Project Code: MJR 300

Exit Strategy Analysis with CAN SLIM Stocks

An Interactive Qualifying Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of the
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science

By

______________________________
Nicholas J. Gilligan

July 27, 2009

Approved by:

______________________________
Michael J. Radzicki, Advisor

Abstract
This project combines strategy based trading systems with CAN SLIM stocks to test
various exit strategies using weekly bars. TradeStation software was used to compare the success
of the various exit strategies using a twenty bar channel breakout entry. A money management
stop exit strategy was determined to be the most successful of all strategies tested. The money
management stop exit strategy was optimized for maximum profits and analyzed for comparison
with other strategies.

Acknowledgements
Throughout the project I have worked extensively with the project advisor, Michael J.
Radzicki. I would like to thank him for his supervision, advice, and help. Without his help, I
would not have successfully completed this project.

II

Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ I
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... II
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... III
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... VI
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... VII
1

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1

Background Research .............................................................................................................. 6

2.1

CAN SLIM ....................................................................................................................... 6

2.1.1

Current Earnings ....................................................................................................... 7

2.1.2

Annual Earnings........................................................................................................ 7

2.1.3

New Product or Service ............................................................................................ 8

2.1.4

Supply and Demand .................................................................................................. 8

2.1.5

Leader or Laggard ..................................................................................................... 8

2.1.6

Institutional Sponsorship .......................................................................................... 9

2.1.7

Market Indexes.......................................................................................................... 9

III

2.2

What Others Have Done .................................................................................................. 9

2.3

TradeStation ................................................................................................................... 10

2.4

Average True Range....................................................................................................... 11

Strategy Trading .................................................................................................................... 12

3.1

Components of a Trading Strategy................................................................................. 14

3.1.1

Setup ....................................................................................................................... 14

3.1.2

Position Sizing ........................................................................................................ 14

3.1.3

Entry........................................................................................................................ 15

3.1.4

Order Type .............................................................................................................. 16

3.1.5

Exit with a profit ..................................................................................................... 17

3.1.6

Exit with a loss ........................................................................................................ 17

My System ............................................................................................................................. 18
4.1

Entry Type ...................................................................................................................... 18

4.2

Exit at N Bars since Entry .............................................................................................. 19

4.3

Exit using a Money Management Stop .......................................................................... 19

4.4

Exit with a Trailing Stop ................................................................................................ 20

IV

4.5

Exit at a Profit Target ..................................................................................................... 20

4.6

Exit on a Moving Average Crossover ............................................................................ 21

4.7

Exit on RSI Movement ................................................................................................... 22

Back-Testing and Results ...................................................................................................... 23

Conclusions and Recommendations ...................................................................................... 34

References ............................................................................................................................. 36

Appendices ............................................................................................................................ 38
8.1

CAN SLIM Stocks Studied (Symbols) .......................................................................... 38

8.2

Exit at N Bars since Entry EasyLanguage Code ............................................................ 39

8.3

Exit Using a Money Management Stop EasyLanguage Code ....................................... 41

8.4

Exit with a Trailing Stop EasyLanguage Code .............................................................. 43

8.5

Exit at a Profit Target EasyLanguage Code ................................................................... 45

8.6

Exit on a Moving Average Crossover EasyLanguage Code .......................................... 47

8.7

Exit on RSI Movement EasyLanguage Code ................................................................. 49

List of Figures
Figure 1: A Trending Market .......................................................................................................... 3
Figure 2: A Directionless Market ................................................................................................... 4
Figure 3: A Volatile Market ............................................................................................................ 4
Figure 4: Strategy Based Trading System Trades......................................................................... 13
Figure 5: TradeStation Performance Graph for CRXL using a Money Management Stop.......... 27
Figure 6: System Quality Analysis Formulas ............................................................................... 30

VI

List of Tables
Table 1: CAN SLIM Select 7-17-09 Stock Picks ......................................................................... 24
Table 2: TradeStation Performance Summary for CRXL using a Money Management Stop ..... 26
Table 3: Combined Results ........................................................................................................... 27
Table 4: Money Management Stop System Quality Analysis ...................................................... 31
Table 5: Money Management Stop Optimization Comparison .................................................... 32

VII

Introduction
Trading equities has been a useful method for numerous investors to generate great

profits. Other investors have found trading equities to be risky, complicated, and not reliably
profitable. A large number of systems have been created for individuals in order to help them
make more reliable investment decisions. Using a strategy based trading system as a strict set of
rules on how to invest can be an effective method in creating a reliable source of income. Many
people who can only invest in the market on a part time basis can and do benefit from the use of
strategy based systems.

When it has been designed and implemented properly, a strategy based trading system
can provide a reliable source of income to an investor. There is a great deal of information
available in books, instructional videos, television shows, and the internet that people can use to
develop a good system. There is not a great deal of information available, however, to help
people design a trading system tailored to their specific needs regarding investment period,
availability to make trades throughout the day or week, position sizing, and other important
factors.

