What's your manual backtesting solution in Metatrader 4?

Beginner Questions
1

Hey all,

I would like to find a solution for testing manual trading strategies. I would like to know what you guys do for backtesting, if you’ve found any good solutions.

By the way, I hope you like the pretty font colors I chose.

What I’m doing now sucks

Until now, I’ve been backtesting strategies by scrolling way back in the history, choosing a point where I would have entered the market, seeing when imaginary stop loss and take profit points would be reached, then calculating profit and loss manually.

The obvious problems with this method are mainly that it’s time consuming, inaccurate, and too easy to accidentally see forward data.

An ideal solution

I’ve been looking for solutions to backtest manually. I imagine a solution that would allow you view a chart in the past, place imaginary orders with S/L, T/Ps, trailing stops, etc, and then speed up the passage of time to see what happens, reporting the results. The user interface would preferably be intuitive, using it should be straight forward.

Not sure if an EA within MT4 would be preferable to an external app. I imagine it would, as with an external app, you probably wouldn’t have access to your custom settings in MT4. I imagine it would be nicer to have everything in MT4.

Solutions I’ve found

I’ve found four solutions so far. I haven’t installed any of them, yet. I’ll put them below in case some fellow newbies might find it useful. If you’ve tried any of them, let me know what you think.

VHandsTrade - It’s an EA. It’s free. The instructions are incredibly hard to understand. It looks complicated to install. From the screen shots, the interface doesn’t look intuitive, and possibly in Russian. Not sure if how hard it is to use.
Testing Visualization: Manual Trading - MQL4 Articles

LFH Trade Simulator - It’s an EA. It’s free. Instructions seem easy. Seems pretty easy to use. I’m leaning towards choosing this one.
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/33531-trading-simulator.html#post185189

Simple Forex Tester - It’s an EA. It is $97. This one had me drooling. No free trial, but a 60 day money back guarantee. The sales page is all large bold fonts, cheap marketing tactics, and annoying, which usually triggers my mental red flags, but the youtube videos he made are excellent. I want it, but at the moment, not ready for the $100 investment. I’ll consider this in the future.
[Simple Forex Tester] Program Demonstration - YouTube

Forex Tester - Looks like an external app that mimics MT4. It’s $200. Looks friendly to use. Not sure I would want an external app, but it seems to have good features.
Forex Tester - professional forex training software, simulator and backtester

What works for you?

I would really like to know what you guys do for manual backtesting. Please share.

Which is better, and EA within MT4, or an external app? Any thoughts?

1 Like
2

I bought Simple Forex Tester and sadly I can’t activate the software. Emailed the guy thousands of times and no reply. So I’ve put in a request for my money back(through Clickbank fortunately).

Such a shame as I really like the fact that it is on MT4 and spending $97 to possibly earn me thousands of dollars(millions I hope ;)) is a very good investment.

I would like to know how you are faring with the LFH trade simulator if you decide to go for it. For me I am contemplating Forex Tester.

Cheers!

3

Backtesting is of limited value so don’t get hung up about it, trading in backtesting is totally different to live trading, it’s handy to get an idea if the strategy you intend to use is worth persevering with, but eyeing it up is just as good really.

Try this - http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/40496-historical-data-download.html#post278041

4

I ususally use Strat tester in MT4, use an EA or some sort, and choose your TF and hit start, just slow it down, and go from there… Write your trades down on paper, and see what happens… BUT, there is alot of ticks missing, and its really not reliable… So really, Im not even sure why MT4 gives you the option to even backtest… BUT if you know what your doing, you can get 99% of the ticks, but its some major work…

I Have alink I was given to get true tick history, but in the end, for me, Its not a backtestable strat. ( Mine)

By far, the best, is to paper trade in live action…

5

Just took a look at the LFH Sim, and it looks interesting, but not sure if I can use my Indicator on it, because I know I cant use it on the Strat tester, Its not nessasary, but it’d be alot cooler if ya did. LOL:13:

Im going to try to load all this up right now, Im curious to test this out…

6

Ok, Im using it right now, everything seems fine, my indi dont work, but thats not a problem, My Strat is based off 1H TF, so it takes about 44 seconds a bar…

I thought I had it all set, using sell/buy limits, but I had my lot size wrong, so I missed a 161 pip move, so now i have to wait again…

7

I ended up trying LHM Trade Simulator. Had a couple goes at it, but I’ve had computer problems, preventing me from testing further. Hence, the late reply

One thing that bugs me about LHM is the speed. You can choose speeds between 1 and 32. In 1H, 31 and under is too slow, the bars go by about 1 per minute. 32 is way to fast, the bars go by a few per second.

With LHM, it’s easier to set up orders with SL and TP. Usually in MT4 you have to place the market order, then go back and edit it, and probably calculate the values manually. With LHM, just choose how many pips above and below you want your SL and TP, no need to go back and edit the order to do it. Wish MT4 did it like that.

