What does SLIM stand for?
The main driver that led to the development of my trend recognition systems was the question: Is there a way to detect and circumvent bear periods, i.e. step aside in the beginning of a bear market and limit the losses? This original idea was later incorporated into the naming process: SLIM = Stop Loss Investment Model. It also reflects the fact that it’s NOT a short-term trading system, but a tool for long-term investors to potentially limit the extent of participation in mid-term bear periods.
When has the SLIM on TSLA algorithm been modified for the last time?
I mainly worked on SLIM on TSLA during 2023 and 2024. In October 2024, I made the last adjustments to the indicators, parameters and thresholds. Since then, SLIM on TSLA is just being updated with the new prices on a daily basis. In 2025, after 9 months and 8 transactions, it turned out that it not only worked excellently in backtests, but also afterwards without any modifications (Jan – Sep 2025: +53.2%, or +103.7% in the long/short version, vs. TSLA +4.2%). Due to this mind-blowing result, I felt that SLIM on TSLA was ready to be made available to other Tesla investors.
What’s the target audience of SLIM Systems? Should I subscribe if I own some TSLA stock that I solely bought because I drive a Tesla?
Subscribers should be sophisticated investors that are fully aware of
a) the informational relevance of my signals and
b) the risks of investing with stocks and hedging instruments.
If – apart from an initial purchase of Tesla stock – you are not familiar with stock markets and indicators, the SLIM signals are not really beneficial for you or could trigger you to some action of which you do not fully understand the risks.
Do you offer subscriptions for signals of other stocks than TSLA or indices?
At the moment, I only offer SLIM on TSLA for public subscription. SLIM on SPI is currently exclusively reserved for a handful of institutional investors, but it might be possible to open SLIM on SPI for public subscription depending on the interest. In the future, I intend to develop more SLIM systems for other stocks and indices.
What is included in the monthly subscription fee?
You get the buy and sell signals of SLIM by email and/or SMS* and can use them for your personal investment strategy at your discretion. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
*Signal notification by SMS is not available in all countries. If available, you can choose this communication channel while you’re subscribing or later in your user account at no additional cost.
Am I allowed to share the SLIM signals with friends or work colleagues?
No. Please do only use the SLIM signals for your personal investment strategy and do not share them. Thousands of work hours went into the creation of my systems, so it would be fair to subscribe if someone is interested in getting this information, wouldn’t it? Also, the subscription fee is ridiculously low compared to the benefits the signals can create. To cut a long story short: Tell your friends about SLIM Systems, but not about the signals, and recommend a subsciption to your friends. Thank you 🙂
I’m a financial advisor or manage other people’s money or a fund. Am I allowed to use the SLIM signal for my clients/fund?
No. The subscription offered on the SLIM Systems website is meant for private persons who use the SLIM signals for the personal finances. Please contact me (click to send email) if you’re interested in using SLIM systems in a professional environment.
How are SLIM systems tested? What does backtesting mean?
SLIM systems are thoroughly backtested which means that the logic, rules and triggers of my systems are tested with long-term historic market data (in terms of SLIM on TSLA: since its IPO in June 2010). In addition, I also test the systems in shorter time frames (1, 3, 5 and 8 years) of the entire period of available market data (see page 2 of the SLIM fact sheets). This allows to check if a system succeeds in most of these short time frames, or if the overall success is just based on a few lucky moments. Despite all the testing, there’s no proof and no guarantee that SLIM systems will perform as impressively in the future as they did in the backtests so far.
Backtesting is easy, reality is hard 😉 Why do you think that SLIM will also work in the future?
Good point. Although there’s no proof and no guarantee that SLIM will perform as impressively in the future as it did in the backtests, I’m quite confident that it will mostly work going forward for 3 reasons:
- I’ve been analysing financial market indicators and developping trend recognition systems for more than 10 years. My first product, SLIIM on SPI, worked beautifully after its development. This is my old website where I used to promote SLIIM on SPI: www.rusch-finanz.ch.
- SLIM on TSLA is based on SLIM on SPI. In October 2024, I made the last adjustments in SLIM on TSLA and then observed its behavior for a full year (without any modifications) before making it available for subscription. In this year, SLIM on TSLA as outperformed TSLA by an order of magnitude (Jan – Sep 2025: TSLA +4.2%, SLIM on TSLA +53.2%).
