How do I: Backtest MA Crossovers on MT4?

I just signed up for a MetaTrader4 account through Oanda, and was wondering how can I test EMA crossovers?

I like to see the results for this year-to-date, for when EMA:1 crosses EMA:14 trading on the daily time frame.

The only way I know of is to use a free EA simulator or do it candle by candle manually. I am not sure if you can make an EA yourself to do it and just look at the results. I always traded discretionary systems so I never had the need to do it any other way. But my question is why a 1 period EMA that will just reflect the current price. There is no period of time in which to average. I don’t really know what your trying to accomplish with that indicator setting. That being said again I don’t trade with indicators or mechanical systems so take it with a grain of salt.

The quickest easiest way to test is to find a crossover EA. Manual testing can be done; but it is very slow and error prone. Just look for something like “Universal Crossover”. I have seen them on most of these forums. In MT5, non programmers can build their own EA. For a crossover, this shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.

Two options:

  1. Have a programmer write you an EA (if you are not a programmer already) and backtest on MT.
  2. Purchase some forex backtesting software and manually test it over as long a historical period as you can.

I would recommend #2 because you can see what it is doing and can practice the mechanics of the trade so when it comes to actually trading it, you will be prepared.

Thanks all for your reply…

I’m still can’t figure it out, but thanks.