Results: 7 strategies, same stocks, same period, after charges
| Strategy | Candles | Trades | Won | Price moves | Slippage | Charges | After all costs | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 EMA | 5-minute | 7,433 | 35% | −₹5,857 | −₹12,419 | −₹66,169 | −₹84,445 | −84.4% |
| 9 / 15 EMA | 5-minute | 6,432 | 25% | +₹5,459 | −₹12,790 | −₹68,138 | −₹75,468 | −75.5% |
| Previous Day High / Low Breakout | 15-minute | 1,620 | 42% | +₹4,796 | −₹5,228 | −₹27,854 | −₹28,286 | −28.3% |
| Open High Low (OHOL) | 15-minute | 707 | 45% | +₹5,129 | −₹2,531 | −₹13,450 | −₹10,852 | −10.8% |
| NR7 | daily | 130 | 25% | −₹5,967 | −₹482 | −₹7,350 | −₹13,799 | −13.8% |
| 44 EMA | daily | 129 | 23% | −₹2,865 | −₹471 | −₹7,211 | −₹10,546 | −10.6% |
| Inside Bar | daily | 108 | 24% | −₹4,958 | −₹402 | −₹6,123 | −₹11,483 | −11.5% |
Sorted by number of trades. Click a strategy for its rules and stock-by-stock results.
What the numbers say
- Trading often is what hurt most. 5 EMA took 7,433 trades. Its price moves came to −₹5,857, but charges took ₹66,169 and slippage ₹12,419, so the ₹1,00,000 account lost ₹84,445 (−84.4%). Every intraday round trip pays brokerage, STT, exchange fees, stamp duty and GST, and thousands of them add up.
- A high win rate did not save a strategy. Open High Low (OHOL) won the most trades (45%) and still ended at −10.8%: what matters is how much the winners make against the losers and the charges.
- The smallest loss was 44 EMA. It ended at −10.6%, against −10.3% for simply holding the same 15 stocks over the same period.
How we tested
- Stocks: RELIANCE, HDFCBANK, ICICIBANK, INFY, TCS, SBIN, BHARTIARTL, ITC, LT, AXISBANK, KOTAKBANK, HINDUNILVR, MARUTI, SUNPHARMA, BAJFINANCE.
- Period: 2025-09-30 to 2026-09-30 (12 months).
- Money: one ₹1,00,000 account shared by all 15 stocks, up to 5 trades at once, 20% of the account each.
- Rules: each strategy exactly as written on its page, with its own stop loss and target. Intraday trades close at the broker's square-off time.
- Costs: brokerage, STT, exchange fees, SEBI fees, stamp duty and GST at official rates, plus 0.01% slippage on each side.
Numbers refresh when this page is rebuilt. The Backtest Lab always runs on the latest candles.
Questions people ask
Do popular intraday strategies work in India?
In our 12-month test on 15 NIFTY 50 stocks (2025-09-30 to 2026-09-30), 7 of the 7 strategies lost money after charges. A strategy can still work in other periods, stocks or settings, so test your own version before trading it.
Why do these strategies lose money?
Mostly charges. Intraday strategies that trade many times a day pay brokerage, STT, exchange fees, stamp duty and GST on every trade, and on small moves those costs are larger than the profit.
Which strategy did best?
None made money. The smallest loss was 44 EMA, −10.6% on ₹1,00,000 after charges.
Can I test my own version of these strategies?
Yes. Each strategy page has a Run this backtest yourself button that opens it in LeadFinn's Backtest Lab, where you can change the stocks, period, candle size, stop loss, target and charges.
Use these numbers
You may quote this study with a link back to this page:
<a href="https://leadfinn.co/strategies/popular-trading-strategies-backtest">LeadFinn: popular trading strategies backtested on NSE after charges</a>
Past results do not promise future returns. This is research, not advice.