Backtesting indicator value generation lag ??
When you limit date ranges, you are windowing data. That means that you are artificially provoking "data lack".
As an example : your example of SMA(200). Till it has 200 bars it can not calculate SMA(200) (it does not have all the data necessary to do that) so it will leave those first 199 bars un-calculated for the sake of calculation correctness. It will happen with other types of averages too (the need some "time to stabilize") so for the first calculated values on chart you can easily apply the rule that those are not correct ones.
In some other trading platforms it is regulated with minimal bars in history before calculation, but metatrader does not have that feature, so you will have to ignore that first chunk of data when averages are concerned
when I backtest on a date range my indicators dont generate values until some time after the start date--even several months for something like 200mva,this is hidden unless you follow the indicator data and makes for bad conparisons--or even no trades--what am I missing? thanks
- Free trading apps
- Over 8,000 signals for copying
- Economic news for exploring financial markets
You agree to website policy and terms of use
when I backtest on a date range my indicators dont generate values until some time after the start date--even several months for something like 200mva,this is hidden unless you follow the indicator data and makes for bad conparisons--or even no trades--what am I missing?
thanks