Strategy Backtest

Backtesting lets you examine your stock trading strategy on historical data to determine how well it would have worked in the past. If you have developed a strategy with which you are ready to go live, the Backtesting feature will help you to understand if your methods are viable and potentially successful.

To create a new strategy for backtesting, click on Strategy Backtest on the navigation pane, and the New Strategy page will display. After typing a name for the strategy and position type, you need to specify the stock screening criteria you would like to backtest. It can be done either by opening the criteria selection dialog or by selecting a screen to extract criteria from:

After you have entered the criteria for opening a position, specify position maintenance parameters: Stop Loss, Trailing Stop Loss, Take Profit, and, if necessary, criteria for closing a position. Your strategy is now ready for backtesting. Click the Backtest button, and the strategy results page will display. This action will also automatically save the strategy, so there is no need to click the Save button. Please note that it can take several minutes to complete the test and display the report.

The speed of the backtest may depend on the trading strategy you have built. Please pay attention to such factors as criteria for opening a position, the number of tickers in the stock universe, and the specified backtesting period. If your strategy has been testing too long, consider changing these factors. Perhaps you can simplify the criteria for opening a position and reduce the stock universe or the testing period.