Forward Testing

Forward Testing validates strategies on unseen data after the main in-sample calculations.

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;; Forward testing          ;;
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; Validate strategies on new unseen data.
use_forward_testing = false

; Number of bars loaded before the forward-test segment.
; 0 keeps the default behavior.
preload_data_bars   = 0

• use_forward_testing enables or disables forward testing.
• preload_data_bars sets the number of bars to preload before the forward-test start.

When forward testing is enabled, backtesting starts from each strategy's update time. In practical terms, bars before that point are not used for trade entries in the forward-test run.

If preload_data_bars is greater than 0, Generator loads extra history before the start point so indicators have context. Values above 0 are treated with a minimum preload of 300 bars.

Enable forward testing with a preload window:

use_forward_testing = true
preload_data_bars   = 500

Run from command line:

node ./bin/gen.js --use-forward-testing true --preload-data-bars 500

• Forward testing is configured separately from Data Horizon and Out of Sample settings.
• Data Horizon and Out of Sample are applied first, then forward-testing logic is applied inside that range.
• Use this section together with strict Acceptance Criteria when validating robustness.