Strategy of the Month (July 2025): A Trend Following Strategy Triumphs on Crude Oil Futures

In this article, we analyze the results of the “Strategy of the Month” contest for July 2025. We’ll reveal the winning trading strategy and showcase other excellent strategies selected from those you submitted. We’ll explore the operational logic, the target markets, and of course, the performance results, providing practical insights for systematic traders.

The “Strategy of the Month” contest is reserved for Unger Academy® students and rewards the best strategy developed using the Unger Method™. Participating is simple: just submit your strategy, and each month you’ll have the chance to win an Amazon gift card worth €1,000.

Those who want access to the complete code of the winning strategies can join the Unger Strategy Club, an exclusive service that grants open-code access to the month’s winning strategy as well as all past winning strategies. The membership also includes:

• A monthly live advanced training Masterclass
• A monthly operational video analyzing the main rules of the Unger Academy® portfolio strategies

For those who opt for the Unger Strategy Club VIP, there’s an extra benefit: access to the open-source code of all strategies approved by the Academy’s coaches, including non-winning ones (over one hundred fully coded strategies!).

Let’s now review the best strategies you submitted for July.

 

Systematic Trend Following Strategy on DAX Futures (FDAX)

Among the strategies we received but did not award, we highlight Giovanni’s entry, worthy of mention for its effectiveness and clean execution.

This is a trend following strategy on DAX futures (FDAX) with a 15-minute time frame, which uses the breakout of the classic Donchian Channel for entries:

• Long at the breakout of the upper channel
• Short at the breakout of the lower channel, but only if confirmed within the following two bars. This ensures short entries occur only in the presence of strong downward momentum

As filters, the system uses 4 patterns (2 for the long side and 2 for the short side) and a trading window to limit entries.

The maximum trade duration is:

• Long: up to 3 sessions
• Short: exit shortly before the end of the session if not profitable, or on Friday, unless the trade has already exited via stop loss, take profit, or breakeven, avoiding weekend exposure.

Despite its simplicity, this strategy shows great solidity and consistency. Backtested on historical market data from 01/01/2010 to 07/31/2025, it delivers a steady equity curve with an average trade of about €440, a particularly interesting figure for systematic traders.

 

Trend Following Trading System on Feeder Cattle Futures (FC)

Another highly effective strategy, which narrowly missed winning this month, comes from Stefano.

His approach is as simple as it is effective: it’s based on the breakout of the previous session’s highs or lows. The strategy operates on a 5-minute time frame, with a single neutral pattern as a filter (Note: neutral patterns use the same rule set and parameters for both long and short positions).

A distinctive feature is the use of the trend indicator ADX (Average Directional Index). Trades are only triggered if the ADX, calculated over the last 5 sessions, is below a certain threshold. This allows entries primarily during price compression phases, conditions that often precede strong trend following moves.

 

July 2025 Strategy of the Month: Intraday Trend Following on Crude Oil Futures (CL)

Now let’s move on to the July winning strategy, submitted by our student David, who takes home the €1,000 Amazon gift card.

This is another trend following system, but with an intraday approach, meaning positions are closed no later than the end of the trading session. It trades Crude Oil futures (CL) on a 60-minute time frame.

The operational rules are clear:

• Long entry after 4 consecutive bullish bars
• Short entry after 4 consecutive bearish bars
• Entry filter: a neutral pattern based on a 50% Daily Factor
• Exit at stop loss or at the end of the day

The strategy also uses an 8-hour trading window and excludes the month of November from trading.

Although its equity curve isn’t consistent in all periods, the strategy boasts an excellent Net Profit/Drawdown ratio and an average trade of $156, perfectly reasonable for an intraday system.

 

Conclusions

Congratulations to David, who with this simple yet effective strategy wins the July €1,000 Amazon gift card.

We hope the analyses presented here have provided useful insights and new ideas for developing your own trading systems.

If you, too, want to create strategies like those featured in this article, you can participate in the “Strategy of the Month” contest reserved for Unger Academy® students, which awards a €1,000 Amazon gift card each month.

We also remind you that to get the full code of the winning strategy and other participants, you can join the Unger Strategy Club. All details are available at www.ungerclub.com.

That’s all for now. We’ll see you in the next edition of the Strategy of the Month, where we’ll share more ideas and tools for systematic trading.

 

Curious about our “Strategy of the Month” contest? This exciting monthly competition is open exclusively to Unger Academy students and rewards the best strategy developed using the Unger Method with a €1,000 Amazon gift card. Interested? Click here to learn more!

Want to see the champions from previous months? Click here to check them out!