Guide · Trend following
Does Ichimoku Cloud work?
Across 375 stocks, Ichimoku Cloud cut the worst fall on 86%, beat buying and holding on risk-adjusted return on 25% and on raw return on 19%. Mainly a seatbelt: it softened the big falls on most stocks, but usually gave up return to do it.
What it predicts
Japan's 'one-glance' chart. Price above the cloud with the fast line over the slow line is the strong bullish reading.
- In when a daily close is above the cloud and the 9-day line is above the 26-day line.
- Out when a daily close falls below the cloud.
- Inside the cloud, the rule keeps its last call.
Trend following plays bet that prices that have been rising tend to keep rising for a while, and falls tend to keep falling. The family guide
How to use it
- Expect to be wrong more often than right: only 28% of its calls worked. Its results come from the size of the winners, so following it means sitting through strings of small losses.
- It worked best on Indexes & ETFs (57% beat holding on risk-adjusted return) and worst on Micro caps (0%).
- Use it as one input. Your signal combines the plays you count with the other factors you weight into one call.
When it worked
Ichimoku Cloud did best against holding in the 2008 crash (+25% median gap) and worst in the 2020–21 rally (−26%). Median gap in return against holding the same stock (per year over stretches longer than 18 months; crypto excluded).
| 2008 crash | Recovery 2009–19 | COVID drop | 2020–21 rally | 2022 bear | Since Oct 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ichimoku Cloud | +25% | −9% | +19% | −26% | +5% | −10% |
Where it worked
By kind of stock: how often it beat holding on risk-adjusted return, and the median Sharpe ratio gap.
| Group | Beat holding, risk-adjusted | Sharpe gap |
|---|---|---|
| Indexes & ETFs | 57% | +0.01 |
| Industrials & rentals | 44% | -0.03 |
| Financials | 42% | -0.05 |
| Real estate | 37% | -0.04 |
| Healthcare | 33% | -0.15 |
| Software & devices | 29% | -0.13 |
| Industrials & materials | 27% | -0.18 |
| Consumer & retail | 21% | -0.18 |
| Energy & power | 20% | -0.17 |
| Metals & mining | 18% | -0.16 |
| Semiconductors | 13% | -0.17 |
| Media & telecom | 10% | -0.14 |
| Sectors | 8% | -0.14 |
| Big tech | 0% | -0.18 |
| Micro caps | 0% | -0.64 |
Where it helped most
Sharpe ratio gap against holding, stocks with 3+ years of history
Right now
Ichimoku Cloud holds 138 of 377 names as of the Oct 13, 2026 close.
Changed its call in the last two weeks:
Backtest results since 2005 (or as long as each stock has traded), against holding the same stock over the same dates, after 0.05% per switch. Past results don't promise future ones. This analysis does not constitute trading advice. Please meet with an advisor or independently review sources before making any decision.