Help with Backtesting

[Fred7777]

Hi Im an advanced trader but just starting to get into Metatrader4.

I followed several youtube videos on how to do a basic backtest on Metatrader and I can do all the steps required but then when I press Start my platform never seems to finish the test. 

It will run for forever for over half an hour on only a small test section of 1 month on daily bars for the built in MACD

I tried several different paramaters all with the same result.

Is there something I am not doing correctly ?

Thanks in advance.

I ts

[iRick]

Hi

Have a look on the Results and Journal tabs to see if the EA is actually setting up trades

[Fred7777]

iRick:

Hi

Have a look on the Results and Journal tabs to see if the EA is actually setting up trades

Hi Rick thanks for replying didnt know how this forum was going to work : )

The Results tab is empty. But this is the Journal Tab

Tks Cheers

[iRick]

Fred7777:

Hi Rick thanks for replying didnt know how this forum was going to work : )

The Results tab is empty. But this is the Journal Tab

Tks Cheers

So it not putting on any trades, potential it's stuck in an infinite loop

You can use the Print function (https://docs.mql4.com/common/print) within the EA code to see what's happening with various variables

Or try altering the SL/TP to a range you know should trade to see if it's working as expected

[Fred7777]

iRick:

So it not putting on any trades, potential it's stuck in an infinite loop

You can use the Print function (https://docs.mql4.com/common/print) within the EA code to see what's happening with various variables

Or try altering the SL/TP to a range you know should trade to see if it's working as expected

I will try that. What If I just redownloaded it from scratch will that work do you think also ?

[iRick]

It's hard to say, although I wouldn't have thought that would make a difference

Sound like the issue is with the EA itself

[Fred7777]

iRick:

It's hard to say, although I wouldn't have thought that would make a difference

Sound like the issue is with the EA itself

Ok Ill try the print function tommorow. Where abouts in the world are you btw ?

[iRick]

Fred7777:

Ok Ill try the print function tommorow. Where abouts in the world are you btw ?

I'm in London

Something like this:

   Print("Variable1:" + IntegerToString(variable1)
         + ":Variable2:" + DoubleToString(variable2)
         ); 

Set up with various variables in the right place should hopefully point you in the right direction

[iRick]

Where did the EA come from?

I'm assuming you have access to the source code? and at least some basic programming (or even capable with something like Excel would be enough)

[Fred7777]

Im in Sydney Australia. I got it from IG Markets. I have seen the source code. I have basic programming skills. Let me have a look tommorow as its late at night now. Thanks cheers

[Bartlomiej Gorski]

Hi Fred,

In order to check what is going on you should do some basic tests to discover where is the issue:

1) try to run ANY other ea on the same dates

if it works - then you have an answer that the issue is strictly related with ea you are testing (probably infinite loop as iRick said)

2) next - check ea - check it in visual mode, there might be a point where something unexpected happens with data (eg. back tick/gap etc) that prevents ea to go futher

(generates error, infinite loop or other)

3) Check the EA with other broker or using other data feed

4) Do some basic tests like "if you have enough space on hard drive" to run test - sometimes ea generates very large log file (especialy when error happens) which put a lot of information in journal - that gets overloaded too.

In that moment log file is still generated in txt file but you dont see anything in journal /experts tab.

So in this way more or less you will know if the issue is related with ea, mt4 platform or data.

Then you can check the ea what part of code is generating problems.