Explainer
Can I backtest for free?
Partly: on our service the Trade Lab replay is free with an account and a verified email, and a version is $19.
Updated
The short answer
Yes, in a few ways. This page covers what free includes at CE Market Solutions and where it stops. For other free methods, such as going through charts by hand, see how to backtest a trading strategy for free.
- Strategy
- A bias rule and an entry type, plus every version you test on them.
- Version
- One run of a strategy, priced at $19 or one of your plan’s versions.
- Replay
- Past data shown one bar at a time, with later bars hidden.
- Paper trade
- An order placed against a simulated account instead of a real one.
Free: an account
Creating an account is free. A version, one run of your rules, is $19 or one of your plan’s versions. You describe your rules in plain language, and you get back every trade with the assumptions written out. About 30% of months, spread across every year, are held back for your own check.
Free covers an account and the replay Lab. Every version is $19, or one of your plan’s versions.
Free: the Trade Lab replay
The Trade Lab is a free bar-by-bar historical replay and paper-trading tool for NQ, ES and gold (GC) futures. You choose a market and a start date and step forward one 1-minute bar at a time. No later bar is loaded.
You can draw on the chart, journal each decision and place paper orders. It needs an account with a verified email. It replays history, so there is no live data and no real order is ever placed. It is a replay, not a backtest: you make each decision yourself, so the sample is only as large as the days you step through.
What is not free
Each version is $19, bought one at a time, and a version you buy never expires. Standard is $49 a month for 3 versions, unlimited strategies and full version history. Premium is $79 a month for 6 versions, with unlimited strategies and priority. Plan versions you have not used by the end of the billing period expire.
A run takes two to three business days.
Free elsewhere
Other tools have free tiers too. TradingView, for example, lists a Basic plan at $0 forever. Which backtesting features each plan includes is for the vendor to say, so check its plan table before you rely on one.
Whatever tool you use, check four things: how fills are decided, whether costs can be set, how contract rolls are handled and whether any months are held back.
What free does not change
A free run can be as useful as a paid one if the rules, the data and the costs are right. It can be as misleading as a paid one if they are not. The figures are simulated and do not represent actual trading, and we do not tell you whether a strategy is worth trading. That is your call.
Questions and answers
Can I backtest for free?
Partly. On our service the Trade Lab replay is free with an account and a verified email. A version is $19.
How many free backtests do I get?
No version is free: each is $19. The Trade Lab replay is free with an account and a verified email.
Is the Trade Lab really free?
Yes. It has no price. You need an account with a verified email.
What does a version cost?
A version is $19, bought one at a time. Standard is $49 a month for 3 versions and Premium is $79 a month for 6.
Is a replay the same as a backtest?
No. A backtest runs fixed rules over the history at once. A replay shows the history one bar at a time and you decide as you go.