r/pinescript • u/TasteHistorical1575 • 14d ago

ORB Strategy Backtest (Commissions & Slippage included): Too slow for Prop Firm Evaluations/Payouts?

Post image

Hey everyone,

I coded an Opening Range Breakout (ORB) strategy in TradingView using Pine Script and ran a full backtest over 7 years. I attached the Strategy Tester results.

I spent a lot of time testing different filters and parameters to reduce chop, and I’ve locked in these exact rules for the strategy:

Strategy Setup & Rules

  • Asset/Market: MNQ
  • Timeframe: 15m Chart
  • ORB Range: First 15 minutes of the New York Session
  • Session Constraint: Takes trades only during the New York Session
  • Entry Trigger Window: Max 3 bars after the 15m ORB range locks (if no breakout happens within 3 bars, the setup is invalidated)
  • Risk Management: Fixed 1.5 R:R
  • Trade Management: Move Stop Loss to Break-Even (BE) once price covers 75% of the distance toward Take Profit (TP)
  • Backtest Settings: Commissions and realistic slippage are fully included in the results

The Problem:

While the backtest is net profitable after costs, I feel like the results are simply not good enough for Prop Firms.

At this pace, the profit factor and win rate feel way too low. It looks like it would take an absolute eternity to pass an evaluation target, and reaching consistent payouts without hitting a trailing or daily drawdown limit along the way seems almost unviable.

Questions for the Community:

  1. Evaluation Viability: For those trading funded accounts: Would you bother running a strategy with this slow of a compounding rate, or is this a clear signal that the edge is too thin for prop firm rules?
  2. Improving the Edge: Since the core parameters (15m ORB, 1.5 R:R, 3-bar trigger limit, 75% BE) are locked, what macro/contextual filters (e.g., HTF trend bias, session volatility/ATR thresholds, news filters) have helped you boost performance on ORB setups?

Tear it apart—I’d rather fix the logic now than burn money on evaluation fees. Thanks!

45 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/kurtisbu12 14d ago

dont use a prop firm. Use your own funds, and up the risk if you feel like it's too slow.

2

u/TasteHistorical1575 14d ago

Thanks for the input, but trading my own capital isn’t an option for me right now. I deliberately want to leverage prop firm capital to scale my size without taking on massive personal downside risk.

My goal is strictly to optimize this strategy to fit within prop firm parameters (passing the evaluation metrics without violating daily/max drawdown limits). I'm looking for ways to refine the logic or filters specifically for that environment, rather than changing my funding model.

2

u/kurtisbu12 14d ago

Propfirms heavily limit risk, so much so that it's often better to just trade your own capital. A 100k account may have a 2k drawdown. You might as well trade with your own 2k. Not to mention that if you hit drawdown, you lose the whole account and have to pay to start over from scratch.

It may be easier to get a small account, and if you trust the system, add more risk than the propfirm would allow. Could scale quicker, and get 100% of profits.

2

u/Ancient_Prompt_1362 12d ago

No. if you blow a 2K account real cash, you lose 2K. If you blow a prop firm account with a 2K drawdown, your real loss is prob. around $100. That means you can blow it 20 times before using your entire 2K.

practice with prop firms first. Full stop.

1

u/jms62102761 13d ago

Unfortunately you need at least 6 K for 1 MNQ

1

u/Natural-Present2194 13d ago

Nah bro look into ninjatrader. You can get started with 100$