How to Backtest an EA on MT5: Check Your Report Against Kingdom Hunter Gold's $14.15 Million Test
Learning how to backtest an EA on MT5 is easier with an answer key. This guide walks you through each Strategy Tester setting with the free demo of Kingdom Hunter Gold and the exact recipe printed on its product page. Change nothing else, run the test, and compare your report with four numbers from the published backtest ($3,000 deposit, 2018.01.01 to 2026.08.26): 7,359 trades, maximum equity drawdown 33.08%, net profit of about $14.15 million and profit factor 4.39. If they match, your setup is right.
WHY A PUBLISHED TEST MAKES A GOOD FIRST BACKTEST
A backtest runs an Expert Advisor over historical prices in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester and sums up what it did. The steps are the same for any EA. What is hard the first time is telling whether an unexpected report comes from the EA itself or from a setting you missed.
A published test removes that doubt. Kingdom Hunter Gold is a fully automated EA for gold (XAUUSD), made for the H1 chart. Its product page lists the complete recipe of a single run with the default settings, and the free demo can run that same test before any purchase. Follow the recipe, and the published figures tell you whether every setting is in place.
STEP 1: GET THE FREE DEMO
Open the Kingdom Hunter Gold page on the MQL5 Market and choose the free demo. The page asks whether MetaTrader 5 is installed, because the demo installs into the terminal; if it is not installed yet, the same prompt offers the download. Once the terminal has installed the demo, Kingdom Hunter Gold can be selected in the Strategy Tester.
The demo is made for the Strategy Tester. It runs the complete published test there, while trading on a live chart is reserved for the purchased or rented version.
STEP 2: SET UP THE STRATEGY TESTER
Open the Strategy Tester in MetaTrader 5 and enter the recipe, one item at a time:
1. Choose Kingdom Hunter Gold from the tester's list of Expert Advisors.
2. Set the symbol to XAUUSD and the timeframe to H1, the chart the EA is built for.
3. Choose the tick model "Every tick based on real ticks", the model of the published run.
4. Set the test dates from 2018.01.01 to 2026.08.26.
5. Set the initial deposit to 3,000 USD and the leverage to 1:100.
6. Leave the EA's own settings at their defaults. The default risk profile is named Hunter, and it is the configuration behind every published figure. If you have tested this EA before, make sure its settings are back at their defaults.
Each of these items shapes the result, which is why the product page prints all of them. With all six in place, change nothing else.
STEP 3: RUN IT AND READ FOUR NUMBERS
Now run the test. When it has finished, the Strategy Tester shows its report: a curve of balance and equity, and a set of summary figures. Four of those figures form your answer key. Compare them with the published backtest of the same recipe ($3,000 deposit, 2018.01.01 to 2026.08.26):
1. The number of trades: 7,359. Look at this one first, because it confirms the setup before any dollar figure does.
2. The maximum equity drawdown: 33.08%. Equity includes open positions, so this figure is measured on the equity line, not only on closed trades.
3. The net profit: about $14.15 million. The exact figure in the published report is $14,154,646.53; the next section explains why your dollar result can differ by a small amount.
4. The profit factor: 4.39.
When your four numbers line up with these, your settings match the published run, and you have completed a backtest whose answer you could check.
TWO NOTES ON THE DATA
Price data. The figures on the product page come from a test on IC Markets prices. In the "Every tick based on real ticks" model, the tester works with the ticks supplied by the broker your terminal is connected to, so a terminal connected to a different broker can show different figures.
Swap. On the same price data, the final dollar figure can still drift by a small amount, because the tester applies today's swap rates. The trade count and the drawdown are the parts that should line up.
If the trade count or the drawdown still looks different, go through the six items once more. If every item matches the recipe, send your four figures to us in a private message on MQL5.
YOUR TURN
The demo is free, and it runs the whole published test before you decide anything. Get it from the product page:
https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/193298
Kingdom Hunter Gold also trades a real account on MQL5 Signals, published for verification:
https://www.mql5.com/en/signals/2389088
Kings promise. Knights deliver.
Risk warning: trading gold with leverage involves substantial risk. Every figure in this post is a Strategy Tester backtest result at the stated settings, not a live trading result. A backtest shows past behavior on historical prices, and past results do not guarantee future results.
