Play Back - Heikin Ashi Testing

Hi,

I’ve been reading that back testing using Heikin Ashi candles isn’t recommended for some reason. My question is, I built a strategy but I would like to use Heikin Ashi Candle to back test it with. If I use playback mode and start the chart two hours before my strategy starts (0930 - 1600) for the NY session will the HA candles be accurate as far as the values (OHLC) starting at 0930? Hope that makes sense.

Thanks in advance

First of all Heikin Ashi in NT is not accurate. I use them myself, but I build my own bars to match the real Heikin Ashi principles. The Close in NT is handled as the actual closing price. The division by four (OHLC) isn’t used. So HA in NT is more a mix of regular candles and HA, as the open is not based on the HA Open and HA Close, but the average of the HA Open and the actual Close. That is why the bars also look not like actual HA bars, too big bodies, volatile, not smoothed as ‘real’ Heikin Ashi.

To your question: your bars are loaded on enabling with a lookback period. Otherwise make sure to check there is enough data before executing orders (CurrentBar > x).