Strategy Tester Graph: Displays only Balance not Balance/Equity
I don't think this is a feature, more like a bug. I just spotted this on one particular EA I was testing. I tried 4 other EAs and three of them displayed Balance and Equity, with one just displaying Balance only.
Usually if an Expert is placing one-order at a time then the balance curve wouldn't differ from the equity curve. If the EA is closing some orders and leaving others open then the balance curve and equity curve could differ. Have you verified that this is not the case?
Great minds think alike :-)
Yes, they are good thoughts. The graph is only plotted at trade events so unless a trade is opened or closed there will not be an equity point plotted. Hence open equity drawdown between trades is not plotted. I think I have seen add-on indicators to give that sort of functionality. So you are both correct that a single trade at a time cannot produce a balance curve different to the equity curve. However, one of my single trade at a time EAs is still showing Balance / Equity, despite them being the same curve.
As it turns out, the EA I was originally testing is a single trade at a time algorithm so even if the equity curve did show up it still wouldn't help :-)
I bet there is a bug/feature where the equity curve appears "randomly" for single-trade-at-a-time EAs. Arguably it is more correct not to show the Equity curve when it is identical to the Balance curve. I conclude that it is anomalous but pointless to worry about it! Thanks for the useful discussion guys.
Yes, they are good thoughts. The graph is only plotted at trade events so unless a trade is opened or closed there will not be an equity point plotted. Hence open equity drawdown between trades is not plotted. I think I have seen add-on indicators to give that sort of functionality. So you are both correct that a single trade at a time cannot produce a balance curve different to the equity curve. However, one of my single trade at a time EAs is still showing Balance / Equity, despite them being the same curve.
As it turns out, the EA I was originally testing is a single trade at a time algorithm so even if the equity curve did show up it still wouldn't help :-)
I bet there is a bug/feature where the equity curve appears "randomly" for single-trade-at-a-time EAs. Arguably it is more correct not to show the Equity curve when it is identical to the Balance curve. I conclude that it is anomalous but pointless to worry about it! Thanks for the useful discussion guys.
So my Ea is only trading one at a time, and the balance and equity curve are the same (putting the curser at a few points shows within a few dollars). But my drawdowns are as below
I would have thought they were large enough to show. Or because its only one trade at a time this means I can not see when the drawdowns happened?
Many thanks.
| Maximal drawdown | 459.32 (29.94%) | Relative drawdown | 49.95% (424.05) |
So my Ea is only trading one at a time, and the balance and equity curve are the same (putting the curser at a few points shows within a few dollars). But my drawdowns are as below
I would have thought they were large enough to show. Or because its only one trade at a time this means I can not see when the drawdowns happened?
Many thanks.
| Maximal drawdown | 459.32 (29.94%) | Relative drawdown | 49.95% (424.05) |
Each point on the graph is a closed trade, when your EA only has one trade open at a time and when that trade is closed the equity == the balance.
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I don't think this is a feature, more like a bug. I just spotted this on one particular EA I was testing. I tried 4 other EAs and three of them displayed Balance and Equity, with one just displaying Balance only.
It's clearly not that the equity curve is hiding behind the balance curve, the top left of the graph shows Balance / Equity on one graph and just Balance on the other :-(
I just tested these EAs so all are using the same strategy tester, the same start and end dates, and the same currency. Most of my EAs are period specific so I can't change timescales at will, but the working ones were H4, M1 and M30 whereas the non-working one was M5 (and M15). This is MQL4 4.00 build 409.
It's not at all obvious what the differences are between these EAs that could cause this bug/feature to manifest itself.