Back testing

KrisG

Can anyone recommend some software for back testing of strategies. Is there something what would back test straight from the stockcharts scanner?

markd

I don't know enough to recommend, but I believe TradeStation, Metastock, maybe Worden offer back testing, but they also have a pretty hefty price tag. Some brokers have it, too. Not aware of anything that interfaces with Stockcharts.

Cush

KrisG, I haven't been using it lately, but when I have wanted to back test a scan I simply used the option in the Scan creation window to start the scan any number of days previously that I wanted. After running the scan, I saved the results in a List and then looked at the results/performance for the stocks subsequent to the time I had selected. Were you looking for something more complicated than that?

KrisG

Thank you guys for your help. Cush i was looking for something that would tell me in % how good or not is my strategy

lmkwin

I know this is an old post/discussion. Another option if using the filters for "backtesting" is to use the rank by. So, if you are looking at a monthly seasonality filter, for example, you could set your Rank by to be the month AFTER return for the period you are testing.

A nice thing about using the Rank by in your filters is that it adds another column of data into the results. That can be helpful. Remember, Rank by needs to be the last line in your filter and do NOT put the work AND in front of it.

markd

@lmkwin , just a note about "rank by", if you use it intensively. If you try to use more complex expressions in the rank by statement, the results may not yet be reliable. Rank by was originally intended to process only a single expression, like an indicator. It has since been upgraded to process very simple math operations. However, more complex statements are so far unreliable - some results may be correct, others not. This info per a reply from Support, Nov 2016. I haven't tried again since then, so this info may not be up to date.