A critical step in designing a stock trading strategy is to determine which particular

equities to invest in. In order to be certain that the stocks chosen are similar enough to be traded
using the same system, they must exhibit similarities in several areas. One system, which has
1

been proven to be successful by many investors, and which can be used to help find stocks that
will be tradable in a given trading system, is known as CAN SLIM. CAN SLIM stands for
current earnings growth, annual earnings growth, new products, new services, new management,
new price highs, supply and demand, leader or laggard, institutional sponsorship, and market.
Each of these stocks is analyzed with respect to these criteria to determine if it is likely to
perform well. Historically, stocks tend to exhibit each of these traits before experiencing a large
increase in price.

Many leading traders emphasize the importance of exits over that of entries. One such
investor is Mike Bryant. Bryant (Bryant, 2007) has researched a variety of exit strategies using a
standardized trading system to decide when to enter the market. Numerous combinations of
seven types of exit strategies were tested in order to compare the effectiveness of each of these
different strategies. Bryants study was fairly generalized and the exit strategies were not
optimized for any particular trading system. I intend to use Bryants study as a model to test
various exit strategies using CAN SLIM stocks in several different trading strategies.

Trading strategies have been used for many years and there are many different types in
use in every tradable market. CAN SLIM stocks have been used by numerous investors and
many trading strategies have been developed to trade them exclusively. There are even websites
devoted to studying the use of CAN SLIM criteria when trading equities. This project is
important because it will study a unique aspect of trading CAN SLIM stocks with a strategy
2

based system. The systems studied in this project will trade CAN SLIM stocks in trending
markets using weekly bars to determine entry and exit points.

By focusing on trending markets, the goal is to avoid directionless or volatile markets.

All three of these markets are tradable but require unique and different strategies. Trending
markets move relatively slowly and approximately follow a trend. Directionless markets move
within a price range over time. Volatile markets change in price drastically over short periods of
time. Below are three images depicting the three major classifications of market conditions
(Wright, 1998):

Figure 1: A Trending Market

Figure 2: A Directionless Market

Figure 3: A Volatile Market

The goal of this project is to devise a trend following (position based) system for trading
stocks with weekly bars. Such a system is intended to be accommodating to an individual who
works full time or has a minimal amount of time to devote to his or her investments during the
week. It is also tailored to an individual who is looking to invest a relatively small principal for a
4

relatively long period of time. The CAN SLIM criteria will be used to select which stocks to
trade. By modeling this study after Mike Bryants exit strategy research, the goal will be to
determine the most effective use of exit strategies in a CAN SLIM trading system while
developing an effective overall strategy.

Background Research
Prior to beginning any type of investment a great deal of research must be performed to

gain knowledge of the specific type of investment and the various factors which will affect its
performance. This section will provide information regarding the various techniques and theories
employed by this project in developing a complete trading system. While some of the
information is generally useful, much of the required research for a particular investment strategy
will be tailored to the specific goals and expectations of the individual investor. The background
research for this project focuses on a growth based investment strategy trading equities in a
trending market using weekly bars.

2.1

CAN SLIM
CAN SLIM is a set of characteristics developed by William J. ONeil and outlined in his

2002 book, How to Make Money in Stocks. The seven characteristics of the CAN SLIM formula
are designed to distinguish stocks that are more likely to grow in value than others. These stocks
are commonly referred to as growth stocks.

CAN SLIM characteristics are both quantitative and qualitative. These characteristics are
complicated and vary over time. The list of stocks which qualify as CAN SLIM stocks is
therefore constantly changing. The seven characteristics outlined by the strategy serve as

excellent rules for identifying growth stocks. This project follows the CAN SLIM criteria to
determine which stocks to study.

2.1.1 Current Earnings

Earnings per share (EPS) for the current quarter should have grown relative to the same
quarter of the previous year. ONeil recommends excluding stocks which have not grown by at
least eighteen to twenty percent. Extraordinary one-time gains should be noted and not counted
towards satisfying the current earnings criteria. Quarterly growth that is accelerating positively
should be noted and used to confirm that a stock meets the current earnings criteria (ONeil,
2002).

2.1.2 Annual Earnings

Annual growth rate (annual EPS) should be increasing over the past three years. For the
previous three years a stock must exhibit annual growth of at least twenty five percent to qualify
as a CAN SLIM stock. The return on equity for a given stock should be seventeen percent or
greater. The cash flow per share should be greater than the actual earnings per share by at least
twenty percent. The companys earnings should be consistent from one year to the next over the
previous three years (ONeil, 2002).

2.1.3 New Product or Service

The company should have experienced some sort of a change recently. The change could
be in management, a new product, a new high price for the stock, or some other new aspect.
Strong positive movement in stock price should also be noted (ONeil, 2002).

