Free download
Backtest your strategy with a proper spreadsheet
Download the free backtesting spreadsheet as XLSX or CSV. Log every historical trade and calculate the results automatically. No email address, account or card required, and the workbook includes guidance for judging whether your sample is meaningful.
This backtesting spreadsheet is a free workbook for traders who want to test a strategy manually and turn historical trades into measurable results. Rather than mixing backtests with live trades, it gives you a dedicated Backtest Log for recording each simulated decision, a Results sheet that calculates the important performance metrics and a Sample sheet explaining how to think about sample size. It is useful when you are developing rules, checking whether an idea deserves further testing or simply want a transparent record of what happened. The XLSX workbook does the calculations for you, while the included CSV version gives you a simpler copy of the underlying backtest data.
Each row records the session, date tested, instrument, timeframe, entry date, direction, setup, entry, exit, stop, target, R multiple, result, screenshot link and notes. That is enough to reconstruct what you tested without turning every trade into paperwork. Setup and timeframe help you segment results later. Entry, stop and exit let you check execution. R multiple makes trades comparable despite different risk amounts. Screenshot links preserve chart context, while notes give you somewhere to record unusual conditions or decisions that raw numbers cannot explain.
Download the backtesting spreadsheet
- Backtesting spreadsheet (XLSX)Backtest Log, Results and Sample sheets. R multiple, expectancy, profit factor, consecutive losses, drawdown in R and equity all calculate themselves.XLSX · 301 KB · Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice
- Backtesting spreadsheet (CSV)Just the Backtest Log columns, for importing into another tool or running your own analysis.CSV · 1 KB · imports anywhere
No email required. Take it, use it, change it — it's yours.
What's inside the backtesting spreadsheet
- Backtest Log — record session, instrument, timeframe, setup, direction, entry, exit, stop, target, R multiple, result and notes.
- Results sheet — automatically calculates sample size, win rate, average R, expectancy and profit factor from your logged backtest trades.
- Risk metrics — track maximum consecutive losses and maximum drawdown in R rather than judging the strategy from final profit alone.
- Equity curve — see cumulative performance in R, making profitable periods, flat stretches and drawdowns easier to spot.
- Sample sheet and CSV — get guidance on judging sample size plus a portable version of your underlying backtest log.
How to use the spreadsheet
- 1Define your strategy rules before starting so the backtest measures one consistent idea rather than rules that change after every loss.
- 2Choose the market, timeframe and historical period you intend to test before looking for individual setups.
- 3Log every valid historical trade consistently, including losing trades and setups that look inconvenient in hindsight.
- 4Review the Results sheet for expectancy, profit factor, consecutive losses, maximum drawdown and the shape of your equity curve.
- 5Use the Sample sheet before deciding whether the results justify more testing, modification or abandoning the idea.
Three metrics worth understanding
R multiple expresses each result relative to the risk taken. Risk £100 and lose it all, and the result is -1R; make £250 from the same initial risk and it is +2.5R. Expectancy is the average amount of R produced by each trade across your sample. It helps answer whether the combination of winners and losers has historically produced a positive result. Profit factor divides total winning results by total losing results, so a figure above 1 means gross gains exceeded gross losses. None proves a strategy will work tomorrow, but together they tell you considerably more than win rate on its own.
When spreadsheets stop scaling well
A backtesting spreadsheet is a perfectly sensible place to start. You can see every trade, inspect the formulas and understand exactly where the results came from. Plenty of profitable traders have never needed anything more elaborate. The drawbacks become noticeable when you are logging hundreds of trades: manual entry slows the test down, chart context is separated into screenshot links, and one innocent row insertion can quietly upset a formula range. Traders Casa automates the same general process with TradingView-powered replay and a free plan with unlimited backtest sessions and trades. Use software when it removes friction, not because spreadsheets suddenly become invalid.
Frequently asked questions
Is this backtesting spreadsheet free?
Yes. The backtesting spreadsheet is free to download with no email capture, account or card required. You receive an XLSX workbook containing the Backtest Log, Results and Sample sheets, plus a CSV version of the log. The spreadsheet is designed to give you a usable manual backtesting record without requiring paid software before you have even established whether the strategy is worth pursuing.
What does the backtesting spreadsheet calculate automatically?
The Results sheet calculates sample size, win rate, average R, expectancy, profit factor, maximum consecutive losses and maximum drawdown in R. It also builds an equity curve in R. These metrics let you look beyond the final result and examine how the strategy behaved along the way, including the losing sequences and drawdowns you would actually have needed to tolerate.
How many trades should I put in a backtesting spreadsheet?
There is no universal magic number that makes a backtest reliable. A handful of trades tells you very little, while a few hundred across different market conditions gives you substantially more information. The included Sample sheet helps you think about whether your test is large enough. Focus on getting a varied, representative sample rather than chasing an arbitrary number and declaring the strategy proven when you reach it.
Is a backtesting spreadsheet better than backtesting software?
Neither is automatically better. A spreadsheet is transparent, flexible and an excellent way to learn what your results actually mean. Software becomes more useful when manual logging slows you down or you want chart replay and results connected in one workflow. Traders Casa offers that approach on a free plan, but if this backtesting spreadsheet already gives you everything you need, there is no particular reason to replace it.
Skip the manual logging
Traders Casa replays the chart and records the trades for you, then works out the same metrics without a single formula. Unlimited free backtest sessions, no card required.