Forex backtesting and replay tools, compared
Five tools people actually use to practise on historical charts and test a rule before risking money. They are not substitutes for one another — a MetaTrader Expert Advisor and a browser replay session solve different problems — so this compares what each one is for rather than ranking them.
Verified on 2026-07-27. Formiq publishes this page, so treat the entry for Formiq as what it is. Everything stated about the other tools was read on that vendor's own site on that date, and each entry links to the page it came from. Prices are not quoted for the other tools because their checkout pages render different currencies and figures depending on where the request comes from.
At a glance
Listed alphabetically. This is not a ranking — the tools solve different problems.
| Tool | Runs on | Install | Free tier | Replay | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Tester 5（デスクトップ版） | Windows desktop | Required | Free version: 1 hour of testing, 1 month of data | Yes — it is the product's core function | desktop.forextester.com |
| Forex Tester Online | Browser | Not required | Free demo, no credit card | Yes — it is the product's core function | forextester.com |
| Formiq | Browser, plus an iOS app | Not required | Free plan, no time limit — 2 indicators, 3 backtests/day | Yes — auto-play and candle-by-candle manual modes, on the free plan | formiq.jp |
| MT4 / MT5 ストラテジーテスター | Windows desktop (bundled with MetaTrader) | Required (MetaTrader itself) | Free, but needs an EA written in MQL | Visual mode, driven by an Expert Advisor | metatrader5.com |
| TradingView | Browser, desktop app and mobile apps | Not required for the browser version | Basic plan free — 2 indicators per chart | Bar Replay, on paid plans per the pricing table | tradingview.com |
What each tool actually does
The table above compares them on five axes, which is not enough to tell what any of them is like to use. This section is the longer version: what a session in each tool consists of, what it can do, and where it stops.
Forex Tester 5（デスクトップ版）
The desktop line of the same product: installed on Windows, bought once, and run against history downloaded to the machine, so it keeps working with the connection off. It covers both discretionary practice and automated logic, and a test is a saved project you can reopen and continue days later — which is the part the free version withholds. The paid tiers differ by the data bundled with them rather than by features.
What it does
- Basic Data: "25 years of medium quality real historical data. 18 symbols." Super Data: "25 years of premium quality real historical data. 860 symbols."
- "Test several currencies at the same time" and "Test several timeframes at the same time"
- A Strategy Optimizer using a grid algorithm to sweep parameter combinations
- Easy Forex Builder for assembling strategies, plus risk- and money-management tools
- With Super Data: tick data, and historical news for 9 currencies
- Projects save and reload, so a long test does not have to finish in one sitting
- Free tier
- A free version limited to one hour of continuous testing and one month of data. The full licence is a one-time purchase.
- Better than Formiq at
- Depth of history — the vendor advertises 25 years of data — and it keeps working offline once installed.
- Where it stops
- Windows only. The free version, in the vendor's words: "You can test up to 1 month of historical data. You can test uninterruptedly for at least 1 hour (then start another test, but you cannot continue the previous one). You can't save and load projects." So the one-hour cap and the missing save between them mean the free version cannot carry a test across sittings.
- Fits
- Long-horizon testing on a Windows machine, with a one-time payment rather than a subscription.
Read on: desktop.forextester.com
Forex Tester Online
A browser tool built for backtesting and nothing else. You pick an instrument and a period, open the chart, step the bars forward and place simulated orders as they arrive. Beyond manual practice it will test automated logic, and it will import your trade history from MT4, MT5, NinjaTrader or TradingView so that past trades can be analysed inside it. The distinguishing move is breadth: the same session can be run on a stock or a crypto pair rather than only on FX.
What it does
- 283 instruments per the site: 112 FX pairs, 23 indices, 49 crypto, 21 stocks, 29 futures, 47 ETFs and commodities
- Up to 23 years of tick data per symbol — the site claims "600M+ ticks per symbol, 2M+ bars"
- Up to 10 charts open and synchronised across different symbols and timeframes at once
- 92 built-in indicators, plus support for custom ones
- An Exit Optimizer that searches for stop-loss, take-profit and holding-time settings
- A prop-firm challenge mode that reproduces those rules and targets, and a blind-testing mode that hides the date and symbol
- A trade journal with tags, screenshots and confidence tracking
- Free tier
- A free demo, advertised as "no credit card required". Full access is a paid subscription.
