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Your First Backtest

Run a strategy backtest in under 2 minutes.

graph LR
    CLI["tradai backtest quick"] --> Backend["Backend API"]
    Backend --> SQS["SQS Queue"]
    SQS --> Lambda["Lambda<br/>Consumer"]
    Lambda --> ECS["ECS Task<br/>Freqtrade"]
    ECS --> Results["S3 Results"]
    ECS --> MLflow["MLflow<br/>Tracking"]
    Results --> CLI2["CLI<br/>Show Results"]

    CLI -.->|"--local"| Local["Local<br/>Freqtrade"]
    Local --> Results

Use --local to skip the backend and run Freqtrade directly on your machine.

Fastest Path

Use tradai backtest quick YourStrategy --local to run a local backtest without starting any services.

Quick Local Backtest (No Setup)

# Run locally (no backend required)
tradai backtest quick YourStrategy --local

# Custom period and symbol
tradai backtest quick YourStrategy --local --period 7d --symbol ETH/USDT:USDT

# Strategy in a separate repo
tradai backtest quick StochRsi --strategy-dir ../tradai-strategies

Full Backtest via Services

# 1. Start services
just up

# 2. Run backtest with MLflow tracking
tradai backtest quick YourStrategy \
  --timerange 20240101-20240131 \
  --symbol BTC/USDT:USDT

Tip: Add --local to run without the backend service.

Example output: 

=== Backtest Results ===
Strategy: YourStrategy
Period: 2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31

Total Trades: 15 | Win Rate: 60.0%
Sharpe: 1.45 | Sortino: 2.10 | Max Drawdown: -3.25%

View in MLflow

Open http://localhost:5001 to see metrics, parameters, and trade logs.

Common Issues

Problem Fix
"No data available" tradai data sync BTC/USDT:USDT --start 2024-01-01 --end 2024-01-31
"Strategy not found" tradai strategy list
"Connection refused" just up && just ps

Note: The tradai data subcommand requires the full workspace to be installed (just setup or uv sync --all-packages).

Next Steps