claudegoodies
Skill

backtesting-frameworks

From wshobson

Build robust backtesting systems for trading strategies with proper handling of look-ahead bias, survivorship bias, and transaction costs. Use when developing trading algorithms, validating strategies, or building backtesting infrastructure.

Facts

Repository
wshobson/agents
Status
Actively maintained
Last commit
Source file
plugins/quantitative-trading/skills/backtesting-frameworks/SKILL.md

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The instructions Claude Code reads when this skill runs.

# Backtesting Frameworks

Build robust, production-grade backtesting systems that avoid common pitfalls and produce reliable strategy performance estimates.

## When to Use This Skill

- Developing trading strategy backtests
- Building backtesting infrastructure
- Validating strategy performance
- Avoiding common backtesting biases
- Implementing walk-forward analysis
- Comparing strategy alternatives

## Core Concepts

### 1. Backtesting Biases

| Bias             | Description               | Mitigation              |
| ---------------- | ------------------------- | ----------------------- |
| **Look-ahead**   | Using future information  | Point-in-time data      |
| **Survivorship** | Only testing on survivors | Use delisted securities |
| **Overfitting**  | Curve-fitting to history  | Out-of-sample testing   |
| **Selection**    | Cherry-picking strategies | Pre-registration        |
| **Transaction**  | Ignoring trading costs    | Realistic cost models   |

### 2. Proper Backtest Structure

```
Historical Data
      │
      ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Training Set               │
│  (Strategy Development & Optimization)  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
      │
      ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             Validation Set              │
│  (Parameter Selection, No Peeking)      │
└────────────────────────────
View full source on GitHub →

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