Quant researcher and Connors co-author

Cesar Alvarez

Cesar Alvarez is an American quantitative trader who worked as a software engineer on early versions of Microsoft Excel before serving as director of research/trading strategies at Connors Research and TradingMarkets.com from 2004 to 2013. He co-wrote Short Term Trading Strategies That Work (2008) with Larry Connors, writes the Alvarez Quant Trading blog and holds the CMT designation.

What they argue

Simple mean-reversion rules can be robust: in their tests the Double 7s idea also held up as Double 5s through Double 10s.
Trading ideas should be tested systematically on historical data before they are traded.
Buying weakness within long-term uptrends and selling into strength is a repeatable edge in stocks and ETFs.

Sources

CMT Association: Cesar Alvarez Smarter Trading podcast: Cesar Alvarez The Chartist: Double 7's Strategy

Summaries are Be The Puck's paraphrase of public material. Be The Puck has no affiliation with the people listed.

Books and papers

Short Term Trading Strategies That Work (with Larry Connors) (2008)
High Probability ETF Trading (with Larry Connors) (2009)

The full reading list

Connors RSI(2) pullback

Rule and full record

Mean reversion · daily · with Larry Connors

Buy a sharp short-term dip, but only in a long-term uptrend, and sell the first bounce.

Calls right60%91,374 closed calls on 377 stocks.

Beat buy and hold (Sharpe)55 of 375On raw return: 46 of 375.

In right now39 of 377As of the Oct 13, 2026 close.

Best risk-adjusted results against buy and hold:

EOSEOUT TRNSOUT BSXOUT NTRIN FLNCOUT HTZOUT GFLOUT QUTXOUT CRWVOUT JWELOUT ATHOUT GILOUT All 377 stocks →

Connors & Alvarez Double 7s

Rule and full record

Mean reversion · daily · with Larry Connors

Above the 200-day average, buy a close at a 7-day low and sell a close at a 7-day high.

Calls right63%115,537 closed calls on 377 stocks.

Beat buy and hold (Sharpe)87 of 375On raw return: 59 of 375.

In right now96 of 377As of the Oct 13, 2026 close.

Best risk-adjusted results against buy and hold:

ABRAOUT NBISIN GFLOUT TRNSIN HTZOUT QUTXOUT BSXOUT LUGOUT PETOUT PSKOUT TECK.BIN TMUSOUT All 377 stocks →

ConnorsRSI (3, 2, 100) pullback strategy

Rule and full record

Mean reversion · daily · with Larry Connors, Matt Radtke

Buy a stock in a strong trend after a sharp one-day sell-off pushes ConnorsRSI below 10, and sell when it recovers above 70.

Calls right59%8,293 closed calls on 377 stocks.

Beat buy and hold (Sharpe)41 of 375On raw return: 35 of 375.

In right now6 of 377As of the Oct 13, 2026 close.

Best risk-adjusted results against buy and hold:

CRWVOUT PETOUT GEHCOUT IAUOUT ARISOUT PPTAOUT QUTXOUT SKEOUT GPROOUT BBUCOUT PRSOIN WPKOUT All 377 stocks →

Connors %b three-day oversold

Rule and full record

Mean reversion · daily · with Larry Connors

In a long-term uptrend, buy after the close has sat near or below the bottom of its Bollinger Bands for three days running, and sell once it gets near the top.

Calls right58%28,197 closed calls on 377 stocks.

Beat buy and hold (Sharpe)67 of 375On raw return: 44 of 375.

In right now88 of 377As of the Oct 13, 2026 close.

Best risk-adjusted results against buy and hold:

BBUCOUT CURAIN CRWVOUT VITL.UNIN PPTAOUT HTZOUT SOBOIN DASHIN ABNBIN INTUOUT MAROUT AGIOUT All 377 stocks →