---
title: "Backtesting"
description: "What a Fincanva backtest is, how to tell whether a result is current and bring it up to date, where simulation defaults live, and why a backtest can mislead."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/backtesting"
last_updated: "2026-10-08"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/backtesting.md"
---

# Backtesting

A [backtest](/glossary/backtest) replays a [strategy](/glossary/strategy)'s own rules over past market data to show what it would have done: an [equity curve](/glossary/equity-curve) and the metrics that summarise it. In the app it starts from a strategy's results: touch the part below.

Backtesting in the app: Runs and status — each is a group below.

## Runs and status

Whether a result is current — the [run status](/glossary/run-status) chip on a strategy's results says if the numbers still reflect your settings and the latest market data, and the run button beside it starts a new run — and the one step that brings a strategy back to **Up to date**. Every strategy runs one: there is no separate backtest kind of strategy.

- [Bring a strategy back to Up to date](/docs/backtesting/bring-a-strategy-back-to-up-to-date): A strategy's result is current only when its run status chip reads Up to date; every other chip names what stands in the way, and each has one step that clears it.

Key terms: [Run status](/glossary/run-status), [Data freshness and frontier](/glossary/data-freshness-and-frontier), [Daily warm of Live strategies](/glossary/daily-warm-of-live-strategies), [Shared compute](/glossary/shared-compute), [Compute time](/glossary/compute-time).

[All 10 terms](/glossary?subject=backtesting&group=runs-and-status)

## Simulation defaults

What every run starts from — [starting capital](/glossary/starting-capital), tax rules and the other account-level defaults — set once, in **Settings → Simulation defaults**.

- [Set your simulation defaults](/docs/backtesting/set-your-simulation-defaults): Your starting capital, base currency, tax rules and interest markups are set once, in Settings → Simulation defaults, and every run of your own strategies starts from them.
- [Set the tax rules your backtests use](/docs/backtesting/set-the-tax-rules-your-backtests-use): Your tax rules — residency, regime and rates — are set together under Fiscal profile in Settings → Simulation defaults, and a backtest applies them when its Taxes assumption is on.

Key terms: [Simulation assumptions](/glossary/simulation-assumptions), [Starting capital](/glossary/starting-capital), [Transaction cost](/glossary/transaction-cost), [Slippage](/glossary/slippage), [Tax residency](/glossary/tax-residency), [Simulation start year](/glossary/simulation-start-year).

[All 13 terms](/glossary?subject=backtesting&group=simulation-defaults)

## Why a backtest can mislead

The biases that can make a backtest look better than the strategy really was, and what Fincanva does against each. A backtest is a [walk-forward replay](/glossary/walk-forward-replay) that reads only what was known on each date; its [instruments](/glossary/instrument) include [delisted](/glossary/delisted) ones and dated [index membership](/glossary/index-lists-and-point-in-time-constituents); [Costs & interests](/glossary/costs-toggle), [Taxes](/glossary/taxes-toggle) and [Reinvest profits](/glossary/reinvest-profits) can be switched on under **Include**; and the result is reported whole, with its [drawdowns](/glossary/max-drawdown). That reduces a bias, never removes it: your choice of [universe](/glossary/universe) and period still decides.

Key terms: [Look-ahead bias](/glossary/look-ahead-bias), [Survivorship bias](/glossary/survivorship-bias), [Overfitting](/glossary/overfitting), [Selection bias](/glossary/selection-bias), [Data-snooping bias](/glossary/data-snooping-bias), [Cherry-picking bias](/glossary/cherry-picking-bias).

[All 9 terms](/glossary?subject=backtesting&group=why-a-backtest-can-mislead)

## Frequent questions

- [Why does a strategy flip to Needs re-run?](/glossary/run-status#why-does-a-strategy-flip-to-needs-re-run)
- [Can I re-run a strategy whose last run failed?](/docs/backtesting/bring-a-strategy-back-to-up-to-date#can-i-re-run-a-strategy-whose-last-run-failed)
- [Why does a strategy say the run didn't start?](/docs/backtesting/bring-a-strategy-back-to-up-to-date#why-does-a-strategy-say-the-run-didnt-start)
- [What happens when you run a backtest?](/glossary/backtest#what-happens-when-you-run-a-backtest)
- [What biases does a backtest remove?](/glossary/backtest#what-biases-does-a-backtest-remove)

Fincanva is for education and illustration only. It is not personalised financial advice, and past or simulated results do not predict future ones. [Read the Terms Addendum](https://fincanva.com/terms/addendum#section-3)