2.1.4 Supply and Demand

Because a larger company requires a greater demand to demonstrate the same gains as a
smaller company it is easier for a company with a smaller number of outstanding shares to show
larger gains. The trading volume of a stock is used to measure supply and demand. Stocks of
companies who are buying their own stock on the market should be noted (ONeil, 2002).

2.1.5 Leader or Laggard

Using relative strength as a measure, the top two or three stocks in an expanding industry
should be included. The relative strength rank of the stock being considered should be no lower
than seventy percent. Relative strength rank is a measure of a stocks price performance against
the price performance of stocks in the entire stock exchange over the previous year. Only stocks
with a relative strength of eighty percent or better should be actively sought (ONeil, 2002).

2.1.6 Institutional Sponsorship

A reasonable percentage of the stock should be owned by more than approximately ten
institutions. At least one or two noteworthy portfolio managers should own shares of the stock.
Stocks with an increasing number of institutional sponsors should be noted. Stocks with
excessive institutional ownership should be avoided because their effect on the stock will control
the stock price significantly and can cause volatile movements. For example, if institutions own a
large percentage of a stock and decide to sell at the same time, the stock price will plummet
suddenly (ONeil, 2002).

2.1.7 Market Indexes

It is important to understand if you are trading in a bear or bull market and adjust your
actions accordingly. Market leading stocks should be followed to gauge the current strength of
the market (ONeil, 2002).

2.2

What Others Have Done

A vast assortment of information regarding trading, strategy based systems, the CAN

SLIM technique, and other methods of investing are available. There are numerous books,
instructional videos, informational television shows, and websites dedicated to providing
investors with useful information. Some of the publicly available resources used to inspire and
direct this project include investopedia.com, Charlie Wrights 1998 book, Trading as a Business,
9

William ONeils 2002 book outlining the CAN SLIM system, and Mike Bryants 2007 article
regarding exit strategy research.

A major qualifying project entitled Technical Analysis of CAN SLIM Stocks was
completed by Belin Beyoglu and Martin Ivanov in May of 2008. The project aimed to study the
CAN SLIM investment methodology by using several different setup strategies. 559 CAN SLIM
stocks from 2007 were back-tested for each of the setup strategies and the results were
compared. While Beyoglu and Ivanovs Project focused on setup strategies, this project focuses
on exit strategies.

2.3

TradeStation
TradeStation Securities is the self described leader in rule-based trading. They offer

brokerage services as well as a powerful trading and analysis platform. The TradeStation
software platform was used to analyze and test the various strategies studied during this project.
The results of all back-testing data in this project were retrieved from TradeStation historical
tests.

The exit strategies were inserted into the software so that analysis could be performed
accurately using historical data acquired from the TradeStation servers. The software allows for
the creation, modification, and optimization of a strategy based trading system for various types
10

of investments. Strategies are inserted into TradeStation using the special coding language
known as EasyLanguage. Strategies, indicators, scanners, and many other tools can be written in
EasyLanguage to be used by TradeStation. All of the exit strategy tests in this project were
performed using EasyLanguage code.

Once a strategy has been written using EasyLanguage in TradeStation the variables, such
as the length of a moving average, can be optimized for a specific stock. TradeStation has an
optimization tool which will test a range of values for the desired variables to determine which
combination will result in the most successful system for a particular stock.

2.4

Average True Range

The average true range of a stock is the moving average of the true range of the stock. To

find the true range of a stock the current low is subtracted from the current high, the previous
days close is subtracted from the current high, and previous days close is subtracted from the
current low. The highest of these three values is the true range.

Average true range is a useful measure of how much a stock has moved up or down over
the period used for the moving average. A large average true range signifies that the price varies
a large amount over the course of a day while a smaller average true range signifies that the price
changes less (Average True Range (ATR), 2009).
11

Average true range is especially helpful when developing an automated strategy based
trading system. Instead of having to choose a specific price value for each aspect of a trading
strategy for each stock, a percentage of average true value can be used for each aspect of the
strategy that requires a specific value for all stocks to which the strategy will be applied.

Strategy Trading
Strategy based trading is a technique that utilizes scientific tools, mathematics, and

knowledge of historical behavior of the stock market. A set of rules are devised which determine
which investments to make, when to make them, how to make them, and how long to hold them
before investing in something else or liquidating the investment.

In TradeStation, trades can occur manually or automatically according to the strategy

applied to the current investment. The trades can be shown visually in the chart analysis window
of the program. An example of the trades called for using a strategy based trading system in
TradeStation can be seen in the figure below:

12

Figure 4: Strategy Based Trading System Trades

Before a trading system can be designed, a few important criteria must be decided on by
the trader. The type or types of investments to make, the length of the investment and the amount
of the investment must be chosen by the investor before a system can be developed. Choosing
the length of the investment will dictate, to a certain extent, what type of market the system will
focus on. For short term investments, a directionless or volatile market can be profitable but for a
long term investment, a trending market condition will provide more stable profitability. This
project will focus on investing in stocks over a long period of time (in trending market
conditions), and with relatively small principal. This type of system is ideal for people who
cannot commit to trade fulltime and wish to invest and expand their savings for future use.

