# Backtesting
This page explains how to validate your strategy performance by using
Backtesting.
## Table of Contents
- [Test your strategy with Backtesting](#test-your-strategy-with-backtesting)
- [Understand the backtesting result](#understand-the-backtesting-result)
## Test your strategy with Backtesting
Now you have good Buy and Sell strategies, you want to test it against
real data. This is what we call
[backtesting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backtesting).
Backtesting will use the crypto-currencies (pair) from your config file
and load static tickers located in
[/freqtrade/tests/testdata](https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade/tree/develop/freqtrade/tests/testdata).
If the 5 min and 1 min ticker for the crypto-currencies to test is not
already in the `testdata` folder, backtesting will download them
automatically. Testdata files will not be updated until you specify it.
The result of backtesting will confirm you if your bot has better odds of making a profit than a loss.
The backtesting is very easy with freqtrade.
### Run a backtesting against the currencies listed in your config file
#### With 5 min tickers (Per default)
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --realistic-simulation
```
#### With 1 min tickers
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --realistic-simulation --ticker-interval 1m
```
#### Update cached pairs with the latest data
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --realistic-simulation --refresh-pairs-cached
```
#### With live data (do not alter your testdata files)
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --realistic-simulation --live
```
#### Using a different on-disk ticker-data source
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --datadir freqtrade/tests/testdata-20180101
```
#### With a (custom) strategy file
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py -s TestStrategy backtesting
```
Where `-s TestStrategy` refers to the class name within the strategy file `test_strategy.py` found in the `freqtrade/user_data/strategies` directory
#### Exporting trades to file
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --export trades
```
#### Exporting trades to file specifying a custom filename
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --export trades --export-filename=backtest_teststrategy.json
```
#### Running backtest with smaller testset
Use the `--timerange` argument to change how much of the testset
you want to use. The last N ticks/timeframes will be used.
Example:
```bash
python3 ./freqtrade/main.py backtesting --timerange=-200
```
#### Advanced use of timerange
Doing `--timerange=-200` will get the last 200 timeframes
from your inputdata. You can also specify specific dates,
or a range span indexed by start and stop.
The full timerange specification:
- Use last 123 tickframes of data: `--timerange=-123`
- Use first 123 tickframes of data: `--timerange=123-`
- Use tickframes from line 123 through 456: `--timerange=123-456`
- Use tickframes till 2018/01/31: `--timerange=-20180131`
- Use tickframes since 2018/01/31: `--timerange=20180131-`
- Use tickframes since 2018/01/31 till 2018/03/01 : `--timerange=20180131-20180301`
- Use tickframes between POSIX timestamps 1527595200 1527618600:
`--timerange=1527595200-1527618600`
#### Downloading new set of ticker data
To download new set of backtesting ticker data, you can use a download script.
If you are using Binance for example:
- create a folder `user_data/data/binance` and copy `pairs.json` in that folder.
- update the `pairs.json` to contain the currency pairs you are interested in.
```bash
mkdir -p user_data/data/binance
cp freqtrade/tests/testdata/pairs.json user_data/data/binance
```
Then run:
```bash
python scripts/download_backtest_data --exchange binance
```
This will download ticker data for all the currency pairs you defined in `pairs.json`.
- To use a different folder than the exchange specific default, use `--export user_data/data/some_directory`.
- To change the exchange used to download the tickers, use `--exchange`. Default is `bittrex`.
- To use `pairs.json` from some other folder, use `--pairs-file some_other_dir/pairs.json`.
- To download ticker data for only 10 days, use `--days 10`.
- Use `--timeframes` to specify which tickers to download. Default is `--timeframes 1m 5m` which will download 1-minute and 5-minute tickers.
For help about backtesting usage, please refer to [Backtesting commands](#backtesting-commands).
## Understand the backtesting result
The most important in the backtesting is to understand the result.
