Should I stop doing manual backtesting?

Hi everyone, I've been doing manual backtesting in Excel and TradingView for a month with a very basic price action strategy. It's literally taking away hours of sleep. Is it really worth doing this or is there something I'm missing?

Just to be clear: I don't use any bots or scripts. Everything I put on hand, input, output, SL, TP, and result. I'm obsessed with accuracy, but I don't know if this is helping me or just feeding my doubts. How do you do that?

Honestly, if you're pointing every operation at hand like you're in the '90s, you're gonna hate trading before you learn anything useful. Automate at least one part. Your time is worth more.

Don't worry, we all started like this. I also did that and believe me, although it seems useless, it helps you understand the market in depth. Yes, if after 200 trades you don't see improvement, change focus.

Backtesting manual? Brother, that sounds more like medieval torture than learning. Use software, optimize your time. The market will not give you a medal for being the most disciplined with Excel.

I understand your frustration. I was at the same point. At first it helps a lot to create visual criteria, but then you have to evolve. If not, it becomes counterproductive.

Look, if you don't like it, don't do it. This is not a religion. Manual backtesting is for those who enjoy analyzing every last tick. If it's not your case, look for semi-automatic methods.

It worked for me to do 100 manual operations per pair. No more. Then already automated with Forex Tester and changed my life. You lose the fear of error and gain clarity in your system.

Thank you for the answers. I�m actually at that point where I don�t know if my obsession with precision is making me lose sight of the essentials. Maybe try Forex Tester, I�ve read it enough.

Do it! Forex Tester is a before and after. Maybe it's gonna cost you a little bit to learn at first, but once you master it, it's like accelerating your learning curve by 3x.

It served me more to videotape my analysis sessions than to fill spreadsheets. Sometimes the visual says more than the cold numbers. Maybe that will do you good.

Don't throw everything overboard. That manual backtesting is training you as a trader more than you think. But yes, there comes a point where you have to automate to keep moving forward.

It's not for nothing, but if you've been a month and you're already doubting, maybe this isn't for you.

What a toxic comment the previous one. That�s exactly why this forum sometimes scares the new ones. We all have doubts and it�s perfect to question each other. Cheer up, mate.

I thank everyone for commenting, even to the edges. I�ll follow one more week with this method and then try something more automatic. It�s serving me as mental training as well. We continue reading.

One thing that nobody usually mentions when talking about manual backtesting is that, beyond validating a strategy, it also serves as emotional training.When you do manual testing, you face again and again fear, euphoria and frustration in a simulated environment, but very real in terms of decision making. Each operation forces you to justify your entry, review your risk management and learn to live with the result, whatever it is. This does not happen equal to automatic backtesting, where the logic is programmed and one is emotionally distanced from the process. Also, manual backtesting gives you a sensitivity that machines do not capture. It follows how you see market structures, subtle patterns that the code often ignores by not being defined in mathematical terms. To repeat, you develop a kind of manual error by means of information, which each time you need to do it live. That skill does not appear only after reading a book, but after having navigated hundreds of graphics by hand, with discipline and clinical eye. Now, that does not mean that the manual path is the only or the most efficient in the long term.

Thank you, this really has value. I�ll take the �informed intuition� part. Brutal.

But does intuition really serve in a statistical environment like trading?

Excellent contribution, you should fix this comment on all the threads of beginners.

A lot of theory, but in practice nobody can handle 100 manual trades without automating anything.

Thank you for so much clarity. lt's the first time someone's explained it from the emotional side.

And what do you think about using TradingView for this? Or is MT4 better from the start?

Thank you so much for sharing this approach. You made me see backtesting as a mental tool, not just technique.

But don�t you think that �intuition� can lead to over-operation or over-confidence?

Thank you for the level of detail, you can tell from real experience, not from book theory.

I still don't see how doing 100 manual tests helps me if everything changes in real then it sounds like a waste of time.

Thank you for this jewel. You gave me motivation to resume the test that I had abandoned for boring.

And what if the strategy works perfectly in backtesting but in real it doesn't yield half?

Impeccable. I loved using Excel for metrics. No one mentions it, but there�s the gold.

Thank you for the piece of explanation, you made clear to me doubts I didn't even know I had.

And how do you know what worked on backtest wasn't simple overfitting?

Excellent contribution, I keep it as a reference. Very few explain that clearly.

Thank you very much, really, it's the most useful thing I've ever read here.

Thank you for sharing so much value. I wish more users would.

But if everything changes with the market, isn't it useless to trust so much backtesting?

And how do you avoid confirmation bias when testing manually?

I don't finish understanding how Excel can give you an advantage in real decisions.

You inspired me to restructure my whole process.

Thanks for the level of detail, this is premium content.

Thanks, crack, I read you twice and I go for a third.