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Installation

Requirements and versions

backtrader is self-contained with no external dependencies (except if you want to plot)

Basic requirements are:

  • Python 2.7

  • Python 3.2 / 3.3/ 3.4 / 3.5

  • pypy/pypy3

Additional requirements if plotting is wished:

  • Matplotlib >= 1.4.1

    It may work with previous versions, but this the one used for development

NOTE: At the time of writing Matplotlib is not supported under pypy/pypy3

Python 2.x/3.x compatibility

Development takes place under Python 2.7 and sometimes under 3.4. Tests are run locally with both versions.

Compatibility with 3.2 / 3.3 / 3.5 and pypy/pyp3 is checked with continuous integration under Travis

Install from pypi

For example using pip:

pip install backtrader

easy_install with the same syntax can also be applied

Install from pypi (including matplotlib)

Use this if plotting capabilities are wished:

pip install backtrader[plotting]

This pulls in matplotlib which will in turn pull in other dependencies.

Again you may prefer (or only have access to …) easy_install

Install from source

First downloading a release or the latest tarball from the github site:

And after unpacking run the command:

python setup.py install

Run from source in your project

Download a release or the latest tarball from the github site:

And then copy the backtrader package directory to your own project. Under a Unix-like OS for example:

tar xzf backtrader.tgz
cd backtrader
cp -r backtrader project_directory

Remember that you would then need to manually install matplotlib for plotting.