- Better than Formiq at
- Coverage well beyond FX — stocks, indices, commodities, ETFs and crypto are all testable in the same tool.
- Where it stops
- What the free demo actually restricts is not stated on the site, so how far you can get without paying is unclear until you sign up. Full access is a subscription rather than a one-time purchase.
- Fits
- Testing one approach across several asset classes, in a tool built for backtesting first.
Read on: forextester.com
Formiq
Open a browser tab and you get an FX chart you can rewind to a point in the past and then walk forward one candle at a time. You place a position without being able to see the next bar, carry it to the exit, and the result lands in a trade journal. If you want to test a rule rather than practise judgement, you assemble the entry and exit conditions from dropdowns and run a backtest over the history — no code, and no install step before either of those.
What it does
- FX charts across 30+ currency pairs and 9 timeframes, from M1 to monthly
- Replay with both auto-play and one-candle-at-a-time stepping, with the speed under your control
- A no-code strategy builder: entry and exit conditions picked from dropdowns, then backtested over history
- A trade journal and trade calendar that record every simulated position, plus an economic calendar
- Drawing tools — trendlines, Fibonacci and the rest — and the Fommy AI assistant for chart questions
- On the paid plan: unlimited indicators, unlimited backtests, custom timeframes such as 3min and 10min, and four pairs side by side
- Free tier
- Free plan with no time limit: 2 indicators at once, 3 backtests per day, AI assistant 10×/day. Replay practice and the trade journal are uncapped.
- Where it stops
- FX only — no stocks, indices or crypto. Prices are historical rather than a live feed, every position is simulated, and there is no connection to a broker account. The free plan holds you to 2 indicators at once and 3 backtests a day.
- Fits
- Building screen time and testing simple rules without installing anything or committing money first.
Read on: formiq.jp
MT4 / MT5 ストラテジーテスター
The testing engine bundled with the MetaTrader terminal, described by the documentation as a way to "test and optimize trading strategies (Expert Advisors) before using them for live trading". The unit of work is an Expert Advisor written in MQL: you point it at a symbol, a timeframe and a period, and it runs the program over that history and produces a statistical report. It is not a place to step through bars and make calls yourself — it is where a rule that is already fixed gets measured, and the same program then runs live on the same platform.
What it does
- Five tick-generation modes trading accuracy against speed: every tick, every tick based on real ticks, 1-minute OHLC, open prices only, and math calculations
- Visual mode, where "each trade is displayed on the chart of a financial symbol" and you can pause, speed up or slow down the run
- Optimization — running the strategy "several times with different sets of parameters which allows selecting the most appropriate combination"
- Multi-currency testing that automatically processes every symbol the strategy uses, without listing them by hand
- Forward testing, which splits the period 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 or at a date you choose and validates on the later part
- A report with the "balance curve (blue line) and the equity curve (green)", a histogram of load on deposit, and profit, trade count and many other statistics
- Multi-threaded execution across local and remote computing agents, and the MQL5 Cloud Network, which "brings together thousands of agents around the world"
- Free tier
- Free — it ships with the MetaTrader terminal. Running a strategy through it requires an Expert Advisor written in MQL.
- Better than Formiq at
- No ceiling on what a strategy can express, and what you test is what you can then run live on the same platform.
- Where it stops
- Nothing runs without an Expert Advisor, so if you cannot write MQL and have no code to start from, there is nothing to test. Windows desktop, and MetaTrader itself has to be installed first. A discretionary setup you have not reduced to rules cannot be expressed here at all.
- Fits
- Anyone who can write MQL, or whose strategy is going to end up as an EA regardless.
