Windows
Options backtesting that runs on your PC
A 64-bit Windows build. Multi-leg strategies, charged fills and parameter sweeps up to 10,000 cells, computed on your own threads against a chain cached on your own disk. $49 once.
On your threads
What a desktop engine does that a tab cannot
Cores you already paid for
A grid of up to 10,000 cells is split across the threads in your machine and run at once. A sixteen-thread desktop works sixteen cells at a time, and nothing about that is metered, queued or capped at a number of runs a day.
Studies keep running offline
Every pull lands as Parquet on the local disk and replays with no connection. The laptop on a flight runs the same study the desktop ran the night before, from the same files.
The ticker list is your vendor's
SPX, SPXW, XSP, NDX, RUT, SPY, QQQ, IWM and single names all load through one path, because the roots come from the data subscription you bought rather than from a platform's approved list.
One licence covers both platforms
A key activates three machines across Windows and macOS, so a desktop and a laptop run off the same purchase, and retiring a machine releases its seat from inside the app.
The field
Options backtesting is a browser category
Option Omega, Option Alpha, Whispertrades, GreeksLab, MesoSim and ORATS all run hosted, so the compute, the ticker list and the history depth belong to the vendor and arrive on a tier. The desktop side of the category is older and thinner. OptionNET Explorer is Windows-native at about £500 plus VAT a year, around $660, and moves through history a step at a time on mid prices with no export. QuantShare is a Windows application covering forex, futures, options and ETFs.
Volatlas installs on the machine, runs the backtest there, and hands back the trade log, equity curve, summary stats and the whole sweep grid as CSV. Prices and platforms shown as of August 2026.
Common questions
Running it on Windows
- Which versions of Windows are supported?
- A 64-bit build for Windows 10 and 11. The installer sets the app up for the current user, so it asks for no administrator rights, and the engine is compiled rather than interpreted, which is why a sweep is bound by your cores rather than by a server you share.
- What else backtests options on Windows without a browser?
- The desktop end of this category is thin. OptionNET Explorer is Windows-native at about $660 a year, steps through history by hand rather than testing a rule set, and exports nothing. QuantShare is a Windows application spanning forex, futures, options and ETFs. Everything else in options backtesting is hosted, so the compute and the ticker list belong to the vendor.
- 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.
- How large a sweep will my machine run?
- Up to 10,000 cells per grid, spread across your threads. What bounds it is cores and memory rather than a plan, so the same licence sweeps harder the day you upgrade the machine.
- 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 Mac build?
- Yes, a signed and notarised universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel, and the same licence covers it. The strategy files and the Parquet cache are the same on both, so a study moves between machines by copying a folder.
Install it on the machine
$49 at the founder price, rising to $99, with lifetime updates, three machines and a thirty day refund. Add a data month from your own vendor and the sweeps after that are bound by your hardware.