--- title: "Test your strategy on past candles" slug: "test-strategy-on-past-candles" kind: "HELP_ARTICLE" category: "strategies" locale: "en" canonical: "https://app.forecastcity.com/help/strategies/test-strategy-on-past-candles" published: "2026-10-17T00:53:45.973Z" updated: "2026-10-29T18:56:36.460Z" description: "Test your strategy on past candles in AI Strategy Studio with starting balance and trading costs, review result cards and replay trades on the chart." --- # Test your strategy on past candles In **AI Strategy Studio**, testing and evaluating your strategy's historical performance requires no coding and takes only seconds: before you watch a symbol live or run a strategy on a virtual account, test your strategy on past chart candles in the **Test** tab. The test engine accurately simulates your entry, stop loss, take profit targets, break-even and trailing stop rules with your starting balance, risk percentage and realistic broker costs, draws every trade on the chart, and lets you replay any trade step by step. The Test tab will be released to everyone in the near future. Example: on EURUSD (1-hour timeframe), you open the Test tab, keep the period on 90 days with a `$5,000` starting balance, `1%` risk per trade and standard broker costs, and click **Run test**. You inspect the balance curve, win rate, profit factor and max drawdown, click a trade on the chart to replay it, and finish by clicking **Run on a virtual account** to start a live run. ## Choose the period, Money settings and run the test 1. Open your symbol and timeframe in 4CM-AI Charts. 2. Open your strategy in AI Strategy Studio and switch to the **Test** tab. 3. At the top of the tab, select a past period: 60 days, **90 d** (the 90-day default), 180 days, 1 year or **From…** (to pick a custom start date up to today). 4. Check the **Money** settings including starting balance (`Start with ($)` from `$1,000` to `$1,000,000`), risk percentage per trade (`Risk a trade (%)`) and cost model (`Costs`: standard, Raw/ECN, crypto or no costs), and click **Run test**. ![Test tab in AI Strategy Studio showing past-candle backtest results, step-by-step trade replay and exit breakdown.](https://m.forecastcity.com/t/tnt_forecastcity/media/20/2064617e858998e111be0e6469f9a6f581c2b67c1618dee0f03112c7a458071c.png) Test tab: performance summary, candle-by-candle Bar replay and trade exit breakdown 1. Period selector, **Money** settings summary and the **All N trades on the chart** checkbox 2. Step-by-step trade walk card with the **Replay** button 3. The **Result** card with net profit, balance curve, key metrics and the **Run on a virtual account** button ## Read the result cards, period breakdown and trade replay When the test finishes, full performance details appear across these cards: - The **Result** card and key metrics: net dollar profit, percentage return, total broker costs, balance curve, win rate, profit factor, max drawdown and average trade (in `R` and dollars) along with the **Edge confidence** badge. - Period breakdown (Month by month / Week by week) and the **How the trades ended** card: a bar chart of profit or loss for each month or week and a breakdown of how trades closed (all targets reached, partial target exits, break-even, trailing stop or initial stop loss). - The **How this test was run** card and step-by-step replay (**Replay**): a summary of the test assumptions (starting balance, risk and fee model) and the ability to click any trade to replay its path candle by candle on the chart. ![Month-by-month breakdown chart, How the trades ended card and test assumptions card in the Test tab](https://m.forecastcity.com/t/tnt_forecastcity/media/09/09a59bf2a75680d5eed93b40686a7b890e4b9faa978ef8df4d56a62928ab9261.png) Month-by-month results breakdown, trade exit breakdown and test assumptions in the Test tab 1. Month-by-month (**By month**) or week-by-week (**By week**) performance bar chart 2. The **How the trades ended** card (breakdown of exits at targets, partial exits and stop loss) 3. The **How this test was run** card with candle-fill, fee and price-gap assumptions ## Start a live run on a virtual account from the bottom of the Test tab At the bottom of the Test tab, click **Run on a virtual account** to open the **Run** tab and start a live forward test on a virtual account. ## Related guides - [Run your strategy live on a virtual account]() - [Set up your entry and stop loss]() - [Watch symbols and read your trading plan when an alert fires]()