Traders & Investors Club

VictoriaNL,

First of all congratulations that you back test your strategy and train yourself on historic data! It's rare! and funny that people wonder why the fail in trading that never practiced or manual back tested any strategy. In every profession or sport training is necessary to make progress, why should trading be any different? Training and working on the simulator will train our eyes and make it a routine and will let us grow as trader much faster than trying it out on a live account and damage to your savings and self confidence. If we can't trade a consistent on a simulator and next trade consistent on a demo account there is NO WAY you could even think you could survive a life account. I know this idea is very unpopular but you simply cant race a F1 car race without first practice driving it. So good you put effort in this! ( For those who attend some of my presentations at TIC will see some material that was covered than as well )

NinjaTrader is an excellent platform especially if you go into day-trading Stocks, Currencies or Futures or want to use advanced trade management strategies connected up to multiple brokers. However for learning and embracing your strategy (see Mark Douglas Trading in the zone) especially if it is Forex, I think there are other platforms available that are fully free and come with a lot historic data.

Does the DEMO version of MT4 allow back-testing?
Yes it does! Almost any MT4 broker will offer you a free demo account with real time data feeds including several years of historic data.
The build in version of the back testing on MT4 is a bit rough. There are several plugins available for MT4 that make it a lot smoother to use it for back testing including Equity curves and order handling. There is however another solution available a full simulator that I'll discuss at the end of this document which is in my experience superior and is used by a lot of professionals and trainers of the more serious trading schools and institutions.

Which broker to pick?
If you would like to back-test on MT4 and also practice on a Demo account, picking a broker depends on your requirements. They are very different. Almost every Broker has a different Time zone they use on their charts. It is important to know the GMT offset of your broker since you need to adjust your pivot points accordingly. A broker that uses GMT+2 will have an other starting day than a broker that uses GMT+6. So be aware of this.

All brokers offer a Demo account. These accounts have real time data feed and beside Forex often have some additional data feeds like Metals, Commodities, Index Futures, Euro and Dollar Index and some common CFD's

Personally I use 3 MT4 demo accounts:
1. Forex Ltd UK This is a GMT broker (no pivot adjustments needed) and they offer an unlimited time Demo Account.
2. Interbank FX This is also a GMT broker, has almost any currency available
3. Forex PRO This is a GMT+2 Broker and has also Metals, Commodities and index trading available

After your demo period is expired, just recreate a new demo account inside MT4 and you're setup for the next month. Dont forget to export your log files and screen shots for analysis later before you remove your expired account.

A reasonable good Simulator plug-in to start with is: LFH Trading Simulator

This is one of the more advanced free simulators that runs on any MT4 platform. You can place buy and sell orders and get a nice report and equity curve from your simulated trades. It includes a manual with install and usages instructions and an extensive threat with questions and comments.

More advanced practicing

Now for those who really want to practice deliberately and seriously there is a full stand alone simulator available: Forex Tester 2. It can run multiple time frames and/or currencies/indexes/commodities simultaneously. It will provide you with all the charts moving synchronously from all the instruments you like to monitor and trade.  It collects all sort of trade statistics important for you to see how well you trade and how much capital you need for being able to trade for a living. Within FT2 it is also very easy to place stops, targets even much more efficient then it is in MT4. Review the demo's and screen shots on the website.

Below is a screen shot:

The Forex Tester costs approximately 95 pound, has no further subscriptions fees and uses any exported historic data from MT4 or free historic data provided on the website of Forex Tester 2

Hope this helps you and others to set up Your Forex Training Environment and grow your skills every day to an excellent and profitable trader.

Wessel

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful”