Backtest · TSLA
Backtest TSLA — Candle by Candle
Tesla is the megacap that behaves like a small cap, and that is precisely why people want to backtest it and precisely why most of those backtests are wrong. Its realised volatility has spent long stretches at two to three times AAPL's, which means a stop distance carried over from any other name in this list is the wrong stop — usually by enough to turn a profitable rule into a losing one, or the reverse.
Volatility is not a detail here, it is the variable
The single most useful test to run on TSLA is not your entry. It is your stop. Take your existing rules, run them with a fixed percentage stop, then run them again with a stop sized to recent range — an ATR multiple, or the prior session's range — and compare. On most instruments those two produce similar results. On Tesla they routinely do not, because its range changes by a factor of three between quiet months and news months.
The archive contains both of the extremes you need for that: the 2020 run, the 2022 decline, and the long consolidations in between. Two of Tesla's splits are in the file too — 5-for-1 in August 2020 and 3-for-1 in August 2022 — both back-adjusted, so the chart is continuous across them.
The other TSLA-specific trap is that it trades on scheduled non-financial events. Delivery numbers, shareholder meetings and product announcements move it as hard as earnings do. If your rule has no explicit position on "an event is tomorrow", you are not testing a strategy, you are sampling one.
What the TSLA data actually is
The archive runs from May 2018 to the most recent session we hold, on every timeframe from one minute to monthly. It is open from the first chart — there is no plan that unlocks more of it, and no shorter window for people who have not paid.
Equity data here is regular hours only — 09:30 to 16:00 New York, no pre-market and no after-hours. That is not a gap in the data, it is what an equity session is, and it has a consequence worth planning for: every trading day opens with a gap rather than continuing from the previous close, so any rule you carried over from an index future or an FX pair is about to meet a discontinuity it has never been tested against.
Prices are split-adjusted throughout, so a chart of 2019 shows what you would compare against today rather than the raw tape. Getting this wrong is the classic silent equity-backtest bug: an unadjusted series prints a 90% single-day crash on the split date, and a stop-loss rule tested through it produces numbers that mean nothing.
How to backtest TSLA without fooling yourself
Pick one volatility regime and finish it before you touch another. Running 2020 and 2023 together and averaging the result tells you about neither.
Size every test properly — on a stock that can move 8% in a session, an untested position size is the fastest way to a backtest whose drawdown is fiction. The position size calculator and the risk of ruin calculator are the two worth having open beside the chart.
Then check the result against a calmer name. If the same rules also work on MSFT, you have a strategy. If they only work on Tesla, you have a volatility bet with a strategy written on it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tesla backtesting free?
Yes, and there is no card and no trial timer. You get Tesla back to May 2018, with every tool the product has, for 2,000 candles of replay — about two hours of stepping through a chart. After that you top up for $5, or pay $19.99 once and never think about it again. Nothing you buy expires. Every timeframe from one minute to monthly is included, which matters on TSLA because the intraday range is where most of its rules live.
Are the 2020 and 2022 Tesla splits handled?
Yes. Both the 5-for-1 in August 2020 and the 3-for-1 in August 2022 are back-adjusted, so the series is continuous and a stop tested across those dates behaves correctly rather than registering an 80% overnight fall.
What timeframe is best for backtesting TSLA?
The one you trade — but be aware that Tesla's character changes more between timeframes than most names. Its 1-minute chart is genuinely noisy and its daily chart trends hard, so a rule proven on one is not evidence about the other.
Can I backtest TSLA intraday?
Yes, on real one-minute regular-hours data from May 2018. The opening 30 minutes is a different market to the rest of the session on this stock in particular, and testing them separately is usually more informative than testing the day as a whole.
Open TSLA and start stepping
Real Tesla history, split-adjusted, one candle at a time. No account, no card, 2,000 candles free.
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