📊 Educational backtesting tool · Historical NSE data (Dec 2006–Dec 2025) · Not investment advice · Terms & Privacy
Research originally published on Freefincal.com by Dr. M. Pattabiraman — India's leading personal finance research blog. Data & backtesting by T. Desai, BacktestIndia.
📰 Educational Case Study

Momentum × Low-Liquidity Premium
NSE India — 19-Year Backtest

Research published in a leading personal finance study found that combining high-momentum with low scaled turnover (illiquid, uncrowded stocks) showed 19.43% net CAGR vs 10.42% for Nifty 50, over December 2006–December 2025, after all taxes and transaction costs.

This study's parameters are pre-loaded below for replication purposes. Click Run Backtest to verify the results yourself.

⚠️

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY TRANSPARENCY ONLY

This page replicates the exact backtest from a published research study. It is NOT a recommendation to use this strategy. The study showed historical results of 19.43% net CAGR, but past performance does NOT guarantee future results.

You are viewing ONE specific parameter combination out of millions possible. This is educational research — not investment advice. For personalized strategy selection, consult a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser.

19.43%
Net CAGR (study)
10.42%
Nifty 50 CAGR
+8.97%/yr
Alpha
19 years
Period
15 stocks
Portfolio

Strategy Rules

Exact parameters from the study — no changes made.

1
🏢Start with top 200 by market cap

NSE 500 stocks, ranked 1–200 by market cap. Filter PE > 0 (profitable companies only).

2
📈Keep top 30 by 12-month Momentum

From those 200, pick the 30 stocks with the highest trailing 12-month returns.

3
💧Filter to bottom 15 by Scaled Turnover

From those 30 high-momentum stocks, keep only the 15 with the lowest trading volume (least crowded). Annual rebalance, equal weight.

Universe: NSE 500 (rank 1–200)Slippage: 0.05%Transaction cost: 0.11%Equal weightAnnual rebalanceDec 2006 – Dec 2025

Slippage Sensitivity

The backtest showed outperformance vs Nifty 50 (10.42%) at all slippage levels tested, including a conservative 0.50% estimate.

SlippageNet CAGRvs Nifty
0.00%20.85%+10.43%/yr
0.05%← article baseline19.43%+9.01%/yr
0.15%17.22%+6.80%/yr
0.20%16.42%+6.00%/yr
0.50%13.91%+3.49%/yr

Verify the Results Yourself

The strategy is pre-loaded. Click below to run the exact backtest on our Modal serverless backend using 18+ years of NSE data.

Free account required. First backtest free — chat with Buddy is always free.

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💡 What is Scaled Turnover?

Scaled Turnover = trading volume ÷ shares outstanding. A low value means the stock trades infrequently relative to its float — it's less "crowded" by institutional traders. The hypothesis: stocks that are high-momentum AND low-liquidity earn an extra premium because most institutions can't easily take large positions in them, leaving the alpha for smaller retail investors who can.

Key findings from the study

  • Historical backtest showed outperformance vs Nifty 50 at all 5 slippage levels tested (0% to 0.50%)
  • Annual rebalancing (not monthly) is tax-efficient — lower STCG exposure
  • The liquidity filter reduces drawdown compared to pure momentum
  • Starting universe limited to top 200 by market cap reduces small-cap noise
  • Equal weighting outperformed market-cap weighting in this study
🧪

Want to explore variations?

What if you used the top 500 instead of top 200? Or monthly rebalancing? Or added a PE filter? Our AI strategy builder (Buddy) will help you run any variation.

Open Strategy Builder →

Educational Research Only. BacktestIndia.com is not SEBI-registered and provides content under the proviso to Regulation 2(1)(l) of the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 (widely available electronic medium) and Regulation 4(a) (general comments on market trends). Backtest results represent historical simulations, not future performance guarantees. All taxes (12.5% LTCG / 20% STCG per Finance Act 2024, Sections 112A & 111A), transaction costs (0.11%), and slippage (0.05%) are modelled. Tax methodology note: Finance Act 2024 rates are applied uniformly across the entire backtest period (Dec 2006–Dec 2025). Pre-July 2024 actual rates were lower (10% LTCG / 15% STCG), so historical net CAGR figures are conservatively stated — actual after-tax returns for that period would have been modestly higher under the rates in force at the time. This is not investment advice. Consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser before making investment decisions.

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