13

3.1

Components of a Trading Strategy

Once the primary criteria have been decided upon, development of the system can begin.

Charlie Wright has succinctly summed up the general steps required in designing a trading
strategy. This information is available in his book, Trading As A Business. Wright provides a set
of general instructions for designing a trading strategy. The instructions below resemble the
instructions found in his book.

3.1.1 Setup
The setup is the set of conditions which must exist prior to considering entering the
market. A setup can be a mathematical indicator or simply a general market condition. The setup
must be tailored to the specific investment vehicle as well as the type of market it is intended to
be used with. A setup is merely a prerequisite for entry into the market. A market condition
satisfying the conditions of the setup alone does not warrant any action (Wright, 1998).

3.1.2 Position Sizing

Position Sizing is a critical and often overlooked part of a trading strategy. Because of
various fee structures, loads, and cash flow limitations, each individual case must be analyzed to
determine the appropriate position sizing. Broker fees vary greatly and depend on the size and
frequency of trades. Many extremely successful trading strategies used by large investment firms

14

who invest millions of dollars would be relatively useless to an investor with only thousands to
invest. Tax obligations must also be considered in developing a complete strategy.

An important aspect to consider is the psychological aspect of strategy trading. A trading

strategy could allow several losing trades in succession which could unnerve a long term
investor. If a strategy is likely to fluctuate greatly and the investor is not comfortable with large
deficits in their principle a smaller initial position may be necessary.
Position sizing is a complicated and diverse aspect of trading strategy development. Appropriate
position sizing is a critical step in creating a successful trading strategy that will be tradable by
the investor (Wright, 1998).

3.1.3 Entry
Entry is made only once the setup conditions have been satisfied. Entry into the market is
triggered by an event which confirms the setup. The nature of the setup and the entry should be
in agreement for action to be taken. In other words, the price change observed should be the
same as those expected from the setup. The entry should be designed in a way to prevent it from
missing an opportunity. It may be necessary to design multiple entries to be sure that entry will
occur every time the market exhibits the behavior for which the system was designed. An entry
is unsuccessful when it misses an opportunity to enter the market when the conditions are
appropriate to use the strategy (Wright, 1998).
15

3.1.4 Order Type

There are several types of orders available when trading equities. The type of order must
be specified within the strategy to optimize entry conditions.

A market order is the simplest type of order. Market orders have no restrictions on the
price paid for the stock, or the time of placement of the order. In order to comply with Charlie
Wrights rules for entry, a market order can only be used with a condition or set of conditions
that restrict price.

Stop close only orders are modified market orders. In order to enter a stop close order
long, the market must close above a designated price. In order to sell a stop close order the
market must close below the designated price.

A stop order restricts the price paid for the order. A long or short can only occur once the
price has passed a certain threshold. There is no guarantee of the exact price to be paid for the
contract; the order is simply filled as soon as possible once the price has passed the threshold.

16

Limit orders resemble stop orders in that they do not occur right away. For a buy limit
order to occur the price must be below the current market price. For a sell limit order to occur the
price must be above the current market price. Limit orders can be difficult to fill and violate the
rules for entry according to Charlie Wright (Wright, 1998).

3.1.5 Exit with a profit

This study will focus on exits. The goal of any trading strategy is to be profitable.
Although not all trades are likely to be profitable, the net result of the exit strategy over many
trades should be a profit. A successful trading strategy will let profits grow and cut losses short.
A critical part of the system is a good exit strategy or combination of exit strategies which will
allow profits to grow while preventing the growth of losing trades. This topic will be studied in
greater detail throughout this IQP (Wright, 1998).

3.1.6 Exit with a loss

Although it is not an ideal situation, exiting with a loss is a necessary part of a successful
trading strategy. Exiting with a loss is part of money management. It is common for people to try
to wait for a losing trade to become profitable. A more reliable strategy is to use a stop loss
which will limit the amount lost in losing trades. A stop loss can be dictated by maximum
amount of money the investor is willing to risk for a given trade. A losing trade can also occur
when an indicator shows that another trade is more likely to be profitable than the current trade
(Wright, 1998).
17

My System
The system utilized for this IQP was initially developed by Mike Bryant and published in

a monthly investors bulletin in 2007. The entry type used by Bryant and some of the exits used
by him in his study are replicated in this project. The entry was chosen to isolate trending
markets as the focus of the study. The exit types are the focus of this project. Several of the exits
studied by Bryant are used within this project (Bryant, 2007).

