
| AMGN | Amgen | 14.8% | 12.2% | +2.6 pp |
| NVDA | NVIDIA | 30.5% | 28.8% | +1.7 pp |
| GOOGL | Alphabet | 21.0% | 19.9% | +1.1 pp |
| IBM | International Business Machines | 9.5% | 8.4% | +1.1 pp |
| PG | Procter & Gamble | 11.0% | 9.9% | +1.1 pp |
The fifth-place cutoff is a tie at +1.1 percentage points, so Alphabet, International Business Machines, and Procter & Gamble are all shown.
Largest Max Drawdown improvements
| Ticker | Security | UMT Max Drawdown | Buy & Hold Max Drawdown | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSFT | Microsoft | -25.5% | -37.1% | 11.6 pp shallower |
| NVDA | NVIDIA | -56.0% | -66.3% | 10.3 pp shallower |
| CSCO | Cisco Systems | -40.1% | -49.8% | 9.7 pp shallower |
| AAPL | Apple | -40.8% | -49.8% | 9.0 pp shallower |
| IBM | International Business Machines | -32.6% | -40.6% | 8.0 pp shallower |
Where Buy & Hold had the largest return advantage
Amazon had the largest buy-and-hold CAGR advantage in the 5-year Standard population at 6.9 percentage points, followed by Visa at 5.1, UnitedHealth Group at 5.0, Caterpillar at 3.5, and Home Depot at 3.2.
| Ticker | Security | UMT CAGR | Buy & Hold CAGR | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | Amazon | 21.1% | 28.0% | -6.9 pp |
| V | Visa | 18.7% | 23.8% | -5.1 pp |
| UNH | UnitedHealth Group | 17.2% | 22.2% | -5.0 pp |
| CAT | Caterpillar | 10.2% | 13.7% | -3.5 pp |
| HD | Home Depot | 12.7% | 15.9% | -3.2 pp |
How to interpret the trade-off
Aggregation matters. Cohort-median 5-year Standard Typical CAGR was 11.6% for the Timer versus 12.1% for buy-and-hold. The Timer had the higher CAGR in 11 of 30 securities and trailed in 19. It had a shallower Typical Max Drawdown in 28, lower Typical Capital Deployed in all 30, and lower Typical Volatility in all 30.
Capital Deployed measures average daily position exposure. In each rolling window it is the arithmetic mean of daily position exposure. Typical values and cohort medians are calculated as described below. The 80.9% result should therefore not be read as “time in market,” a simple cash allocation, or proof that the Timer was out of the market 19.1% of the time.
The measured story remains a clear return-versus-defense trade-off: the Timer gave up some cohort-median compounding while delivering broad drawdown improvement, universal capital and volatility improvement, and a higher cohort-median Sharpe Ratio. All 30 securities already qualify for the 5-year Standard population, so there is no separate 3-year Limited History cohort on this page.
Compare UMT Results Security by Security
This report summarizes the Dow Jones Industrial Average cohort as a whole. For ticker-by-ticker Typical historical performance and Trade History, use the BTS Universal Market Timer interface. Available securities and cohorts depend on membership access.
How the results are calculated
Security-level Typical. All 30 current Dow securities have 5-year Standard results, calculated as the median across eligible rolling 5-year periods spanning 60 complete calendar months and advancing one month at a time. There are no valid 3-year Limited History rows in this cohort.
Universe scorecard. The primary scorecard, breadth statistics, and leader/laggard rankings use all 30 current Dow securities.
Matched comparison. For each security, the Timer and the buy-and-hold benchmark begin on the same backtest start, defined as the first eligible Timer BUY. Both use the same rolling-period boundaries. The buy-and-hold benchmark uses the total-return benchmark series specified in BTS Methodology.
Open positions. Open positions remain in performance at market value through June 30, 2026. Positions still open at the cutoff are excluded only from completed-trade counts.
Coverage. The current Dow Jones Industrial Average cohort contains 30 securities, all with 5-year Standard results and none in either Limited History or No Result.
Study design. This is a constituent-level study, not a backtest of an investable Dow Jones Industrial Average portfolio. Each security is tested independently, and cohort statistics summarize security-level results. Membership reflects the current cohort; historical point-in-time membership is not reconstructed.
Continue with Cycle Behavior
This Performance Report answers what repeated UMT trading produced across the Dow Jones Industrial Average cohort. For the empirical behavior of the broader Market Cycle, including how Bottoming, constructive advances, Topping, weakening, position sizing, and retests fit together, continue to BTS Universal Market Timer — Cycle Behavior.
For how to interpret and act on today’s UMT output, see the BTS Universal Market Timer — User Guide.
To compare this cohort with the other published stock studies, see all UMT Performance Reports.