Backtesting Freezes

[nightriderx]

I may try to update but have never seen the elapsed/remaining/bar/abort part of the screen you posted. I am running XP - should that make any difference? Is there a setting that turns this feature on/off?

Yes, I meant "days to load" and yes, I am not expecting any data to load, other then the "Min. bars required" which my strategy uses to look back on its own. - actually could that be the issue? if "days to load" is set to 0 will that not provide the data for the "min. bars required"? could that be causing the hangups?

[NinjaTrader_Austin]

Hello again, running XP should not make a difference. How long do your backtests typically last? If all the data is already present in your system, it is possible a backtest could completely run and you would never see the abort button. Please try a two year backtest on a whole list of instruments (5 minute, Default 24/7) and see if you can abort then. There definitely are some instances where it is not possible to abort a backtest, but when you backtest/optimize a whole instrument list, there should be plenty of opportunities to abort.

If you have "days to load" set to 0, then it would not even load up the data for the minimum bars required. It would start building the bars from the incoming real-time data. Please try with "days to load" set to at least 1.

[nightriderx]

right, I am using data which I have previously downloaded. So what you are saying is that the abort button only works for data download? - and does not abort the actual backtest?

so basically I am stuck with software that will only use 25% of the CPU, taking a very long time to backtest and freezing at times, with no way of aborting the actual backtest other then terminating NT from windows' task manager?

[NinjaTrader_Austin]

nightriderx, I just confirmed with a coworker, the abort button does only work for aborting the data loading for the providers that support the function. You can abort optimizations without an issue, and basically you can abort anything whenever the abort button is present.

Maybe you can try shorter backtests and/or with less data (backtesting tick data can be extremely resource intensive). 25% CPU usage would indicate NinjaTrader is maxing out one of your four cores. If you run shorter backtests, does NT still hang/freeze? I just loaded up a month long ES 500 tick backtest, and while it was backtesting, I was able to place trades, change charts, and view incoming data without an issue on my dual-core machine.

[nightriderx]

wow. definitely not. even when I load strategies for only 1 day using 1 min bars, it still usually takes a few minutes (though I must admit it is computation intensive) still I cannot access ANY part of NT while it is backtesting/loading my strategy. Even when loading/backtesting simple and short term strategies, I still cannot access any part of NT, and I have never seen the abort button.

[NinjaTrader_Austin]

Would you mind sending me your strategy so I can test this out on my end? You can either post it here on the thread or send it to support at ninjatrader dot com attn 'Austin - ticket 354156'. That is a very long time for a single day backtest, and it is surprising your NT completely freezes while backtesting, so I'd like to see if I can replicate this behavior.