The strategy employed for this project is an equity trading system focusing on trending
markets. Growth stocks are isolated by using the CAN SLIM criteria and the strategy is applied
using weekly bars. The goal of the system is long term profitability with minimal initial
investment. Various exit strategies and combinations of exit strategies are used to determine the
most appropriate manner of exit.

4.1

Entry Type
In order to perform this study in a scientific manner and isolate the variable of exit type a

common entry strategy was used. A twenty bar channel breakout system was used as the entry
strategy. The setup for this strategy is satisfied when the current bar matches the highest high of
the last twenty bars. The trigger for this strategy prompts a buy when the current bar is higher
than the highest high of the last twenty bars plus one point. This strategy also sells short at the

18

lowest low of the last twenty bars minus one point. Channel breakout strategies are commonly
used and relatively successful in trend following trading systems (Bryant, 2007).

4.2

Exit at N Bars since Entry

The first exit strategy to be tested dictates that an exit will occur at a predetermined

number of bars since the bar of entry. The number of bars from entry to exit is constant and is
chosen before entry is made. The bar of exit is not determined by market conditions or other
factors. The number of bars until exit depends on the length of time for which the investor
desires to be in the market. This exit strategy is appropriate for use with a channel breakout entry
because an immediate increase in price is expected from the entry conditions. When optimized,
this exit will attempt to sell the stock before the price begins to descend (Bryant, 2007).

4.3

Exit using a Money Management Stop

Money management is a critical component to any trading system. It is important to

know when it is time to cut a loss and look for a new investment. Orders are placed when the
price reaches a minimum price, a price that is lower than the entry price, which determines the
maximum allowable loss. This technique can also be used in reverse to reenter a trade if the price
rises above the original entry price. Stop orders are used to ensure the desired outcomes occur.
Stop order prices can be set as a fixed dollar amount, a fraction of the average true range of the
stock, or as a percentage of the original purchase or sale price (Bryant, 2007).
19

The use of a money management stop as an exit strategy will tend to result in a lower
percentage of winning trades than would other types of exits. This is because a money
management stop is designed to assume that the entry conditions may not have actually
warranted an entry into the market. This type of stop will trigger an exit from a trade sooner than
would other types of exits. This is meant to save money by cutting losses short but can also curb
profits by exiting a trade on an earlier price drop which may rebound quickly. This does not
mean that the use of a money management stop as an exit strategy will be counter-productive,
but it is important to be aware that its use will likely result in a lower percentage of winning
trades than would another type of exit.

4.4

Exit with a Trailing Stop

A trailing stop is used to preserve profits. Once a certain profit target has been reached, a

stop order is placed to ensure that a percentage of the original maximum profit is retained. The
percentage of the original profit to be retained by the stop order can be a fixed dollar amount or a
fraction of the average true range (Bryant, 2007).

4.5

Exit at a Profit Target

The profit target strategy is used to place an exit order once a specific profit amount has

been reached. Profit target exits use limit orders to ensure exit does not occur until a profit is
20

achieved. This strategy is helpful in ensuring that a profit is not lost by waiting too long. There
also exists the possibility that greater profits could have been achieved by setting a higher profit
target. This strategy will never result in an exit if the price corresponding to the profit target is
not achieved (Bryant, 2007).

4.6

Exit on a Moving Average Crossover

A moving average is the average of the price values calculated continuously as the stock

price fluctuates. A moving average is used to approximate the path the stock price fluctuations
are following. It is not used to predict future prices. The length of time over which the moving
average is computed is known as the period.
There are several types of moving averages. This report will focus on the simple moving
average. The moving average crossover exit strategy uses two moving averages with two
different periods, or lengths of time over which they are computed. When the moving average
with the shorter period crosses below the moving average with the longer period an exit is
signaled. This strategy is commonly used for entries as well. Entry would occur when the
moving average with the shorter period crosses above the moving average with the longer period
(Bryant, 2007).

21

4.7

Exit on RSI Movement

Relative strength index is a mathematically calculated indicator of whether an asset is

overbought or oversold. The calculation considers the percentage of up closes versus the number
of down closes over a specified length of time. RSI is calculated on a scale from zero to 100.
When the RSI of a stock approaches 70, it is considered to be overvalued. When RSI approaches
30 it is considered undervalued. An overvalued stock will likely drop in price and will signal an
exit (Bryant, 2007).

