Day Trading & Forex Forum

johnlvs2run

I'm using interactive brokers and thinkorswim demos, and am looking for guidance on how to backtest a strategy, over either 10 days or a month, then to tweak the strategy and test it again. Below is part of a chat with a tos rep today.
I've since looked entirely through the prophet section of tos, and didn't see anything there about backtesting a stock. It would be much appreciated if someone could provide some direction on how to backtest with either tos demo, ib trader workstation demo or something else that is relatively easy to use. Thanks.

timsk

Hi John,
It appears from the transcript that the TOS rep' is just referring to a manual backtest whereby you eyeball a chart to see what price does following the set up / strategy that you're testing. The charting facilities offered by many brokers tends to be rather basic and may not support the sort of mechanical backtesting facility that you seek.This is more likely to be provided by vendors of bespoke charting software - such as eSignal or Tradestation. You would only need this if you're looking to backtest over a very long period and / or your strategy produces too many trades to make it impractical to backtest manually. If you are a discretionary trader, then this ought not to be necessary and a manual backtest along the lines that the TOS rep' describes should be more than sufficient. However, if you're a mechanical trader wanting to go down an automated 'black box' route, then you may need a programmer or, if you have a head for computers and technology, learn how to do it yourself. Rather you than me is all I can say! Good luck.
Tim.

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johnlvs2run

Hi Tim,
Thanks for your reply.
The manual testing sounds like what I am looking for.
Is the eyeball method the best way to go about doing this?

So far what I've done is pasted daily ranges in a spreadsheet, but this leaves a lot
to be desired, compared to the realtime movements of an equity. It would be more
helpful to see where stops would be or would not be removed, prior to testing with cash.

Any other suggestions for testing a strategy?

rawrschach

Forex Factory - View Single Post - james16 Chart Thread

Try this, for metatrader.

johnlvs2run

Could someone provide guidance if the following in thinkorswim can be used to test or use a basic strategy?
thinkorswim demo > charts > studies > edit strategies > new strategy

large box to the left
upper box to the right
each of the above has numerous choices underneath, for example mathematical
lower box to the right
Suggestions are much appreciated.

malabeba

If you want to backtest your strategies in thinkorswim platform, plot the strategy on the chart then right click on it, choose "Shoe Report" and voila