When you Automate RTrader strategies, backtesting is crucial — but be careful. Some strategies show unreal profits by entering and exiting trades on the same candle. These “same-bar trades” may look smart but can seriously mislead you.
What Are Same-Bar Trades?
Same-bar trades happen when your strategy buys and sells within the same candle—as if it magically knows the high and low in advance. In TradingView or RTrader, you might see entries and exits plotted on the same bar. This can be misleading.
In real markets, you can’t predict how a candle will move until it’s closed. But many strategies act like they do, showing perfect entries and exits on historical data.
The Problem: Look-Ahead Bias
This is called look-ahead bias. Your strategy uses information that would only be available after the candle closes. So, your automation—especially if you’re trying to Automate RTrader—might behave differently in real trades.
Same-bar trades are impossible to replicate accurately in live markets. They give you a false sense of success, showing perfect trades that don’t happen in real time.
Why Your Backtest Might Be a Lie
These fake trades inflate backtest results. You might see a profit factor of 1.22 that stays the same across timeframes—1-day, 1-hour, 1-minute. That’s a red flag.
Strategies that rely on same-bar logic often:
- Enter and exit within seconds
- Assume exact price levels already happened
- Ignore slippage or delay
This can wreck your trading plan once you go live.
Final Tips: How to Avoid Fake Same-Bar Profits
- Disable same-bar entries if your platform allows it
- Use bar-close logic to trigger signals
- Check if the strategy works across live, paper, and backtest modes
- Double-check results using PickMyTrade with Automate RTrader
Want to Trade Smarter?
- Automate RTrader, Interactive Brokers, or Tradovate with PickMyTrade.io
- Trade with Kill Switch protection and real-time chart syncing
- Join our Discord to get smart trading alerts and strategy breakdowns
Also Checkout: Top Free Indicators and Strategies on TradingView
