Backtesting Earnings Decisions｜Using ENTRIQ Earnings Markers

Earnings reports are an unavoidable event when trading US stocks. Prices can move sharply before and after a report, and many traders struggle with the decision of whether to hold a position through earnings or close it beforehand.

The problem is that if you try to practice this decision in live trading, each stock reports only once every three months. Something you can experience only a few times a year is hard to get better at. That is where backtesting helps: reviewing the periods around earnings on historical charts as many times as you like.

This article explains how to use ENTRIQ's earnings markers to review price action around earnings and your own decisions. If you are not yet sure what backtesting is, reading What Is Chart Replay｜Practice Trading on Past Charts first will make this article easier to follow.

What are earnings markers?

Earnings markers are a feature that lets you see at a glance where an earnings report date falls on a historical chart. When you backtest, you often want to check afterward "what was that sudden jump?" or "why was price action so volatile here?" With a marker, you can immediately check whether earnings were behind the move.

Hover over a marker to see the details of that report.

• Date: the earnings report date (e.g., 2026-04-30 (Thu))
• Actual EPS: the reported earnings per share
• Estimated EPS: the market consensus beforehand
• Difference: the gap between actual and estimate (e.g., +$0.07)
• Surprise: how far the result beat or missed the estimate

While looking at the chart, you can check "what this report said and how the price moved afterward" without searching external sites each time. The role of earnings markers is to let you review the facts of an earnings report and the price action that followed, linked together on the same screen.

Note that earnings markers are available for US stocks and require the Standard plan or higher.

Why "holding through earnings" is worth practicing with backtesting

Decisions around earnings are difficult for the following reasons.

1. You get few chances to experience them Earnings come once a quarter. If you follow just one stock, you get only four chances a year to decide whether to hold through earnings. Trying to sharpen your judgment through experience alone takes a long time.

2. Price action differs from usual Around earnings, price can swing far more than it normally does. Situations such as opening with a gap or surging or plunging right after the report are hard to experience through ordinary trend or range practice alone.

3. Emotions run high "If I hold and it jumps, that's a big win. But if it goes the other way, that's scary." Holding through earnings mixes hope and fear, which makes it easy for your decisions to waver.

Backtesting lets you address all three at once. You can recreate past earnings periods as many times as you like, without risking real money, and calmly repeat "how would I decide in this situation?"

Three ways to use earnings markers in backtesting

Use 1: Repeatedly practice decisions around earnings

Practice deciding whether to hold through earnings with the following steps.

1. Check the report date with the earnings marker and advance the chart to just before it
2. Without seeing what comes next, decide for yourself whether to hold, close, or stay out
3. Advance the candles one at a time and compare the actual price action with your decision

Repeating this with other stocks and other earnings periods shows you "what kind of decisions you tend to make around earnings." If you look at historical charts already knowing what happens next, you are simply checking your decisions against a known outcome, so not looking at future price action before you decide is essential to this practice.

Use 2: Look back at sharp moves after earnings

The day after a report the stock gapped, or it surged right after the report and then faded. Use the marker as a starting point to calmly observe situations like these. Looking at "what the report said (actual EPS, estimate, difference) and how the price moved" together helps you get a feel for how rough price action can be around earnings.

What matters here is not trying to predict price moves from earnings results. There is no simple rule such as "if EPS beats the estimate, the price always rises." The goal of backtesting is not to predict earnings but to check whether you can stick to your own decisions and rules amid the rough price action around earnings. In terms of practicing how to keep your judgment during sharp moves, the idea is the same as in How to Practice the 2008 and 2020 Crashes with Chart Replay.

Use 3: Record earnings trades with Strategy Tags

After practicing a trade around earnings, record it with a Strategy Tag (a label you give to your own method). For example, if you use tags such as "Hold through earnings" and "Close before earnings," you can later review only the trades with the same tag together.

Reviewing results by tag lets you use recorded trades rather than gut feeling to assess how you perform when holding through earnings and whether holding through or closing beforehand suits you better. How to keep records is explained in detail in How to Keep a Trading Journal with Strategy Tags.

There is one caveat, however: while you have practiced only a few times, don't draw conclusions from the numbers. Results from a handful of trades can vary widely due to chance, so you need a larger sample before treating them as evidence of a pattern. Precisely because earnings are a topic where experience builds up slowly, it makes sense to build up repetitions through backtesting.

Select a bar to check EPS and P/E

In addition to earnings markers, selecting a candle on the chart shows the EPS (TTM) and P/E ratio at that point in the info bar (US stocks, Standard plan or higher). EPS (TTM) is the sum of the reported earnings per share for the last four quarters, and the P/E ratio is the share price at that point divided by trailing EPS.

These are displayed as neutral figures only; ENTRIQ does not label anything as "undervalued" or "overvalued." They are meant as a way to check the price level in numbers, with the decision left to you. Like earnings markers, this is a feature for checking facts and does not recommend buying or selling.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Can I backtest (use Chart Replay) with earnings markers shown? Yes. While advancing a historical chart one bar at a time, you can see that an earnings date is coming up, decide whether to hold or close just before it, and then advance to check the actual price action. Being able to practice repeatedly while seeing the facts of the earnings report is the strength of combining earnings markers with backtesting.

Q. Which stocks can I use earnings markers with? US stocks. Because earnings data (actual and estimated EPS) is provided for US stocks, the markers are not shown for other instruments. The Standard plan or higher is required.

Q. Can earnings markers tell me whether a stock will rise or fall after earnings? No. A stock can fall even when EPS beats the estimate, and the reverse also happens. Earnings markers are a feature for checking past facts (report date, EPS, price action) and do not predict future prices. The purpose of using them in backtesting is to practice your own decisions amid the rough price action around earnings.

Q. Is it better to hold through earnings or close before them? There is no one-size-fits-all answer. What suits you depends on your method and the size of the move you are aiming for. That is exactly why it helps to repeat both decisions in backtesting, record them with Strategy Tags, and find the approach that suits you.

Q. Where do the EPS and P/E figures come from? The actual and estimated EPS in earnings markers and the EPS (TTM) and P/E shown when you select a bar are all based on historical reported data. Because the P/E is calculated on a trailing basis, it may differ from sites that show a forward P/E based on future estimates.

This article outlines ENTRIQ's features and trading practice methods. It does not recommend buying or selling any specific stock or guarantee any investment outcome. Figures such as EPS and P/E are reference information based on historical reported data. All investment decisions are your own responsibility.

Reproduce this validation yourself

With ENTRIQ's chart replay, you can trade through past charts using the same rules.