Question about select different pair for backtesting from Freq UI

[pilchor]

Subject: Feature Request – Ability to Select Specific Pairs in Backtest UI

Dear Freqtrade team,

From the FreqUI interface, it seems currently not possible to select specific pairs from the configured pairlist for running a backtest.

While the pairlists configuration is recognized, it is not linked to any visible selection mechanism in the backtest section of the UI. It would be very useful to have a pair selection feature (similar to how we can choose a timeframe) that allows us to run a backtest only on selected pairs (e.g. BTC/USDC:USDC and ETH/USDC:USDC).

Below is an excerpt of my current configuration using the latest version of FreqUI (2.0.1). I have tested various configurations, but it appears that selecting specific pairs from the UI before launching a backtest is not supported.

"pairlists": [
{
"method": "StaticPairList"
}
],

"exchange": {
"pair_whitelist": [
".*/USDC:USDC"
],
"pair_blacklist": []
}

Thank you for your work and for considering this feature.

Best regards,

[xmatthias]

That's correct - and is currently not something supported (it's also not really high on the priority list).
There's 2 problems with that - backtesting via ui is made to iterate quickly (as the data remains loaded).
Changing pairs would require unloading and loading data again. That's not necessarily a problem - but will make the backtest automatically a lot slower.

The other (probably bigger) problem is data.
To execute a (successful) backtest, you must have data available for the full period.
selecting random pairs won't really ensure that that's the case.
Behavior in that case would be odd - as you selected the pair - but it won't be backtested as no data is available (the logs will contain this info - but do you check the logs for that info?? ).

We could limit selection of pairs to "pairs with available data" - but that's agian odd, as it'll be unclear "why is ETH/USDT not in the list?" - it's because you don't have data for that pair.

Backtesting shouldn't however mess with the data - so adding a "download eventual missing data" is not a feature we're considering.
that can/will obstruct with reproducibility (your data changes, so will your results ...).

[pilchor]

Thank you for your reply.

I understand the constraints, and I agree that ensuring data availability and consistency is essential. However, I believe adding a pair selection feature could be a valuable improvement, especially for users who rely heavily on the UI and may not have access to the command line.

Of course, it would require proper handling of missing data, but maybe a message such as "Only pairs with available data are selectable" or a post-backtest note like "No data available for pair ETH/USDT" could help clarify things without confusing users.

From what I've seen, the current behavior already seems to skip pairs with no data or out-timerange data during backtest (though I might need to perform additional testing to fully confirm this behavior).

[xmatthias]

From what I've seen, the current behavior already seems to skip pairs with no data or out-timerange data during backtest (though I might need to perform additional testing to fully confirm this behavior).

That's correct - but (especially from the ui) - it's absolutely not obvious that you should check the logs for this message.