Calendar Effects (US S&P 500)
slug: calendar-effects-us-sp500
performance summary
Sharpe (median)
+0.23
Max DD
-14.4%
Win rate
—
Alpha (ann.)
—
p-value
0.33
backtest period: 2022-01-14 → 2026-06-09
Sharpe across 192 grid runs:median 0.23best 6.18 (not representative)worst -2.91p25–p75 -0.52–1.18
Hypothesis
Tests well-known calendar anomalies: Halloween effect, January effect, Turn-of-Month, and Day-of-Week effects. Applied to S&P 500 constituents.
Why it didn't work
Across 192 grid combinations, median Sharpe=0.23, best=6.18. Primary failure mode: regime_dependent.
Facts (5)
Best grid Sharpe ratio is 6.18 (p=0.039).
period 2022-01-14–2026-06-09; cost=5bps
cite ↗ /cite/calendar-effects-us-sp500-fact-best-sharpevia r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0088
Median Sharpe across 192 grid runs is 0.23.
Full grid of 192 parameter combinations.
Median Sharpe in DOWN regime is -0.08 across 192 runs.
Regime=DOWN, N225 SMA20/SMA60 classification.
Median Sharpe in FLAT regime is 0.28 across 192 runs.
Regime=FLAT, N225 SMA20/SMA60 classification.
Median Sharpe in UP regime is 0.96 across 192 runs.
Regime=UP, N225 SMA20/SMA60 classification.
Runs (30)
| run | params | sharpe | UP | FLAT | DOWN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
effect=halloween, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0000 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | -0.43 | -0.80 | -0.36 | +0.14 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0001 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | -0.31 | -0.70 | -0.36 | +0.14 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=10, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0002 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 10 n_stocks: 5 | -1.37 | -1.87 | -1.30 | -0.58 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=10, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0003 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 10 n_stocks: 5 | -1.20 | -1.68 | -1.30 | -0.58 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=1, n_stocks=20, cost_bps=10, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0011 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 10 n_stocks: 20 | -1.31 | -1.87 | -1.88 | -0.12 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=1, n_stocks=50, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0012 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 50 | -0.81 | -1.54 | -1.21 | +0.78 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=5, n_stocks=10, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0020 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 10 | +0.09 | -0.87 | +0.68 | +0.57 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=5, n_stocks=50, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0028 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 50 | -0.27 | -0.60 | -0.74 | +0.72 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=20, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0032 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | +0.16 | -0.15 | +0.82 | -0.25 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=20, n_stocks=10, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0037 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 10 | +1.00 | +1.90 | +1.29 | -0.01 |
effect=halloween, holding_days=20, n_stocks=50, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0045 | effect: "halloween" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 50 | +0.63 | +0.63 | +0.94 | +0.17 |
effect=january, holding_days=1, n_stocks=10, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0053 | effect: "january" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 10 | +2.90 | +2.14 | +2.30 | +9.47 |
effect=january, holding_days=1, n_stocks=50, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0061 | effect: "january" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 50 | +2.32 | +2.97 | +0.99 | +7.53 |
effect=january, holding_days=5, n_stocks=10, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0069 | effect: "january" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 10 | +2.46 | +5.77 | +2.27 | — |
effect=january, holding_days=5, n_stocks=50, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0077 | effect: "january" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 50 | +4.53 | +4.41 | +3.50 | — |
effect=january, holding_days=20, n_stocks=10, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0085 | effect: "january" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 10 | +5.24 | +6.56 | +6.18 | — |
effect=january, holding_days=20, n_stocks=20, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0088 | effect: "january" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 20 | +6.18 | +7.13 | +6.04 | — |
effect=january, holding_days=20, n_stocks=50, cost_bps=10, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0094 | effect: "january" cost_bps: 10 n_stocks: 50 | +4.42 | +4.46 | +6.20 | — |
effect=turn_of_month, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0096 | effect: "turn_of_month" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | -1.75 | -1.18 | -3.21 | -0.49 |
effect=turn_of_month, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=10, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0099 | effect: "turn_of_month" cost_bps: 10 n_stocks: 5 | -2.91 | -2.43 | -4.15 | -1.21 |
effect=turn_of_month, holding_days=1, n_stocks=20, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0104 | effect: "turn_of_month" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 20 | -1.51 | -1.33 | -2.58 | -0.32 |
effect=turn_of_month, holding_days=5, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0112 | effect: "turn_of_month" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | +1.02 | +1.40 | +0.45 | +1.23 |
effect=turn_of_month, holding_days=5, n_stocks=20, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0120 | effect: "turn_of_month" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 20 | +1.16 | +1.54 | +1.13 | +0.80 |
effect=turn_of_month, holding_days=20, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0128 | effect: "turn_of_month" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | +1.26 | +2.02 | +0.14 | +2.18 |
effect=turn_of_month, holding_days=20, n_stocks=20, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0136 | effect: "turn_of_month" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 20 | +1.18 | +1.36 | +0.35 | +2.78 |
effect=day_of_week, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=False r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0144 | effect: "day_of_week" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | -0.77 | -1.41 | +0.29 | -1.27 |
effect=day_of_week, holding_days=1, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0145 | effect: "day_of_week" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | -0.38 | -0.67 | +0.29 | -1.27 |
effect=day_of_week, holding_days=1, n_stocks=20, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0153 | effect: "day_of_week" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 20 | +0.07 | -0.41 | +0.77 | -0.55 |
effect=day_of_week, holding_days=5, n_stocks=5, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0161 | effect: "day_of_week" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 5 | -0.17 | +2.90 | -2.10 | -1.05 |
effect=day_of_week, holding_days=5, n_stocks=20, cost_bps=5, regime_gate=True r-calendar-effects-us-sp500-0169 | effect: "day_of_week" cost_bps: 5 n_stocks: 20 | -0.67 | +2.48 | -1.80 | -2.50 |
Target universe
S&P 500 constituents, ~503 stocks
Related strategies
source: qbuntu-analysis · kabu STATION REST API + J-Quants daily bars
computed asof: 2026-07-29T01:08:35