Master Your Strategy with BackTester Pro
A professional-grade manual backtesting tool for traders. Load any OHLCV chart data, replay market history bar by bar, record your trades, and measure your edge — all in your browser.
Open BackTester Pro →What is BackTester Pro?
Manual Backtesting Engine
Replay historical chart data one candle at a time — exactly as if you were watching the market live. No future bars are visible until you advance, keeping your results honest and bias-free.
Visual Trade Zones
Draw entry, take profit, and stop loss zones directly on the chart. See your risk/reward layout rendered as colored zones before and after you record each trade.
Live Performance Stats
Win rate, profit factor, expectancy, max streaks, and equity curve update instantly with every trade. Know your edge numbers in real time, not just at the end.
Export to CSV
Download a full trade log and summary to spreadsheet format at any time. Bring your backtest results into Excel, Google Sheets, or any analysis tool you prefer.
BackTester Pro is built for traders who want to validate their strategies with real data before risking capital. Whether you trade stocks, ETFs, forex, futures, or crypto — if you have OHLCV price data in CSV format, you can backtest your rules here. No subscriptions, no cloud sync, no data collection. Everything runs locally in your browser.
Step-by-Step Setup
Download a CSV file of price data
BackTester Pro works with any standard OHLCV CSV file. You need columns for Date, Open, High, Low, and Close. Volume is optional.
- NASDAQ.com — go to nasdaq.com → search your ticker → Historical Quotes → Download Data
- TradingView — open a chart → camera icon → Export chart data
- Stooq.com — search any symbol → click the CSV download icon
- Yahoo Finance — ticker page → Historical Data → Download
Configure your session settings
In the setup bar at the top of the app, fill in:
- Strategy Name — label your test (e.g. “SMA20 Breakout”)
- Ticker / Symbol — auto-filled from the filename, but editable
- Starting Balance ($) — your simulated account size (e.g. $10,000)
- Risk % — what percent of balance you risk per trade (e.g. 1%)
- Default R:R — your default reward-to-risk ratio (e.g. 2.0)
- Target Trades — the number of trades in your backtest goal (e.g. 100)
Load your CSV file
Click “＋ Choose CSV file” in the import zone or simply drag and drop your CSV file onto the chart area. The app will parse the file and display a confirmation with the number of candles loaded.
Click “Start Session”
Once your CSV is loaded, the Start Session button activates. Click it to begin. The chart will display the first portion of your data, with the cursor positioned around bar 80 so you have context to your left.
From this point on, you are in blind forward-walk mode — you can scroll backward to see historical context, but future bars are not visible.
Replay candles and record your trades
Use the navigation buttons at the bottom of the chart to move through time:
- ⟵ buttons — scroll backward to review history (does not consume bars)
- ⟶ buttons — advance the chart forward by 1, 5, 10, 20, or 50 bars
When you see a valid setup, optionally draw your trade zone, select a direction (Buy/Long or Sell/Short), then record the result: WIN, LOSS, B/E, or Skip. Stats update instantly.
Review your results and export
When your target trade count is reached (progress bar fills), click Export CSV in the header to download a full spreadsheet with your trade log and summary statistics. Analyze your edge, adjust your rules, and run another session.
Anatomy of the Interface
Setup Bar
- Strategy Name — labels your backtest session for export
- Ticker — auto-detected from filename; uppercase, editable
- Balance / Risk % / R:R — define your position sizing model
- Target Trades — drives the progress bar; set your sample size goal
- CSV Import zone — file picker + drag & drop; shows candle count on load
- Start Session — activates after a CSV loads; resets all trade data
Chart Area
- Candlestick chart — green = bullish, red = bearish
- OHLC readout — top-left; updates on hover
- Trade markers — colored dots: green=W, red=L, yellow=BE
- Trade zones — TP (green), SL (red), Entry (white) lines
- Price tag — live current-bar price on right axis
- Volume bars — faint background bars at bottom of chart
- Date axis — date labels along the bottom edge
- Navigation buttons — scroll back / advance forward / zoom
- Mouse wheel — zoom in/out centered on cursor position
Control Panel
- Quick / Detailed tabs — simple one-click vs. full trade entry
- Buy / Sell direction — optional; logged in trade table
- Draw Trade Zone — 3-click: Entry → TP → SL on chart
- Zone Duration — how many bars zones stay visible
- WIN / LOSS / B/E / Skip — record trade result
- Progress bar — tracks toward your target trade count
- Stats panel — live win rate, P&L, expectancy, streaks
- Equity curve — mini chart of balance over time
- Trade log table — all trades with delete option per row
Drawing a Trade Zone
Activate Draw Mode
Click “✎ Draw Trade Zone” (or press D on your keyboard). The button highlights and the hint text guides you through the three clicks.
