macOS
Options backtesting that runs on your Mac
A native build for Apple Silicon and Intel. Multi-leg strategies, charged fills and parameter sweeps up to 10,000 cells, computed on your own machine against a chain cached on your own disk. $49 once.
Local execution
What running on the machine buys you
Sweeps use your cores
A grid of up to 10,000 cells runs in parallel on the machine in front of you. There is no queue, no per-run cap and no tier that meters how often you may search a parameter space.
The chain sits on your disk
Everything you pull is cached as Parquet locally and replays without a connection. A study you ran last year still runs, and costs nothing to run again.
Any root your vendor sells
SPX, SPXW, NDX, RUT, SPY, QQQ, IWM and single names load the same way, because the ticker list is whatever you bought rather than whatever was bundled.
Apple Silicon and Intel
A signed native build for both, not a browser tab and not an Electron wrapper around a hosted app.
The field
Where the other tools run
Options backtesting is a browser category. Option Omega, Option Alpha, Whispertrades, MesoSim, ORATS and eDeltaPro are all hosted, so the compute, the ticker list and the history depth belong to the vendor and arrive on a tier. OptionNET Explorer is a Windows desktop tool at about $660 a year. thinkorswim runs on macOS, and its OnDemand mode replays a session by hand rather than testing a rule set across years.
Prices and platforms shown as of August 2026.
Common questions
Running it on macOS
- Is there anything else that backtests options on macOS?
- Most of the field is browser-based, which runs on a Mac the same way it runs anywhere. OptionNET Explorer is Windows only. thinkorswim runs on macOS but its OnDemand mode replays sessions by hand rather than testing a rule set. Volatlas is the one that installs on the machine and runs the backtest there.
- Which macOS versions are supported?
- Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, with a signed and notarised build for each. The engine is compiled rather than interpreted, so a sweep is bound by your cores rather than by a server you share.
- Where does the market data come from?
- Your own vendor account, either ThetaData monthly or Databento metered. Nothing is bundled and nothing is resold, so the data bill stops when the research stops. The calculator prices a window on both.
- Does it need to be online?
- Only to pull new history and to check the licence. Backtests and sweeps read the local cache, so they run on a plane as happily as at a desk.
- What does it charge for a fill?
- Entries and exits price halfway between the mid and the side you are crossing to, every contract pays commission, and open positions are charged Reg T margin with uncovered rules included. An entry the account cannot carry is skipped and counted rather than filled.
- Is there a Windows build?
- Yes, 64-bit Windows, and the licence covers the platform you bought it for.
Buy the licence once
$49 at the founder price, rising to $99, with lifetime updates and a thirty day refund. Market data is billed to you by your own vendor, at the rates they publish.