Strategy Tester Problems

Hi all,

I have been programming and testing EA for the past few weeks and I believe I got to a point where I need some help to understand if I am doing wrong or it's the MST which is not working properly. I am new to it but I have put in it a lot of effort!

The main point is:

I test the same EA several time in a row and I get different results each time... it' driving me crazy! I press ''start'' on the tester and check for results and they are always different (and by far!)

It happens when I select ''every tick'' and also with ''open price only''.
M1 (with data from Alpari download center)
I am using a new version of MT$ (build 222)

Does anyone has a clue???

Thanks a lot for any suggestion or advice,

Puma

p.s.

I am not using the ''Visual mode'' because it takes ages.
Probably if I were to use it I would get more consistent results.

But I am wondering if I am doing something wrong or if the tester is usless.

Thanks again for any reply!

Look for the .fxt file which the tester generates. Set that file to "read only" and then see if the same problem happens.

I suspect you're testing with all data, which is a relative term

RR, thanks for your reply.

If I set the ftx file to read only, I won't be able to use it.... cant' open the chart or the tester says ''no data''...

what do you mean by ''you are using all data''?

thanks a lot, puma

When backtesting, are you using a date?

Check [x] Use Date - Then input a date range.

yes I set date.

I am testing an ea on a 1 minute tf over different periods (3 months approx).
for each period i try to optimize it.
if i check the ''visual'' it takes ages, although it looks more reliable, maybe it's only because I can see what happens.
In this case i can't run it twice because of the time that it takes.
when I try to test without ''visual'' option, I press start as soon as the test is finished and I get very often different results. This is with every tick and open bar only.
I think it has to do with the fxt file as you said. it probably change it every time I run the test???
What am I doing wrong?

thanks again! puma

I normally open an ''offline'' chart, drag the ea on it, open strategy tester and run it.

I have just found this article... but I don't understand if it can solve my problem.... anyone can see it?
in specific, the sentence in red it's not clear to me... what are the ''data cached before''? before when and how? is it possible to keep using the same on many runs? or it does it already?
what does it mean ''own intermediate data''?
''these files'' I believe are all the time already saved there by the system... if I try to rename it or read onle I won't be bale to use them... am I right?


Intermediate price bars are generated before testing starts, the results being saved in file (for example: /tester/history/eurusd_1440_1.fxt). Every time the Start button is clicked, Tester will newly generate the file containing the testing sequence of ticks. Fxt-files are easy to open in the terminal as offline charts via File -> Open offline.
The use of data cached before allows to perform tests on the basis of the own intermediate data. To do so, it is sufficient to save file in a proper format (*.FXT format, completely open)into /tester/history/ directory. These files are easy to open in terminal as offline charts through File -> Open offline.
( http://articles.mql4.com/70)


thanks for any help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!