Option expiry week: -4.8 % a year since 2021.
My test of expiry week lost money.
Engineering notes
Practical guides for checking trading software before you rely on it. Start with what you can observe: an EA reopening after a manual close, an alert using old settings, uncertain order state or a handoff you cannot reproduce.
What doubling costs did to a historical Brent test
Is it true that costs matter little on intraday oil trades?
Few trades a year, 30 % drawdown.
The pre-holiday strategy traded only around holidays and still fell 30 % at 2x.
Pre-holiday rally: gone after 2020.
My test of buying 7 stock indices into the day before holidays lost about 3.6 % a year in 2021-2023.
Your news trade won. But your whole test lost 74 dollars.
Your winning news days do not save your test when your losing news days are larger.
Buy the strongest coin? -3.7 % a year.
Relative crypto momentum (30 days, picked again each week) on BTC, ETH and LTC lost 3.69 % a year with a 36 % drawdown.
Half of 151 dip buys hit the stop.
About half of my dip buys hit the stop, which is an order that closes your trade at a set loss.
The paper traded for free. You pay 0.10 percent.
You pay 0.10 percent on every trade while the paper paid nothing.
My crypto momentum test lost 19% a year in its second half
Freeze your rules now and start the next test with tomorrow's signals.
20% more risk: higher payouts, more closed model accounts
For your comparison, 20% more risk produced about $1,200 more in modeled payouts and closed three extra accounts.
Do backtest spreads on exotic currency pairs match real live execution?
A measured broker spread snapshot was 2.6 times the historical 90th percentile, both per side. If you run a backtest on USDNOK before you pay for a challenge, that gap can change how you read the result. The cost setting deserves the same care as your trade rules.
38 checks passed: should your Pine signal wait for the candle close?
Your live signal can disappear before the candle closes. Our signal rule passed 38 Python checks, including keeping an unfinished candle silent and leaving earlier signals unchanged when later prices changed. Those checks cover the written behavior. Before you connect an indicator to your EA, decide whether you want a changing live hint or a signal that waits for the close.
$177 still open: does midnight erase your challenge loss?
My MT5 simulation still carried a $177 open loss after midnight, with about $323 above its daily floor.
67.89% down: test your trading rules before automating them
A saved trading rule fell 67.89% from its previous peak. Check reference values, reset times and open trades before turning your strategy into code.
A $442 losing day: why a daily chart cannot clear your challenge
A saved -4.4213% daily return is $442.13 on a $10,000 reference. Why that closing value cannot establish every intraday challenge check.
FTMO daily reset time: one hour moved our floor by $1,380.91
At one saved instant, changing the reset clock moved the daily floor by $1,380.91. Check CE(S)T, server timestamps and your exact account rule.
Free backtesting software: why $10,756.64 can still breach your daily limit
A saved EURUSD test held a $10,756.64 balance while open equity fell below its daily floor. What to keep with your free backtest report.
Your MT5 EA Missed an Entry: Find the First Missing Decision
Trace a missed MT5 entry through data, signal timing, permission gates and the order request. Use three checks before changing the EA.
Scope a Trading Bot Repair Without Changing the Strategy
Define a trading bot repair with one failed case, protected behavior and explicit exclusions. Three acceptance checks keep strategy changes separate.
Pine and MT5 Signals Differ: Check the Candles First
A full-month EURUSD H1 comparison shows how to separate clock alignment, feed candles and crossover logic before accepting a Pine-to-MT5 port.
Write the Trading Rules Before the EA
Turn entries, exits, sizing, data assumptions and failure cases into observable decisions before requesting an EA build. Includes three proposed acceptance checks.
Changed Your Pine Script? Check Which Version Your Alert Runs
Separate the saved Pine script, chart settings and running alert. Use a release record and three checks before connecting an updated alert to execution.
Your MT5 EA Reopens a Manually Closed Trade. What Should It Do Instead?
Define what a manual exit means for an MT5 EA: partial close, paused entry, fresh signals and restart recovery. Includes a concrete repair brief and acceptance cases.
MT5 Position Sizing: Check the Cash Risk Before the Backtest
Separate intended cash risk, normalized lot size and margin acceptance. A practical MT5 sizing review with three proposed failure-path tests.
NinjaTrader Price Labels: Keep the Value That Belongs to Each Line
Keep historical line values separate from their screen coordinates. Define segment identity, label placement and reload checks before changing a NinjaTrader indicator.
Import MT4 History into Excel Without Losing the Evidence
Check MT4 history exports, duplicate trades, account currencies and charges before comparing pairs in Excel. Includes three import acceptance tests.
MT5 VPS Monitoring: A Heartbeat Is Not Command Confirmation
Separate MT5 terminal health, stale account snapshots and verified command outcomes. Define target identity, expiry and reconnect acceptance checks.
Delivery Evidence Package: How to Review a Small Script Repair
Review complete source, build versions, input fixtures and paired logs. A hypothetical duplicate-alert repair shows what handoff evidence can and cannot establish.
Write Trading Bot Acceptance Criteria Before Code
Freeze starting state, trigger, exact result and evidence before a trading bot build. Use a hypothetical acceptance matrix to separate corrections from new scope.
Before You Trust a Renko Backtest, Trace One Trade
Trace one signal, order and fill before trusting a synthetic-chart backtest. Keep signal timing, reconstructed history and execution-price assumptions separate.
Three Acceptance Tests Every Trading Bot Should Pass Before Handoff
Test attach behavior, one new event and refresh or reconnect recovery before accepting an EA, cBot or Pine automation handoff.
Why cTrader Cloud Can Collapse an Advanced Take-Profit Ladder
Keep partial closes, trailing activation and restart recovery explicit when a cTrader cBot manages several take-profit stages in Cloud.
An MT5 Grid EA Needs One Basket State Before It Needs More Inputs
Define one two-sided basket, one-time grid levels, basket-profit closure and restart recovery before accepting a configurable MT5 grid EA.
A Paired Buy and Sell EA Needs One Explicit Cycle State
Define exactly what happens when one leg stops, the survivor closes and the EA restarts so one paired-order cycle cannot create duplicate replacements.
A Risk Flag Is Evidence, Not a Safety Rating
Separate exposure escalation, duration outliers and equity masking into evidenced trading-strategy risk flags without claiming that an unflagged strategy is safe.
A Reversal Order Can Fail Before It Ever Reaches the Broker
Trace a missing NinjaTrader reverse order through callbacks and managed-order rules. Check three cases before blaming broker latency.
A Pine Script Save Is Not Successful Until the Target Script Is Verified
Prevent Pine Script automation from saving into the wrong TradingView editor by verifying the exact script binding before dispatch and the persisted source after save.
Imported Tick Data Is Not Native NinjaTrader Market Replay
Compare NinjaTrader Market Replay, Tick Replay and imported tick data by event semantics, Level II depth and fixed-day acceptance tests.
A Webhook Bridge Is Not Reliable Until Duplicate Alerts Are Harmless
Stop TradingView webhook duplicate orders with a persisted alert ID, explicit broker outcomes and restart-safe reconciliation. Includes three acceptance tests.