I got into stocks about a year ago and thought I had a decent system — mostly moving averages, some support/resistance setups, and a few random YouTube ideas. It looked good live until I started realizing my wins were just luck from bull runs. So I wanted to test my strategy properly without risking cash. I found this stock backtesting program from Forextester and tried running my trades on Apple and Tesla data from 2018 to 2022. That’s when I saw how inconsistent my “system” really was. On paper, I would’ve lost almost half my account by 2020.
Same story here — I jumped from one indicator setup to another until I realized I didn’t even know if any of them worked long-term. I’ve been using https://forextester.com/en/stock-backtesting-software/ to simulate my stock trades lately, and it’s honestly the most useful habit I’ve built as a trader. What I like about it is that it lets you “trade” real historical data for major stocks like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft as if you were doing it live. You hit play, make entries, set stops, and see exactly how it would’ve turned out. It’s not about guessing anymore — you can test every idea until it either breaks or proves itself. I realized I was exiting too early every time the market pulled back, missing most of the trend. After watching hundreds of replays, I started trusting my setups more because I’d seen them play out dozens of times before. The best part? You get to make all your dumb mistakes without losing a cent. Now when I trade live, I’m way calmer because I already know how my plan behaves in different market conditions.
It’s funny how watching old price charts can feel more intense than trading live sometimes. Seeing every move, knowing what’s about to happen but forcing yourself to act like you don’t — it’s like a weird mix of patience