S&P 400 MidCap Downtrend Replay (1997-02-14 to 1997-04-25)
Replay a 7.8% midcap correction across 98 daily bars on the 1997 S&P 400 MidCap, navigating a sharp 2.7% single-day swing. Step into each trading day, face 11 decision points, and receive AI coach feedback on your simulated choices.
98 daily bars · 11 decision points · 1997-01 to 1997-05 · Stocks
Key facts
This window spans 140 days with a peak-to-trough drawdown of 7.8% and a 12.5% run-up.
- Max drawdown
- −7.8%
- Max run-up
- +12.5%
- Duration
- 140 days
- Largest single-day move
- −2.7%
- Bars
- 98 Daily bars
- Decision points
- 11
Every figure above is computed programmatically from this replay’s own candle series — no editorial input, no LLM. Methodology: Methodology
The market advances day by day. You only see candles up to the current day — as if you were really there.
At key decision points choose Buy / Trim / Exit / Hold. Each decision advances the timeline by one day.
After settlement you get a six-dimension score and an AI coach review. Your result enters the scenario leaderboard.
Event Replay
What happened — and what it teaches
The opening quarter of 1997 set the stage for this replay: a maturing bull market in U.S. equities, where the S&P 400 MidCap index traded as a barometer of America's expanding middle-sized businesses. Between January 10 and May 30 of that year, the index traveled across 98 daily bars, an unusually rich sequence that lets a decision-trainer feel the cadence of single sessions rather than the blur of monthly snapshots. What hangs in the balance is not a verdict on a single stock, but the discipline required to act under uncertainty when the broader tape begins to wobble.
What unfolded was a measured midcap correction rather than a panic. From 261.22 to 279.16 the index still finished the span up 6.9%, yet the path contained a maximum drawdown of 7.8% and a largest single-bar move of 2.7%. Eleven decision points, four of them critical, are scattered through the tape, marking the moments when positioning, sizing, or simply holding the line carried real consequences. The contradiction between a positive headline return and a painful mid-period drawdown is the central puzzle the replay asks a learner to resolve.
For decision training, the lesson is process over outcome. A swing of 2.7% in a single session is large enough to test any risk plan, while a 7.8% peak-to-trough slide is enough to challenge conviction and tempt reactive trades. Coaching here focuses on pre-commitment rules, journaling the reason for each entry or exit, and recognizing that a constructive full-period return can still house a difficult middle chapter. The aim is calmer execution next time volatility resurfaces, not a forecast of any market.
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