A backtesting result will look like that:
```
======================================== BACKTESTING REPORT =========================================
| pair | buy count | avg profit % | total profit BTC | avg duration | profit | loss |
|:---------|------------:|---------------:|-------------------:|---------------:|---------:|-------:|
| ETH/BTC | 44 | 0.18 | 0.00159118 | 50.9 | 44 | 0 |
| LTC/BTC | 27 | 0.10 | 0.00051931 | 103.1 | 26 | 1 |
| ETC/BTC | 24 | 0.05 | 0.00022434 | 166.0 | 22 | 2 |
| DASH/BTC | 29 | 0.18 | 0.00103223 | 192.2 | 29 | 0 |
| ZEC/BTC | 65 | -0.02 | -0.00020621 | 202.7 | 62 | 3 |
| XLM/BTC | 35 | 0.02 | 0.00012877 | 242.4 | 32 | 3 |
| BCH/BTC | 12 | 0.62 | 0.00149284 | 50.0 | 12 | 0 |
| POWR/BTC | 21 | 0.26 | 0.00108215 | 134.8 | 21 | 0 |
| ADA/BTC | 54 | -0.19 | -0.00205202 | 191.3 | 47 | 7 |
| XMR/BTC | 24 | -0.43 | -0.00206013 | 120.6 | 20 | 4 |
| TOTAL | 335 | 0.03 | 0.00175246 | 157.9 | 315 | 20 |
2018-06-13 06:57:27,347 - freqtrade.optimize.backtesting - INFO -
====================================== LEFT OPEN TRADES REPORT ======================================
| pair | buy count | avg profit % | total profit BTC | avg duration | profit | loss |
|:---------|------------:|---------------:|-------------------:|---------------:|---------:|-------:|
| ETH/BTC | 3 | 0.16 | 0.00009619 | 25.0 | 3 | 0 |
| LTC/BTC | 1 | -1.00 | -0.00020118 | 1085.0 | 0 | 1 |
| ETC/BTC | 2 | -1.80 | -0.00071933 | 1092.5 | 0 | 2 |
| DASH/BTC | 0 | nan | 0.00000000 | nan | 0 | 0 |
| ZEC/BTC | 3 | -4.27 | -0.00256826 | 1301.7 | 0 | 3 |
| XLM/BTC | 3 | -1.11 | -0.00066744 | 965.0 | 0 | 3 |
| BCH/BTC | 0 | nan | 0.00000000 | nan | 0 | 0 |
| POWR/BTC | 0 | nan | 0.00000000 | nan | 0 | 0 |
| ADA/BTC | 7 | -3.58 | -0.00503604 | 850.0 | 0 | 7 |
| XMR/BTC | 4 | -3.79 | -0.00303456 | 291.2 | 0 | 4 |
| TOTAL | 23 | -2.63 | -0.01213062 | 750.4 | 3 | 20 |
```
The 1st table will contain all trades the bot made.
The 2nd table will contain all trades the bot had to `forcesell` at the end of the backtest period to prsent a full picture.
These trades are also included in the first table, but are extracted separately for clarity.
The last line will give you the overall performance of your strategy,
here:
```
TOTAL 419 -0.41 -0.00348593 52.9
```
We understand the bot has made `419` trades for an average duration of
`52.9` min, with a performance of `-0.41%` (loss), that means it has
lost a total of `-0.00348593 BTC`.
As you will see your strategy performance will be influenced by your buy
strategy, your sell strategy, and also by the `minimal_roi` and
`stop_loss` you have set.
As for an example if your minimal_roi is only `"0": 0.01`. You cannot
expect the bot to make more profit than 1% (because it will sell every
time a trade will reach 1%).
```json
"minimal_roi": {
"0": 0.01
},
```
On the other hand, if you set a too high `minimal_roi` like `"0": 0.55`
(55%), there is a lot of chance that the bot will never reach this
profit. Hence, keep in mind that your performance is a mix of your
strategies, your configuration, and the crypto-currency you have set up.
## Next step
Great, your strategy is profitable. What if the bot can give your the
optimal parameters to use for your strategy?
Your next step is to learn [how to find optimal parameters with Hyperopt](https://github.com/freqtrade/freqtrade/blob/develop/docs/hyperopt.md)