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The Signals & Overlays (S&O) Backtester makes use of various features within the Signals & Overlays® toolkit, such as Confirmation and Contrarian Signals or Overlays indicators, to specify entry rules for your strategy.
More information regarding signal settings can be found here
By default, backtesting is performed using the most recent 2,000 bars. This value can be changed from the Backtest Window (Bars) setting. Users can also perform a backtest between two specified dates using the “Date” options in “Backtesting Window”, or use all available chart history via “Entire History” (note that this will disable the optimizer).

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Long / Short Entry Conditions

Users can specify the long and short entry rules for their strategy from the LONG CONDITIONS and SHORT CONDITIONS settings sections, using the following available options:
ConditionOptionsOptions (2)Description
Signal Type
  • Confirmation
  • Contrarian
  • Any Bullish
  • Any Bearish
  • Normal Bullish
  • Normal Bearish
  • Strong Bullish
  • Strong Bearish
  • Bullish Classifier
  • Bearish Classifier
Enter a position on the occurrence of the specified signal. Users can select between the Confirmation and Contrarian signals algorithm (Long/Short conditions can use different algorithms), which are affected by the selected Sensitivity and Autopilot frequency settings.

Selecting “Bullish Classifier” or “Bearish Classifier” will open positions on the occurrence of a signal with the same classification as the one specified in the rightmost input.
Reversal ZonesCross Over R3, Cross Over R2, Cross Over R1, Cross Under S1, Cross Under S2, Cross Under S3, Above R3, Within [R3-R2], Within [R2-R1], Within [R1-S1], Within [S1-S2], Within [S2-S3], Under S3
Enter a position if price is above/under or within the specified extremities.
Smart Trail
  • Bullish
  • Bearish
  • Switch Bullish
  • Switch Bearish
Enter a position if the Smart Trail switches bullish/bearish or if it is currently bullish or bearish.
Trend Tracer
  • Bullish
  • Bearish
  • Switch Bullish
  • Switch Bearish
Enter a position if the Trend Tracer switches bullish/bearish or if it is currently bullish or bearish.
Trend Catcher
  • Bullish
  • Bearish
  • Switch Bullish
  • Switch Bearish
Enter a position if the Trend Catcher switches bullish/bearish or if it is currently bullish or bearish.
Neo Cloud
  • Bullish
  • Bearish
  • Switch Bullish
  • Switch Bearish
  • Lead Step Up
  • Lead Step Down
  • Lag Step Up
  • Lag Step Down
Enter a position if the Neo Cloud switches bullish/bearish or if it is currently bullish or bearish.
Trend Strength
  • Greater Than
  • Lower Than
Enter a position if the Trend Strength is greater or lower than the specified value.
SessionSession interval
Enter a position if it is within the specified session interval.
External Condition 1
  • Greater Than
  • Lower Than
  • Equal
  • Crossing Over
  • Crossing Under
  • Crossing
Enter a position if the condition between the first and second specified external sources is true.
External Condition 2
  • Greater Than
  • Lower Than
  • Equal
  • Crossing Over
  • Crossing Under
  • Crossing
Enter a position if the condition between the first and second specified external sources is true.
External Condition 3
  • Greater Than
  • Lower Than
  • Equal
  • Crossing Over
  • Crossing Under
  • Crossing
Enter a position if the condition between the first and second specified external sources is true. Users can use price placeholders such as open, high, low, close, hl2, ohlc4, hlc3, and hlcc4 instead of a numerical value in the second source input.
Multiple conditions can be enabled at the same time, in which case the backtester requires all conditions to be true in order to execute an order.
If the Exit On Signal setting is enabled, existing positions will be exited on the occurrence of a confirmation/contrarian signal.

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Limit / Stop Orders

Limit, stop, and stop-limit orders provide better control over the price at which a trade is executed. These can be enabled for long and short positions respectively.

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Limit Orders

Limit orders execute at a specified price or better. For long positions, a limit order is generally placed below the current market price; for short positions, it is placed higher. Limit orders can be enabled by toggling the “Long Limit Value” setting.
Limit orders are represented by a dotted line.A dot is displayed to indicate when a long condition is true, thus updating the limit order price.

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Stop Orders

Stop orders execute at a specified price or worse. For long positions, a stop order is generally placed above the current market price; for short positions, it is placed lower. Stop orders can be enabled by toggling the “Long Stop Value” setting.
Stop orders are represented by a dashed line.A dot is displayed to indicate when a long condition is true, thus updating the stop order price.

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Stop-Limit Orders

Stop-limit orders use both limit and stop orders together, providing more control over the price at which a trade is executed. In a stop-limit order, when the specified stop price is reached, the limit order becomes active. Once this limit price is reached, the trade is executed.

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Limit / Stop Orders Price

The price of limit and stop orders is specified in “Long Limit Value”/“Short Limit Value” and “Long Stop Value”/“Short Stop Value,” respectively. These settings are located at the bottom of the Long/Short Conditions settings groups. Similar to TP/SL, various options to determine the order price are available:
OptionDescription
Price
Set the limit/stop orders at the specified price.
Currency
Set the limit/stop orders a specified amount of currency away from where the entry condition is met.
Ticks
Set the limit/stop orders a specified amount of ticks away from where the entry condition is met.
%
Set the limit/stop orders a specified percentage away from where the entry condition is met.
ATR
Set the limit/stop orders N average true ranges away from where the entry condition is met, where N is a specified multiplier.
Forecast
Use a percentile of a returned forecast to the order price. Forecasts must be enabled in order for this to work.
For convenience, all options (except “Price”) are adjusted based on the order type; for example, limit orders will be below the current price for longs and above for shorts, while stop orders will be above the price for longs and below for shorts. These can always be inverted using a negative value.
The price of a limit/stop order is updated every time the specified long/short condition is true.

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No Existing Positions Requirement

Users can enable the Don’t Allow Trades Until Closed setting to only open trades when no existing positions are active. This setting allows waiting for a position to be closed before another can be opened.
Enabling Don’t Allow Trades Until Closed for long positions will prevent opening shorts as long as a long position is open.If this same setting is not enabled for short conditions, then shorts can effectively be closed by new long positions.