22

Back-Testing and Results

The CAN SLIM stocks tested in this study were retrieved from an Investors Business

Daily scanner. The screen center used is called CAN SLIM select. The scan was performed after
the market close on Thursday July 16, 2009. A total of fifty one stocks were selected by the
scanner and used for testing. The selected stocks may or may not have qualified as CAN SLIM
stocks throughout the entire testing period used. Some of the stocks selected by the scanner did
not have data for the entire ten year range studied in this project. For stocks without ten years of
data, only the available data was used for testing. Below is the table retrieved from the Investors
Business Daily website and compiled by NorthCoast Asset Management (NorthCoast Asset
Management, 2009):

23

Table 1: CAN SLIM Select 7-17-09 Stock Picks

The article written by Mike Bryant included TradeStation code for the entry and various
exit types to be used by this study. These codes were imported into TradeStation to create
custom strategies. Once they have been imported these strategies can be applied to any
commodity available in TradeStation. The strategies were applied one by one, all using the
24

channel breakout entry, to each of the fifty one CAN SLIM stocks previously selected. One
hundred shares was the size of trades used for each stock tested. The results were recorded and
tabulated. An example of a trading performance summary and performance graph from
TradeStation for one of the tested stocks can be found below:

25

Table 2: TradeStation Performance Summary for CRXL using a Money Management Stop

26

Figure 5: TradeStation Performance Graph for CRXL using a Money Management Stop

Once the data had been collected the results for each aspect of analysis was averaged
across the entire range of the fifty one stocks tested. The most relevant pieces of data were
chosen and collected from the test results of each exit strategy. A table of this comparison can be
found below:

Table 3: Combined Results

27

The data retrieved from the average of back-tests performed on each of the fifty one CAN
SLIM stocks was analyzed focusing on several criteria. The total net profit is the total amount of
profit made over the ten year investment period. The profit factor is the quotient of the gross
profit divided by the gross loss. A profit factor that is greater than one indicates that a net profit
has occurred. The total number of trades is the number of complete trades called for by the
system over the ten year period. The account size required represents the minimum amount of
money needed in the traders account through the ten year period for the strategy to be profitable.
The account size required was displayed as an average and a total. The average account size
required represents the average amount of money needed to trade one of the fifty one stocks. The
total account size required represents the amount of money needed to trade all fifty one stocks
concurrently.

It is important to note when looking at the data above that none of these factors fully
account for commission fees and slippage. The actual net profit and profit factor would be lower
than they are listed here. The amount required to trade each of these systems would be higher
than in the table above. The number of trades made relates to both the commission fees and
slippage directly unless commissions are charged at a flat rate, regardless of the number of trades
made.

Because commission fees and slippage were not calculated within the data acquisition
their effects must be compensated for in analyzing the data. While a profit factor greater than one
28

is profitable when accounting for all fees and costs of trading, this factor must be adjusted in this
case. A profit factor of greater than two can safely be considered profitable for these results. This
adjustment should cover a wide range of commission fees and slippage effects. It is interesting to
note that while the profit target exit strategy required the largest account size and yielded the
largest net profit, it also resulted in the lowest profit factor. This means that it was less profitable
than the other strategies on average and was also the least efficient at producing profit from
investment capital.

The money management stop exit strategy had the most successful profit factor of 3.34.
This number means that on average the money management strategy resulted in gross profits
greater than gross losses by a factor of 3.34. The money management stop system also had the
second to lowest account size requirement. This is significant because it means that the strategy
is tradable by a larger group of people than others tested.

Statistical analysis of the trades called for by the money management stop was performed
to determine the quality of the system. Three sets of data were calculated for each stock to which
the strategy was applied. The three sets of data are expectancy, expectunity, and system quality.
Expectancy is the sum of the amounts of money profited or lost per the amounts risked on each
trade. The amount profited or lost divided by the amount risked is referred to as the r multiple of
a trade. The average loss was used as the amount risked per trade. Expectunity is used to account
for the varying frequency of trading opportunities provided by different systems. Expectunity is
29

calculated by multiplying the expectancy of a system by the number of trading opportunities. For
this analysis the number of trading opportunities per day was used. System quality is used to
compare systems directly or to track the quality of a system over time. It is calculated by
dividing the expectunity by the standard deviation of the r multiples (Radzicki, 2009). The
expectancy, expectunity, and system quality were calculated for each stock using the money
management stop strategy. The formulas or each of these values and data calculated for the
stocks can be seen below:

Figure 6: System Quality Analysis Formulas

30

Table 4: Money Management Stop System Quality Analysis

31

The variables in the money management stop, the most successful exit strategy, were
optimized using TradeStation. TradeStation does not currently feature a portfolio optimization
feature so each of the fifty one stocks tested were optimized individually. Optimization was
performed by a brute force method which tested various combinations of values for the two
variables in the strategy. The variables optimized were the length of the channel breakout entry
in number of bars, and the fraction of the average true range which would signal an entry or exit
when subtracted or added to the entry price. The range of values tested for the size of the channel
in the entry was ten to thirty in increments of two, and the range tested for the fraction of the
average true range was negative one to three in increments of one. A total of fifty-five
combinations were tested. These optimizations represent the best possible outcome for using the
money management stop exit strategy with the fifty-one CAN SLIM stocks tested over the
previous ten years. The actual results obtained from an optimized system would be somewhere
between the values listed in the table below:

Table 5: Money Management Stop Optimization Comparison

32

Ultimately, four of the six tested strategies can be considered successful on the stocks
tested and as the results were obtained. The n bars from entry, trailing stop, money management
stop, and moving average crossover exit strategies all resulted in profit factors greater than two.
This does not mean that the profit target and RSI movement strategies are not good techniques.
Because only the money management stop exit strategy was optimized, changes and
improvements in the other strategies should result in better profits.

