The idea

Buy long-dated calls on my watchlist names that are trending up.

This is the strategy behind my real-money Public Portfolio Challenge. Before each test, Aurora tried four position sizes on the dates before it and kept one.

Describe a trading idea. Get a bot tested on data it never saw.

Write it the way you would say it. Aurora, the research agent, turns it into rules and backtests them after fees. Then it tests them on later dates.

Test an idea free Fork a template

36,244 people have run 814,267 backtests on NexusTrade. I also trade it with $25,000 of my own money, in public.

Where would you like to start?Let’s build your first plan.

Studied before the first test
Sep 2020 – Aug 2024 Three tests on dates the rules never saw
Aug 2024 – Sep 2026 Public Portfolio Challenge +501.2% SPY +38.8% Explore Public Portfolio Challenge ↓

Includes trading fees and modeled option slippage. Each 252-day test started with a fresh $25,000, and the line chains the three of them. The strategy beat SPY in all three windows it had never seen. Watch the rules change or open the study.

Then the line moves forward, and the rules change with it.

Before each 252-day window, Aurora tested four position sizes on the dates before it and kept the one with the best Sortino ratio. That version then ran on dates it had never seen.

Window 1+38.6%SPY −0.7%Window 2+144.0%SPY +25.1%Window 3+77.8%SPY +11.7%

−25%0%+25%+50%+75%+100%+125%+150%

Aug 17, 2024 – Apr 25, 2025Window one: 10% of the portfolio in each position.Picked on dates through Aug 16, 2024, where its validation return was +121.8%. On the unseen dates it made +38.6% while SPY lost 0.7%, after falling as much as 31.1%.
Apr 26, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026Window two cut each position to 5%.It made +144.0% against SPY’s +25.1%.
Jan 3 – Sep 11, 2026Window three cut each position to 3%.It made +77.8% against SPY’s +11.7%, and its largest fall shrank to 10.7%.
All threeChaining the three $25,000 tests gives +501.2%. SPY gives +38.8%.The strategy beat SPY in every window it had never seen. Open the study.

Chosen for window one

Each position: 3%5%7%10%

Chosen Changed since the last window

The full record of all three windows

Each window’s settings came from the dates before it. The test result never fed back into the choice.

Public Portfolio Challenge walk-forward optimization, three windows
Window	Test dates	Chosen settings	Validation return	Test return	SPY	Closed trades	Fees	Largest fall
1	Aug 17, 2024 – Apr 25, 2025	10% per position	+121.8%	+38.6%	−0.7%	282	$239.34	−31.1%
2	Apr 26, 2025 – Jan 2, 2026	5% per position	+248.6%	+144.0%	+25.1%	349	$244.14	−13.6%
3	Jan 3 – Sep 11, 2026	3% per position	+306.2%	+77.8%	+11.7%	283	$123.93	−10.7%

Fresh $25,000 per window, fees of 0.1% of each stock trade and $0.65 per option contract, modeled option slippage, a 14-day embargo before each validation period, and the highest validation Sortino ratio picked among versions that traded at least nine names. The setting searched is the share of the portfolio in each position. These are historical simulations. The live account below runs the current version of the same strategy. Open the study.

The same test works on any kind of data.

Six real NexusTrade backtests, each against SPY over the dates shown. Ahead of SPY Behind SPY SPY

Technical indicators

QQQ above its 200-day average, otherwise short-term Treasuries

Return: +59.5%
SPY: +88.5%

Oct 2021 – Sep 2026 · 29.0 pts behind SPY

See how to build it

Fundamentals

Cheap S&P 500 cash generators

Return: +82.4%
SPY: +88.5%

Oct 2021 – Sep 2026 · 6.2 pts behind SPY

See how to build it

Economic data

Unemployment regime: SPY or Treasuries

Return: +15.8%
SPY: +88.5%

Oct 2021 – Sep 2026 · 72.7 pts behind SPY

See how to build it

Congressional disclosures

Follow Pelosi’s stocks and calls

Return: +278.3%
SPY: +88.3%

Mar 2022 – Oct 2026 · 190.0 pts ahead of SPY
Includes trading fees and modeled option slippage.

Explore the stocks & calls bot

Your own data

Jobless claims regime: SPY or Treasuries

Return: +7.4%
SPY: +88.5%

Oct 2021 – Sep 2026 · 81.2 pts behind SPY

See how to build it

All of them together

Cash generators in uptrends, gated by unemployment

Return: +41.2%
SPY: +88.5%

Oct 2021 – Sep 2026 · 47.3 pts behind SPY

See how to build it

Why the test matters

A stock-only Pelosi model: strong backtest, weaker unseen results.

A separate 90-day stock-only model returned +136.0% against SPY’s +68.7% when backtested from Jan 2024. Run on five windows its settings never saw, those same stock-only rules trailed SPY.

