Published in Guides
Every market bubi trades, and how far back the data goes
Guides
Twelve markets
Twelve markets, seven timeframes, and a history depth that changes depending on which one you pick. The reference you want before designing a test.
Before you design a strategy it helps to know exactly what you can point it at, and how much past there is to test it against. Both are shorter answers than you might expect.
The markets
Gold and silver, XAUUSD and XAGUSD. The major FX pairs: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, AUDUSD, USDCAD and NZDUSD. And the US indices.
Twelve in total. They are the markets a retail MT4 or MT5 account actually trades, which is the point, because there is no use offering an instrument your broker will not fill.
The timeframes
Seven, from 5-minute up to weekly: M5, M15, M30, H1, H4, D1 and W1. A playbook can also read a higher timeframe while triggering on a lower one, so "only enter longs when the daily trend is up" is a rule you can express rather than a discipline you have to remember.
How far back each one goes
History depth is not uniform, and assuming it is will quietly mislead you. Roughly five years on 5-minute data, ten on 15-minute through hourly, fifteen on 4-hourly, and about twenty on daily and weekly.
So a fast intraday strategy gets tested across fewer market regimes than a slow swing one. That is worth knowing before you conclude a strategy "works", because a five-year window on M5 may not contain the kind of market that breaks it.
Designing a test around that
Two habits are worth having. Pick a window long enough to contain a market you did not design for, and run the same playbook on a second market before you believe it.
A strategy that only holds on one pair in one window is not a strategy yet. It is a description of that window.