Commission Profiles in Backtick

Last updated July 3, 2026

Commission profiles make your backtests honest: they model the per-contract commissions and fees your broker really charges, so a strategy that only works commission-free gets exposed before it goes live.

Where commission profiles live

Open the Backtick menu and choose Commissions Profiles to view, create, and edit your profiles. You can also create a profile on the spot while building a Backtick, from the Commission Profile card in the builder. Every Backtick run applies exactly one profile, and the builder shows a Commission Profile Summary of what the selected profile will charge.

Each profile has a Profile Name and an optional Default Profile switch that makes it the preselected choice for new Backticks.

Commission Settings: the per-contract rates

The Commission Settings section holds the core rates, split by product type:

  • Equity Options Commission and Index Options Commission each take a Commission Per Contract amount, plus optional Minimum Commission Per Leg and Maximum Commission Per Leg caps. Index options often carry different rates than equity options at real brokers, and the profile lets you mirror that.
The commission profile editor showing the profile name, Set as Default toggle, and per-contract rates for equity and index options
A profile named for its broker, with separate equity and index per-contract rates.

Advanced Settings: order limits, waivers, and special fees

The Advanced Settings section models the finer print of a real commission schedule:

  • Per-Order Charge Limits: an optional Order Minimum Charge and Order Maximum Charge, applied per order rather than per contract, for brokers that floor or cap the total ticket charge.
  • Free Premium Settings: many brokers waive the commission on cheap options, for example buying back a short for five cents or less. Set a Free Open Premium or Free Close Premium threshold, then use Free Opens for Short and/or Long and Free Closes for Short and/or Long to say which side of the trade the waiver applies to. Trades at or under the threshold are commission-free in the simulation, just as they would be at the broker.
  • Assignment Fees: what your broker charges when a short option is assigned, as an Assignment Fee Per Contract with optional minimum and maximum caps.
  • Special Symbol Additional Fees: extra commission or exchange fees for specific symbols. Click Add Symbol Fee, enter the symbol name and the per-contract extra charge, and the surcharge applies on top of the regular rates whenever that symbol trades. This is how you model index products that carry exchange fees the rest of your trading does not.

Archiving and deleting profiles

Profiles you no longer use do not have to be destroyed:

  • Archive Profile hides the profile from selection lists but keeps it available for history, so old runs still show the costs they were tested with. Archived profiles can be restored later.
  • Delete Profile removes it permanently.

When a broker changes your rates, the cleanest pattern is to archive the old profile and create a new one, so past and future runs each reflect the schedule that was real at the time.

Getting the numbers right

Pull your real rates from a recent broker statement rather than the broker's marketing page, since negotiated and tiered rates are common. If you trade at more than one broker, build one profile per broker and name them accordingly. You can set your everyday profile as the default in Backtick User Settings, alongside your other Default Backtick Settings.

  High-frequency strategies are the most commission-sensitive. If a backtest's edge disappears when you switch from a zero-commission profile to your real rates, the edge was the missing commissions, not the strategy.
Was this helpful? Thanks for the feedback! Thanks for letting us know. Need a hand? Contact support.
Related
  Copy, Rerun, and Import Backticks Backtick User Settings and Simulation Realism