Compared with Whispertrades
A Whispertrades alternative with no meter running
Volatlas charges once for the engine and nothing per run, so a parameter grid costs the same as a single backtest. Market data is bought from your own vendor and cached on your disk.
Side by side
What each one does with a backtest
| Volatlas | Whispertrades | |
|---|---|---|
| One backtest | Included in the licence, with no per-run charge. | Up to $37.50 over the full history, since a backtest is capped at 75 positions billed at $0.50 each. Shorter windows are prorated. |
| A 500-cell sweep | Included. The grid expands and runs in parallel against one cached chain. | 500 separate backtests, each billed by the position. |
| Positions per backtest | No cap. A daily 0DTE rule over several years runs end to end. | 75. |
| Quote resolution | 1-minute, with stops and targets resolved a second at a time inside the bar. | 10-second. |
| History depth | Whatever you pull. Databento's OPRA history opens in 2013, ThetaData reaches four to twelve years by tier. | 2016 to present. |
| Underlyings | Any root your data vendor sells, including XSP, NDX and single names. | Five tickers. |
| Fills | Halfway between the mid and the side you are crossing to, plus commission on every contract. | Not documented publicly. |
| Your data | Cached as Parquet on your own disk and replays with no vendor involved. | Held by the platform and reached through it. |
| Payment shape | $49 once, rising to $99, one year of updates, then data you buy from your vendor. | A prepaid balance drawn down per position, with no subscription. |
| Platform | macOS desktop, signed and notarized, Apple Silicon and Intel. | Web, so any operating system with a browser. |
Whispertrades figures come from its own published pricing and documentation, shown as of August 2026.
Cost over three years
Where the two curves cross
| What you pay | Three years |
|---|---|
| VolatlasLicence once, plus four research months a year on ThetaData | $529 |
| VolatlasLicence once, plus a year of 1-minute SPX weeklies on Databento each year | $862 |
| WhispertradesOne backtest over the full history, at the 75-position cap | up to $37.50 |
| WhispertradesA 500-cell sweep over the full history, at the same cap | up to $18,750 |
Whispertrades rows are its published $0.50 per position against the documented cap of 75 positions per backtest, so a backtest holding fewer positions costs less and shorter windows are prorated. Volatlas rows are the $49 licence plus data billed to your own account, either four months a year of ThetaData’s $40 cancel-anytime tier or a year of 1-minute SPXW quotes on Databento at about $271 including contract definitions. Prices shown as of August 2026.
Which to pick
Where Volatlas lands
- You map a parameter space rather than run one backtest at a time.
- Your rule set opens more than 75 positions over the window you care about.
- You want history before 2016.
- You want a root outside a five-ticker list.
- You want the downloaded chain to stay on your disk.
- You work on a Mac.
Common questions
Switching and setup
- Is Whispertrades cheaper?
- For a single backtest, yes. One run over the full history tops out at $37.50 against a $49 licence plus a data subscription. The arithmetic turns once you sweep, because a grid is that price times the number of configurations on Whispertrades and is included on Volatlas.
- What does the data cost on top of the licence?
- On Databento a year of 1-minute SPX weekly quotes runs about $263, plus about $8 of contract definitions, metered and billed to your own account, and new accounts start with $125 of credit. ThetaData starts at $40 a month for four years of history and is cancel-anytime.
- How large can one backtest be?
- There is no position cap. The limits are what your data covers and what your disk holds, and a year of 1-minute SPX is about 184MB.
- Does it keep working when my data subscription lapses?
- Yes. Everything you download is cached as Parquet on your own disk and replays with no vendor involved.
- Does Volatlas place trades?
- No. You build, test and sweep in Volatlas and trade wherever you already trade.
Run the grid, not the meter
A 10,000-cell sweep costs what a single backtest costs, because the chain is already on your disk and the engine runs on your own machine.
Buy Volatlas, $49