Automated Backtesting reads your strategy in plain English, so how you describe it shapes your results. The more specific you are, the more accurately the engine matches your intent.
A good description includes your symbol, timeframe, session, entry rules, stop placement, target, and risk per trade.
This article covers the concepts the engine understands, how to control where your entry fills, and how to describe news-day filters, early exits, and scaling out.
What Concepts Can I Use?
Describe any of these in plain English:
Break of structure (BOS) and change of character (CHoCH)
Fair value gaps (FVG and iFVG)
Order blocks — name a timeframe (e.g. “1h order block”), or they use your backtest timeframe
Breaker blocks and mitigation blocks
Supply and demand zones — name a timeframe for the zone (e.g. “4h demand zone”); defaults to 4h
Engulfing candles — the full range must engulf the prior candle; say “body engulfing” to compare bodies only
Liquidity sweeps and equal highs/lows
Market structure (HH/HL/LH/LL)
Premium and discount zones, and optimal trade entry (OTE)
Volume profile levels — the prior day’s or developing POC, VAH, and VAL (needs real traded volume, so not available on spot forex, metals, or DXY)
You can also combine higher-timeframe bias with lower-timeframe entries.
How Do I Control Where My Entry Fills?
By default, trades fill at market on the signal bar’s close. You can instead describe how you want the entry to fill:
A resting limit at a level — an FVG midpoint, order block edge, volume profile level, or a Fibonacci ratio of an OTE leg from 0.5 to 1.0 (for example, “limit at the 0.705 of the OTE”)
A stop entry on a break
The next bar’s open
A resting order is cancelled at the end of the session, on a skipped news day, past your cutoff, or once the daily trade cap is hit.
A Fibonacci order is also cancelled if the OTE leg is redrawn, flips direction, or price breaks its origin. A Fibonacci entry can be a limit or a stop — but a stop can’t sit at the 1.0.
How Do I Skip News Days?
Name the events to skip — FOMC, CPI, NFP, PPI, GDP, retail sales, or high-impact news by country — and the engine skips new entries for that whole day. Positions you already opened are still managed normally.
How Do I Set an Early Exit?
Ask for a signal-based exit, for example “exit if a 5m candle closes below the 21 EMA” or “exit on the opposite setup.” The engine closes the trade at that signal’s close.
How Do I Take Partial Profits (Scaling Out)?
Describe it in your strategy, for example: “close half at 1R, move the stop to breakeven, rest at 2R.”
You can adjust each target’s level and size when you review your setup. Adding or removing targets means editing your description and parsing again.
Example Strategy Description
"Backtest MNQ futures over the last 3 months, 5-minute candles, 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM EST. In an uptrend, wait for price to pull back into a 15m demand zone, then go long with a resting limit at 0.705 of the OTE leg. Stop below the leg low. Risk 2 contracts per trade. Skip FOMC and CPI days. Close half at 1R, move the stop to breakeven, and let the other half run to 2R. Exit early if a 5m candle closes below the 21 EMA. Mirror everything for downtrends."
That’s it! With a clear description, the engine runs exactly the strategy you have in mind.
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If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to our support team — we’re here to help!