Strategy Tester

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Is it reliable? If it says that your strategy returns a profit over a testing profit, can you say with certainty if you used it in a real trading situation that it would work?
 
Not sure who your data provider is and how the feed is compiled into your platform (In rare circumstances this can affect back testing) but I have personally found the MQ4 Strategy tester to be one of the most accurate realistic back tests out of some really expensive platforms.

I have run systems live and then gone back on a different platform to back test and see how close the entries were to 'reality'. Most of them were spot on to the minute and level. This of course depends much on your programming skills and what indicators you are using as part of your system. Some indicators (many) lag in time and will give you excellent back test results but horrid live performance. This is where a good dose of knowledge on trading and tech analysis comes in.

A good idea is to download the MQ4 platform a few times on your computer in different directories. Set up each one with a dedicated demo account to each new EA you build and let it run live for at least 2-3 months. Only by doing this will you get a sure accurate picture. I would not suggest jumping to a live account on a unproven 'non live run tested' EA.

FxNorth
 
Thats a good idea. I think I will do that thanks.
 
One thing I dont get though is that I can run the Strategy Tester using hourly time periods, but when I use the strategy on a live chart it will run after every tick, which could well be too often. Is there a way to make the EA only run after every hour?
 
One thing I dont get though is that I can run the Strategy Tester using hourly time periods, but when I use the strategy on a live chart it will run after every tick, which could well be too often. Is there a way to make the EA only run after every hour?


Make sure when running the EA live you have attached it to the right time frame chart. ie. If you built it for 1 hour intervals it should be attached to a 1 hour chart. Should work correctly if you have done your programming right.
 
One thing I dont get though is that I can run the Strategy Tester using hourly time periods, but when I use the strategy on a live chart it will run after every tick, which could well be too often. Is there a way to make the EA only run after every hour?


Make sure when running the EA live you have attached it to the right time frame chart. ie. If you built it for 1 hour intervals it should be attached to a 1 hour chart. Should work correctly if you have done your programming right.


Have you tried that? Even if you set the chart to H1, the expert still gets run at every tick.
 
The last bar is always updated every tick. If it wasn't you could not accurately execute limit or stop orders for example. As fxnorth poits out, if you've done your programming right, the EA should work as you expect. Also, in backtesting, the most accurate results are obtained by modeling every tick, even if you have a 1-hour chart.
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