Strategy Tester

A tester is one of components of the client terminal. It is used to test and optimize trading strategies (Expert Advisors) before starting to use them in live trading. During testing, an Expert Advisor with initial parameters is once run on history data. During optimization, a trading strategy is run several times with different sets of parameters which allows selecting their best combination.

The strategy tester is a multi-currency tool, which allows to test and optimize strategies based on trading several symbols. Moreover, you don't need to manually set the list of symbols for testing/optimization — the tester automatically handles information on all symbols that are used in the trading strategy.

The strategy tester is a multi-threaded and allows to use all the available computer resources. Testing and optimization are carried out using special computing agents that are installed as services on the user's computer. Agents work independently and allow parallel processing of optimization passes.

An unlimited number of remote agents can be connected to the strategy tester. In addition, the strategy tester can access the power of the MQL5 Cloud Network. It brings together thousands of agents around the world, and this computational power is available to any user of the client terminal.

The tester window is opened by the command " Strategy Tester" in the "View" menu or on the "Standard" toolbar. It is divided into several tabs:

• Settings
  Testing and optimization parameters are set up on this tab.
• Inputs
  From this tab, you can manage Expert Advisors' input parameters that are used in testing and optimization.
• Results
  Results of Expert Advisor testing are displayed on this tab.
• Graph
  Diagrams of balance, assets and margin for the Expert Advisor testing period are shown on this tab.
• Optimization Results
  Results of each run of an Expert Advisor during optimization are shown on this tab.
• Optimization Graph
  On this tab, Expert Advisor optimization diagram is shown.
• Agents
  From this tab, you can manage any local and remote agents.
• Journal
  Testing and optimization logs are displayed here.