Market Replay
Market replay is the core technology behind TestMax. Instead of paper trading on live markets where you have no control over timing, TestMax lets you replay any historical trading session at any speed. You see real price action unfold bar by bar, place orders, and get fills against actual historical prices.
How replay works
TestMax stores historical market data at 1-second resolution for every supported instrument. When you select a date and press Play, the platform feeds this data to the chart one bar at a time, simulating the experience of watching a live market.
Here is what happens under the hood:
- Data loading — When you select a date, TestMax loads the full session of 1-second price data for that instrument and day.
- Aggregation — The raw 1-second data is aggregated into the timeframe you selected (1m, 5m, 15m, etc.). Each candle is built from the underlying 1-second ticks.
- Playback — As the replay runs, new candles are formed and delivered to the chart. The current candle updates in real time as each 1-second tick is processed, just like a live market feed.
- Order evaluation — On every tick, pending orders (limit, stop, bracket) are checked against the current price. If the fill condition is met, the order executes at the historical price.
- P&L calculation — Open positions are marked to market on every tick, and your unrealized P&L updates continuously.
Supported instruments
TestMax supports futures contracts and forex pairs across multiple asset classes.
Futures
| Symbol | Name | Exchange | Tick Size | Tick Value | Trading Hours (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NQ | Nasdaq 100 E-mini | CME | 0.25 | $5.00 | Sun 6pm - Fri 5pm |
| ES | S&P 500 E-mini | CME | 0.25 | $12.50 | Sun 6pm - Fri 5pm |
| GC | Gold Futures | COMEX | 0.10 | $10.00 | Sun 6pm - Fri 5pm |
| CL | Crude Oil Futures | NYMEX | 0.01 | $10.00 | Sun 6pm - Fri 5pm |
Forex
| Symbol | Name | Tick Size | Tick Value | Trading Hours (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD | Euro / US Dollar | 0.00005 | $5.00 | Sun 5pm - Fri 5pm |
Choosing an instrument
Each instrument has its own personality and price behavior:
- NQ (Nasdaq 100) — Highly liquid, tends to trend during the US cash session (9:30am - 4:00pm ET). Popular for momentum and trend-following strategies. Relatively high volatility with clean price action.
- ES (S&P 500) — The most liquid futures contract in the world. Smoother than NQ with less volatility per tick. Ideal for beginners and strategies that require tight spreads.
- GC (Gold) — Reacts strongly to macroeconomic events, US dollar movements, and geopolitical tensions. Often used by traders who prefer slower, more deliberate moves with occasional sharp spikes.
- CL (Crude Oil) — Volatile and news-driven, especially around weekly inventory reports (Wednesdays at 10:30am ET). High reward potential but requires careful risk management.
- EURUSD — The most traded forex pair globally. Active during the European session (2:00am - 12:00pm ET) and the London-New York overlap (8:00am - 12:00pm ET). Good for traders learning forex price action.
Timeframes
TestMax supports multiple chart timeframes, each built by aggregating the underlying 1-second data.
| Timeframe | Candle Duration | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| 1s | 1 second | Ultra-precise tick analysis, studying order flow |
| 1m | 1 minute | Scalping, micro price action, tape reading practice |
| 5m | 5 minutes | Day trading, intraday setups, most popular timeframe |
| 15m | 15 minutes | Intraday swing trades, cleaner structure |
| 30m | 30 minutes | Larger intraday moves, less noise |
| 1h | 1 hour | Intraday to multi-day context |
| 4h | 4 hours | Multi-day context and swing trading |
| 1D | 1 day | Daily structure, support/resistance levels |
Context timeframes
Experienced traders often use multiple timeframes simultaneously. A common approach:
- Higher timeframe (1h or 4h) for directional bias and key levels
- Trading timeframe (5m or 15m) for entry signals
- Lower timeframe (1m) for precise entry timing
Pro users can set up multi-chart layouts to view all three timeframes at once. See Charts & Drawing Tools for details on multi-chart configuration.
