FxBacktest lets you replay historical forex charts bar by bar, place trades by hand, and review your performance in a detailed report. This walkthrough covers the full flow so you can run a complete backtest from scratch, even if you have never used a simulator before.
Step 1: Start a new session
From the dashboard, start a new session. This opens the setup flow where you configure the backtest before the chart loads. There is nothing to install and historical data is already available, so you can begin immediately after creating a free account.
Step 2: Choose instrument and timeframe
Pick the pair or instrument you want to test and the timeframe you trade. You can run a single timeframe, or use multi-timeframe mode if your strategy reads a higher timeframe for bias and a lower one for entries.
Step 3: Set news filters (optional)
You can apply economic-calendar filters so high-impact news events are marked on the chart. This lets you test how your strategy behaves around news, or build a rule to avoid trading through it.
Step 4: Configure balance, leverage, and start date
Set your starting balance, leverage, and the date the replay begins. Choosing a start date you have not studied keeps the test honest. From here the chart opens ready to replay.
Step 5: Replay the chart and place trades
Step the chart forward one bar at a time, or use auto-play to advance continuously. When price meets your rules, place a trade: drag the take-profit and stop-loss lines to position the trade, then buy or sell. Risk is auto-sized from your stop distance so your dollar risk stays fixed. The future stays hidden, which keeps hindsight out of your decisions.
Step 6: Read your session report
When you end the session, the report summarizes everything: an overall score, your balance curve, win rate, expectancy, drawdown, profit factor, and a full trade history. This is where a backtest turns into a decision - keep the strategy, refine one rule, or discard it.
Important: the value of the tool comes from honest use. Take every valid signal, do not peek ahead, and gather enough trades across conditions. The simulator makes honesty easy by hiding the future, but the discipline is still yours.
Where to go next
Once you are comfortable with the basics, you can save sessions to continue later, share strong strategies to the community, add indicators, and — on higher tiers — open deeper analytics. Each of those has its own guide linked below. But the core loop never changes: start a session, replay, trade, review.
Getting started FAQ
How do I start a backtest in FxBacktest?
Start a new session, choose instrument and timeframe, optionally set news filters, then configure balance, leverage, and start date. The chart opens ready to replay.
Is FxBacktest free to use?
Yes. The free tier lets you run manual backtests, place trades, and read a report, with limits on saved sessions and trades per session. Pro and Ultra raise the limits and add analytics.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in the browser with historical data included, so you can start replaying and trading right after creating an account.