Reliability of backtests

[Christian Schuller]

Hello,

are backtests really realiable or are they only there to check if the EA works?

Best regards.

[Marco vd Heijden]

Christian Schuller:

Hello,

are backtests really realiable or are they only there to check if the EA works?

Best regards.

The second.

[Christian Schuller]

Marco vd Heijden:
The second.

Hello Marco,

so have you personally made the experience with your EAs that they work or do not work in the backtest BUT then do not work or do work in reality on the live market?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[James Cater]

Christian Schuller:

Hello,

are backtests really realiable or are they only there to check if the EA works?

Best regards.

It depends on how big the average trade is in pips.

If it is a scalper and it relies on just a few pips per trade then it is very likely to suffer from slippage and variable spread issues on real accounts.

However if the EA uses larger trades, say 20-50+ pips then the backtest results are likely to be much more reliable.

Sadly the backtester does not report average trade size in pips, so you have to do some investigation to find out the average trade size in pips

[Christian Schuller]

James Cater:

It depends on how big the average trade is in pips.

If it is a scalper and it relies on just a few pips per trade then it is very likely to suffer from slippage and variable spread issues on real accounts.

However if the EA uses larger trades, say 20-50+ pips then the backtest results are likely to be much more reliable.

Sadly the backtester does not report average trade size in pips, so you have to do some investigation to find out the average trade size in pips

Alright.

So if I understand right: The backtest is more reliable for long term strategies on higher time frames like H4 and above?

For small time frames and micro operating EAs useless?

[Marco vd Heijden]

Christian Schuller:

Alright.

So if I understand right: The backtest is more reliable for long term strategies on higher time frames like H4 and above?

For small time frames and micro operating EAs useless?

You understand wrong.