AlgoLiftAlgoLiftGuide

Your First Project

From an empty dashboard to a first backtest result: create a project, have the copilot build a strategy, run it, and read what comes back.

How-toBy AlgoLiftUpdated 3 min read
On this page 5Before you startBuild and run itRead what came backWhat to do nextIf it doesn't work

Create a project, let the copilot build a first strategy from a few answers, run a backtest on it, and read what comes back. The first run costs a fraction of a credit.

Before you start

You need an AlgoLift account. A backtest is charged in credits by how much history it covers:

What a backtest costsLive from AlgoLift
RunCredits
A backtest, Trade fills1 per year of data: the calendar months it touches, over 12 (never below 0.01)
A backtest, Book fills2 per year of data
Read from the product's pricing rule when this page was built.

The first run below covers one month, so it costs a small part of one credit.

Build and run it

  1. 1

    Create the project

    On an empty dashboard, the first question is Where are you trading? Pick your situation and goal, then press the create button under them; it names your goal, for example Create a Pass Eval project. The dialog opens on Project Details with a name suggested and the goal's holdout chosen. Press Create Project. If you already have a project, press New project on the dashboard and pick the goal in the dialog.

    You should see the project opens on its Overview, where the Scorecard has nothing to judge yet.
  2. 2

    Go to Build

    Press Go to Build, or the Next chip at the top, Build & run a backtest.

    You should see the canvas says it is empty and offers three ways to start.
  3. 3

    Let the copilot build it

    Choose Open the build wizard. Answer its questions: what you are trading, what kind of strategy you want, and when it should enter and exit. On the last page, press Build it.

    You should see the copilot's draft appears on the canvas as it builds.
  4. 4

    Keep the build

    When the build finishes, read the Proposed strategy card in the copilot panel and press Apply. The first time, the right column switches to the Inspector, a reading of the strategy. Press Run settings to switch back.

    You should see the strategy is yours to run and edit.
  5. 5

    Check the run settings

    In Run settings, the Backtest Period runs one month, ending the day before your holdout. Data Series shows the instrument and bar size the strategy trades, and Fills is set to Trade, the cheaper of the two. You can leave all three as they are for a first run.

  6. 6

    Run it

    Press Run Backtest. Its chip shows what the run will cost. While it works, the button shows its progress.

    You should see the run's row appears under the canvas, and its results land there on their own.

Read what came back

The results open under the canvas on Summary, the run's headline numbers: its profit and loss, its drawdown, how many trades it took, and more.

Two more analyses start on their own as the backtest lands. Robustness re-deals the trades thousands of ways, and Prop runs them through every prop firm account AlgoLift models. Their tabs fill in a little after the results; until then each shows a pulsing dot.

For a plain-words reading of the run, press Read this run on the copilot's card for it.

This first backtest is the weakest evidence your project will ever have: one month, one path through history. How AlgoLift Works explains what each later stage adds.

What to do next

Follow the Next chip at the top of the project. After a first one-month run it usually asks for more data:

  • Run a longer backtest when the run has too few trades to judge.
  • Extend the test window when you are ready to optimize. Optimize needs at least six months of data, because settings tuned on a short stretch tend to fit that stretch alone.

A longer window costs more credits and leaves the tests behind it more trades to work with.

If it doesn't work

  • You can't find Run Backtest. The right column is showing the Inspector. Press Run settings.
  • "This run would likely take no trades." Before charging, AlgoLift found that no entry would fire in this period: a rule can never be true, or the entry held on no bar of the period. Press See why to find out which. It never blocks the run: Run anyway still runs it.
  • The run took no trades. The Next chip offers See why no trades, which shows what held each entry back.
  • "Your end date runs into this project's holdout." The period reaches into the months kept aside for your final test. Set an earlier end date. Unlocking the holdout runs anyway, but the project records for good that this run saw those months.