This page is obsolete and no longer maintained. In addition, it refers to Tick Data Suite v1.x which has a lot less features than v2. The Tick Data Suite has been rewritten from scratch to allow a much easier operation. Please head to the support page and browse the support articles for information regarding Tick Data Suite v2. In particular, you can take a look at the Quick Start Guide.

As you might already know, the Tick Data Suite is the commercial alternative to the free Birt’s patch script and it’s meant to address all the quirks with the latter and to allow providing thorough technical support to its customers. I’ve put together a small table that lists the differences between the two methods:

Feature Birt’s patch Tick Data Suite
Tick data backtesting yes yes
Variable spread backtesting yes yes
2 GB limitation removal for FXT files partial1 yes
Can use FXT files larger than 4 GB no yes
Compatibility with Metatrader 4 build 414 and above no yes
Optimization support no yes
Slippage simulation no yes
Variable spread autodetection (no configuration, no MT4 restart required) no yes
Avoids problems with regular backtesting no2 yes
No need to run a script after each MT4 restart no yes
Compatibility with 3rd party tools (such as the Walk Forward Analyzer) no yes
Technical support no yes


1 – only available for MT4 builds 405 and above if the MSVC++ 10 runtime is installed; available for builds 402 and below for select operating systems (Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008).
2 – performing a regular backtest prior to running the script and another backtest afterwards will result in a crash.