Strategy performance statistics

The following system variables can be evaluated in the objective or evaluate function. Some become available only at the end of a simulation or a live trading session, others are updated at any bar during the test or session. There is also a set of trade statistics that can be evaluated during the backtest. The statistics variables can be used for calculating individual performance metrics and printing them to the performance report.
 

DrawDownMax

Maximum drawdown, the largest difference between a balance peak and the lowest subsequent equity valley during the simulation period, in account currency units. Updated at any bar.

MAE

Maximum adverse excursion, the largest difference between an equity peak and the lowest subsequent equity valley during the simulation period, in account currency units. Updated at any bar.

AEDepth

Current adverse excursion, the difference between the last equity peak and the current equity value, in account currency units. Updated at any bar.

MarginMax

Maximum margin sum of open trades during the simulation period, in account currency units. Updated at any trade.

RiskMax

Maximum possible loss sum of all open trades during the simulation period, in account currency units. The possible loss is calculated by the stop loss distance of a trade, or estimated at 10% of the price if no stop loss was used. Updated at any trade.

SpreadCost

Total loss by bid-ask spreads during the simulation period, in account currency units. Updated at any trade.

SlippageCost

Total win or loss by simulated slippage during the simulation period, in account currency units. Updated at any trade.

RollCost

Total win or loss by rollover and margin interest during the simulation period, in account currency units. Updated at any trade.

CommissionCost

Total loss by commissions during the simulation period, in account currency units. Updated at any trade.

ReturnMean

Mean of all bar returns on investment. The bar return on investment is the equity difference to the previous bar, divided by Capital. If Capital is not set, the sum of normalized maximum drawdown and maximum margin is used. Only available at the end.

ReturnStdDev

Standard deviation of all bar returns on investment. Can be used together with ReturnMean for calculating the annualized Sharpe Ratio and other metrics.Only available at the end.

ReturnUlcer

Ulcer Index in percent; average drawdown divided by peak equity.Only available at the end.

ReturnR2

R2 coefficient; the similarity of the equity curve with a straight line ending up at the same profit.Only available at the end.

ReturnLR

Gross profit by linear regression of the equity curve. Only available at the end.

ReturnCBI

The last CBI value based on previously stored backtest data.Only available at the end.
   

DrawDownBars

Total number of bars spent in drawdown, updated at any bar. For the percentage spent in drawdown, divide by the duration of the test, (Bar-StartBar)

DrawDownBarsMax

Maximum length of a drawdown in bars. Only available at the end.

LossStreakMax

Maximum number of losses in a row. Only available at the end.

NumOpenMax

Maximum number of simultaneously open trades. Updated at any bar.

InMarketBars

Total number of bars with open trades. Updated at any bar.

InMarketSum

Sum of the durations of all trades, in bars. Updated at any trade. Can be bigger than the duration of the test when several positions are simultaneously open.

Type:

int for numbers that count something, otherwise var. Read/only.
 

ResultsAtBar

Array in chronological order containing the sums of wins and losses of all open and closed trades at every bar, in account currency units. (var)ResultsAtBar[Bar] is the result at end of the simulation.

Type:

float* pointer, or 0 when no results were calculated.

ProfileAtBar

Array in chronological order containing the blue equity, balance, or pip return profile at every bar. 

DrawDownAtBar

Array in chronological order containing the red underwater profile at every bar.

Type:

var* pointer, or 0 when no profile was calculated. 

ResultsDaily

Array in chronological order containing the balance or equity (dependent on the BALANCE flag) at the end of every day, in account currency units. ResultsDaily[Day] is the end result. This array is at the end of the simulation automatically saved to a .dbl file for the CBI calculation, and to a .csv file for further evaluation.

Type:

var* pointer, or 0 when no daily results were calculated.

 

Remarks:

Example:

// print the annualized Sharpe Ratio to the performance report 
function evaluate()
{ 
  if(NumWinTotal == 0) return;
  var MySharpe = ReturnMean/ReturnStdDev;
// roughly adjust to annual in-market bars
  MySharpe *= sqrt(InMarketBars/NumYears);
  printf(TO_REPORT,"\nMy Sharpe: %.2f",MySharpe);
}

See also:

Trade statistics, Cold Blood Index, for(trades), NumBars, performance report ► latest version online