Strategy Overview · Orion Systematic Equities Framework
A Rules-Based Approach To U.S. Equity Markets Built On Institutional Signal Intelligence
Orion is a systematic, rules-based swing trading framework designed to identify and capture institutional accumulation patterns across U.S. equities — with defined risk on every position and zero human discretion in execution.
Philosophy
The Edge Is Not Prediction. It Is Pattern Recognition At Scale.
Most market participants attempt to predict what will happen next — reading news, forecasting earnings, interpreting macro conditions. This approach is inherently unreliable because markets price known information instantly.
Orion operates differently. The system does not predict. It reacts — to price behavior, order flow, volume patterns, and defined market conditions that have historically preceded favorable price movement.
The fundamental insight is this: institutional participants — the entities that move markets — cannot deploy significant capital without leaving measurable traces in the data. They accumulate over days and weeks. That accumulation has a fingerprint.
Orion's architecture is designed to read that fingerprint systematically, position alongside it, and exit when it reverses. The result is a strategy that profits not from being smart about the future, but from being precise about the present.
We are not in the business of forecasting. We are in the business of following capital flows with discipline and exiting when those flows reverse.
The Universe
3,000+ U.S. Equities. Screened Every Day.
Not all stocks are tradeable. Orion applies strict eligibility criteria before any equity enters consideration.
Liquidity Threshold
Every stock in the universe must have a minimum of $5 million in average daily trading volume. This ensures positions can be entered and exited without material price impact — particularly important as capital scales.
$5M+ Daily Volume Required
Price Range
The system targets equities priced between $1 and $200 per share. This range captures the broadest opportunity set of liquid, institutionally-relevant equities while avoiding both micro-cap illiquidity and concentration risk in very high-priced names.
$1 — $200 Price Range
Fundamental Quality
Basic fundamental filters screen for earnings momentum, revenue growth, and margin characteristics. The purpose is not deep value analysis — it is to avoid structurally deteriorating businesses that institutions are exiting rather than accumulating.
Fundamental Pre-Screen Applied
The system avoids names that are too illiquid or too thinly traded. As capital scales across accounts, position sizes increase — and illiquid stocks can be materially impacted by larger orders. Liquidity discipline is not optional. It is structural.
What We Trade
We Trade Stocks On The World’s Most Trusted Exchanges
Every position Orion takes is executed on U.S. regulated exchanges — the same markets that institutional investors, pension funds, and the world’s largest asset managers operate within.
Orion scans 3,000+ U.S. equities daily and has traded 451 unique tickers since inception — exclusively on NYSE, NASDAQ and S&P 500. Shares only. No leverage. No derivatives. No offshore markets.
Signal Architecture
222 Factors. 3 Million Data Points Per Second.
The signal architecture is built in two layers — stock-level factors and market-level indicators — processed simultaneously by the AI machine learning model.
158
Factors Per Individual Equity
For each stock under consideration, the system evaluates 158 individual factors — covering volume patterns, volatility characteristics, mean reversion signals, and momentum indicators across multiple timeframes.
- Volume expansion and accumulation patterns
- Volatility compression and expansion
- Multi-timeframe momentum alignment
- Mean reversion signals
- Breakout and continuation structures
- Institutional footprint indicators
64
Across 3 Major Indices
64 market-level indicators are derived from the S&P 500, NASDAQ, and Dow Jones Industrial Average — providing macro context that influences position sizing, sector allocation, and signal aggressiveness.
- Return statistics across 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60-day horizons
- Volume metrics across all three major indices
- Breadth and participation indicators
- Cross-asset correlation signals
- Volatility regime classification
222
Total Factors Per Analysis
158
Stock-Level Factors
64
Market-Level Indicators
3M
Data Points Per Second
Institutional Footprint Detection
Following The Money That Moves Markets
The largest institutional investors — asset managers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds — collectively manage tens of trillions in capital. When they decide to increase exposure to a sector or individual equity, they cannot act in a single transaction. The position is built over days, sometimes weeks. That accumulation process has a measurable signature.
In the order flow data, institutional accumulation appears as sustained volume above historical averages, often in the absence of obvious news catalysts. Price behavior shows controlled advancement — not the sharp spikes of retail-driven momentum, but a steady, deliberate bid.
Orion's volume and order flow model is designed specifically to identify this pattern — distinguishing institutional accumulation from retail noise with a high degree of precision.
When institutional footprints are identified, the system enters alongside the accumulation. The position is managed according to pre-defined risk parameters and held until the footprint reverses — at which point the system exits regardless of short-term price action.
This is not a prediction that the stock will rise. It is an observation that large capital is moving into the position — and a disciplined decision to move with it.
Think of fresh snow on a mountain trail. You cannot see who walked there — but you can see exactly where they went, how quickly they moved, and whether they were heading up or turning back. Institutional order flow leaves the same kind of evidence. You cannot see the institution — but you can read exactly where their capital is going.
Regime Detection
The Market Has Moods. The System Adapts To Them.
Not all market environments are equal. A strategy that performs well in a trending bull market can suffer significant drawdowns in high-volatility or distribution regimes. Orion classifies market conditions continuously and adjusts accordingly.
Risk-On Expansion
Broad market trending upward with healthy breadth and institutional participation. Signal aggressiveness is highest. Position sizing at full allocation. Maximum concurrent positions active.
Risk-On Rotation
Market advancing but with narrow leadership. Sector rotation signals active. System focuses on sector leaders with strongest institutional footprints.
Neutral Compression
Market consolidating without clear directional bias. Entry selectivity increases. Position sizing reduced. System waits for higher-conviction setups.
Risk-Off Distribution
Institutional distribution patterns detected. New entries become highly selective. Existing positions managed tightly. Capital preservation prioritized.
