Forex Data Manager is a tool to prepare your own test data files, which is especially handy for batch testing.
Why is it needed? To make your testing very efficient.
If you test on the original historical market data files, the testing might take days to complete. Because these can be very large.
For example, if you use (as we do) free monthly tick data files provided by truefx.com, they can be several hundred of MegaBytes in size.
This is why we added the batch testing feature. It helps you to only test the most interesting market action and don’t waste time for the rest. You can compile a test batch from a relatively small test files and run them all automatically one after another.
With the Data Manager, making these test files is very easy.
First, you load a master data file in the program. For example, a monthly file we mentioned above.
Then, you view the market action, zoom in if needed, and find the market action that you would like to test your strategy against. Then you save it as a separate file, which is much smaller in size. So the tests can be completed in much shorter time.
This way, you can compile different test batches that evaluate your strategy in different market conditions. For example, you can prepare a batch that will have a set of market action for different currencies after a rate decisions or other major news announcements.
Another examples can be a set of powerful trends, sudden trend reversals, etc.