
Every time the Nasdaq-100 has closed 3% or more below a prior closing high in NQ-GX7's model-live record, it appears here — from the peak, through the trough, to the day the high was regained — with the system's result broken down by phase and by week.
Eight drawdowns qualify. NQ-GX7 was profitable through six of the eight declines — its equity was higher at the Nasdaq's low than it had been at the Nasdaq's high — and through all four declines of 10% or more. The two declines it lost money in were among the three shallowest, each lasting a week or so. At shorter horizons the record is far less one-sided, and those numbers are shown too.
| # | Peak → trough | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 at trough · MTM | Booked | Recovery | NQ-GX7 in recovery | Full cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dec 16, 2024 → Apr 8, 2025 | 79 | −24.0% | +43.2% $14,044 | +47.8% | 58 sessions | +66.1% | +109.3% |
| 2 | Jul 10, 2024 → Aug 7, 2024 | 20 | −14.5% | +17.9% $5,803 | +18.8% | 66 sessions | +21.7% | +39.6% |
| 3 | Oct 29, 2025 → Mar 30, 2026 | 106 | −13.7% | +19.2% $6,227 | +18.5% | 14 sessions | +21.7% | +40.9% |
| 4 | Jun 2, 2026 → Jul 29, 2026 | 41 | −12.3% | +16.5% $5,350 | +18.5% | open · −6.0% | +23.6% | +40.0% |
| 5 | Oct 8, 2025 → Oct 10, 2025 | 2 | −4.6% | +1.9% $613 | +3.3% | 10 sessions | +0.5% | +2.4% |
| 6 | Nov 8, 2024 → Nov 15, 2024 | 5 | −3.4% | −3.8% −$1,224 | −3.9% | 12 sessions | −2.0% | −5.8% |
| 7 | Jul 30, 2025 → Aug 1, 2025 | 2 | −3.4% | +5.9% $1,930 | +6.1% | 5 sessions | +5.3% | +11.2% |
| 8 | Aug 12, 2025 → Aug 21, 2025 | 7 | −3.0% | −7.2% −$2,339 | −5.3% | 15 sessions | +4.9% | −2.3% |
The deepest drawdown in the record: 24% over 79 sessions, and 137 sessions before the December high was regained. The system's +43% through the decline was earned almost entirely in the first leg — nine weeks of sideways chop in which the index ended 0.8% lower and the system made $14,618 on both sides of the book. Through the two legs that did the actual damage, the −9% and the −16%, the system was flat (−$4 and −$570): shorts earned $3,677 across them and longs gave back $4,251, including the record's worst single session on April 4. The recovery then paid $21,489, almost all from the long book.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Dec 16 → Apr 8 | 79 | −24.0% | $14,044 | +43.2% | $15,541 | $2,304 | $11,740 |
| Recovery | Apr 8 → Jun 30 | 58 | +31.8% | $21,489 | +66.1% | $21,090 | $25,864 | −$4,375 |
| Full cycle | Dec 16 → Jun 30 | 137 | +0.1% | $35,533 | +109.3% | $36,632 | $28,169 | $7,365 |
Twenty sessions, −14.5%. The first leg (−6.3% over three weeks) was a grind for the system, which was 5.3% below its start at the July 30 low. The second leg — the five sessions into the August 5 volatility shock — paid $4,681, with the July 31 and August 2 sessions the largest. Shorts earned $9,261 across the decline against $3,458 lost on longs; the recovery to the old high reversed the roles.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Jul 10 → Aug 7 | 20 | −14.5% | $5,803 | +17.9% | $6,125 | −$3,458 | $9,261 |
| Recovery | Aug 7 → Nov 7 | 66 | +17.5% | $7,067 | +21.7% | $6,203 | $12,780 | −$5,714 |
| Full cycle | Jul 10 → Nov 7 | 86 | +0.4% | $12,870 | +39.6% | $12,328 | $9,323 | $3,547 |
