A robust validation method for trading strategies. It involves repeatedly optimizing strategy parameters on an “in-sample” historical window and then testing them on the immediately following “out-of-sample” period. For example, a forex robot might fit a model on data from January–June, then test it on July data, then roll forward by one month and repeat. This simulates a live environment and helps assess strategy stability. Walk-forward analysis is considered the “gold standard” in validating trading systems because it evaluates performance over multiple sequential periods, highlighting how well the model adapts to changing market dynamics. It prevents over-optimistic results that can arise from a single-period backtest.

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