Read on: metatrader5.com
TradingView
Primarily a charting and market-analysis platform rather than a testing tool. Practising on past bars is one feature inside it — Bar Replay, which rewinds the chart to a chosen point and steps forward from there — and the pricing table places it on the paid plans. Most of what you pay for is elsewhere: how many indicators fit on a chart, how many charts fit in a tab, how many alerts you can set, and how far back the history goes.
What it does
- Basic (free): 2 indicators per chart, 1 chart per tab, 3 price alerts, 1 watchlist of 30 symbols, ads shown, and historical data at daily resolution and above
- Essential and up: more indicators and charts, more alerts, and no ads
- Bar Replay is listed on Essential, Plus, Premium and Ultimate — not on Basic
- Historical bar depth scales with the plan: 20,000 bars on Premium, 40,000 on Ultimate
- Charting across many markets, with drawing tools, alerting and a large library of community scripts
- Runs in the browser and also has desktop and mobile apps
- Free tier
- The Basic plan is free and allows 2 indicators per chart, 1 chart per tab, 3 price alerts and 1 watchlist of up to 30 symbols, with ads. Its pricing table lists Bar Replay as available from the Essential plan upward, not on Basic.
- Better than Formiq at
- The charting itself — drawing tools, alerting, market coverage, and a very large library of community scripts.
- Where it stops
- On the free Basic plan you get neither Bar Replay nor intraday history — the pricing table puts Basic at daily bars and above — so practising on past intraday bars means paying. Chart-level limits are strict at the bottom of the range: one chart per tab and three alerts.
- Fits
- Analysis and charting across many markets, where replay is one feature among many rather than the point.
Read on: tradingview.com
How to choose
Do you want to practise, or to validate?
Practising means making decisions on bars you have not seen yet — that is replay. Validating means measuring a fixed rule across a long history — that is backtesting. Most tools do both, but they are usually better at one. Forex Tester and the MetaTrader Strategy Tester lean towards validation; replay-first tools lean towards practice.
Can you write MQL?
If yes, the MetaTrader Strategy Tester has no ceiling and costs nothing. If no, that route means learning a language before you can test your first idea, and a tool with dropdown-built rules will get you an answer the same evening.
Where will you actually do this?
Desktop software gives you depth and works offline. A browser tool gives you no install and the same session from any machine. This is usually the constraint that decides it — the tool you can open in the gap you actually have is the one you will use.
How much history do you need?
Long-horizon testing across decades needs a tool built for it. Practising a setup you saw last month does not. Check the data depth against what you are actually going to do, not against the largest number on the page.
Questions
Is there a genuinely free forex backtesting tool?
Yes, several, with different limits. The MetaTrader Strategy Tester is free but needs an Expert Advisor written in MQL. TradingView's Basic plan is free but its pricing table lists Bar Replay as a paid-plan feature. Forex Tester offers a free demo and a limited free desktop version. Formiq's free plan has no time limit and covers replay practice and the trade journal without a cap, with 2 indicators at once and 3 backtests per day.
What is the difference between a demo account and a backtesting tool?
A demo account trades live prices in real time, so a year of practice takes a year. A backtesting or replay tool moves through historical data as fast as you want, so the same year takes an evening. Demo accounts are better for rehearsing execution with a specific broker; replay is better for accumulating decisions.
Do you need to code to backtest a strategy?
It depends on the tool. The MetaTrader Strategy Tester requires an Expert Advisor written in MQL. Tools that build rules from dropdown conditions — Formiq among them — do not require code, at the cost of only expressing conditions the tool has been given.
Can you practise forex on a phone?
Yes. Formiq runs in a mobile browser and has an iOS app, and TradingView has mobile apps. Desktop software such as Forex Tester 5 and MetaTrader does not run on a phone. Multi-indicator analysis is cramped on a small screen regardless of the tool.
Formiq is free to start
Charting, replay practice, no-code backtesting and a trade journal in the browser. No install, no credit card. It is a practice and testing tool, not a broker — all trading inside it is simulated, and the price data is historical rather than live.