A Decade of Real Markets: DJI, 2002 to 2013

Sequence of Performance

HOW acuTRADE PERFORMED THROUGH THREE OF THE HARDEST STRETCHES IN MODERN MARKET HISTORY

Most track records get built during friendly markets. This one did not have that luxury. From June 2002 through May 2013, this campaign lived through the 2002 bear market bottom, the full 2008 to 2009 financial crisis, and the August 2011 debt-ceiling selloff, three of the sharpest drawdowns of the last twenty-five years. Every marker below is real, dated, and shown in full, the losses included.

Three Real Losses, Named Plainly

A framework is only as credible as its willingness to show what did not work. Over this decade, three campaigns experienced losses:

• Short, (June 26, 2008): A loss of 1,404 points
• Buy (May 2, 2009 – a reversal out of the prior short): A loss of 924 points.
• Short, (August 19, 2011): A loss of 1,472 points (-14.0% on the position).
• Each of these sits squarely inside the two most violent market regimes of the entire period. That is not a coincidence; it is what real drawdowns look like when a framework stays actively engaged with the market instead of running for the sidelines. What matters is what happened next.

What Capital Preservation Actually Looked Like

Staged profit-taking, utilizing the current 50% / 40% / 10% sizing framework, is built on a single core principle: lock in real gains as a trend proves itself, rather than leaving an entire position exposed to whatever shock comes next.

Importantly, the underlying Buy itself never closes or resets between stages. It remains one continuously open position, only the size of that position shrinks as each stage fires. The campaign stays in place until either all three stages are completed through scaling, or a reversal signal closes whatever portion remains.

Each stage is named and sized against that same original position size: SP-O 1 sells 50%, SP-O 2 sells 40%, and SP-O 3 sells the final 10%. Each stage’s percentage gain belongs exclusively to that specific slice of shares and is not reflected in the core ROI% figures shown elsewhere in this report, which track only the change in price from the original Buy or Short entry, independent of SP-O or CP-O scaling.

• SP-O (Scale Partial on Open): Applies on the long side.
• CP-O (Cover Partial on Open): Applies on the short side.

• SP-O 1 fired twice, locking in 21.8% and 21.7% gains on the first 50% of two separate campaigns.
• SP-O 2 locked in a 39.1% gain on 40% of the position during the 2006-2007 advance.
• SP-O 3 locked in a 56.0% gain on the final 10% of that same campaign, just months before 2008 peak.
• On the short side, CP-O 1 and CP-O 2 locked in 17.1% and 27.6% gains, with the second cover dropping right into the heart of the 2008-2009 market bottom.

Every one of those gains was fully banked before the reversals that followed. None of those profits were at risk then the 2008 crash or the 2011 selloff hit, because they had already been converted into realized results.

Full Sequence of Performance in Appendix Below, DJI 2002 to 2013

Click to watch video: DJI Campaign Video

Recovery, Not Just Survival

Six separate AT/B-O (Add to / Buy on Open) fired across the decade, several of them directly following a loss. Six dated add points over eleven years demonstrate a system that doesn’t fire signals on every minor market bounce; it provides disciplined re-entry only when structural conditions demand it.

The framework did not freeze up after June 2008, May 2009, or August 2011. It re-engaged on schedule using strict, repeatable rules.

The two long runs this decade produced the real story:

1. The 2003-2007 Run: From May 2003 Buy at 8,713 through the SP-O 3 print at 13,590 in mid-2007, the Dow ran for nearly five years, banking gains at three separate stages (21.8%, 39.1%, and 56%) long before the 2008 top arrived.
2. The Post-2009 Recovery: Following the 2009 low, a fresh Buy at 8,867 rebuilt the same way, adding at 10,441 and again at 12,652 after the 2011 loss. By May 2013, that campaign had already produced a fresh SP-O 1 at a 21.7% gain as the Dow pushed toward 15,000.

Two different decades’ worth of gains, each built the exact same disciplined way: enter, ATBs on strength, and take real profit in stages as the trend proves itself.

The Honest Summary

This decade does not offer a single clean return figure, nor should it. Blending eleven years of distinct market environments into one neat, annualized metric obscures the real mechanics of risk management. Each Buy or Short opens its own self-contained campaign, executed under its own specific market conditions.

The honest way to describe eleven years of real market history is to lay out the full sequence: three real losses clearly named within two of the worst market stretches in a generation, paired with a framework that consistently locked in gains before market reversals could touch them, then came right back to work.

That is what structural capital preservation is designed for. It is not about avoiding every lesson set to eliminate drawdowns entirely. It is about enforcing a discipline where a loss on one campaign never erases the gains already banked from the previous one. By scaling out systematically at predetermined targets ( / ), the framework insulates historical profits from future volatility, ensuring the account lives to fight the next market cycle with its principal intact.

Click for markers: Glossary

Appendix: Source Record & Historical Sequence (DJI 2002–2013)

The table below serves as the definitive source record for the decade writeup and historical performance narrative. Every trade marker-including open campaign entry staged partial exits, and historical additions-appears in chronological order, exactly as plotted on the primary charts and verified against video record archives.

• Transparency on Drawdowns: All three realized campaign losses are explicitly shaded and named within their respective market contexts (including the 2008 collapse and 2011 volatility stretch).
• Position Mechanics: Gains associated with partial exits (SP-O and CP-O) reflect locked-in returns on their respective position tranches, while open ROI figures remain pegged strictly to core entry prices per standard glossary definitions.

Audit Note: If any figures, trade dates, or point metrics in this document are ever revised or cited, they must be cross-referenced against this master sequence first.

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