Forex Tester 5 - combine for testing strategies [Review]

Do you have your own idea for a strategy or do you have a machine but you have a problem to test it efficiently? He comes to help Forex Tester 5 – a commercial harvester that provides traders with a mass of useful solutions that allow you to check your trading ideas more conveniently, faster and more accurately.

As a rule, trading platforms do not offer too extensive opportunities to test your own strategies. In the case of traditional systems, the "most convenient" way turns out to be a piece of paper and noting potential transactions on the basis of historical data. There are built-in backtesters for slot machines, i.e. tools that help in testing strategies on historical data. But anyone who has gone deeper into the subject of EA (expert advisors) knows that they are usually far from ideal and have a number of limitations. This problem can be solved by external applications that examine and respond to the needs of users much more thoroughly. A Canadian company's product, Forex Tester Software, could be one of those solutions. We checked what it's worth.

interface Forex Tester 5, full version (click to enlarge).

Forex Tester Software - who they are

The developers of the software are market veterans. The company was founded in Canada by a group of traders in 2006 and from the beginning has focused on providing useful solutions to other investors. The flagship product is the title Forex Tester in the fifth installment, which is recognizable practically all over the world. So far, over 50 traders have used all versions of this application.

But strategy tester is not everything. The company's portfolio also includes products such as historical data for Forex market, Easy Forex Builder (an easy-to-use wizard of automatic strategies) or ForexSpeedUp (combine for concluding orders). Of course, everything is dedicated to the most popular trading platform in the world - MetaTrader 4.

What is Forex Tester 5

It is said that it is not an art to create a strategy. It is much more difficult to make it effective in its operation. Without a doubt, it's a tedious job that, in addition to developing the rules, possible coding and design, also requires ... testing. Even if the idea was good, if this last stage is not optimal, we will simply waste time and energy. In extreme cases, also money as a result of checking ours "not fully tested" idea on the market.

Forex Tester 5 its assumption is to eliminate this problem, allowing us to check strategies much faster in a convenient way and on high-quality historical data.

Who is Forex Tester 5 for?

At first, you may mistakenly get the impression that only for people who use slot machines. But that's not true. Forex Tester is an application for practically everyone - both for EA users and the so-called. manual traders, i.e. trading manually. To use it, we do not need to have a strategy in the form of code. We can also simply add our indicators to the chart, plot support and resistance, and then speed up / slow down the incoming data and make virtual trades. Everything is counted and finally summarized.

It's just as good with slot machines. Just load your strategy + upload any additional indicators and libraries your EA uses, and you're done. You can test as much as you want - quickly, conveniently and transparently.

Application support

Forex Tester is for Windows computers only. The operation is very intuitive, but if in your case it turns out otherwise, just use the built-in tutorials that practically lead you by the hand through the most important functions (only in English). Really, it's not difficult, especially since the entire interface is similar to MetaTrader 4.

Key features and capabilities

A multitude of functions and ease of use are the biggest advantage of Forex Tester.

time intervals

We can create our own, custom TimeFrame for our candles in a few seconds, jump between periods, single candles, accelerate or slow down the movement of the chart. We can even change the sensitivity of scrolling data with the mouse, so that the graph moves at a pace that suits us. Epic.

Ability to create your own intervals.

Statistics

Much more legible, always available at hand in a separate window and with the possibility of quick export outside.

Charts

These are practically the charts known from MT4 but with additional functions. We can put our own notes on them, we have marked macro events, included items, etc. Of course, we can draw on them, add indicators (also non-standard ones - supported formats are mql4 and .dll libraries; unfortunately no support for tools from MT5) and even monitor account parameters such as balance sheet, equity, margin and drawdown (Drawdown).

Charts available on Forex Tester 5, including the account parameters chart (lower right).

Range or Renko charts? No problem. One click and you're done. You don't have to play with additional indicators or off-line charts.

Transactions

We can do it in a traditional way, place pending orders (also from the chart level), define default order parameters, and even define our own keyboard shortcuts for each of these functions. Moving the SL to breakeven, opening multiple positions at once or duplicating them? Just a click away. Convenience, convenience and more convenience.

Additional tools

There are still a lot of additional functions. Below is a list with the most important of them:

• the ability to simulate deposits/withdrawals to the account,
• one-click screenshot,
• built-in macroeconomic calendar with historical data that is updated on an ongoing basis,
• tick charts,
• many chart colors,
• and much much more.

Access to historical data

Anyone who has ever tested their slot machine on historical data knows that their quality, which is available on the platform, usually leaves much to be desired. There are gaps in quotes (sometimes several months), bad ticks and other irrational candles that simply distort test results. Another problem is the length of the data. As a rule, the lower the time interval, the shorter the data access. Want to check your EA on M5 or M1 candles? Typically, you'll get access to the last few weeks, maybe months. For D1 candles, this period can be counted in years, but here again the problem of data quality returns. In short: It is not easy.

Some traders are trying to export data from other platforms, while others are looking for commercial solutions. But this does not mean the end of problems - sometimes conversions and format changes are required. And again: It is not easy. For those who want to explore the topic on their own, I recommend this article.

I will probably not surprise you if I say that Forex Tester solves this problem because it provides users with access to data. Of course, this is a paid option, but in this top version we get:

• access to 860 instruments,
• high-quality data,
• a history dating back to 21 years ago,
• tic data,
• the ability to set a variable spread,
• daily updates,
• superimposed information about the publication of macro data,
• and a lot of other add-ons (EA, strategies, indicators, tools, guides, etc., etc.).

This package is not cheap because it costs money 439$ (as of April 2023) but it is a one-time payment. With cheaper options, only subscriptions are available, but we get much less in the package. Something for something.

Advantage over traditional testing

According to the developers of the software, a month of using Forex Tester equals 6 months spent on a demo account. Can it really be like that? If we take into account the time factor, i.e. the fact that most of the time there is not much going on in the market, then this may be true. Very often markets are alive only "from data to data", spending the remaining time in consolidation or having low volatility. In FT5, we have the option "acceleration" these periods and then slowing down the passage of time as volatility returns. This is an undoubted advantage.

Discount for Forex Club readers from -6% to -10%

If you got the impression that Forex Tester is something you need, then we have good news for you. We have negotiated an offer for you that allows you to buy Forex Tester with a discount from -6% to -10% depending on the selected version (after taking into account promotional prices). The discount is automatically available pod tym linkiem.

Summation

If your head is full of potential strategies, you have a machine that you are not convinced of or you just want to practice trading on a demo account but faster (or on weekends), then there is probably no better option than using Forex Tester tools. It is an ultra-convenient tool that allows you to easily test any trading idea.

Of course, this is not a cheap solution and you have to assess for yourself whether it has a chance to pay off. However, if we consider the solutions offered by FT, they are really well thought out and refined. There is always a tedious alternative in the form of a sheet of paper and a pen, or a combination of historical data on your own.

If you are not sure, you can always test Forex Tester in free demo version.