Testing Out New Strategy?

Hi,

Aimed at anyone experienced trying different strategies how long do you test before you are confident it would work in a live account rather than demo? 30 days reasonable?

Thanks.

Pipsaholic said:

Hi,

Aimed at anyone experienced trying different strategies how long do you test before you are confident it would work in a live account rather than demo? 30 days reasonable?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Depends on your time-frame.

I prefer hourlys and when I tested systems a lot I would test them on three non-consecutive 6-monthly periods.

I often had systems that would be insanely profitable for six months and think I had found the holy grail. Then on the second period they would be so-so. Then on the final period they would bomb. Nearly all of them would end up either B/E or slightly better.

I never found a mechanical system that could consistently perform significantly better than B/E though some would appear to in the short term. The point being that you have to be very careful that you do not fool yourself with insufficient testing. More is better!

30 days isn't much if you only make 3 trades, I use 100 trades or 3 months. I also like to use nano lots and test live, I take it more seriously that way and can tweak if necessary.

The important thing is to, follow the plan each time and keep it consistent, as well as sticking with it even through multiply losses. Remember it's only a test.