High Volatility Dislocation
Extreme volatility with abnormal cross-asset correlations. System significantly reduces exposure. In severe conditions, trading pauses entirely. Capital preservation is the only objective.
Regime classification is not binary. The system operates on a continuous scale — gradually adjusting position sizing, entry selectivity, and sector exposure as conditions shift. There is no single moment when the system switches from aggressive to defensive. It transitions, the way a skilled navigator adjusts course rather than making sharp turns.
Risk Management
Risk Is Defined Before We Enter. Every Time.
The most important decisions in systematic trading are not entry decisions — they are risk decisions. Every position Orion takes has a defined maximum loss before the trade is executed.
Rule 01 — 2% Maximum Risk Per Trade
No single trade can lose more than 2% of account equity.
Position size is calculated algorithmically before every entry — not estimated, not approximated. The calculation is based on the distance between the entry price and the stop loss level, divided into 2% of current account equity. This means position size varies by trade, but maximum loss exposure is constant.
In practical terms: even if a stock dropped 50% overnight, the maximum impact on the total account is less than 1% — because the position size is small enough relative to the potential move.
2% Max Risk Per Trade · <1% Account Impact In Extreme Scenarios
Rule 02 — Hard Stop Losses On Every Position
Every position has a defined exit before it is entered.
Stop losses are not optional overlays — they are structural requirements of every trade. The system uses hard stop losses calculated from structural price levels and volatility-adjusted parameters. When a stop is hit, the position is exited without exception, without override, and without hesitation.
There is no human review of stop-loss exits. The system executes. This removes the single greatest source of loss in discretionary trading — the inability to accept being wrong.
Rule 03 — Portfolio-Level Circuit Breaker
A hard limit exists at the portfolio level, not just the trade level.
In addition to per-trade risk limits, the system monitors total portfolio drawdown in real time. If drawdown approaches predefined thresholds, position sizing is automatically reduced and new entries are suspended. In extreme cases — genuine black swan events — the system can be paused entirely to preserve capital.
This is the final layer of protection. In six years of live trading across real market conditions, the maximum portfolio drawdown has been 9.17%.
2%
Max Risk Per Trade
9.17%
Max Portfolio Drawdown Ever
<1%
Account Impact Extreme Gap
0
Leverage Used Ever
Execution
Shares Only. Long Only. U.S. Regulated.
Every aspect of execution is deliberately constrained to maximize simplicity, transparency, and risk control.
Shares Only — No Options, No ETFs
Options introduce expiration dates, time decay, and leverage dynamics that make fully hands-off risk management significantly harder. ETFs aggregate individual signals in ways that dilute the institutional footprint detection edge. Orion trades individual equity shares only — clean, direct exposure.
Long Only — No Shorting
Shorting has theoretically unlimited downside. A stock can only fall to zero — but it can rise without limit. A single overnight gap-up event in a shorted position can cause catastrophic losses that exceed any stop-loss. The stock market has a structural upward bias over time. Orion works with that bias rather than against it.
Interactive Brokers — U.S. Regulated
All trading occurs inside the client's own Interactive Brokers account. Interactive Brokers is one of the most regulated and capitalized brokerages in the world. GemAlgo connects via API with trade execution permissions only — never withdrawal or transfer access.
~40-50 Trades Per Month
The system averages 52.9 trades per month across the full universe. This frequency reflects the swing trading timeframe — positions held an average of 15.4 days — generating enough activity for meaningful compounding without overtrading in poor conditions.
Your Capital Stays With Trusted, Regulated Brokerages
GemAlgo connects via API to execute trades only. Your funds remain in your own account at one of these U.S. regulated brokerages — never in our custody.
FDIC Insured
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
SIPC Protected
Securities Investor Protection Corporation
All brokerages are FDIC and SIPC insured, providing industry-standard protections for your deposited funds and securities.
Boundaries
What Orion Does Not Do.
Understanding the boundaries of a strategy is as important as understanding its capabilities. These are deliberate constraints — not limitations.
Does not short sell any equity
Does not use leverage of any kind
Does not trade options, futures, or derivatives
Does not trade ETFs or index instruments
Does not hold positions through identified distribution regimes
Does not override stop losses under any circumstance
Does not trade based on news, earnings forecasts, or macro predictions
Does not operate in markets outside U.S.-listed equities
Does not pool client capital — each account operates independently
Does not guarantee returns or promise specific performance outcomes
Does not use martingale or grid strategies
These constraints exist because each represents a category of risk that is either unlimited, unmanageable, or misaligned with the capital preservation philosophy that underpins the entire strategy. A strategy's edge comes as much from what it refuses to do as from what it does.
Performance Context
Six Years Across Real Market Conditions
The strategy has operated through multiple distinct market regimes since inception — including the COVID crash and recovery, the 2021 bull market, the 2022 bear market, and the 2023-2024 recovery. Each represented a different test of the architecture.
2020
+44.02%
COVID crash and recovery. Regime detection reduced exposure during March dislocation.
2021
+99.29%
Strong bull market. Risk-on expansion regime. Full participation across momentum leaders.
2022
+17.14%
NASDAQ -35%. S&P -25%. Regime detection shifted to risk-off early. Drawdown contained.
2023
+27.88%
Uneven recovery. Rotation-focused regime classification. Sector leaders outperformed.
2024
+76.96%
Strong equity expansion. High-conviction momentum across technology and energy.
2025
+43.07%
Mixed conditions. System adapted across multiple regime transitions during the year.
2026
+9.08%
Year to date as of February 2026.
-35%
NASDAQ 2022
-25%
S&P 500 2022
+17.14%
Orion 2022
The Methodology Makes Sense. Now See The Numbers.
Review the full verified performance data — six years of live trading across real market conditions.