rain wrote: Sat Sep 26, 2020 10:13 pm I thought maybe it would be helpful for people to learn how to backtest better and to learn how to use the "Strategy Tester" in MT4.
Every time I use the strategy tester, this is what happens. Screenshot_1.jpg
It doesn't matter if I do "every tick" or "control points," it runs the test, and then it doesn't give me any results.

Can anyone provide a quick step by step tutorial on using Strategy Tester or on backtesting for us idiots who are obviously doing something wrong? The trusty old search engine seems to be failing in telling me what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks!

ionone wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2020 12:38 am there are a loo of things to consider when backtesting :
-is the spread set in the settings greater than the spread filter set in the EA parameters?
-are time settings ok? (and is it trading during high spread periods)
-are you backtesting real tick data ? or default tick data? or even control points or open prices?
- is lot size too big for the account balance ?

please show us your logs
thanks

Jeff

Error Log

rain wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2020 10:04 am

Thanks Jeff,
Okay, so I'm wanting to test this indicator price cross ma histo (mtf + alerts).mq4 to see if to these settings
Screenshot_2.jpg
So 1 hour timeframe, and I want to use that as a third confirmation for my trades on a 5 or 15 minute chart. In other words, don't counter trend trade against these settings, would it improve my results as a trend confirmation if I am wanting to focus on trend trading.
Screenshot_4.jpg Here's my current settings. I have tried this using "control points" and "every tick" in the past. I usually try to keep it to only a month of data, and I'm using GBPUSD. I have $500 in the live trading account.

Here's my error log Screenshot_5.jpg

I'm not sure what they mean though or how to fix them.

Thanks for any help. It's much appreciated! I hate that the Strategy Tester has been something that I can't quite figure out how to use since I started trading, but I think it would really improve my trading if I could see if something is helpful or not!

rain wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:55 am Okay, I'm an idiot! Haha. Everyone kept saying I can test the indicator.
Now I'm off to learn to turn a set of indicators into a strategy.