33

Conclusions and Recommendations

This project analyzed and compared six different exit strategies using the same twenty

bar channel breakout entry strategy for all stocks tested. The tests were restricted to CAN SIM
stocks to isolate growth type stocks. The most effective exit strategy found during these tests was
a money management stop determined by the average true range of the stock. The performance
of the money management stop was further analyzed using a system quality analysis which
allows for the monitoring of the system over time and for comparison with other systems.

The profits generated from the money management stop were maximized by optimizing
the variables in the strategy. The outcome of the optimization procedure was a more profitable
strategy with a lower minimum account size. The modified system is tradable by a larger range
of investors as well as being more efficient.

Numerous modifications and additions could be appended to this study. One possible
extension to this research is to use different entry strategies with the various exit strategies. There
are many other types of exits not used in this study which could provide different results. The
various exit strategies could be combined by using them concurrently for the same trades. These
variations could provide vastly different results. It may be determined through further research
that CAN SLIM stocks are not ideally suited for the exit strategies tested in this project. Other

34

exit strategies could be tested to find which is best for use with CAN SLIM stocks. Alternative
stock picking strategies could also be applied to the same exit strategy tests performed here.

This project serves to combine strategy based trading systems with CAN SLIM stocks
while trading on weekly bars, in trending market conditions, while isolating exit strategies as the
focus of the study. The money management stop exit strategy was determined to be the most
successful of the strategies tested under the current conditions. The success of this and other exit
strategies or combinations of strategies could be further improved with more research, backtesting and optimization.

35

References

Average true range (ATR). (2009). Retrieved July 23, 2009, from
http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators:average_true_
range_a

Bajkowski, J. (2003). How to use the CAN SLIM approach to screen for growth stocks.
Retrieved June 24, 2009, from http://www.actwin.com/kalostrader/CANSLIMDesc.htm

Beyoglu, B., & Ivanov, M. (2008). Technical analysis of CAN SLIM stocks

Bryant, M. (2007). Exits for all occasions. The Breakout Bulletin, (December 2007)

Katz, J. O., Ph.D., & McCormick, D. L. (2000). The encyclopedia of trading strategies (1st ed.)
McGraw-Hill.

NorthCoast Asset Management. (2009). CAN SLIM select 7-17-09. Unpublished manuscript.

O'Neil, W. (2002). How to make money in stock: A winning system in good time or bad, 3rd
edition.

Radzicki, M. J., Ph.D. (2009). Introduction to trading system development I & II

Relative strength index - RSI. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rsi.asp

36

Stock-picking strategies: CAN SLIM. Retrieved June 12, 2009, from

http://www.investopedia.com/university/stockpicking/stockpicking7.asp

Trading platform. (2009). Retrieved June 19, 2009, from

http://www.tradestation.com/platform/overview.shtm

Wright, C. F. (1998). Trading as a business Omega Research Inc.

37

Appendices

8.1

CAN SLIM Stocks Studied (Symbols)

AAP

CERN

WIRE

MDAS

SMG

ADVS

CHKP

ETP

MHS

SNDA

AU

CAKE

GG

NVEC

SLAB

APSG

LFC

GOOG

NS

VIV

ASIA

CTRN

GMCR

NSH

WBMD

BCSI

COKE

HMSY

OSIS

WLP

EAT

CPSI

ICFI

PCLN

WBD

BVN

CRXL

JCOM

QSII

CME

CUB

JAH

ROST

CMN

DIN

MMS

SPSS

CRI

EW

MFE

SAFM

38

8.2

Exit at N Bars since Entry EasyLanguage Code

Inputs: ChanLen

Var:

(20),

NBEnt

(20),

FrATR

(1.0),

MALen

(20);

ATR

(0),

MarkPos

(0),

TrailOn

(FALSE);

ATR = Average(TrueRange, 20);

MarkPos = MarketPosition;

Buy next bar at Highest(H, ChanLen) + 1 point stop;

Sell short next bar at Lowest(L, ChanLen) - 1 point stop;

39

If MarkPos <> 0 and MarkPos <> MarkPos[1] then

TrailOn = FALSE;

{ Trade entered this bar so reset trail flag }

{ Exit at N bars since entry }

If MarketPosition = 1 and BarsSinceEntry = NBEnt then
Sell next bar at market;