See the stock-only walk-forward Open the stock-only Aurora run

+120%0%−60%

Stock-only model, $100,000 after 0.1% fees SPY

Never traded? Start with the basics.

Algorithmic Trading Fundamentals

Level: Beginner
Length: 6–8 hours
Rating: 4.9 from 14 reviews
Code: None needed

Hour 0, introductory modules freeAbout 6–8 hours

See how the pieces fitIndicators, conditions, strategies and portfolio backtests.
Build your first indicatorsA 10-day SMA and an RSI, through Aurora.
Write conditionsSMA-to-price and RSI thresholds inside SPY strategies.
Make a first strategyA paper portfolio and an AMZN buy rule.
Backtest it against SPYCompare your strategy with buy-and-hold.
Check before you deployPaper deployment and the checks before going live.

Start the free modules

Or read it first, free

Video frame: Pelosi against the S&P 500 with the same $10,000

Watch: $10,000 in Pelosi’s strategy against the S&P 500

Past the last test, you decide what runs.

Paper trade it

It needs no brokerage account.

Take it live

Alpaca
Public
TradeStation
Tradier
Robinhood

Automation runs only after you approve it and switch it on.

Build on it

pip install nexustrade
npm install nexustrade

You can also connect the MCP server or the REST API. Read the developer docs.

The line ends today, with my own money.

I’m Austin, the founder. I started this portfolio with $25,000 of my own money on May 5, and every position and fill is public.

So far I’m 2.1 points ahead of SPY.

Follow the Public Portfolio Challenge series Inspect the portfolio and its fills

Portfolio value, Oct 28: $27,251.82
Since May 5: +9.0%
SPY total return: +6.9%

My portfolio SPY, dividends reinvested

Or start from a strategy someone already tested

Fork one and test it yourself. Browse every template.

Open-source strategy templates and their public records
Template	1-year return	Largest fall	Sortino	Access
Venezuela Equal WeightBy Austin · Forward test · paper	+52.2%	−15.4%	2.87	Free to fork
SPXL Scaling into Drawdowns V5 (Shorter Cooldown)By Austin · Forward test · paper	+51.3%	−12.5%	2.11	Free to fork
Drawdown-Based AccumulationBy Austin · Forward test · paper	+38.4%	−32.7%	1.28	$39.99 a month

Each record is labeled paper or live. Updated Oct 28, 2026. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

You did an excellent job of considering all aspects of trading and research which made the application smartly transition from research to strategy, to watchlist, to trade… very nicely done.

Spencer K. Chief Finance Officer / Institutional Investor

I discovered NexusTrade on YouTube and was so impressed that I invited the founder to speak at my MBA class.
Michael P. Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School
There are not a lot of people (particularly in retail) building what he’s building, and the platform is incredible.
Trevor R. Managing Director at a quant firm
Even though I know how to code, it’s still very enjoyable to be able to do this with such ease. I was able to optimize my strategy to the fullest.
Delanoe P. Artificial intelligence engineer

Questions people ask first

Are the results here real money or simulations?

The founder’s Public Portfolio Challenge uses real capital. Template records are labeled paper or live. The Pelosi backtest and the walk-forward study are historical simulations. In the walk-forward study, each window’s settings were picked using only earlier data, and every date had already passed when the study ran. Open each record to inspect its rules, dates, fees and risks.

Do I need to code or already have a strategy?

No. The three-question start asks about your experience, priorities and interests, then suggests ideas to test. Choose one or bring your own. Aurora works in plain English, and you can also build rules by hand.

Can I trade real money with NexusTrade?

Yes, if you choose to. Paper trading needs no brokerage. Live trading connects to Alpaca, Public, TradeStation, Tradier or Robinhood, and stocks, options and crypto are supported. Your brokerage decides which of those you can trade. Automated live trading requires approval, current consent and automation you switch on yourself.

What is free, and when do I pay?

You can fork strategy templates and build strategies by hand for free, with two paper portfolios of up to ten strategies each. Aurora research uses tokens. Paid plans include a daily allowance, and you can also buy tokens without changing plans. How the allowance works.

Why does an annual plan show a monthly price?

The monthly figure is the annual charge divided by twelve, so you can compare plans. The Data-Driven Investor plan charges $480 once a year, which shows as $40 a month. You can also pay $49.99 monthly or $13.99 weekly.

Does a paid platform plan include every template?

Some strategy templates are free to fork, and others have their own subscription price. A platform plan covers its research allowance and platform limits. A paid template subscription covers that one template and leaves your platform plan as it is.

Bring the idea you keep coming back to.

Observer: Free; Fork templates, build strategies by hand and keep two paper portfolios of up to ten strategies each.
With Aurora research: From $40 a month; Billed annually at $480, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on platform fees.

Test an idea free Compare every plan