What's the most effective approach to testing trading ideas? I could write a program that will test certain scenarios, and backtest against data or ticking market data. But that is just too time consuming, and I want to leave that for something that I have a high confidence in. My trading involves only stocks and options. Any tricks or tips, techniques, low-cost services? Anyone used services like fiverr.com to compile research on the cheap, what advice can you give on that? What's the most effective way to gather data to test a strategy? Can someone share their experiences testing their strategies, explain how they figured out why a strategy failed? Potential pitfalls? Any tools, tips to help in gathering data? Thanks in Advance.