Playback controls
Play and Pause
Press the Play button or hit Space to start the replay. Candles form in real time at the selected speed. Press again to pause. When paused, the market is frozen and you can analyze the chart, draw lines, configure orders, or review your position.
Step forward
Press the Step button or hit the right arrow key to advance exactly one candle. This only works when the replay is paused. Stepping is essential for deliberate practice — it forces you to analyze and make decisions before seeing what happens next.
Speed control
The speed slider adjusts how fast the replay runs, measured as a multiple of real time.
| Speed | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| 1x | Real-time | Experience the session exactly as it happened. Feel the real pace of the market. |
| 2x - 5x | Moderate fast-forward | Speed through slow periods while still being able to react and trade. |
| 10x | Fast-forward | Cover a full session quickly. Good for scanning for setups. |
| 25x | Rapid | Quickly advance to a specific time period or area of interest. |
| 50x | Maximum (Pro) | Blitz through sessions for rapid pattern recognition. Best used with pausing at key moments. |
Speed recommendations by activity
Use 1x to 2x speed with frequent pausing and stepping. This simulates a live trading experience and builds real-time decision-making skills.
Use 10x to 25x speed to scan through a session looking for specific setups or market conditions. Pause when you spot something interesting.
Use 5x to 10x speed to get many trading reps in a short time. This is effective for internalizing chart patterns through sheer repetition.
After trading a session, replay it at 25x to 50x to quickly review what happened, pausing at your entry and exit points to evaluate decisions.
Selecting dates
Date picker
Click the date picker in the top bar to open a calendar view. Available dates are highlighted — click any highlighted date to load that session. Dates without data are grayed out.
What to look for when picking dates
Not all trading days are created equal. Here are some types of sessions to seek out for practice:
- Trending days — Strong directional moves. Great for practicing trend-following entries and trailing stops.
- Range-bound days — Price oscillates between support and resistance. Practice fading extremes and managing entries within the range.
- High-volatility events — Days with FOMC announcements, CPI releases, or earnings reactions. Practice trading around news events and managing fast-moving markets.
- Low-volatility grinds — Quiet sessions where price barely moves. Practice patience, avoiding overtrading, and recognizing when to sit out.
Data availability
- Free accounts — Access to a curated selection of dates across available instruments. The selection is designed to cover a variety of market conditions.
- Pro accounts — Full access to the complete historical archive, spanning years of data across all instruments.
Replay and order execution
During replay, orders interact with the historical data stream exactly as they would in a live market:
- Market orders fill immediately at the current bid (for sells) or ask (for buys)
- Limit orders fill when the price reaches or crosses through the limit price
- Stop orders trigger when the price reaches the stop level, then fill as a market order
- Bracket orders manage both the stop loss and take profit automatically — whichever level is hit first triggers, and the other is canceled
Because orders are evaluated against real 1-second tick data (regardless of your chart timeframe), fills are realistic. A limit order set 2 ticks below the current price will fill if the real 1-second data shows price trading at or through that level — even if the higher-timeframe candle does not make it obvious.
Tips for effective replay practice
Start with one instrument
Pick a single instrument and replay it repeatedly across many different dates. Learning the personality of one market deeply is more valuable than surface-level exposure to many markets. Most professional traders specialize in one or two instruments.
Log your observations
As you replay sessions, take notes on what you observe. What time did the best move happen? What did the price structure look like before the breakout? Use the Trade Journal to record these observations for later review.
Replay your own bad trades
When you have a losing session, replay the same date again. This time, study where you went wrong and try to make better decisions. Replaying losing sessions is one of the fastest ways to improve.
Vary the speed within a session
Do not set one speed and leave it. Professionals use high speed to scan, then slow down or step when they spot a potential trade. This mixed-pace approach mirrors the rhythm of real trading — long stretches of waiting punctuated by moments of action.