Optimize a Strategy

You can fine tune the input parameters of a strategy through optimization. Optimization is the process of testing a range of values through iterative backtests to determine the optimal input values over the historical test period based on your best result criterion. To run an optimization you will need:

*There are several pre-defined sample strategies that are installed with NinjaTrader that you can explore.

Start an Optimization

To run an Optimization:

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Left mouse click on an instrument or instrument list (to run optimization on the entire list of instruments) and right mouse click to bring up the right mouse click menu. Select the menu item Optimize... Alternatively left mouse click on the "o" icon in the Strategy Analyzer toolbar. The default Hot Key CTRL + O can also be used.

2.	Select a strategy from the Strategy slide out menu

3.	Set the backtest properties (See the "Understanding optimization properties" section below for property definitions) and press the OK button.

The optimization progress will be shown in the Status Bar of the Control Center.

Setting the Test Range

The strategy input parameters can be expanded to display the following sub-parameters:

Min. value - The starting value you want to test
Max. value - The last value to test
Increment - The increment value (step value) used to increment the starting value by for each subsequent optimization pass

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In the image above, the input "Fast" has a starting (initial) value of 10 and an ending value of 30 with an increment of 1. This means that the first value tested will be 10, then 11, then 12 all the way through 30. The input "Slow" has a starting value of 6, ending value of 16 with an increment of 1. Based on these settings, a total of 200 (20 unique values for "Fast" multiplied by 10 unique values for "Slow") backtest iterations will be processed in order to find the optimal combination of input values based on the best result criterion.

Setting the Best Result Criterion

Optimization is based on the best result criterion you select. If you set the property "Optimize on..." to "Max. net profit", the optimizer will seek the optimal input values that return the maximum profit possible. There are over 10 different optimization criterion you can select. Please see the "Understanding Optimization properties" section below for more information.

The Best Optimization Result

Once the optimization process is complete, you will see a "Instruments" tab and a "Optimizer" tab. The "Instruments" tab will display the best optimization result for each unique instrument that was selected for optimization. Selecting each result row will display the performance data for that instrument.

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The Top Optimization Results

The Optimizer tab will display the top number of results based on the value you set for the "Keep best # results" property in the Optimizer dialog window. The column Parameters displays the optimized input values.

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1.	The optimal value for the "Fast" input for the demonstration strategy used for this optimization

2.	The optimal value for the "Slow" input for the demonstration strategy used for this optimization

Optimization Properties

Apart from the optimization specific properties described below, the properties are identical to the ones found in the backtest properties window. Please see the "Understanding backtest properties" section of the Backtest a Strategy page of the Help Guide for more information.

The following Optimization specific properties are available:

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Aggregated	If set to True, NinjaTrader attempts to find the optimal results for the whole basket of instruments. The COMBINED row in the results tab will show an aggregation of results across the basket of instruments. (This parameter is only available when an Instrument List is selected for optimization.)
Keep best # results	Sets the number of best results to display
Optimize data series	If set to true, the Data Series Value property will be available for optimization (Not supported for Kagi, PointAndFigure, and Line Break period Types)
Optimize on...	Sets the optimization criterion to base the optimization results on
Optimizer	Sets the optimization algorithm that is used. NinjaTrader comes with "Default" and "Genetic" optimizer algorithms. When the "Genetic" option is selected, the genetic algorithm's optimization properties fields will appear above "Keep best # results." You can program your own optimization algorithm using NinjaScript.