I’m not even going to try the other free one VHandsTrade. Just looks too complicated. LHM will be good enough for now.

@psylence:

I’m sorry to hear about Simple Forex Tester not working out. Hopefully you can get your money back. I thought I might buy this one in the future, but now I doubt it. I’m glad you let me know.

Please let us know if they end up sorting it out for you.

@purplepatchforex:

I hear ya. I wish backtesting was more reliable then. So perhaps the best way to use backtesting is to get a good idea on how a strategy would work, then forward test with a demo account.

The link you gave is actually for LFH Trade Simulator. I’ve seen it linked to a lot on forums, but called by many different names. It seems to be made by LearnForexHome.com, which is why I called it LFM, but i think I may have made that name up.

@MoneyNVRSleeps

Why won’t your indicator work in the Strategy Tester?

Everyone:

But why is backtesting not reliable? Is it just that the historical data doesn’t have every tick? So how detailed does the data go? Is it just at most 1M open, close, high and lows?

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Yes, the 1M data is interpolated to simulate ticks by using the OHLC and tick count. Of course the simulator is just guessing at the movement within the 1M bar. The other key piece missing from 1M data is the spread, so the simulator uses the current spread of the active market which will only work if the broker is fixed spread.

9

I use Forex tester 2 its pretty good and i really like it. Its powerful it gives you plenty of pairs. Sure it builds confidence as well as gives you reliable data to at least step foot into the demo or live arena. I wouldn’t have anyone go live if they didn’t back test. Sure just cause you did well in a back test doesn’t mean you will do well live. but if you did poorly in the back test chances are pretty good you would have done poorly live as well.

10

Thanks for good informative thread. I logged in to share my view as it might be helpful to some of you.

I purchased the “simple forex tester” (99$). I’m also having issues with the speed- its not fast enough- when the sw just comes up im getting 1 min worth of data for every 1 sec but when adding up several (2-3) indicators it becomes slower (approx 2 times slower).
I’ve emailed the Vendor’s support but haven’t got reply for several days now, so if I can’t find solution I will return it for a refund.
Other than that the sw seems to do its task.

I’ve also tried the LHM and it had more or less the same speed (so likely it relates more to my pc performance so I tried several tweaks but still same result- hope to get help from support).
It seems that this sw is also doing the intended and its free. On the other hand I didn’t put too much time checking it (with this sw you can also load your indicators on the chart as normal).

Fores Tester seems good and I understand it provides a step by click option and this is what i need but it is not an MT4 plug-in so haven’t considered purchasing at the moment.
If anyone knows additional products I will be glad to know.

I had another thought for back testing directly on the MT4 platform using the F12 (step by step click) function built in into MT4. Supposing I can hide a part of my screen from seeing the next price action movements. The only thing Im missing is automatic journaling, i.e. taking the buy/sell (etc.) points automatically and let the machine calculate them (having the stats is a plus but not crucial). Such automatic journaling gives you better and more effective learning environment than taking paper trades. One solution I can think but so far couldn’t find one on the net is having a tool that will enable you to buy/sell according to the point you click on the chart with your mouse, even if its in the past. So you place your cursor on your entry point and click and then place it on your exit/take profit and click and the trade is recorded for you.
Help with this will be appreciated as well.

Thanks for all.

11

Forex Tester 2 works really nice for me. Yes past performance does not equal future results. Worse case scenario you just watched months or years of how your pair has moved, you are now more in tune with it and increase the amount of practice you have with your system. I have used MT4 EAs and they were not robust enough for me.

12

Did you know that there is also [B]MT4i Trading Simulator[/B]? It is an MT4 EA, it is completely free and you can find it on the MT4i website (sorry if I don’t give you the link, but by having submitted less than 5 posts I am not allowed to include links).
I’ve found it today by chance, so I have just tried it a little, but it seems very good software!

13

There are also some other free scripts that plug in to MT4. I only use them to manually progress through historical data bar by bar but there are trading options. They’re hosted in a different forum which I won’t link to but if your interested then PM me and I’ll hook you up.

14

Hello Rainman,
I found this cool indicator that helps you back test, set orders etc on MT4 using historical data & it’s free!!!
Good luck.

Chisha

15

I’m sorry I’m not allowed to post links yet because I haven’t posted anything on here until now but you can find the indicator at forex factory, it’s called “New trading simulator, gain experience faster”.

Chisha

1 Like
16

Hi nicelbole. Yes, the MT4i Trading Simulator is what I’m using for backtesting my system(s) also and it gets the job done pretty well. Sure, it’s not like live trading, but it’s superb for getting an idea of how well/bad your system could perform in the live trading environment (with live sharks, trying to trick/trap you and steal your real money :slight_smile:

Like someone said earlier somewhere: it won’t guarantee same results when going live, but if you can’t make money when backtesting, chances are you (and/or your system) won’t be doing well during live performances either…

I love backtesting like this, especially over the weekend, kinda preparing myself for the 'real thing, before the markets open again.

Cheers

1 Like