Click your Entry price
Click anywhere on the chart at the price level where you would enter the trade. A white dashed line appears — this is your entry.
Click your Take Profit level
Click the price level where you’d take profit. A green shaded zone fills between entry and TP.
Click your Stop Loss level
Click your stop loss price. The red zone fills. Your R:R is calculated automatically. When you record the trade, the zone stays visible on the chart for the set duration.
Understanding Your Stats
Work Faster
Once a session is active, these shortcuts work as long as your cursor is not inside a text input field.
Free CSV Data Sources
All of these sources provide free historical OHLCV data that works directly with BackTester Pro — no modification needed.
Get the Most Out of Your Sessions
Everything Included
| Feature | Details | Category |
|---|---|---|
| CSV Importer | Supports NASDAQ, TradingView, Stooq, Yahoo Finance formats; quoted fields, tab-delimited, drag & drop | Data |
| Candlestick Chart | Full OHLCV rendering with volume bars, price axis, date labels, and live price tag | Chart |
| Bar-by-Bar Navigation | Advance 1/5/10/20/50 bars; scroll back freely without revealing future data | Chart |
| Zoom Controls | Mouse wheel zoom centered on cursor; cycle view (20–150 bars); +/− buttons | Chart |
| OHLC Hover Readout | Real-time open/high/low/close and date display on candle hover | Chart |
| Draw Trade Zone | 3-click Entry / TP / SL zones rendered as colored shaded bands; persists N bars after recording | Trading |
| Buy / Sell Direction | Toggle long or short on each trade; logged in trade table and trade zone label | Trading |
| Quick Mode | One-click WIN / LOSS / B/E / Skip recording with default R:R | Trading |
| Detailed Mode | Manual entry of price levels, date, R:R, and notes; auto-calculates R:R from drawn zone | Trading |
| Win Rate | Live percentage, W/L counts; color-coded green above 50%, red below | Stats |
| Profit Factor | Gross wins ÷ gross losses; “∞” displayed when no losses yet | Stats |
| Net P&L & Account Gain | Dollar and percentage gain/loss from starting balance with start → current display | Stats |
| Expectancy | Per-trade expected value in R; positive = mathematical edge | Stats |
| Streak Tracker | Max win streak, max loss streak, current active streak | Stats |
| Equity Curve | Mini canvas chart of balance after each trade; gradient fill | Stats |
| Trade Log | Scrollable table with result, direction, R:R, P&L, balance, notes; delete any trade with recalc | Stats |
| Progress Bar | Tracks completed trades toward your target sample size | Stats |
| Export CSV | Downloads full trade log + summary sheet; filename includes strategy name, ticker, timestamp | Export |
| Keyboard Shortcuts | Arrow keys, W/L/B/S/D — full workflow without touching the mouse | UX |
| Drag & Drop Import | Drop CSV files directly onto the chart area to load instantly | UX |
| No Account Required | 100% browser-based; no login, no data upload, no cookies | Privacy |
Frequently Asked Questions
- The file must have Date, Open, High, Low, Close column headers (exact capitalization doesn’t matter)
- Yahoo Finance exports use “Adj Close” — this is handled automatically
- Make sure the file is comma-delimited or tab-delimited, not a formatted Excel .xlsx file
- The file should have at least 5 valid data rows to load
✕ delete button. Removing a trade recalculates all subsequent balances and P&L values automatically.balance × riskPct% × R:R, a LOSS subtracts balance × riskPct%, and a B/E adds zero. In Detailed Mode, the exact price levels you enter (or draw) are used to calculate the actual R:R, which then feeds the same formula.