Hi, I'm pretty new to systemic trading I usually trade most on fundamentals and use TA for entry positions/exits. I've been wanting to develop a second source of returns which will be a fully systemic trading strategy. I'm mostly doing it to teach myself more about coding and data analysis but I would also like to use it to make money. That said I was hoping you guys and girls who are more experienced than me could tell me how to account for dividends in a backtest. If I am short I have to pay the dividend, Long I receive. Do software packages do this for you automatically? I've seen quite a few of you like to do your own backtests and I think I fit more into this group so how do you guys account for it? Another question I have is do you use the close or adjusted close? I have been using close as that's the numbers the model will work with but is my logic flawed?
%%$ Sounds mostly right; except a short term profit like TWM/TZA, bear profit-they pay you dividend. I tend to use a reaL time CLOSE; but adjusted close also...………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..[And you may noticed big dividend payers like XOM...…… tend to under perform/ maybe not this year]/LOL Wisdom is profitable TO DIRECT.