We've opened a Research Lab. It's where we take trading ideas that sound too good to ignore and test them properly on ASX data — the exact rules, real cash rates, dividends, costs on every trade, and a downloadable list of every switch the rule made. Each study is dated and frozen, so the numbers you read are the numbers it was published with.

The first study looks at Leslie Masonson's 225-day moving-average system: hold the index while it closes above its 225-day average, sit in cash while it closes below. On the Nasdaq-100 that rule has been reported at 1,061% against 628% for buy-and-hold, with a fraction of the drawdown — a claim worth checking on our own market.

On the S&P/ASX 200 from 2000 to September 2026 it doesn't repeat. The plain rule made 6.1% a year against 8.6% for simply holding the index; adding a 2% band around the average lifts it to 7.4% and cuts the trading from 212 switches to 44, but it still trails. What it does deliver is a maximum drawdown of 15.5% against the index's 51% — on the ASX this is a drawdown limiter, not a return enhancer. The full study shows where that came from, what happens if you vary the rule, and the look-ahead mistake that turns the same backtest into a 3,329% fantasy.

The Research Lab is part of the Pro plan — you'll find it under Research Lab in the navigation bar, and Pro members can request the next study from there.