Every catalog audit runs the same documented protocol. The protocol is part of the product, and deviations are printed in the audit.
| EA | free Market demo, current version (version recorded) |
|---|---|
| Inputs | vendor defaults, untouched. We run the EA exactly as it installs, and follow the vendor's published recommendations for symbol, timeframe, deposit and leverage. No tuning, no set-file shopping. Any deviation is recorded in the audit. |
| Symbol | the vendor's advertised main symbol |
| Chart timeframe | vendor recommendation, otherwise M1 (recorded) |
| Window | the full available tick history per symbol → test date (for gold: from 2003), identical rule for all, so audits stay comparable across the catalog. v1.1/v1.2 audits used a fixed 2020-01-01 start. The window of every run is printed in its audit. |
| Data world | our custom XAUUSD symbol: native IC Markets Raw Spread ticks from 2023-07, and before that Dukascopy tick data re-based to a fixed 9 cent spread (IC quotes gold in a stable cent band, while the raw Dukascopy spreads are several times wider and would execute-kill any scalper artificially). The break point and the model character of the pre-2023 segment are stated in each audit. |
| Model | Every tick based on real ticks |
| Execution delay | 10 ms |
| Lots (v1.3) | 0.01 fixed base lot (or the EA's smallest fixed setting). Built-in progressions such as martingale or grid chains stay ON: they are the mechanics we measure. What we remove is balance coupling (percent risk, auto lot), so the dollar trade sequence becomes capital-independent. Any changed input is recorded in the audit. |
| Deposit / leverage (v1.3) | 100,000 USD at 1:5000, identical for all runs. Both are measurement settings, not a recommendation. The deep buffer and maximal leverage keep the tester from censoring the trade sequence with margin rejections, so the audit sees everything the EA intends to do. What a real account survives is then computed, not assumed: the death chain, the capital ladder and the what-if tables run on the vendor's recommended deposit (1,000 USD when none is published), and headline percent figures are quoted arithmetically on that vendor deposit. |
Protocol versions. Every audit states the protocol version it ran under. v1.1/v1.2 audits (the original catalog) used the vendor's recommended deposit and leverage directly. v1.3 (adopted 2026-08-16) introduced the standard measurement frame above. The two are not mixed inside one audit.
Trading costs in our data world. Catalog reruns execute on our custom XAUUSD symbol built from IC Markets tick data. Swap is modeled natively by the tester from the symbol properties (-59.285 points long, +40.792 short, triple swap on Wednesday). We verified real swap deals in the reports. Commission is not modeled by the tester on our price histories, so the engine retrofits it deterministically at 3.50 USD per lot per side on every deal, rebuilds the balance chain, and prints the retrofit line in the cost waterfall. An EA that never holds overnight legitimately shows zero swap. The audit distinguishes that from a missing cost model.
The audit engine then reconstructs every trade from the deal list, validates the pairing against the tester log (or the report's own holding-time figures), verifies the balance to the cent, and runs the detectors and prop-firm simulations. Same inputs → same audit, bit for bit.
20260811.log,
20260812.log, …). Keep all of them, they are one run.