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Night Shift
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Night Shift

Fixed rules, no AI Backtest Mar 2001 to Oct 2026 Live from Oct 15, 2026

Owns a fund of small US companies only while the market is closed: bought at the close, sold at the next morning's open, and in cash all day. Since 2000, the overnight hours delivered all of small company stocks' gains on average, while the trading day added nothing. Night Shift keeps the nights and skips the days.

Per year, backtest
+13.2%
Mar 2001 to Oct 2026, after costs
S&P 500 per year
+9.6%
Same period, dividends included
Worst drop
−15%
S&P 500: −55%
Last 12 months
+6.1%
S&P 500: +17.3%

How it works

Fixed in advance and applied the same way every day. No AI and no one deciding by hand.

  1. Every trading day it buys a fund of small US companies at the close and sells it at the next open. It never holds anything while the market is open.
  2. It only does this while small company stocks are in an uptrend, checked once a month. In a downtrend it sits in cash and waits.
  3. On one well documented night each month it takes a bigger position, sized by how strongly that night has beaten the others over the last 10 years. If that edge fades, the boost shrinks on its own.

The exact fund, trend rule and sizing formula are in the AI Pro section, along with every position and trade. It is one of the few ideas that held up out of more than 20 we tested, across insider buying, congress trades, stock patterns and calendar effects.

Read this before following it

  • It trades every trading day: a buy at the close and a sell at the next open. Following it by hand is not practical; it is built for orders placed to fill at the closing and opening prices.
  • The backtest assumes very small trading costs. Commissions or wider spreads would take a real bite, because it trades about 500 times a year.
  • On boosted nights part of the money is in a fund that moves about three times as much as the market. The worst single boosted night in the backtest lost about 7%.
  • Bad news that breaks while the market is closed lands all at once at the open, and there is no chance to sell in between.
  • The month end boost did not help in the most recent year we held back for testing. It stays because of 25 years of evidence, and it scales itself down if that evidence keeps weakening.
  • Over the last 12 months of the backtest it made 6.1% against the market's 17.3%. The live record starts Oct 15, 2026. Judge it on the live line as it builds, not the backtest.
AI Pro

The exact rules, the live record and every trade

The fund and the exact rules, growth of $10,000 against the S&P 500, tonight's position, how strong the month end evidence is right now, every change, and year by year results.