MT5 Strategy Tester Overview

Introduction

In this guide, we will cover how to use the MT5 Strategy Tester (also known as the MT5 Optimizer) for prop trading. This tool can be highly beneficial for optimizing your trading strategies and is separate from other tools like MTP Paralyzer or MTP Optimizer, though both can be used together to your advantage.

Accessing the MT5 Strategy Tester

To access the MT5 Strategy Tester, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to View: Click on the View menu in MT5.
2. Open Strategy Tester: Select Strategy Tester to open the tester window at the bottom of the screen. You can resize the window to make it more visible.

This is where you will load your trading strategies and modify their settings.

Loading and Adjusting Strategies in MT5

To load a strategy in the MT5 Strategy Tester, follow these steps:

1. Select the Strategy: Click the gear icon next to the strategy dropdown and choose your strategy. For example, you could load a strategy like Titan 22.75.
2. Load Settings: Click Load Settings to load a configuration file for the strategy. This file will automatically fill in details such as:
• Symbol
• Time frame
• Date range

You can further customize the settings, such as adjusting the entry delay or modifying the deposit amount.

Modifying Strategy Inputs

1. Navigate to the Inputs tab to change specific settings in the strategy.
2. Change values like turning entry delay from false to true by editing the values in the Value column.
3. Save Your Settings: Right-click the gear icon and select Save Settings to save the changes as an INI file.

If you're ready to use the strategy and need a set file, you can load the strategy, adjust the inputs, and save it as a set file using the same method.

Three Ways to Use the MT5 Strategy Tester

1. Modify and Save Strategy Files

You can use the Strategy Tester to modify strategy files:

• Load the set file or INI file.
• Modify inputs as necessary.
• Save the new configuration by right-clicking and selecting Save Settings.

You can also load an old set file and convert it to an INI file by following similar steps, allowing for easy back-and-forth modification.

2. Visual Mode for Strategy Testing

Visual Mode allows you to watch strategies in action. To use this feature:

• Load the strategy and change the date range. For example, select last week's range to see the strategy in action over that time.
• Ensure the Visual Mode box is checked, then click Start. This will display the strategy in real-time, showing how it would have performed over the selected period.
  
  

3. Create New Strategies

You can create new strategies based on existing ones by optimizing different parameters. Here's how:

1. Load a Strategy: Just as before, load a base strategy.
2. Set the Date Range: Choose a date range for testing, such as 12 weeks (3 months).
3. Enable Optimization: In the Optimization section, choose Fast Genetic and select Balance Max.
4. Modify Inputs: In the Inputs tab, you can start optimizing parameters like lot size or moving averages (MAs).
• For example, start the lot size at 2.5, with steps of 0.1, and end at 4.5.
• Similarly, adjust MAs by defining start, stop, and step values.

As you make adjustments, you can see the number of iterations at the bottom of the window. This is especially useful when you have numerous iterations, such as over 21,000 variations. MT5’s Fast Genetic Algorithm will filter out underperforming strategies, helping you focus on the best results.

Additional Tips

When using optimization, always remember to adjust parameters like take profit, especially when testing multiple variations.

Example Parameter Setup

• Lot Size: Start at 2.5, end at 4.5, step at 0.1
• MAs: Start at 20, increment by 1, stop at 50 for one, and for the second MA, start at 40, increment by 2, and stop at 60.

You can optimize various parameters together to create a fully customized strategy.

Conclusion

The MT5 Strategy Tester is a powerful tool that can help you modify, visualize, and optimize trading strategies for prop trading. By using features like visual mode and optimization, you can refine strategies and improve performance over time.