How to do manual backtest?

I want to manually practice using my strategy using historical data. Is there any economical way to do it? I know it is possible in eSignal but their data feed is a bit expensive.

Having someone program and EA (unless you can do it yourself) is one of the easier ways of getting an idea of results. You can stream alot of information that way but the lacking factor of it is you dont really feel the results.

I manually backtested a few strategies of which I run with now. I did it the painstaking way of setting up a plan and disciplined myself to trade bar by bar (i looked a bar and asked the question when a signal came up, would I trade here. I kept a video diary with the use of camtasia which helped for going back and looking at the descisions I made. The upside to this was that I really got involved in potential past decisions and was held somewhat accountable through the video for those trades.

Apart from that I have seen a few people mention using Excel, but I cannot comment on that as it is an area that I am unsure with.

With all things though the eventual real time testing will give you a more accurate feel once you have your trade plan mapped out. There is no cheating from there as your trades are determined by current market environment. Backtesting will give you an idea of how strong your method has been and how definable the edge may be, real time will test you as a person to see how confident you are with it.

In all cases best of luck to you. I wish you and your method the best of success

Razor