LITE ranked #1-4 on the overnight_recovery score from 2025-07 while still an
S&P 400 member, and the book could only buy it after it joined the S&P 500
on 2026-03-23. research/lab/universe_midcap.py tests whether ranking S&P 400
members alongside the S&P 500 helps, on one merged panel with one engine and
20 bp a side for every arm; the decision rule is written before the run.
Primary window 2019-01..2026-09: union Sharpe 0.86 / CAGR 24.7% / MaxDD
-38.8% vs base 0.98 / 29.4% / -34.3%; 2019-24 alone 0.48 vs 0.70; without
PENN, LITE and SMCI the union's alpha vs base is -6.7%/yr (t -2.1). Mid-cap
momentum adds a few large winners and many small losers. Not adopted.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Gahow Wang
2f754998a3