The beta version of Metatrader 5 Strategy Tester (Metatester 5) was released a few months ago. It is an integral part of the new Metatrader 5 trading terminal and, like the previous version of Metatrader, it is used to optimize and test MQL5 Expert Advisors. Metatester 5 is the last component of the MetaTrader 5 tools that is needed in the process of efficient development of MQL5 Expert Advisors. The new tester is still under development and the final version will be released later this year.
One of the new features of Metatester 5 is the possibility of using agents (individual calculation frameworks) to considerably increase the speed of calculation and optimization of trading strategies. Each agent represents a logical CPU core, so for example if you have a dual core CPU you would have 2 agents. Agents can also be installed on remote computers on a local network or the Internet. A big advantage of this is that you can use infinite CPU power like in popular network computing projects called Folding at Home or SETI at home. MetaQuotes, the company behind Metatrader 5, will also launch a trading service where the processor power of remote brokers will be sold.
Another great feature of Metatester 5 is the advanced optimization mode. Through this option, you can modify the optimization results to eliminate tests in certain time periods. During the optimization of the Advanced Expert Advisor, the time period is divided into two parts: the main history period and the advance period. The results of the best passes in the optimization process in both time periods can be compared in the “Optimization Results” window after the process is complete.
The new Metatrader 5 strategy tester will be much faster than MT4 because the tester will work as a standalone application. Compared with the previous tester, it is a more precise and powerful tool. The fast genetics-based algorithm optimization parameter is now much faster because it can use the full power of modern 64-bit multicore processors. The new expert advisor language MQL5 also has many new features that work in combination with the new strategy tester.
Finally, there is the option to backtest Expert Advisors across multiple currencies. This feature was requested by many merchants and was also not available in the previous version of the tester. Metatester 5 will automatically read the source code of the EA for multi-currency testing. The final results of the optimization and equity curve graph will combine all symbols into one result. If you have a single coin EA, you can also test it on multiple symbols using the “All Selected Symbols in Market Watch” option. This also helps speed up the strategy testing process because each symbol will be tested automatically unlike in Metatrader 4 where testing was done by hand.
The quote history used during the testing process has also been improved, it is now stored in the precise 1 minute format and has been available since 1999. In the current beta version of the strategy tester, there is no option to use external history as in MT4 DDE server, but according to MetaQuotes, this option will be added later. The history file size per symbol is smaller than in the previous version: about 15 MB in compressed format. This helps save traffic, especially when downloading the history of multiple symbols.