Newbie Question About Backtesting

[incog13]

I am just getting into backtesting now and writing my first script to try to make it work. I am wondering if it is possible to test price histories with sub-minute precision. In other words, could I find data somewhere that is second-by-second and be able to have a script that trades based on price changes that might occur over a period of, say, 15 seconds, rather than on data that changes every minute?

Thanks in advance,

Dean

[Simon Gniadkowski]

It is possible to get access to tick data and use it within the Strategy Tester . . as for a strategy that looks at sub minute data . . . well that is up to you to code it. Use Google to search for mt4 tick data

[incog13]

Thanks, knowing that it is possible helps quite a bit!

Dean

[incog13]

As a followup for anyone looking to do the same, I found a very nice guide for downloading free tick data at:

http://eareview.net/tick-data/download-free-tick-data

It's taking a while, but now I'm downloading 5 years of Dukascopy data for free.

[virtualreal]

That's a lot of data! In case you want to run optimisations, just let the dogs out, have a beer with your friends and do the dishes.

[incog13]

Haha VirtualReal, yes, I am doing a bit of programming in the meantime and just enjoying a relaxing day. By my estimates it might take up to 5 days, if not more, to finish downloading :D.

[virtualreal]

LOL, well, I wasn't referring to the long time it takes to download those huge files, but to the model optimisations after you've converted the data and placed it in the right folders.

It took me weeks to create a stable model, based on a year data set, so be prepared ;)