5 Backtesting Mistakes That Cost Crypto Traders Thousands

5 Backtesting Mistakes That Cost Crypto Traders ThousandsBacktesting is supposed to save you money. You run your strategy against historical data, see the results, and decide whether to risk real capital. Simple, right?Except most traders do it wrong. They see beautiful backtest results, go live, and watch their account bleed. Here are the five mistakes I've seen (and made) that turn backtesting from a safety net into a false sense of security.## 1. Testing Only on Bull MarketsThis is the most common mistake and the most expensive one.If your historical data starts in January 2024 and ends in March 2025, you've only tested on one of the strongest bull runs in crypto history. Congratulations -- your strategy "works" when everything goes up. The fix: Always include at least one bear market period in your data. If you're using Freqtrade: bash# Bad: only bull marketfreqtrade backtesting --timerange 20240101-20250301# Good: includes the 2022 bear + 2023 recovery + 2024 bullfreqtrade backtes