The longest drawdown by session count: 106 sessions to the trough and the high not regained until April 17, 2026. As in the 2025 drawdown, the first leg (the index down 0.8% over three months, including the November 2025 selloff and full retrace) is where the system earned its money: +$9,238. The second leg — the 12.8% decline from January 28 to March 30 — cost the system $3,011: shorts made $5,947 but longs lost $8,958, the system's worst leg in the record. It recovered $7,066 in the 14 sessions that followed.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Oct 29 → Mar 30 | 106 | −13.7% | $6,227 | +19.2% | $6,020 | −$4,946 | $11,173 |
| Recovery | Mar 30 → Apr 17 | 14 | +16.5% | $7,066 | +21.7% | $7,067 | $11,075 | −$4,009 |
| Full cycle | Oct 29 → Apr 17 | 120 | +0.6% | $13,292 | +40.9% | $13,087 | $6,129 | $7,164 |
The current drawdown. Forty-one sessions and −12.3% to the July 29 low, with the two worst single sessions of 2026 inside it; the index has since recovered to about 6% below its June 2 high. The system earned across both legs — $2,825 in the first, $2,525 in the eleven-and-a-half-percent second leg, where shorts made $7,973 and longs lost $5,448 — and has added $7,659 in the partial recovery so far. Client accounts were live for the whole of this drawdown.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Jun 2 → Jul 29 | 41 | −12.3% | $5,350 | +16.5% | $6,007 | −$3,762 | $9,112 |
| Recovery (so far) | Jul 29 → Sep 14 | 33 | +7.2% | $7,659 | +23.6% | $7,659 | $5,206 | $2,454 |
| Peak to date | Jun 2 → Sep 14 | 74 | −6.0% | $13,009 | +40.0% | $13,667 | $1,443 | $11,566 |
Two sessions and −4.6%, almost all of it on October 10. The system finished the decline up $613 marked to market ($1,061 booked), earned on the short book, and was roughly flat through the two-week recovery.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Oct 8 → Oct 10 | 2 | −4.6% | $613 | +1.9% | $1,061 | −$932 | $1,546 |
| Recovery | Oct 10 → Oct 24 | 10 | +5.5% | $167 | +0.5% | −$403 | −$891 | $1,059 |
| Full cycle | Oct 8 → Oct 24 | 12 | +0.6% | $781 | +2.4% | $658 | −$1,824 | $2,604 |
One of the two losing declines. A five-session, −3.4% pullback after the November 2024 election rally. The long book lost $2,467 against $1,243 earned on shorts, and the system was still down through the recovery: −$1,224 in the decline and −$652 in the twelve sessions to the new high.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Nov 8 → Nov 15 | 5 | −3.4% | −$1,224 | −3.8% | −$1,273 | −$2,467 | $1,243 |
| Recovery | Nov 15 → Dec 3 | 12 | +4.0% | −$652 | −2.0% | −$780 | $1,346 | −$1,998 |
| Full cycle | Nov 8 → Dec 3 | 17 | +0.5% | −$1,876 | −5.8% | −$2,053 | −$1,121 | −$756 |
Two sessions, −3.4%, into the first-week-of-August jobs report. Shorts earned $3,493 against $1,563 lost on longs; the system was up 5.9% through the decline and another 5.3% through the one-week recovery.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Jul 30 → Aug 1 | 2 | −3.4% | $1,930 | +5.9% | $1,974 | −$1,563 | $3,493 |
| Recovery | Aug 1 → Aug 8 | 5 | +3.9% | $1,712 | +5.3% | $1,243 | $2,756 | −$1,044 |
| Full cycle | Jul 30 → Aug 8 | 7 | +0.4% | $3,642 | +11.2% | $3,217 | $1,193 | $2,449 |
The other losing decline, and the system's worst as a percentage: −7.2% marked to market (−5.3% booked) through a seven-session, −3% drift lower. Longs lost $3,212 and shorts earned only $873 — a shallow decline without the sharp sessions the short book tends to be paid in. The system recovered $1,587 over the fifteen sessions to the new high.
