Put one way, backtesting is the process of determining what might work out, or what seems to work out. It can't be much more than that because the charts are static. Forwardtesting is the process of determining what
does work out, if one is using replay. Simtrading is primarily a confirmation. However, not everyone forwardtests "live" charts, and if the charts used are static, or if replay charts were accelerated, the simtrading results can be quite different. Some people push on anyway to RT trading with unexpected consequences, then complain about how useless simtrading is. You, on the other hand, are in the position of knowing exactly what questions to answer and exactly what to look for. (There are also those who let the computer do the backtesting, and of course the results of RT trading are wildly different, so instead of doing the testing over again manually, they decide that backtesting is useless and start trading RT with real money instead, figuring they'll work it all out by doing it, which to a large extent is where trolls come from.)
This came up yesterday after you posted your results and it provides a perfect example of what trading by price is all about (as opposed to focusing on software programs or indicators or patterns or various exotic-sounding displays, which is why I don't become involved in most threads, such as the current one on trading breakouts: we're looking at very different things).
After the bell rang, there was no opportunity to enter, unless I just jumped in with a stop far wider than my risk tolerance and hoped for the best. So I waited until we hit the upper extreme so that I could catch the ride down. Price then topped, broke the DL, and fell to an extent that suggested a reversal rather than a continuation. So I waited for the retracement. This coincided with a shorter bar (the shorter the bar, the more likely traders are approaching equilibrium). So I prepared to enter a short.
However, price dropped so fast, I couldn't even transmit the order, which went past my trigger instantly. Rather than chase it, I was prepared to let it go and wait for the next opportunity. But price instead had some sort of spastic reaction to all this and shot up to the retracement high. BUT.
It didn't make a higher high. This suggested that traders were going to try again (the only other option was to go sideways). Now I had time to place the order, which was then triggered, in the same bar, all in less than a minute. After the RET was confirmed, price waffled around for four minutes, then plunged (that green marker is the first scale-out). And if it hadn't, so what? I'm out a point.
I'll grant that it takes a while to reach this sort of understanding, but the longer one focuses on bars and lines rather than what traders are
doing, the longer it will take, if one ever reaches it at all (most would be so disappointed by missing the first short op here that they'd just slump and give up and direct their attention elsewhere, missing the second short op entirely). And if one is focused on the kind of kaleidoscopic display that one gets with, for example, market profile software, it's surprising that any decisions can ever be made at all. Ever.
I can go over the entire session, if you like. But not here.