End User Manual

Detailed instructions for configuring and operating every component of the Backtest Engine. Use this section as your in-depth reference once you have completed the Quick Start Guide and need to lock in the specifics of your data, your parameters and your execution workflow.

If you are looking for ready-made recipes (commission sweeps, rolling windows) skip ahead to Use Cases. Otherwise, work through this manual in order: start with Data Formats to understand what the engine expects, then with Configuration Reference to map your data to the engine’s vocabulary, then choose one of the two execution workflows below.

Choose your workflow

The engine supports two execution paths. Pick the one that matches how your team operates today; you can always switch later because both consume the same data and produce the same reports.

Workflow	Best fit when…
Excel Workflow	Parameters are tuned by analysts who edit Config/backtest_engine_parameters.xlsx directly. No Python needed; the run is launched from a terminal with python -m kaxanuk.backtest_engine autorun. Output is a single Excel workbook per run.
Running from Python	You need to script variations, sweep parameters, run batches of portfolios, or integrate the engine into a larger Python pipeline (CI, Jupyter notebooks, dashboards). The Excel template still works but is bypassed in favour of Configuration.with_overrides and BatchConfigParser.

What you’ll find here:

• Data Formats — market data and portfolio file specifications.

• Configuration Reference — full reference for every configuration parameter.

• Excel Workflow — step-by-step guide for the Excel-based workflow.

• Running from Python — running backtests from Python.