A buy and hold strategy should hold the same investments for long periods. The holdings have to go through corrections. In the case of owning SPY there is no benefit during the correction because everything is invested. In the case of the Stars model which owns SPY and TQQQ, during corrections rebalancing sells SPY and buys TQQQ.

The result is that at correction lows you own many more shares of TQQQ which were purchased at cents on the dollar. TQQQ always owns very good long term investments that rise rapidly coming out of the low. TQQQ rises about 6 times as fast as SPY.

Two years after a correction low Stars is above the high prior to the correction. The average return in the three years (correction year plus the two subsequent years) is roughly equal to the return in rising years.

Stars acts like Berkshire Hathaway only on steroids. Berkshire Hathaway buys on corrections but in smaller amounts and at less of a discount. Stars sells TQQQ when it is overvalued and buys many shares when undervalued. This is what you want in a buy and hold strategy.

The volatility of TQQQ is what produces the phenomenal performance. The drawdown of Stars is higher but it does not affect performance because you do not sell. Drawdown over time looks like dips in the performance curve not major corrections.