How to audit any EA backtest in 10 minutes (before you pay a cent)

Yesterday I wrote about why I publish my real drawdown. Today, something more useful: how to check whether ANY seller — including me — is telling you the truth.

Most traders buy an EA the way they would never buy a car: from screenshots. But screenshots are marketing. The Strategy Tester on your own computer is not. Here is the audit ritual I wish someone had taught me years ago.

PART 1 — FIVE RED FLAGS ON ANY PRODUCT PAGE (60 seconds, before downloading anything)

1. The window. Does the backtest cover many years, including bad ones — or does it conveniently start right after a disaster year? A system tested only on its favorite weather is not a system.

2. The drawdown type. "Equity" drawdown can look small while floating losses are open. Ask: what is the RELATIVE drawdown, and were positions closed? If the page does not say, the answer is usually ugly.

3. The losing months. Every real system has them. If eight years of trading are shown as one unbroken smile, someone is hiding the dentist bills.

4. The settings. Are the published results from DEFAULT settings — or from a magic .set file tuned after the fact? Default settings are a commitment. Set files are an excuse waiting to happen.

5. The invitation. Does the seller ASK you to reproduce the results yourself? A seller who hides behind "just trust the screenshots" is telling you exactly how much his numbers survive daylight.

PART 2 — THE 10-MINUTE RITUAL (for any EA with a free demo)

1. Download the free demo from the product page.
2. Open Strategy Tester. Same symbol, same timeframe as the seller's report.
3. Same date range, same deposit, same leverage. Model: "Every tick based on real ticks".
4. Touch nothing else. Default settings only.
5. Press Start. Then compare three fingerprints: the NUMBER of trades, the SHAPE of the curve, and the DRAWDOWN. Small drift in the final dollar figure is normal — your broker's current swap rates are baked in. The fingerprints are not negotiable.

If the fingerprints do not match the product page, you have your answer — and it cost you nothing.

PART 3 — RUN IT ON MINE

I hold my own product to this exact standard. Kingdom Knight Gold, XAUUSD H1, 2018.01.01–2026.07.31, $10,000 deposit, leverage 1:500, default settings (the default rank — Knight Commander — is the configuration behind every published number). Expected fingerprints: ~897 trades, equity drawdown ~29%, final balance ~$1.84M.

If my numbers do not match yours, I am wrong in public.

https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/191233

Ten minutes of verifying beats ten months of regretting. Audit me — then audit everyone else.

Kings promise. Knights deliver.

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Updates & honest monthly reports: https://www.mql5.com/en/channels/kingdomknight 

The Kingdom: https://www.eakingdom.com