Documentation/Export guide
Guide

Exporting your backtest

OverfitCheck takes TradingView strategy exports as XLSX, MetaTrader 5 reports as HTML, and trade logs from any platform as CSV. Below are the exact export steps for the five most common platforms.

Export the TradingView List of Trades to Excel

XLSX · Recommended
  1. 1Open your strategy chart in TradingView. Make sure the Strategy Tester panel is visible at the bottom of the screen. If it is not, click the “Strategy Tester” tab in the bottom toolbar.
  2. 2Inside the Strategy Tester panel, click the List of Trades tab. Do not use the Overview or Performance Summary tabs. Those export totals, not the per-trade log OverfitCheck needs.
  3. 3Click the export icon in the top-right corner of the Strategy Tester panel. It looks like a downward arrow over horizontal lines.
  4. 4Save the file. TradingView exports as .xlsx. Upload this directly to OverfitCheck with no conversion needed.
Common mistake. Exporting from the Performance Summary tab gives you a single row of totals, not a trade log. OverfitCheck needs one row per closed trade. Always use List of Trades.

TradingView XLSX files start with a header row carrying the strategy name and date range. The parser handles that on its own. Nothing to edit by hand.

Export a MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester or account-history report as HTML

HTML Report
  1. 1For backtests: run your strategy in the Strategy Tester to completion, open the Backtest results tab, right-click anywhere inside the results, and choose Report.
  2. 2For live/demo history: open the Toolbox panel → History tab, right-click inside the trade list, and choose Report. Set the period first (right-click → Period) to cover the trades you want audited.
  3. 3Save as HTML. MT5 writes a single .htm file. Upload it to OverfitCheck directly, no conversion needed.
Do not save as XML, and do not open and resave the file. OverfitCheck reads the report's Deals table exactly as MT5 writes it (UTF-16 HTML) and checks the extracted P&L against the report's own balance change. Editing the file in Excel or a browser can break that.

The parser reads deal-level data. Net P&L per trade is Profit + Commission + Swap, partial closes are merged, and hedging accounts with overlapping positions are not the validated path. Full details and limitations are in the MetaTrader 5 report format reference.

Export QuantConnect backtest trades to CSV

CSV
  1. 1Log in to QuantConnect → open Algorithm Lab → click the Backtests tab.
  2. 2Click your completed backtest run to open its results page.
  3. 3Click Download and select Trades to export the per-trade CSV.

QuantConnect exports one row per closed trade. Upload the CSV as-is. The “Entry Time”, “Exit Time”, and “Profit” columns are picked up without renaming.

Export NinjaTrader trade history to CSV

CSV
  1. 1Open Control Center → click the Account Performance tab.
  2. 2Set the date range to cover your backtest period and select the account or strategy you want to export.
  3. 3Click the Export icon (floppy disk symbol) → choose CSV.

NinjaTrader exports one row per completed trade. The “Market pos.” column holds “Long” or “Short” and is read as the direction field. The “Trade #” column maps to trade_id.

Export MetaTrader 4 trade history to CSV

CSV
  1. 1MT4 saves its tester and account-history reports as HTML in an older statement format that OverfitCheck's MT5 report parser does not read. The reliable route is a per-trade CSV.
  2. 2Export your trade history as CSV. Use your broker's client portal, a trade-history export script/EA, or open the saved MT4 report in a spreadsheet and save the trade table (one row per closed trade) as CSV.
  3. 3Check that the file has at least a profit column and a date column, then upload the CSV. “Open Time”, “Close Time”, “Profit”, and “Ticket” are all recognized without renaming.
Deposit and withdrawal rows. MT4 history exports can include balance adjustment rows alongside trade rows. Delete them, or leave the P&L cell empty, so only completed trades are counted.

The “Type” column uses “buy” and “sell”, not “exit” keywords, so every row counts as a trade. The “Profit” column maps straight to pnl. On MetaTrader 5 you can skip all of this and upload the HTML report directly. See the MetaTrader 5 section above and the MT5 report format reference.

My platform isn't listed

OverfitCheck takes any CSV with two columns present. One with per-trade profit or loss, one with a date. Column names are matched loosely. Common variants like “Net Profit”, “P&L”, “Gain/Loss”, “Close Time”, and “Bar Time” are all recognized without renaming.

The CSV format specification has the full list of accepted column aliases, the constraints (30 trades minimum), and an example file you can download and copy the shape of.

Upload your backtestCSV format reference