What is the best platform for backtesting?

[syswizard]

I see you are an MC "basher".....but actually MC does #1 and #2 pretty well.
I mean Power Language is pretty easy to understand, albeit understanding all of the declaratives and options has gotten a bit more complex.

Intrabar Order Generation and Bar Magnifier are huge features IMHO.
However, if you don't make the correct declarations, you can fill an order within a bar and then that same order will fire at the close of the bar....not good, not good at all.

You really need to understand how the settings work in combination.

 

[profitlocker]

Actually I wasn't bashing them at all. I use MC primarily for #1 and #2, which it manages well. The charting and back-testing features are just a bonus. It's well worth the money I paid for it.

 

[K-Pia]

Backtesting is tricky. A major academic publication with many backtests of momentum strategies considered seminal in fund industry was recently shown by a professor in Finland to suffer from look-ahead bias.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2743119

If professors can make such terrible backtesting mistakes what can you expect from retail traders?

I would go for Amibroker. A little harder to learn but quite reliable when you sort all the details out. NinjaTrader is more suitable for autotrading in my opinion.

Traders (Real World) > Academics (Fairy Tail)

 

[M.ST.]

I agree, that's pretty bad. They obviously have a bug in their currency conversion methods or functions.

However, to me, that is not a show stopper.
Now, that being said, if they were not computing the Sharpe or Sortino ratio correctly, that WOULD be a show stopper.

Not understanding basic math and lacking other things are not show stoppers?
Just wow.

 

[profitlocker]

Not understanding basic math and lacking other things are not show stoppers?
Just wow.

Being a whiner never made me a better trader. Adapting to resources, regardless of the advantages/disadvantages has. Build your own platform if you don't like it. Good luck with that

 

[syswizard]

Build your own platform if you don't like it. Good luck with that

Exactly. And notice how he never mentions specifics....re: "lacking other things". What things specifically ? These auto-trading platforms are hugely complex....I can't imagine the number of lines of code that comprise these systems.

 

[profitlocker]

These auto-trading platforms are hugely complex....I can't imagine the number of lines of code that comprise these systems.

I've been wanting to trade directly off Excel for a long time, but focused instead on studying markets and developing models. Life is too short to reinvent the wheels.

 

[syswizard]

I've been wanting to trade directly off Excel for a long time,

Unless it's a long-term trading approach, don't even think about it for intraday trading.
Reason: STA (Single Threaded Architecture).
All of the popular platforms are multi-threaded....for a good reason.

 

[M.ST.]

Oh those delusional MC fanbois defending their overpriced flawed investment

And notice how he never mentions specifics...

Do you want me to write an essay?

 

[syswizard]

Do you want me to write an essay?

Go right ahead....I'd love to hear about the flaws and quirks that you uncovered.