QuantStock Documentation

Welcome to the official documentation for QuantStock, the advanced technical trading strategy backtester. This guide will help you get the most out of our platform, from basic usage to advanced features.

Note: QuantStock is continuously being improved with new features and strategies. Check back regularly for updates to this documentation.

Quick Start Guide

Getting started with QuantStock is simple:

Select a Stock: Use the search box in the sidebar to find and select a stock symbol (e.g., AAPL for Apple).
Set Date Range: Define the time period for your backtest using the date pickers.
Choose a Strategy: Select one of the available technical trading strategies from the tabs.
Adjust Parameters: Customize the strategy parameters to suit your trading style.
Run Backtest: Click the "Run Backtest" button to execute the backtest.
Analyze Results: Review the performance metrics, trade history, and charts to evaluate your strategy.

User Interface Overview

The QuantStock interface is designed to be intuitive and efficient:

Sidebar

Stock Selection: Search for and select stocks to test your strategies on.
Date Range: Set the time period for your backtest.
Strategy Selection: Choose from 17+ available technical trading strategies.
Strategy Parameters: Customize the parameters of your selected strategy.
Advanced Features: Access to strategy comparison, parameter optimization, and result export.

Main Content Area

Performance Dashboard: Key metrics showing the overall performance of your strategy.
Price Chart: Interactive chart showing price action with entry/exit signals.
Indicator Chart: Displays the technical indicators used by your strategy.
Results Tabs: Detailed view of performance metrics, trade history, equity curve, and more.

Trading Strategies Overview

QuantStock offers 17+ technical trading strategies that you can backtest and optimize. Each strategy has customizable parameters to suit different market conditions and trading styles.

MACD Strategy

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is a trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of a security's price.

How it Works

Buy Signal: MACD line crosses above Signal line
Sell Signal: MACD line crosses below Signal line

Key Parameters

Fast Period: Number of periods for the fast EMA (default: 12)
Slow Period: Number of periods for the slow EMA (default: 26)
Signal Period: Number of periods for the signal line EMA (default: 9)
Use Histogram: Option to use MACD histogram zero-crossover for signals

RSI Strategy

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a momentum oscillator that measures the speed and change of price movements. It oscillates between 0 and 100 and is typically used to identify overbought or oversold conditions.

How it Works

Buy Signal: RSI crosses above the oversold threshold (default: 30)
Sell Signal: RSI crosses below the overbought threshold (default: 70)

Key Parameters

Period: Number of periods for RSI calculation (default: 14)
Overbought Level: Threshold for overbought condition (default: 70)
Oversold Level: Threshold for oversold condition (default: 30)
Use Divergence: Option to look for price/RSI divergence for stronger signals

Bollinger Bands Strategy

Bollinger Bands are volatility bands placed above and below a moving average. They expand and contract based on the volatility of the price, providing a relative definition of high and low prices.

How it Works

Buy Signal: Price crosses below the lower band and then back above it
Sell Signal: Price crosses above the upper band and then back below it

Key Parameters

Period: Number of periods for the SMA calculation (default: 20)
Standard Deviation: Number of standard deviations for bands (default: 2)
Use Middle Band: Option to generate signals on middle band crosses

Moving Averages Crossover Strategy

The Moving Averages Crossover strategy uses two moving averages (fast and slow) to identify changes in trend.

How it Works

Buy Signal: Fast MA crosses above Slow MA
Sell Signal: Fast MA crosses below Slow MA

Key Parameters

Fast MA Period: Number of periods for the fast moving average (default: 10)
Slow MA Period: Number of periods for the slow moving average (default: 50)
MA Type: Type of moving average to use (SMA, EMA, WMA, DEMA, TEMA, KAMA, MAMA, T3)
Use Trend Filter: Option to use an additional longer-term MA as a trend filter

More Strategies

QuantStock offers many more strategies, including:

Stochastic Oscillator
Breakout
Support/Resistance
Fibonacci Retracement
Ichimoku Cloud
ADX
CCI
Accumulation/Distribution
VWAP
Supertrend
Heikin Ashi
Z-Score
Renko
And more...

