Best Order Flow Backtest Software: Features and Pricing

If your main goal is to backtest order flow instead of live trade, the best software is usually the one that lets you replay deeply granular historical data with the least setup friction.

That is where browser-based replay becomes compelling. You can load years of historical futures data and replay the market tick by tick using footprint charts, DOM, and time and sales instead of relying on coarse candle-only backtests.

Quick Comparison

FeatureSierra ChartQuantowerMarketByOrder
Platform costPaidPaidPaid plans + daily preview
Platform typeWindows desktop onlyWindows desktop onlyBrowser (no install, any device)
Market replayYesYesYes
Live tradingYesYesNo (replay-focused)
Footprint chartsYesYesYes
Volume profileYesYesYes
DOM / ladderYesYesYes
Time & salesYesYesYes
Setup complexityHigh (install + config + data/broker setup)Medium (install + broker/data setup)Low (browser, nothing to install)

Pricing Breakdown

Quantower

  • Platform + Data: ~$90-$110/month

Sierra Chart

  • Platform + Data: ~$66-$86/month

MarketByOrder

  • Free daily access: up to 3 replays with 5 minutes of total replay time
  • More replay time: requires a paid plan

See current plans and pricing. Our market data is included; optional Databento usage is billed separately.

Why It Works for Backtesting

Order flow backtesting is different from indicator backtesting. You are not just asking whether a candle closed above or below a moving average. You are replaying the actual sequence of trades and liquidity changes so you can study execution, absorption, pace, and reaction at each level.

With a paid plan, you can work through longer sessions using years of granular futures data.

How it works

  1. Create a MarketByOrder account
  2. Load a symbol and choose a session
  3. Replay the market tick by tick

The practical benefit is simple: you can go far beyond a one-day sample. Pull up older sessions, review recurring behaviors, and practice the same setup across many different market conditions.

Designed for Practice and Replay

Traditional platforms like Sierra Chart and Quantower are built for live trading workflows, which adds setup complexity (broker connections, data feeds, configuration).

This platform is optimized for skill development: replay, experiment, and understand order flow without the overhead.

If you want to see what that looks like in practice, try this hands-on MNQ footprint replay example.

Time Replayed

2h 34min

Total session time

Trades Taken

3

Total completed trades

Win Rate

66%

Profitable trades / total

No completed trades yet.

Practice order flow in your browser

Start practicing

See plans and pricing