What Is Backtesting?
Backtesting simulates your strategy against historical price data to see how it would have performed. Instead of guessing whether your Golden Cross strategy works, you can run it against 6 months of real data and see the actual win rate, profit, and risk.
TickerTrust backtests run entirely in your browser — no server wait time. Results update instantly as you adjust parameters.
Reading the Results
The backtest panel shows key metrics at a glance:
- •Total Return: How much money the strategy made or lost.
- •Win Rate: Percentage of trades that were profitable.
- •Sharpe Ratio: Return per unit of risk. Above 1.0 is good, above 2.0 is excellent.
- •Max Drawdown: The worst peak-to-trough decline — shows worst-case risk.
- •Profit Factor: Gross profit divided by gross loss. Above 1.5 is solid.
Risk Management Settings
Configure how the backtest manages risk:
- •Position Size %: What percentage of capital to allocate per trade (default 10%).
- •Stop Loss %: Automatically exit if a trade drops below this threshold.
- •Take Profit %: Lock in gains when a trade reaches this target.
- •Initial Capital: Start with any amount to see realistic dollar figures.
The Equity Curve
The equity curve chart shows your account balance over time. A smooth, upward-sloping curve means the strategy is consistent. Big dips indicate drawdown periods. Compare the curve to a flat line (initial capital) to visualize whether the strategy adds value.