Financial Disclaimer
Last updated: May 13, 2026
0. Summary
BacktestFolio is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) for historical simulation, backtesting, and quantitative analysis of portfolios and financial instruments, made available for informational, educational, and research purposes. The results provided by the platform consist of computational outputs generated on the basis of parameters selected by the user and historical data sourced from third parties or input by the user.
What BacktestFolio is not designed to do:
- BacktestFolio is designed and presented as a technical quantitative analysis tool and not as an investment advisory service within the meaning of Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II), the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), the US Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Australian Corporations Act 2001, Italian Legislative Decree No. 58/1998 (TUF), or equivalent legislation in any other jurisdiction.
- It is not a portfolio management service, an order reception and transmission service, an order execution service, an underwriting or placement service, nor a generic or personalized investment advisory service.
- It does not present its outputs as investment recommendations, opinions on the suitability of any financial instrument for the user's profile, trading signals, ratings, or target prices.
- It does not solicit public savings or investments, and does not promote, market, or distribute financial instruments, packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs), securities, derivatives, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or insurance-based investment products (IBIPs).
- It does not execute, receive, or transmit orders, hold client funds or financial assets, or manage portfolios on behalf of any user.
What BacktestFolio IS:
A SaaS application that — on the basis of inputs provided by the user (tickers, weights, time horizon, rebalancing rules, withdrawal parameters, etc.) and historical market data obtained from third-party providers — performs deterministic calculations producing quantitative metrics (returns, volatility, drawdown, Sharpe ratio, efficient frontier, Monte Carlo simulations, etc.). The results are computational outputs, not opinions.
The regulatory classification of the service depends on its actual features, the manner in which it is presented to the public, and the laws applicable in each jurisdiction. Accordingly, no statement in this Disclaimer should be construed as an absolute or universal declaration applicable regardless of specific factual circumstances.
Fundamental responsibility principle:
⚠️ The user is solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The results produced by BacktestFolio are hypothetical, retrospective, and subject to structural limitations described in § 4. Before making any financial decision, the user must independently assess their personal, financial, tax, and risk situation and, where appropriate, seek the advice of a qualified and licensed financial or tax professional.
This Disclaimer supplements the Terms and Conditions and must be read in conjunction with them. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency regarding financial-regulatory matters, this Disclaimer shall prevail.
1. Legal classification of the service
1.1 Technical Nature
BacktestFolio is designed and provided as a quantitative analysis and historical simulation software product. The user independently selects all input parameters, and the platform returns computational outputs derived from the mathematical methodologies described in the service.
Unless otherwise expressly stated for specific features introduced in the future, the service is not designed to formulate personalized recommendations based on the user's individual financial profile, nor to express any judgment on the advisability, suitability, or appropriateness of any specific investment or strategy for any particular user.
1.2 Exclusion from Investment Advisory Services
Based on the current configuration of the service, BacktestFolio is designed and presented as a technical quantitative analysis tool and not as an investment advisory service. In particular, the platform's outputs are not presented as, and do not constitute, personalized recommendations addressed to a specific user with respect to one or more transactions involving financial instruments.
The legal classification of any service depends on its actual functionality, the content and tone of communications addressed to the public, the degree of personalization of the user experience, and the laws applicable in the relevant jurisdiction.
