The Tradytics backtester: plain-words strategies on real flow, dark pool and option quotes
By Faizan Ahmad. Updated .
The Tradytics backtester tests a strategy you describe in plain words on real market data: an AI analyst writes the test, runs it in a sandbox and shows the equity curve against SPY, every trade, Sharpe, drawdown, win rate and the code it ran.
It is the only backtester that runs on every options flow order since March 31, 2025 (19.96 million), ranked dark pool prints since October 2024 and Kalshi and Polymarket markets, with options filled at the real bid and ask from March 2022. Free runs 1 backtest a day, Plus 5 and Pro 25.
What you can test
| Data | Span | How it's used |
|---|---|---|
| US stocks and ETFs | Daily since 2003, minute bars | Split adjusted, dividends paid, fundamentals as they were known on each day |
| Options | Real quotes since March 2022 | Bought at the ask, sold at the bid, $0.65 a contract, held to a date or settled at expiry |
| Options flow | Every order since March 31, 2025 | Side, premium, sweeps, opening orders, size against open interest |
| Dark pool prints | Since October 28, 2024 | Every block, its size and rank against the stock's year |
| Prediction markets | Kalshi and Polymarket, since 2021 | The chance of a Fed cut, a CPI print or an index close as a signal for stocks and options |
What a test looks like
The four starting cards in the app show the range:
- Mag 7, equal weight, rebalanced monthly over five years.
- The five stocks with the most dark pool dollars each week, held for the week.
- The ten stocks with the most call premium bought at the ask each week.
- SMH when Kalshi's Fed market favors a cut, QQQ otherwise.
Ask for a follow-up in the same thread ("now only when the VIX is under 20", "use the 30-delta call instead") and the analyst reuses what it built.
What every result shows
- The equity curve against SPY and against buy and hold of the same names.
- Every fill and every round trip, with dates and prices.
- Return, Sharpe, drawdown and win rate.
- The same strategy after trading costs, and on the final stretch of the period, untouched while the rule was built, so a rule that only worked in hindsight shows it.
- The code that ran.
Why the fills are real
A signal only uses what was known at the time: fundamentals from their filing date, flow and dark pool prints after they printed, fills after the signal. No option is priced from a model. The research behind Signals showed why this matters: a flow pattern worth 69 basis points in the stock lost 37% per trade once it was filled on real option quotes.
Who else backtests on this data
Checked on each platform's own site, November 5, 2026.
| Platform | Backtesters elsewhere |
|---|---|
| Tradytics | Plain words; stocks since 2003, real option quotes since March 2022, every flow order since March 2025, dark pool prints since October 2024, Kalshi and Polymarket |
| Unusual Whales | Stock and ETF portfolios, set up as a form |
| TrendSpider | No-code rules on charts; in its own words, it "can not backtest indices or options data" |
| TradingView | Pine Script code on chart data |
| Trade Ideas | OddsMaker: stock alerts over the last 60 days, no bid-ask spread |
| Quiver Quantitative | Congress and fund-holdings backtests, stocks |
| Bullflow | Replays one day of its alerts through the API |
| Finviz | Shut down March 26, 2026 |
| Market Chameleon | Fixed option backtest templates, ask or mid entry |
| MenthorQ | How often its own levels held |
| Barchart | Its opinion signal, on stocks |
Plans
| Free | Plus | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backtests a day | 1 | 5 | 25 |
| Price | $0 | $39 a month | $69 a month |
Open it from the Backtest button beside Chat on any page, or at tradytics.com/backtest.
Common questions
Can I backtest options flow?
Yes. Tradytics keeps every options flow order since March 31, 2025. Describe a rule like "buy the call when someone sweeps more than $5M at the ask" and it is tested on that history with real option quotes.
Can I backtest options strategies with real prices?
Yes. Every option trade fills at the real bid and ask at that moment from March 2022 on, with $0.65 a contract, and a contract held to expiry pays its intrinsic value.
Do I need to code?
No. You write the strategy in plain words; the analyst writes and runs the code and shows it with every trade.
Can I backtest a prediction market signal?
Yes. Kalshi and Polymarket markets since 2021 are in the sandbox, so "hold SMH when the Fed market favors a cut" is a one-line test.
How many backtests do I get?
Free runs 1 a day, Plus 5 for $39 a month and Pro 25 for $69 a month.