How We Test Strategies & Rank Brokers
We're traders and quants. We turn ideas into automated systems, prove them on real data — and hold our broker and platform rankings to the same evidence bar.
Most trading sites tell you a pattern works and move on. We do the opposite. We are traders and quant researchers, so we turn an idea into an automated system and run it across years of real market data, using AI alongside classic systematic methods, before we publish a word. Then we tell you where it works, where it fails, and what the edge is worth after costs. This page explains how, so you can judge the data rather than take our word for it.
We cover the markets a retail trader actually trades: forex pairs, gold and commodities like oil and silver, indices, and crypto. The same method runs across all of them, and a big part of the job is telling you which markets a given setup suits and which ones to leave alone.
The Arxum Analytics Terminal
An idea is cheap, so we don't trade on a good-looking chart. We engineer it. Each strategy is built into an automated system, the Arxum Analytics Terminal, our research platform where AI and rule-based logic run the setup across years of real market data. The Terminal trades the rules exactly as written and reports what actually happened, the winners and the losers.
- Years of real data: daily and intraday candles across forex, gold, silver, oil, and crypto, usually about eight years of history.
- Net of costs: every trade is charged a realistic spread and fee, so the result reflects what a retail account would actually keep.
- Pinned, so it holds up: each run is locked to a fixed date, so the same rules give the same result and the charts redraw exactly. Nothing is hand-picked after the fact.
- The charts are the test: each annotated trade is drawn by the same system that ran it, so the setup you see is the exact one the data traded, with the entry, stop, and target included.
What we measure
We report results in plain terms a trader can act on, not academic jargon.
- Profit factor: total money won divided by total money lost. Above 1.0 makes money over the whole run.
- Win rate: the share of trades that hit their target.
- Reward-to-risk (1:X): what one trade stands to make against what it risks.
- Maximum drawdown: the worst peak-to-trough drop along the way, so you see the pain, not just the result.
- Out-of-sample: the edge re-checked on later years the method never saw.
How we avoid fooling ourselves
Test enough combinations and something will always look good by chance. These are the guards we put on every result before it gets published.
- Out-of-sample survival. We build the edge on the earlier years, then run it on later years it has never seen. A result that falls apart on unseen data does not ship.
- A real mechanism. A setup has to make sense, not just fit the history. If we cannot explain why a market behaves the way the data shows, we treat the result with suspicion.
- We show the losers. Every strategy article includes the failed trades and the markets where the setup loses. A piece that only shows winners is the warning sign.
- No tuning to the answer. We do not quietly nudge thresholds until a number looks better. The rules are set first, then tested.
- Clean, honest examples. The example charts are picked for how clearly they show the setup, never cherry-picked for size, and a representative loss is always included.
How We Rank Brokers, Platforms & Tools
Testing a strategy and reviewing a platform are different jobs, and we hold them to the same bar: evidence over opinion. When our comparison pages rank brokers, platforms or tools, they score them against criteria we state in the open — and every figure is a measured cost or a verified fact, never a marketing claim.
- Cost, taken from the schedule, not the promo page. The all-in spread, commission and swap for the account type the page is about, read from the broker’s own live terms and dated, not the headline number on a landing page. Where the terms changed since we published, the date says so.
- Weighted by what protects an edge. We are a strategy lab, and every system we publish is tested net of a realistic spread and fee — so we know first-hand what cost does to a real edge. That is why cost and execution reliability outrank feature lists in the score.
- Regulation, checked at the source. Every licence is verified against the regulator’s own public register.
- Capability a system trader needs. Order types, charting, automation and raw speed — judged by whether the setups we actually trade can run there.
- Availability by country, because the best platform you cannot open an account with is not the best one for you.
Each ranking shows its weightings in the open, with the exact mix stated on the page:
| What we weigh | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to trade | 30% | All-in spread, commission and swap on the instruments the page is about |
| Execution & platform | 25% | Execution reliability and order handling; order types, charting and automation depth |
| Regulation & safety | 20% | Tier-1 licences verified on the register; fund segregation and negative-balance terms |
| Fit for the strategy | 15% | Whether the setups Arxum tests can run there — timeframes, automation, instruments |
| Access & support | 10% | Country availability, funding options, and support quality when something breaks |
Some links on our comparison pages are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you open an account through one. It never changes a ranking — the order is set by the criteria above, then the links are added.
What we will not do
- Invent numbers, win rates, or results. Every figure traces back to an engine run.
- Fabricate reviews, ratings, or testimonials. The comment form is real; the reviews on it are from real readers or it stays empty.
- Claim live-account riches. We publish backtested research, not "I turned $500 into $50,000" stories.
- Sell a "best broker" ranking to the highest bidder. Affiliate links are disclosed, and they never decide the verdict.
Who stands behind it
Our articles are written by named traders and researchers with real track records in forex, crypto, and systematic testing, not anonymous staff. You can read their backgrounds on the authors page, and more about the site on about Arxum. When an affiliate partnership is relevant to an article, it is disclosed there.
Common Questions
How does Arxum test a trading strategy?
We build the idea into an automated system and run it across about eight years of real forex, metals and crypto data, each trade charged a realistic spread and fee. The engine reports every trade, winners and losers, and we re-check the edge on later years it never saw before publishing.
How does Arxum rank brokers and platforms?
Against criteria we state in the open, weighted toward what preserves a trading edge: cost first, then execution reliability, regulation, fit for the strategy, and access. Every figure is a dated, sourced number from the provider's own terms or a regulator's register, never a marketing claim.
Does Arxum get paid by the brokers it ranks?
Some links on our comparison pages are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you open an account through one, at no cost to you. It never changes a ranking or a score: the order is set by the criteria first, then the links are added.
What data do the published results come from?
Strategy results come from our own engine runs, logged trade by trade, net of costs, and pinned to a fixed date so they reproduce exactly. Broker and platform figures come from the provider's own live terms and public regulator registers, each dated where it appears on the page.
Who reviews the numbers before they are published?
Named traders and quant researchers, not anonymous staff. Every strategy is run and re-checked on unseen years before it ships, a representative loss is always shown, and the rules are fixed before testing rather than tuned to the answer. Each author's background is on the authors page.
This methodology is reviewed as our process changes. Last reviewed August 2026.
See the method in action
A full strategy, tested end to end, with the real numbers and the honest losses.
Read a Tested Strategy