acuTREND ~ LODD (Long-Only, Drawdown Discipline)CPR: Capture. Protect. Repeat.

Capture the Major Trends. Control the Downside.

A long-only, rules-based framework for multi-year allocation in core equities and major ETFs, built on 40 years of market experience.

Our long-only approach captures the major trends, protects capital when they break, and repeats the process trend after trend, with drawdowns held to a disciplined fraction of buy and hold. That’s CPR.

A Long-Only Methodology for the Full Market Cycle

Institutional portfolios demand more than static entry and exit signals. acuTRADE is a buy-side-only framework, engineered through decades of market cycles for large-AUM ETFs and equities from $5 billion in market capitalization to the largest companies in the world. It never sells short. Its edge lies in owning the major uptrends and in controlling what happens when they end.

Every position is managed as a lifecycle, not a single call.

  • Buy: entry as a new uptrend is confirmed.
  • AT/B (Add To / Buy): signals as the trend renews, to add to a position or begin a new one.
  • SP 1 and SP 2 (Scale Partial): partial profits taken as the advance matures, 20% of the position at each, while the core 60% stays invested in the trend.
  • Exit: a disciplined close when the trend ends.

When a decline takes hold, acuTRADE exits, and the capital goes back to work. Declines are rarely universal. While one market weakens, others are entering new uptrends. Capital released by an Exit is redeployed into positions carrying active acuTRADE Buy signals or held in short-term Treasuries until the next opportunity appears. In 2022, as the S&P 500 fell 25%, acuTRADE identified positions in Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Vertex Pharmaceuticals as their uptrends took hold against the broader market.

The result is participation with control. On the Dow Jones ETF (DIA), acuTRADE stood aside for nine months during the global financial crisis and for one month during the COVID crash, then bought back in. From 2003 through 2017, buy and hold’s worst drop was 54.4%, while acuTRADE’s deepest drop below a Buy price was 17.6%. From 2018 through 2025, the gap was 38.5% against 4%.

Explore the Methodology

Three videos: acuTRADE in real markets

The acuTRADE Index & ETF Tracker

The videos show how acuTRADE handled ten years of history. The tracker shows how it works today, trade by trade, on the funds most investors already own.

It follows 20 of the most widely held index and sector ETFs: 13 standard funds and 7 2X funds. They cover the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, the Dow and small caps, along with emerging markets and the major sectors: technology, semiconductors, financials, energy, industrials, health care, utilities and consumer staples. Together they are a cross-section of the whole market.

Every row is a live acuTRADE trade, with the date and price of the Buy, the partial profits taken, and the Gain / Loss from the Buy today. Nothing is selected after the fact, and nothing is left out. The winners and the Exits are both on the table, updated regularly and dated at the top.

This is CPR at work: Capture the trend while it runs, Protect the gains when it breaks, and Repeat when the next trend begins. When a trend turns, the tracker shows it, because that fund moves from Holding to Out.

View acuTRADE Index & ETF Tracker

All charts, videos and results are for educational purposes only and are not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Applied Materials (AMAT)

Applied Materials (AMAT) acuTRADE chart with Buy, Scale Partial and Add To / Buy signals, a scorecard, and acuPHASE and acuPRESSURE panes
View the chart at full size

Applied Materials (AMAT), 2025–2026

After a full Exit on February 26, 2025, acuTRADE gave a new Buy on June 16, 2025, at $175.88. Four AT/B (Add To / Buy) signals, at $200.08, $232.57, $328.08 and $366.58, marked chances to add as the uptrend gained strength.

As the trend matured, SP 1 (Scale Partial) sold 20% at $318.98 (+81.4%) and SP 2 (Scale Partial) sold another 20% at $502.79 (+185.9%). AMAT went on to a high of $739.67 on June 30, 2026.

With 40% sold at SP 1 and SP 2 (Scale Partial), 60% of the original position is still held. After the pullback to about $389, that 60% is up 121.4%, and the whole position, counting both SPs (Scale Partial), is up 126.3%.

acuPHASE now reads Distribution 6 (six trading days) with a TRENDweight of -50. Buying strength has faded, an early warning that the trend is weakening.

How to read the scorecard

The label at the right of each chart is a scorecard. It compares the stock traded with acuTRADE against simply buying and holding it.

