This tool is unique to FSB Pro (at least we do not know of any other software that has such a feature). The other backtesting software shows only the end balance of the backtest but you are in the dark about how it actually calculated it.

The bar explorer is similar to the journal but it gives more information about the deals and the bar interpolation. The bar explorer sorts the records by bar number, unlike the journal, where the rows are ordered by their position. Every record in the bar explorer concerns a specific bar.

The bar explorer always keeps a bar selected. The information you see on the right side (fields 3, 4 and 5 on the screenshot above) concerns only the currently selected bar.

The toolbar consists mainly of navigation tools. Those tools let you easily find and select bars from the list.

Bar number – input the bar number and press Enter (or click the arrow on the right) to go to a specific bar number.

The next four buttons below exist because there might be many bars, in which there are no deals or where FSB Pro only transferred the positions.

Prev. Ambiguous – selects the previous ambiguous bar

Prev. Deal – selects the bar of the previous deal

Next Deal – selects the bar of the next deal

Next Ambiguous – selects the next ambiguous bar

Export – will export the “Journal by Bars” table (field 2 on the previous screenshot)

1 Is an ambiguous bar. The bar explorer shows those with orange background so you can easily spot them. 2 Is a selected bar. The selected bar always has a purple background.

Columns:

Bar - icons represent the transaction types.

Bar Time – time of the opening of the bar

Open, High, Low, Close – the corresponding prices for the bar

Volume – represents the tick volume of the bar

Balance - balance of the account when the bar closed

Equity - equity of the account when the bar closed

Backtest – shows the backtest status. It can be either “Correct” or “Ambiguous”. A backtest status will be present only if a trade took place in this bar.

The heading of the bar shows the interpolation method (you can choose it in the editor tab).

This chart’s goal is to display the interpolation of the prices within the given bar. Since there can be several orders within one bar, the backtester has to inspect them one by one and to decide if to make a trade or to cancel one. You can see the route that the backtester took while it was inspecting the bar.

When your strategy has ambiguous bars, the backtest will vary depending on the interpolation method. If there are no ambiguous bars, however, the backtest will not change when you change the interpolation method.

On the left side you see the bar with the symbols of the operations that occurred within it.

On the right side, you can see the (interpolated) route of the price and the sequence of the trading operations. The open, low, high and close prices are also present. The interpolation route begins with open and ends at close.

The colored line below the chart shows the status of the position. Red depicts a short position, green – a long one, orange – closing the position.

Waypoints – those numbers enumerate the important points in the route. The tables, which we describe below, use the waypoint numbers in their “Wp” columns to display detailed data about the operation.

This table lives under the bar interpolation chart. It displays the orders, which the strategy placed within the bar.

The first column’s icons show the order type (buy or sell). The number near it shows the relevant waypoint from the bar interpolation chart.

Order – number of the order.

Direction – direction of the position, which the strategy opened (buy or sell)

Order type – those can be “market”, “limit” and “stop”. The “market” order is an order at the market price (“spot price”). “Stop” and “limit” types are so called “pending orders”.

The strategy sends a “stop” order to the broker, with a predefined value of the price, to prevent possible losses. Later, if the price reaches the predefined value, the broker will execute the order. The strategy can also cancel “stop” orders if it no longer needs them.

“Limit” orders are orders at a more profitable price. For example if the current price is 1.25 and the strategy has opened a long position at this price, and you have a “stop” order at 1.27, this is actually referred to as a “limit order”, since the position at which the position will close is profitable.

Amount – quantity of the base currency that the strategy bought or sold.

Order Price – order price (might also include the spread)

Price 2 – Holds the second price for some special orders that have two prices. For example stop-limit (one cancels the other, OCO) orders.

Status – can be “executed” or “cancelled” The strategy will cancel orders either because the market price did not reach the order preset price or because the strategy does not allow adding to a position. Comment – shows more information about the current order.

This table is related to the bar interpolation chart too. It displays data about the positions in the selected bar. It lists the transactions of the position.

Columns:

Wp – holds an icon, which corresponds to the transaction type, and the number of the waypoint, which corresponds to the bar interpolation chart waypoints numbers.

Position – number of the position

Transaction – type of the transaction

Direction – direction of the position

Amount – amount of the order, in the base currency

Ord. Price – order price

Pos. Price – price of the position. The difference between the upper two is because of the spread and the rollover swaps.

Profit Loss - shows the profit or the loss when the strategy closes the entire or a part of a position.

Floating P/L - the current status of the position profit or loss.