Each strategy has detailed information and customizable parameters available in the application.

Parameter Optimization

The Parameter Optimization feature allows you to automatically find the best parameter combinations for a strategy, saving you hours of manual testing.

How to Optimize Parameters

Select a stock and date range
Click the "Optimize Parameters" button in the Advanced Features section
Choose the strategy to optimize
Select the performance metric to optimize for (e.g., Total Return, Sharpe Ratio)
Define the parameter ranges for optimization
Click "Run Optimization" to start the process
Review the optimal parameters and performance
Click "Apply Optimized Parameters" to use them for backtesting

Warning: Be cautious of over-optimization (curve fitting). Parameters that are too finely tuned to historical data may not perform well in future market conditions.

Strategy Comparison

The Strategy Comparison feature allows you to directly compare the performance of different trading strategies on the same stock and time period.

How to Compare Strategies

Select a stock and date range
Click the "Compare Strategies" button in the Advanced Features section
Select two strategies to compare
Click "Compare" to see the results
Review the performance metrics and differences

Performance Metrics

QuantStock provides a comprehensive set of performance metrics to evaluate your trading strategies:

Total Return: Overall return from the strategy
Annual Return: Annualized return (useful for comparing strategies over different time periods)
Sharpe Ratio: Risk-adjusted return (higher values indicate better risk-adjusted performance)
Max Drawdown: Largest peak-to-trough decline (lower values are better)
Win Rate: Percentage of profitable trades
Total Trades: Number of trades executed
Avg. Profit/Trade: Average profit per trade
Profit Factor: Gross profit divided by gross loss (values greater than 1 indicate a profitable strategy)
Equity Curve: Visual representation of capital growth over time
Drawdown Analysis: Visual representation of drawdowns over time

Exporting Results

QuantStock allows you to export your backtest results for further analysis:

Run a backtest
Click the "Export Results" button in the Advanced Features section
Choose to export either "trades" (trade history) or "results" (complete results)
Save the CSV file to your computer

The exported data can be imported into Excel, Google Sheets, or other data analysis tools for further analysis or record-keeping.

Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

Is QuantStock completely free to use?

Yes, QuantStock is completely free to use with all 17+ technical strategies and features available. We do offer a Premium tier with additional features like API access, more historical data, and multi-asset backtesting.

What data sources do you use for backtesting?

We use high-quality historical data from reliable providers including Yahoo Finance, Alpha Vantage, and IEX Cloud. Our platform ensures data accuracy with adjustments for dividends and stock splits to provide realistic backtest results.

Technical Questions

Can I backtest custom strategies?

Currently, QuantStock supports 17+ pre-built technical strategies with customizable parameters. Custom strategy development is available in our Premium tier, where you can code your own strategies using our Python API.

What markets and timeframes can I backtest?

QuantStock supports backtesting across US stocks, ETFs, and major forex pairs. Timeframes range from 1-day to 1-month intervals, with intraday timeframes (1-hour, 15-min) available in the Premium tier.

Does backtesting guarantee future performance?

No. While backtesting is a powerful tool for strategy validation, past performance does not guarantee future results. Market conditions change, and strategies that performed well historically may not perform the same in the future.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

The backtest doesn't return any trades

This can happen for several reasons:

The strategy parameters may be too restrictive
The selected date range may not contain suitable trading opportunities for the strategy
The stock may not be suitable for the selected strategy

Try adjusting the strategy parameters, selecting a different date range, or testing a different strategy.

The application is slow or unresponsive

This can happen when:

The date range is very large (many years of data)
The strategy has complex calculations
Multiple operations are running simultaneously

Try reducing the date range, simplifying the strategy, or waiting for the current operation to complete before starting a new one.

API Documentation

QuantStock provides a RESTful API for Premium users who want to integrate our backtesting capabilities into their own applications or automate their workflows.

API Endpoints

/api/stock-data - Get historical stock data
/api/strategies - Get available strategies and parameters
/api/backtest - Run a backtest with specified parameters
/api/compare - Compare multiple strategies
/api/optimize - Optimize strategy parameters

For detailed API documentation, please contact our support team or visit the API Documentation section in your Premium account dashboard.