Charts and graphs

A finished backtest report carries several visualizations, each in a named section. This page describes every chart, the axes it uses, the controls and overlays it offers, and how to read it. The Backtester is available to Free, Pro Lite, and Pro accounts.

Before you begin

Sign in and run a backtest first. For the steps, see Run your first backtest.
Some charts appear only when the run produced the underlying data, noted on each one below.

Quickstart

Run a backtest
Go to the Backtester, build a portfolio, and select Run backtest.
Read the equity curve first
Start with the equity curve at the top of the Performance section. It is the literal dollar journey of the strategy.
Move to risk and consistency
Scroll to the drawdown chart, the rolling-stability chart, and the monthly heatmap to read the risk and consistency of the result.

What it shows

The report includes the charts described in the following sections. Each one sits inside its named report section.

Equity (growth) curve

The headline chart in the Performance section. The horizontal axis is time (dates) and the vertical axis is portfolio dollar value. A green line plots the portfolio value day by day, with dividends compounded into the line when reinvestment is on. Above the chart, a timeframe selector zooms to a trailing window: 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, or Max. Only the windows your run is long enough to support appear.

Three toggles control overlays:

Show benchmark adds a dashed grey benchmark line.
Plot dividends marks each dividend payment with an amber dot on the line.
Show regime shading tints the background by market regime: green for bull, red for bear, amber for high-volatility, and grey for sideways.

Hovering any day shows that day's value, daily return, total return so far, the drawdown if any, and whether a dividend was paid. Read it as the literal dollar journey of the strategy. A steeper line is faster growth, and the shaded bands tell you which market environment each stretch fell in.

Drawdown over time

In the Risk section. The horizontal axis is time, and the vertical axis is drawdown depth as a percentage, drawn inverted so that zero (at a new high) sits on the bottom axis and deeper losses rise upward. The filled red area shows how far below the prior peak the portfolio was on each day, and a marker pins the single worst point. Read it as a map of pain: tall regions are deep losses, and flat stretches at the baseline are periods at new highs.

Rolling stability

In the Stability over time section. The horizontal axis is time. It plots up to three lines over a rolling window: rolling Sharpe and rolling Beta on the left axis, and rolling Volatility on the right axis as a percentage. A window selector (3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years) changes how much recent history each point uses, and a caption shows the exact date range the latest point covers. A dashed reference line marks the full-run lifetime Sharpe as an anchor. Each line can be toggled on or off.

Below the chart, three cards show the Sharpe for the same end date over the last 3 months, the last year, and the whole run, to make the windowing concrete. Read it as a check on whether the strategy's edge is steady or fading: when the rolling line sits above the lifetime anchor the strategy is running hot, and when it sits below for a while the edge is weakening.

Monthly returns heatmap

In the Performance section. A grid of years (rows) by calendar months (columns), with a year-to-date column on the right. Each cell is colored by that month's return, green for gains and red for losses, with intensity scaled to the size of the move. The scale is capped at the 95th percentile of moves so one outlier does not wash out the grid. The year-to-date column compounds the year's months. Read it as a calendar of consistency: a wall of green means steady months, and scattered deep-red cells flag the worst stretches.

Allocation over time

Appears when holdings snapshots exist. A stacked-area chart with time on the horizontal axis and the percentage share of the portfolio (0 to 100 percent) on the vertical axis, showing how each holding's weight share shifted across the run. The top ten holdings by total weight each get their own colored band, and everything else is grouped into "Other." A legend lists the bands. Read it to spot concentration drift: a name whose band swells over time grew to dominate the portfolio, even without new buying.

Dividend growth

In the Dividends section, when the run paid dividends. A bar chart with years on the horizontal axis and dividend dollars per year on the vertical axis. Bars are green when that year's dividends grew over the prior year and red when they shrank. Read it as the income trajectory: rising green bars mean a growing income stream.

Daily return distribution (histogram)

Inside the Risk section's tail-risk block. The horizontal axis is daily return size as a percentage, and the vertical axis is the number of days. Bars left of zero (losses) are red and bars right of zero (gains) are green. Two red reference lines mark the 95th and 99th percentile worst-day thresholds (VaR 95 and VaR 99). Read the shape: a long left tail means rare but severe down days.

Compare-mode equity overlay

In the Compare view. The horizontal axis is time, and the vertical axis is an index value rebased to 100 at each run's start, so runs with different starting capital line up. Each selected run is one colored line, with a dashed reference at 100. Read it as a direct visual ranking of how the strategies grew relative to one another. For the full Compare view, see Saved runs and comparison.

Inputs

The charts take no numeric input. You shape them with the controls described above: the timeframe selector and three overlay toggles on the equity curve, the window selector on the rolling-stability chart, and per-line toggles on the rolling and stability lines.

Outputs and how to read them

Color is consistent across the charts. Green signals a gain or a favorable reading, and red signals a loss or an unfavorable one. The equity curve reads top-line return, the drawdown chart and the histogram read risk, the rolling-stability chart reads whether the edge holds up over time, and the heatmap reads month-to-month consistency.

How it is calculated

The charts plot standard, transparent statistics computed from the day-by-day simulated record. Two examples show the math behind what you see.

Daily return on the equity curve

Each point on the equity curve is the portfolio value that day, and the hover daily return is the percent change from the prior day.

daily return = (value today − value yesterday) / value yesterday × 100

In this formula, value today and value yesterday are the simulated portfolio values on consecutive trading days, in US dollars. For example, a value of 104,000 today against 102,000 yesterday gives (104,000 minus 102,000) divided by 102,000, times 100, which is about plus 1.96% for the day. The line uses end-of-day prices, so it moves once per trading day.

Drawdown depth

Each point on the drawdown chart is how far the portfolio sits below its highest value reached so far.

drawdown = (value today − running peak) / running peak × 100

Here running peak is the highest portfolio value reached up to that day, in US dollars. The result is zero or negative. For example, a value of 88,000 against a running peak of 110,000 gives (88,000 minus 110,000) divided by 110,000, times 100, which is a drawdown of about negative 20%. The chart draws this inverted, so deeper losses rise upward and zero sits on the baseline.

Data and timing

Every chart is built from the simulated day-by-day record, which is driven by AlphaVantage end-of-day price and dividend history, with quotes delivered through AlphaVantage from Nasdaq. The simulation uses split-adjusted prices so share counts stay consistent across splits.

Use cases

Read the equity curve with regime shading to see how the strategy behaved across bull and bear stretches.
Use the drawdown chart and histogram to judge the worst-case risk, not only the average return.
Watch the rolling-stability chart to spot a strategy whose edge is fading.

Limitations and disclosures

The charts plot hypothetical simulated results, not real trading. Some charts appear only when the run produced the underlying data, so very short runs or runs with no rebalances show fewer charts. A holding contributes to the charts only from the point its historical data begins.

GNG Research provides equity research and educational tools, not investment advice. Nothing on the platform is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Do your own research and consider your circumstances before making any investment decision.