Top block: the current trade. “OPEN TRADE” shows the Buy price and date, the gain since the Buy, how much is still held, and the highest price since the Buy. “Out” means acuTRADE is not in the stock today. The text turns red when the open trade is below its Buy price.

Three blocks below: the last 1, 3 and 10 calendar years. Each block shows:

  • Return: with acuTRADE versus buy and hold.
  • Max DD (maximum drawdown): for acuTRADE, the deepest drop below a Buy price. For buy and hold, the deepest drop from a high to a low. Each is dated.
  • Closed trades and how many are still open.
  • AT/B signals: later entry points, shown for traders who missed the Buy. They are not counted in the results.
  • In the market: the share of time acuTRADE held the stock. The rest is time spent standing aside.
  • Best trade and Weakest trade: each whole trade’s result, partial profits included, with its Buy and Exit months.

A Decade of Real Markets: DJI 2002–2013

From June 2002 to May 2013, acuTRADE navigated three of the sharpest market drawdowns of the last quarter century: the 2002 bear market bottom, the 2008 global financial crisis, and the August 2011 U.S. debt ceiling selloff. For institutional allocators and family offices, downside protection is not about avoiding market exposure – it is about systematic risk governance through full market cycles.

Seven Years of Real Markets: QQQ (2019–2026)

Total Scope: Five sequential campaigns on QQQ (three long, two short) from February 2019 through June 2026.

Methodology: Every price, date, and percentage is derived directly from real charts, capturing the full record, including gains and losses.

Intel Corporation (INTC): A Complete Campaign

Every marker, every date, every price, documented in appendix below. Most trading systems present single, isolated calls in hindsight. acuTRADE is different. Below is an authentic, unedited look at how the acuTRADE algorithmic engine structured and managed capital across five sequential Intel Corporation (INTC) campaigns-navigating entries, executing disciplined scale-outs, flipping short, and capturing macro swings. Every date, price level, and return metric is drawn directly from chart source data.

How 32 Major Index & Sector ETFs Signal Strength and Weakness Across Equities

See where market leadership is emerging and where weakness is developing across U.S., international developed, and emerging markets.

Using the same systematic framework demonstrated in the Dow, Intel, and QQQ analyses, we evaluate 32 major indexes and sector ETFs through both historical campaign performance and current market structure. The result is a top-down view of market strength, sector rotation, and where conditions are changing across equities.

The acuTRADE Index & ETF Tracker

See the current acuTRADE trade in 20 widely held index and sector ETFs: 13 standard funds and 7 2X funds.

Recognition from Industry Leaders

Perspectives from respected leaders in investment management, technical analysis, financial research, and academia.

Ralph Acampora
And it is authors like Chuck Dukas who continue to raise the bar for all of us when he writes that technical indicators will act differently during the six stages of his Market Phase Analysis. He wants his readers to understand that we should all approach the market with a trading plan and the discipline to carry out that plan. Enjoy Chuck’s book, I certainly did.
Tom DeMark
President, Market Studies, Inc.
Identifying a market’s trend, defining a process to time entries and exits, and applying a prudent money management approach are all essential components to consistent long-term trading and investment success and profitability. With clarity and detail, Chuck Dukas presents a much needed prescription to introduce these important elements into one’s trading regimen. This book is essential reading for anyone who operates in the markets and intends to be a survivor.
John Bollinger
CFA CMT
Chuck Dukas has developed an interesting life-cycle framework for equity analysis rooted in traditional technical analysis concepts that harkens back to the pioneering work of Stan Weinstein. Model builders will no doubt be anxious to test these ideas in the crucible of the markets.
Mike Epstein
Visiting Scholar, MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering
This book, The TRENDadvisor Guide to Breakthrough Profits, not only is a valid comprehensive guide to exploiting profit opportunities in modern equity markets, but also has the virtue of being written by a seasoned professional with a real time record of doing just that. This is no ‘pie in the sky’ wanna-be trader’s hope chest, but a well thought-out, clear exposition of how equity markets actually work, and how to make money from them

Testimonials

TRENDadvisor’s fully automated position management and systematic risk software is designed to deliver disciplined, multi-year trend exposure for institutional portfolios.

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