- I always test my systems in shorter time frames (1, 3, 5 and 8 years) of the entire period of available market data. This allows to check if a system succeeds in most of these short time frames, or if the overall success is just based on a few lucky moments. You can see the very positive results of these sub-periods on page 2 of the SLIM fact sheets.
To what extent can I trust in the signals of SLIM Systems?
It is NOT a good idea to base your investment strategy solely on SLIM signals. The backtesting of my systems does not guarantee future success, and SLIM only analyses stock market indicators, but no fundamental and no macro data. I recommend to use SLIM signals only as an additional source of information.
How many signals can I expect to receive from you?
In the past, SLIM on TSLA has produced between 6 and 25 signals per year. Depending on the market dynamic, you might receive no signal for more than half a year or half a dozen within a few weeks. When markets have a sideways or slightly bearish tendency, there are more triggers as SLIM tries to be positioned on the right side for the next stronger movement.
What should I do when I get a buy or sell signal from SLIM Systems?
As SLIM is not a trading, but a long-term investment optimization system, it only runs its analysis once a day: on market open with the open price. My backtests use the open price as transaction price in case of signals. Applying 1% of slippage on every transaction (transaction price is 1% off the open price, in the unfavorable direction) substantially reduces the success of SLIM. That means you should be ready with all your other sources of information at the time of the market opening, so in case you’re receiving a SLIM signal, you can evaluate it quickly and – if you think action is required – act as closely to the open price as possible. Here’s a dedicated page about how to use SLIM signals.
Why does SLIM sometimes generate a sell signal and then a buy a few days later at a higher price?
Unfortunately, I failed to create SLIM as a future-predicting crystal ball 😉 SLIM can only analyse data from the past, and it tries to detect beginnings of bullish and bearish periods based on past patterns. In side markets, this is highly challenging, and it can happen that the SLIM analysis results in a sell signal, but the market later decides otherwise. SLIM tries to be on the right side of a starting stronger movement, so small losses should be seen as the price of this process of «choosing sides» and will be outweighed by the benefits of being correctly positioned during strong bull and bear periods.
Do you provide personal financial advice or advice on how to use the SLIM signals?
No. SLIM Systems provides sophisticated, knowledgeable investors with signals that are a result of continuous automated market analysis. I do not give any financial advice or advice on how to use the signals, how to invest, which financial instruments to buy or regarding personal investment strategies or portfolios.
Who is responsible if my investing with your signals results in a loss?
There’s nobody, absolutely nobody, who can predict the future movements of financial markets. The reason for that is that analysts can only evaluate information that is available – which is past and current data. Analysts do not give a guarantee, but an educated guess about the future potential of a stock or market, based on past and current fundamental, market and/or macro data. SLIM is no different: I have created a set of indicators and rules that have been very successful with historic data. There is no guarantee that this system performs as well in the future. So, as a subscriber, you are fully responsible for any decisions and actions you do or do not take based on the SLIM signals you receive.
I would like to receive the SLIM signals also by text message (SMS), not only by email. Is that possible?
Yes. In many countries (currently 61), you can receive the SLIM signals by email and/or text message (SMS). To do so, simply log in into your SLIM account and turn on signal delivery to SMS (only available if your country/phone number is supported). I might add more countries in the future. E.g. there’s no SMS delivery in North America yet due to an extensive registration process. Depending on the number of subscribers from the USA and Canada, I will most definitely activate the SMS option for Americans and Canadians in the near future.
I’m a subscriber, and there’s a problem with my SLIM account or with receiving the SLIM signals. How can I contact you?
There’s an email address dedicated for the support of my subscribers. You can find this information in your account, in the on-boarding email you received when you created your account, and in every signal email sent by SLIM.
How and when can I cancel my subscription?
Log in into your SLIM account, and under «Current Subscription» click on «Cancel». You can cancel any time, and your subscription will then be terminated at the end of your current monthly subscription cycle, i.e. you will still get any signals until the end of that cycle. For example: If you are charged on the 15th of the month and you cancel on May 25th, you will receive SLIM signals until June 15th.