How Long Should You Test an EA Before Deciding It Doesn't Work?
Isaac Kwasi Akohene-Asiedu:
How many trades do you personally need before deciding whether an Expert Advisor is worth keeping?
How many trades do you personally need before deciding whether an Expert Advisor is worth keeping?
If we're talking about the Tester, I run the lengthiest test that my hardware can handle in a timely manner. My latest scalping EA test placed about 4000 simulated trades.
If we're talking about demo testing, I merely use demo testing to verify that all functions of the EA are working as intended─following the backtest.
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I've noticed something over the years.
Many traders expect an EA to prove itself within a few trades.
One win...
"It's amazing."
One loss...
"It's garbage."
That doesn't make much sense.
No professional trading strategy is built around one trade.
It's built around probability.
If a strategy has an edge, that edge appears over a meaningful number of trades—not after one or two positions.
This raises an interesting question.
How many trades do you personally need before deciding whether an Expert Advisor is worth keeping?
Twenty?
Fifty?
One hundred?
I'd like to hear how other traders approach this.