If MarketPosition = -1 and BarsSinceEntry = NBEnt then

Buy to cover next bar at market;

40

8.3

Exit Using a Money Management Stop EasyLanguage Code

Inputs: ChanLen

Var:

(20),

NBEnt

(20),

FrATR

(1.0),

MALen

(20);

ATR

(0),

MarkPos

(0),

TrailOn

(FALSE);

ATR = Average(TrueRange, 20);

MarkPos = MarketPosition;

Buy next bar at Highest(H, ChanLen) + 1 point stop;

Sell short next bar at Lowest(L, ChanLen) - 1 point stop;

41

If MarkPos <> 0 and MarkPos <> MarkPos[1] then

TrailOn = FALSE;

{ Trade entered this bar so reset trail flag }

{ Exit using a money management stop }

If MarketPosition = 1 then
Sell next bar at EntryPrice - FrATR * ATR stop;

If MarketPosition = -1 then
Buy to cover next bar at EntryPrice + FrATR * ATR stop;

42

8.4

Exit with a Trailing Stop EasyLanguage Code

Inputs: ChanLen

Var:

(20),

NBEnt

(20),

FrATR

(1.0),

MALen

(20);

ATR

(0),

MarkPos

(0),

TrailOn

(FALSE);

ATR = Average(TrueRange, 20);

MarkPos = MarketPosition;

Buy next bar at Highest(H, ChanLen) + 1 point stop;

Sell short next bar at Lowest(L, ChanLen) - 1 point stop;

43

If MarkPos <> 0 and MarkPos <> MarkPos[1] then

TrailOn = FALSE;

{ Trade entered this bar so reset trail flag }

{ Exit with a trailing stop }

If MarketPosition = 1 and TrailOn = FALSE and (Close - EntryPrice) > FrATR * ATR then
TrailOn = TRUE;

If MarketPosition = 1 and TrailOn then

Sell next bar at (EntryPrice + 0.5 * (C - EntryPrice)) stop;

If MarketPosition = -1 and TrailOn = FALSE and (EntryPrice - Close) > FrATR * ATR then
TrailOn = TRUE;

If MarketPosition = -1 and TrailOn then

Buy to cover next bar at (EntryPrice - 0.5 * (EntryPrice - C)) stop;

44

8.5

Exit at a Profit Target EasyLanguage Code

Inputs: ChanLen

Var:

(20),

NBEnt

(20),

FrATR

(1.0),

MALen

(20);

ATR

(0),

MarkPos

(0),

TrailOn

(FALSE);

ATR = Average(TrueRange, 20);

MarkPos = MarketPosition;

Buy next bar at Highest(H, ChanLen) + 1 point stop;

Sell short next bar at Lowest(L, ChanLen) - 1 point stop;

45

If MarkPos <> 0 and MarkPos <> MarkPos[1] then

TrailOn = FALSE;

{ Trade entered this bar so reset trail flag }

{ Exit at a profit target }

If MarketPosition = 1 then
Sell next bar at EntryPrice + FrATR * ATR limit;

If MarketPosition = -1 then
Buy to cover next bar at EntryPrice - FrATR * ATR limit;

46

8.6

Exit on a Moving Average Crossover EasyLanguage Code

Inputs: ChanLen

Var:

(20),

NBEnt

(20),

FrATR

(1.0),

MALen

(20);

ATR

(0),

MarkPos

(0),

TrailOn

(FALSE);

ATR = Average(TrueRange, 20);

MarkPos = MarketPosition;

Buy next bar at Highest(H, ChanLen) + 1 point stop;

Sell short next bar at Lowest(L, ChanLen) - 1 point stop;

47

If MarkPos <> 0 and MarkPos <> MarkPos[1] then

TrailOn = FALSE;

{ Trade entered this bar so reset trail flag }

{ Exit on a moving average crossover }

If MarketPosition = 1 and C < Average(C, MALen) then
Sell next bar at market;

If MarketPosition = -1 and C > Average(C, MALen) then

Buy to cover next bar at market;

48

8.7

Exit on RSI Movement EasyLanguage Code

Inputs: ChanLen

Var:

(20),

NBEnt

(20),

FrATR

(1.0),

MALen

(20);

ATR

(0),

MarkPos

(0),

TrailOn

(FALSE);

ATR = Average(TrueRange, 20);

MarkPos = MarketPosition;

Buy next bar at Highest(H, ChanLen) + 1 point stop;

Sell short next bar at Lowest(L, ChanLen) - 1 point stop;

49

If MarkPos <> 0 and MarkPos <> MarkPos[1] then

TrailOn = FALSE;

{ Trade entered this bar so reset trail flag }

If MarketPosition = 1 and RSI(C, 14) crosses above 70 then

Sell next bar at market;

If MarketPosition = -1 and RSI(C, 14) crosses below 30 then

Buy to cover next bar at market;

50