When is a bot “ready” for live trading?

Many bots “fail” not because the idea is bad, but because builders skip steps: they trust a backtest too early, over-optimize settings, or never verify what the bot is actually doing candle-by-candle.

This article gives you a practical workflow to validate a strategy from first build to live execution.

Disclaimer

This is educational content only and not financial or investment advice.

Step 1 — Start with a strategy (don’t start from a blank canvas)

If you don’t have a strategy idea yet, start with proven examples and adapt from there:

Trading Bot Library: prebuilt strategies, price action patterns, management templates, and portfolios
(Link your library section here)
Build From Scratch: guided fundamentals and “core logic” articles
(Link your build-from-scratch section here)

Step 2 — Verify the logic in Visual Mode (before trusting any backtest)

Before you care about performance, confirm the bot behaves correctly.

In MT5 Strategy Tester (Visual Mode), check:

Are entries triggered where you expect?
Are SL/TP levels placed correctly?
Do time/session filters behave correctly?
Do “one trade per day/session” rules work as intended?
Are trades blocked by a condition you forgot about?

Use the Journal (this is where the truth is)

Most “my bot is not trading” issues are explained in the Journal:

Terminal Toolbox → Journal (live trading)
Strategy Tester → Journal (backtests)
Visual mode → Journal (visual backtests)

Pro move: Keep Journal open while running Visual Mode.

Step 3 — Backtest with realistic assumptions

Backtests are screening tools. They tell you if a strategy is worth deeper validation.

Minimum standard:

Test multiple years (not a cherry-picked window)
Include realistic spread/commission assumptions (and expect slippage in live)
Ensure you have enough trades to judge anything (more trades = more signal)

If your bot only makes a handful of trades, it may look “amazing” by accident.

Step 4 — Avoid over-optimization (this is where most bots die)

Over-optimization creates bots that look perfect in the past and collapse in the future.

Rules to keep your bot robust:

Optimize max 1–2 inputs at a time (ideally 1)
Prefer parameter ranges that work over one perfect value
Validate on unseen data (out-of-sample), not only the period you optimized on

Step 5 — Run quick robustness checks (Pareto tests)

Before forward testing, do a few “cheap stress tests”:

Out-of-sample check: test on a different period than you optimized on
Sensitivity check: small parameter tweaks should not kill performance
Cost check: increase spread assumptions; does it still survive?

If the bot breaks easily, it’s fragile, not robust.

Step 6 — Forward test on a demo account (same broker conditions)

Forward testing answers a different question than backtesting:

Does the strategy hold up in real-time execution, with real spreads, market behavior, and platform quirks?

How to do it:

Run demo with the broker/account type you plan to use live
Don’t tweak settings daily (that ruins validation)
Track: trade frequency, behavior, execution, max drawdown

Minimum timeframe:
4–6 weeks (longer is better), or enough trades to be meaningful for your strategy frequency.

Step 7 — Go live small (this is still forward testing)

The first live phase is for execution validation, not “getting rich.”

Start small and confirm:

Execution/slippage reality
Platform reliability (terminal uptime, VPS, reconnects)
Your operational discipline (no panic edits)

Scale only after stable live behavior over time.