cloudtrades: what it is
What problem it solves
Most retail traders pick stocks based on news, charts, or hunches. Few have a statistically validated strategy that they can follow mechanically over time. cloudtrades runs a set of detectors built around academic findings (post-event drift, momentum, mean reversion, insider activity). Picks are surfaced daily and tracked as paper portfolios so users can see how each strategy performs over time.
What it does day to day
- Scans roughly 1,000 US stocks against several setup detectors
- Generates picks for any setup that triggers
- Tracks each pick as a paper position in the strategy's portfolio
- Marks positions to market daily
- Compares strategy performance against the S&P 500 benchmark
Strategies covered
- Gap-up drift: stocks that close significantly higher on heavy volume tend to drift further over the following weeks. Documented academic effect (Bernard-Thomas 1989 and many follow-ups). This is the primary edge.
- Post-earnings drift (PEAD): stocks that surprise on earnings tend to continue moving in the direction of the surprise. Supporting signal.
- 52-week breakout: stocks making new highs on confirming volume. Supporting signal.
- RSI mean reversion: short-term oversold stocks in established uptrends. Experimental.
- Insider cluster buys: multiple insiders buying the same stock within a 30-day window.
- Cross-sectional momentum: top decile of trailing 12-month returns.
- Low volatility: bottom decile of realized volatility.
- Turtle/Donchian breakouts: 20-day high breakouts.
- M&A arbitrage: targets of announced acquisitions trading at a discount to the deal price.
Honest expectations
The primary strategy (gap-up drift) backtests with positive alpha over the past four years, but year-by-year is variable. Some years it beat the S&P 500 meaningfully, some years it lagged. The strategy works on average over long horizons, not every quarter.
This means: do not use cloudtrades expecting it to beat the market every month. Use it the way a quant fund would: a long-term mechanical process that accepts shorter-term drawdowns in exchange for a structural edge over multi-year periods.
Where the live track record stands
Paper trading went live in May 2026. Hold periods are 45 to 90 days depending on the strategy. The first closures will happen in late June and early July 2026. Until then, the public backtest is the only meaningful evidence. After ~30 trades close we can begin to compare realized P&L against backtest expectations.
Who it is for
People who want a systematic approach to stock picking but do not want to do the screening or backtesting themselves. Not for day traders or people looking for daily entertainment.
What it costs
Currently free. A Pro tier (more detail per pick, weekly email digest, larger universe coverage) is being considered for the future but not yet priced.