Backtesting problem

I was recently backtesting an EA, and settings that worked well the previous night weren't working AT ALL. I checked and re-checked all inputs and settings, timeframes, dates, etc., and everything was the same as my previous days' settings. Then I noticed in the Report section, that the "bars in test" was only 1681 !!. I was on 1M charts for a month ... there are 1440 minutes in a day, so this was only a little more than a day's worth of bars. I increased the the number of days in the test, and it zipped right to conclusion (with no results), and still only had 1681 bars.

What gives? Has anyone had this problem before? I've already checked the Tools/Options/Charts, and the setting is normal. I can't figure this out, and it's really getting to me.

Lastly, is this "bug" something that I absolutely need to fix before I go live again? I trade one of the EA's on a live account, but am concerned that this bug might affect it too.

I really hope someone can help here.

Thanks.

Doug

first, you have to be really sure that your EA works perfect to trade on 1M otherwise it will just chop away your balance.

not this bug, but ALL bugs should be corrected before going live.

do I understand it correctly that it doesn't open any trades and jumps to conclusion?

Hi Piccolo,

Thanks for the reply. The EA I was testing was the Firebird 1.0a model. It has worked well in the backtesting up until last night, but now can't seem to go back more than a day ... even if I put the settings for (i.e.) June 1 to August 18. It still only comes back with 1681 bars? It's almost as though my account has cut me off wrt historical data. Is there a limit on the number of backtests you can do? I'm running several all the time.

I thought maybe my computer cache was packed, so I emptied it, removed all temp files, and rebooted. Nothing. No change.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
Doug