Greyed out Backtest options

[mrmenstig]

I am very new to ninjatrader but i set up a moving average crossover strat and tried to backtest it.
If i run it off the backtest strategy tab 1 it doesnt generate any trades and 2 it appears to be back testing one of the pre configured startegies not mine.
In the backtest result no matter what i set the date range to its always testing with a date range of 1 day in the results.
If i right click on ANY strategy in the backtest menu the backtest option is always greyed out even for the preconfigured ones.
any help appreciated

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Welcome to our forums - under File > Strategy Analyzer you would be able to backtest in offline mode as well, however from the Strategies tab in the Control Center or Chart you would need to be connected live to be able to access the Strategies option.

When you test your custom script any errors thrown in NT's log tab in the Control Center?

Which datafeed and instrument / timerame are you working on?

What outcome do you get with NT's per default installed SampleMACrossOver strategy?

[mrmenstig]

im connected to yahoo data
i get no errors (either in pop up warning for or otherwise)
i used lse as my instrument.
backtesting doesnt work with any preconfigured NT Strat theyre all greyed out or if i run them from backtest tab produce no trades

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Yahoo would only support end of day equities data, is that the chart type you're using here for the LSE instrument?

[mrmenstig]

ive never set any chart type in anything no idea how to all i wanted to do was a simple baktest hehe oh well

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

mrmenstig, understood - however to be able to backtest let alone chart an instrument you would need define the perspective taken from the raw market data and that would mean you need to set which interval you're going to be using for the charted bars / candlesticks, be it intraday like in 5 min intervals or a daily chart - like what the Yahoo, Google and Kinetick Free end of Day connections would offer to access.

Here's a set of steps I would suggest to take to get started on the right path:

1. Connect to one of these end of day connections
2. Go File > New > Chart and create a daily chart of your desired instrument, for demo sakes start with a well known equity like MSFT or INTC
3. Right click then on the chart, find Strategies and add the demo SampleMACrossOver script in, make sure the Enabled parameter is set to 'True'.
4. You should see now trades listed and right clicking in the chart and going to Strategy Performance would let you review historical activity from several perspectives.

[mrmenstig]

ok thanks ill give it a try ,
is it possible to test a portfolio of stocks or even set a max amount of open trades so it takes upto a certain amount of trades?

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Yes, you can backtest on a "basket" of stocks from the Strategy Analyzer. The following help guide article details this process:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/basket_test.htm

[mrmenstig]

is it possible to get a guidebook i find it hard to switch between screens to read stuff then switch back to do it, is there such a thing?

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

You can find a PDF copy of our help guide from the following link:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/pdf/NinjaTraderVersion7HelpGuide.pdf

I would not recommend printing the whole guide as it's about 400+ pages, but you can always print out the selective pages you're working with.