What a backtest is
ExampleA real past test, kept for these lessons. Not your result.
- The fund
- Days the rule held it
5 Oct 2026: £1,000 in the fund was worth £1,764. The rule held the fund that day.
A backtest replays a trading rule on real past prices, one day at a time.
It answers one question: if I had followed this rule back then, what would have happened?
The shaded days are when the rule held the fund. The rest of the time, it waited in cash.
No real money is involved. And the past does not repeat itself.
Check it landed
Two quick questions. Nothing is scored or kept.
What does a backtest replay?
Does a backtest say what happens next?
Read more
A test describes the past. It is not a forecast and it is not advice.
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