Best way for a non-coder to backtest his trading strategy?

torewy · Aug 21, 2020

Hi all,

For someone who does NOT know how to code in Python or any other language, are there any robust, user-friendly platforms where I can backtest my trading strategies? I'd rather pay a hefty monthly fee for such a platform where I can work input my strategies in plain English than pay a coder to create and backtest algos - since I will no doubt have to modify such algos countless times to get them right.

I'd rather do the trial and error myself - if this is possible. Many thanks.

stochastix · Aug 21, 2020

Its not, either learn to code or hire someone who knows how to code and understands finance

yogi_trader · Aug 21, 2020

Ninja trader

ValeryN · Aug 21, 2020

As a generic choice - AmiBroker is not too difficult is a very popular one. If you keep your strategies reasonably simple, AFL (their programming language) is not too hard to use. You can find a lot of examples of trading strategies scripts to help you understand how to achieve what you want.

If you start doing some sort of daily portfolio rebalancing based on PL or exits with too many if-else conditions then any platform will fail at keeping it simple.

Typically, any more easy to learn product will have some limitations on what you can model there. Last 1.5 years I've migrated away from AmiBroker and been using proprietary software designed for easy modelling of strategies portfolios, it has the easiest syntax I worked with but you can't use cycles, which are essential for some complex strategies. My solution was - I got rid of cycles and simplified my strategies

Here is an example how code there looks like

Tradex · Aug 21, 2020

torewy said:
Hi all,

For someone who does NOT know how to code in Python or any other language, are there any robust, user-friendly platforms where I can backtest my trading strategies? I'd rather pay a hefty monthly fee for such a platform where I can work input my strategies in plain English than pay a coder to create and backtest algos - since I will no doubt have to modify such algos countless times to get them right. I'd rather do the trial and error myself - if this is possible. Many thanks.

I strongly suggest you backtest your system(s) manually, bar by bar, on charting platforms that provide historical charts/data.

Try the (free) FXCM Marketscope charting software for instance, you can go back in time (as far as 2000) and test your trading ideas directly on the charts, from the 1 min chart to the monthly chart.

I have spent decades testing my trading systems with this wonderful free platform.

Yes it's a Forex platform, but technical analysis principles work in any market, as you probably already know.

Plus I can assure you that you will learn TONS of things when you manually backtest a system, bar by bar.

TradeTune · Aug 21, 2020

ValeryN said:
As a generic choice - AmiBroker is not too difficult is a very popular one. If you keep your strategies reasonably simple, AFL (their programming language) is not too hard to use. You can find a lot of examples of trading strategies scripts to help you understand how to achieve what you want.

If you start doing some sort of daily portfolio rebalancing based on PL or exits with too many if-else conditions then any platform will fail at keeping it simple.

Typically, any more easy to learn product will have some limitations on what you can model there. Last 1.5 years I've migrated away from AmiBroker and been using proprietary software designed for easy modelling of strategies portfolios, it has the easiest syntax I worked with but you can't use cycles, which are essential for some complex strategies. My solution was - I got rid of cycles and simplified my strategies Here is an example how code there looks like

View attachment 237773

waoo ...Looks very simple.
In Easy language you have to have Inputs and declare variables and then assign value to them ...In amibroker, in your code there is no inputs, then how you will optimize it for back testing ?

Turveyd · Aug 21, 2020

I trade with Meta 4 so I just press F12 and move bar by bar, I don't try to predict entry as bar contains more info than, normally just play the IF I entered mid that bar, would trade of moved to a okay profit before my SL point, then when live if I don't exit before it reverses then my bad.

Bad_Badness · Aug 21, 2020

Tradex said:
I strongly suggest you backtest your system(s) manually, bar by bar, on charting platforms that provide historical charts/data.

Try the (free) FXCM Marketscope charting software for instance, you can go back in time (as far as 2000) and test your trading ideas directly on the charts, from the 1 min chart to the monthly chart.

I have spent decades testing my trading systems with this wonderful free platform.

Yes it's a Forex platform, but technical analysis principles work in any market, as you probably already know.

Plus I can assure you that you will learn TONS of things when you manually backtest a system, bar by bar.

I agree. Usually manual backtest reveals a lot of issues. It is an essential first pass. It is also the fastest, as in one night of work can do a lot.

Tradex · Aug 21, 2020

Bad_Badness said:
It is also the fastest, as in one night of work can do a lot.

In the late 90's more than 95% of my "brilliant" trading systems turned out to be big losers after only 50 (backtest) trades.

In fact I quickly discovered later that my most profitable strategies were totally counterintuitive! :wtf:

For example I truly believed that betting on trend reversals was the way to go: high risk/reward ratio, small stop, what could possibly go wrong, right?.

Wrong, big mistake, my backtests clearly showed me that the exact opposite was true! In other words betting on the continuation of the trend was the way to go!

Anyway.

ValeryN · Aug 21, 2020

TradeTune said:
waoo ...Looks very simple.
In Easy language you have to have Inputs and declare variables and then assign value to them ...In amibroker, in your code there is no inputs, then how you will optimize it for back testing ?

The screenshot is not AmiBroker. This software is called "RealTest". It is not currently "easily" available to public, but if you really like the idea - try to contact the developer and see if he can give early access - https://mhptrading.com/realtest/

AB, on the other hand is available to public. I don't have any scripts for it handy to post a nice screenshot but you can look at their guide to get an idea - https://www.amibroker.com/guide/h_backtest.html. Syntax won't be too bad as soon as you keep things simple. Which in general is a good idea anyway.

Re optimization - any tool will support it at some extend. Both RealTest & AmiBroker have pretty easy way of defining parameters and running optimizations.

Benefit of AB is that is very generic. Is supports pretty much any method of backtesting you can imagine. But the drawback is - code will get complex pretty fast.

Ninjatrader and Multicharts are a viable choice for single instruments. Backtesting on a large universe of stocks would be at the best cumbersome and slow.

PS. You can check my journal to get a sense of what I am using RealTest for - https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/fully-automated-stocks-trading.346201/