Run the backtest
A backtest replays a strategy against history and reports what it would have done.
Open the Run dialog
On the strategy's page in Backtesting, click Run first test…, or Run… on a strategy that has run before; see Open the dialog.
Keep the defaults
A daily strategy opens on three years and an intraday strategy on six months, with $100,000 of starting capital and SPY as the benchmark; Run a backtest explains every field.
A Rules strategy that sells short needs Margin account on. Without it, the note before the button reads This run can’t start yet. See Margin defaults.
The default cost profile is Alpaca — US equities ($0 commission), which the strategy header shortens to Alpaca costs, and Interactive Brokers — Pro Tiered is offered but refused; see The four profiles. No profile models bid-ask spread or market impact, as What is not modelled explains.
Read the estimate
This run will replay counts the symbols, sessions and bars, and Before it runs checks that the data covers the period; see The estimate.
Credits reads Credits: pricing TBD when backtests are not charged; see Backtests. The last line before the button, such as Run #2 of v1 or Creates v1, says which version the run lands on, as Change notes on runs describes.
Click Run backtest
The strategy page shows the run as Queued, then Running, and Cancel run… stops it; see Start and follow the run.
A workspace can hold four runs in flight at once and start 200 in a rolling day; a run past either limit is refused until a run finishes or the day rolls on. See The run quota is reached.
Read the result
The Overview opens on the equity chart and five tiles: Return, Max drawdown, Sharpe, Trades and Alpha (yr). What the headline metrics mean defines each figure.
The run page prints the raw Sharpe, and the deflated Sharpe shows in the Strategies list's Evidence column when you switch Columns to Full; see The deflated Sharpe.
Latest trades shows up to six rows, and the Trades tab shows every trade, newest first; see The trade log.
Positions still held at the last close stay open, marked at that close, with Marked on the exit and Open under Closed by; see Open positions at the end of a run.
Run it again
Click Run… to run again: changing only the period is another run of the same version, other settings add a configuration of it, and only a change to the strategy's nodes or code makes a new version. When a version runs again, its earlier runs keep their figures but give up their curve and trade rows. See Versions and configurations.
Every run stays on the strategy's Runs tab with its period, version, Sharpe, trades and credits; see The Runs view.