| Phase | Window | Sessions | Nasdaq | NQ-GX7 · MTM | NQ-GX7 · % | Booked | Long book | Short book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decline | Aug 12 → Aug 21 | 7 | −3.0% | −$2,339 | −7.2% | −$1,720 | −$3,212 | $873 |
| Recovery | Aug 21 → Sep 11 | 15 | +3.4% | $1,587 | +4.9% | $1,531 | $3,107 | −$1,520 |
| Full cycle | Aug 12 → Sep 11 | 22 | +0.2% | −$752 | −2.3% | −$189 | −$105 | −$647 |
NQ-GX7 is directionally agnostic. It is not positioned for the market to rise or fall; it holds long and short positions at the same time. The table shows how much each side of the book contributed in each decline and each recovery.
| Drawdown | Nasdaq | Longs · decline | Shorts · decline | Longs · recovery | Shorts · recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 16, 2024 | −24.0% | $2,304 | $11,740 | $25,864 | −$4,375 |
| Jul 10, 2024 | −14.5% | −$3,458 | $9,261 | $12,780 | −$5,714 |
| Oct 29, 2025 | −13.7% | −$4,946 | $11,173 | $11,075 | −$4,009 |
| Jun 2, 2026 | −12.3% | −$3,762 | $9,112 | $5,206 | $2,454 |
| Oct 8, 2025 | −4.6% | −$932 | $1,546 | −$891 | $1,059 |
| Nov 8, 2024 | −3.4% | −$2,467 | $1,243 | $1,346 | −$1,998 |
| Jul 30, 2025 | −3.4% | −$1,563 | $3,493 | $2,756 | −$1,044 |
| Aug 12, 2025 | −3.0% | −$3,212 | $873 | $3,107 | −$1,520 |
The multi-week record above should not be read as a claim about individual days or weeks. Over the same period the system was positive in only about half of the sessions on which the Nasdaq fell 2% or more, and in about a third of the weeks in which it fell 3% or more. The gains across declines come from a small number of large winning stretches, not from being steadily positive while the index falls.
Episode rule. A drawdown runs from a closing high to the lowest close before that high is regained; every drawdown of 3% or more is shown. Nothing is hand-selected, so losing drawdowns appear beside winning ones. The reference (0%) is the peak close; the decline phase runs to the trough close, the recovery to the first close at or above the peak.
Nasdaq-100 line. Real closes of the front-month Micro Nasdaq-100 futures contract (MNQ), the contract the system was trading, on CME sessions (17:00 ET). Where a quarterly roll falls inside an episode the later contract is shifted by the measured roll spread so the roll is not counted as a move.
NQ-GX7 line. Account equity marked to market at each session close, per $32,500 capacity unit, net of exchange and commission costs. "Booked" is the factsheet's daily series, which records P&L on the session a position closes; the two differ only by positions open at a phase boundary.
Long and short book. "Long book" and "short book" are the mark-to-market contributions of long and short positions respectively; the system runs both at once.
SkySail Strategies LLC ("SkySail") develops advanced quantitative-trading software and analytics technology solutions only. SkySail is not a broker, dealer, investment adviser, commodity-trading advisor, or financial planner, and does not provide personalized investment advice, portfolio management, or fiduciary services. Nothing on this page should be interpreted as a solicitation, recommendation, or offer to buy or sell any security, derivative, or financial instrument. The episodes shown are every Nasdaq-100 drawdown of 3% or more in the period; they are a conditional view of the record, and the system's full record, including all losing periods, is presented on the factsheet.
Trading in futures and derivatives involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The record shown is the system's model-live signal record; client brokerage accounts replicating the signal exist from June 2026 and will differ by fills, commissions, and timing. Eight drawdowns is a small sample and the pattern described here may not persist. The use of leverage can work both for and against you, and you may lose some or all of your invested capital. Only trade with capital you can afford to lose and consult an independent financial professional before using any automated-trading software.