Run your first backtest

Go from zero to a checked result in about five minutes — no code required.

A backtest replays a trading strategy over past price data and reports how it would have done. The fastest way to see one is to run a preset — a ready-made strategy you can test in a couple of clicks.

1. Open a preset

1. Go to Presets in the sidebar (or open the Presets page directly).
2. Pick a strategy that looks interesting — each card explains its rules and shows its risk settings.
3. Selecting a preset opens the run panel at the bottom of the page.

2. Choose what to test on

In the run panel, set the market and timeframe: exchange, trading pair (e.g. BTC/USDT), candle interval, and the period to test over. The defaults are fine for a first run.

3. Run it

Click Run Backtest. In a few seconds you land on the result page: an equity curve, the list of trades, and the headline metrics — total return, max drawdown, win rate, and more.

4. Read the Reality check

This is the part that matters most. A good-looking return can still be luck or overfitting, so every result carries a free Reality check that flags how it might mislead — too few trades, drawdown you couldn't sit through, no trading costs modeled, and (once you run the Validation Lab, Pro and up) a collapse out-of-sample.

1. Read the flagged points before you trust the numbers.
2. Hover the ? next to any metric (Sharpe, max drawdown, win rate) for a one-line explanation.
3. Click "Why? Explain in plain language" for a plain-English summary of the whole result.

Where to go next

Want to build your own? The Step Wizard assembles rules with clicks, AI Strategy turns a plain-English idea into code, and the Code editor gives you the full Python DSL. Not sure which fits? The dashboard's Quick Start explains Presets, the Wizard, and AI in a line each — the Code editor lives in the Strategy Editor for when you want full control.