| Jurisdiction | Definition of advice | Elements of the current service configuration relevant to classification | |---|---|---| | United Kingdom | Article 53 FSMA 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 ("advising on investments") + FCA PERG 8 | No "advice on the merits" of any specific investment; purely technical and educational tools | | USA | Section 202(a)(11) Investment Advisers Act of 1940 | Publication of a general nature; general analytical tool, not personalized advice (see § 1.4) | | EU | Art. 4(1)(4) MiFID II — "the provision of personal recommendations to a client, either upon its request or at the initiative of the investment firm, in respect of one or more transactions relating to financial instruments" | No personalized recommendation: the output is a deterministic mathematical function of the user's inputs | | Germany | § 2 (8) Nr. 10 WpHG (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz) | Idem; does not fall within Anlageberatung | | France | Art. L. 321-1, 5° Code monétaire et financier ("conseil en investissement") | Idem | | Italy | Art. 1, paragraph 5-septies TUF (Legislative Decree No. 58/1998) — implementing MiFID II | Idem | | Switzerland | Art. 3 lit. c FinSA (Financial Services Act) | No financial service within the meaning of FinSA: no "investment advice" and no "portfolio management" | | Australia | s. 766B Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — "financial product advice" | Information-only; falls within the factual information exemption under ASIC RG 244 | | Canada | NI 31-103 + CSA Staff Notice 33-315 | No specific "advice on securities"; falls within the general information exceptions | | Singapore | s. 2 Financial Advisers Act 2001 | No advice as defined; pure historical analysis | | Japan | Art. 2(8) Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) | No "investment advisory business" as defined | | Brazil | Art. 1 Resolução CVM 178/2023 | No "análise" or "consultoria" addressed to specific investors |
1.3 Exclusion from Other Regulated Activities
Based on the current technical and contractual configuration of the service, BacktestFolio is not designed to carry out regulated or reserved financial activities such as, by way of example:
- Discretionary or individual portfolio management (e.g., under Art. 4(1)(8) MiFID II, FCA "managing investments", or Italian TUF);
- Reception, transmission, or execution of orders on behalf of clients;
- Dealing on own account (dealing as principal);
- Underwriting or placement of financial instruments, with or without a firm commitment;
- Custody, safekeeping, or sub-custody services for client funds or financial instruments;
- Financial planning or generic advice within the meaning of the US Investment Advisers Act of 1940 or the Australian Corporations Act 2001;
- Robo-advisory activities: BacktestFolio does not generate automated investment advice or portfolio allocations based on user profiling; the user retains full discretion over inputs and the interpretation of outputs;
- Credit rating activities or credit rating agency activities within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009;
- Benchmark administration or provision of indices within the meaning of the EU Benchmark Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/1011, "BMR").
1.4 Stated Orientation for US Users and Publisher's Exclusion
For users located in the United States, BacktestFolio operates as an impersonal tool for the analysis and publication of general financial information, without establishing an individual fiduciary relationship with any user and without providing personalized recommendations on specific securities, transactions, or investment strategies.
Accordingly, the service is structured to comply with the "publisher's exclusion" from the definition of an "investment adviser" under Section 202(a)(11)(D) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States in Lowe v. SEC, 472 U.S. 181 (1985):
- The service is impersonal in character, providing identical computational tools and outputs to all users based on their inputs;
- There is no fiduciary relationship or client-specific undertaking to protect or manage the interests of any individual user;
- The service does not provide timed, event-driven recommendations to specific clients in response to market events;
- The publication and tools are of a bona fide character, of general and regular circulation, and are not designed to promote or distribute specific financial products of the provider or any third party.
Any regulatory classification under US federal or state law remains subject to the actual features of the service and applicable legal standards.
2. Stated Regulatory Posture of the Service
BacktestFolio is offered solely as a quantitative analysis and historical simulation software tool, and not as a regulated investment service provider or financial intermediary. Based on this configuration, the provider does not represent, warrant, or imply that it operates as an investment firm, a licensed financial adviser, a portfolio manager, a broker-dealer, a custodian, or any other entity authorized to carry out regulated financial activities.
The absence of registration or authorization in financial registers must be interpreted strictly in light of the current functional scope of the service, and not as a general declaration valid in any jurisdiction regardless of future modifications to the product, its features, or applicable regulations.
If the service is expanded in the future to include features such as user profiling, personalized recommendations, direct integration with trading platforms for order routing, or other functions that could affect its regulatory status, the legal and regulatory posture of the service will be reassessed.
To the provider's knowledge and based on the current configuration of the service, BacktestFolio is not registered, licensed, or authorized by any financial regulatory authority, nor is it required to be so:
| Country / Area | Authority | Register / authorization | |---|---|---| | United Kingdom | FCA | FS Register (Authorised Firm, Appointed Representative) | | USA — federal | SEC | Investment Adviser Registration (Form ADV); Broker-Dealer Registration (Form BD); CTA/CPO with CFTC | | USA — state | State Securities Regulators | Blue Sky filings | | European Union | ESMA / national authorities | MiFID II registers for investment firms | | Germany | BaFin | KWG / WpHG register | | France | AMF + ACPR | REGAFI register; ORIAS (intermediaries) | | Italy | CONSOB | SIM register, UCITS register; OCF (independent financial advisers) | | Spain | CNMV | Register of Investment Services Firms | | Netherlands | AFM | DNB-AFM register | | Switzerland | FINMA | Register of financial institutions under FinSA/FinIA | | Australia | ASIC | Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) | | Canada | CSA / CIRO | Registered Adviser; Investment Dealer; PM/EMD | | Singapore | MAS | Capital Markets Services Licence; Financial Adviser's Licence | | Hong Kong | SFC | Type 4 / Type 9 licensing | | Japan | JFSA / KLFB | Type II Financial Instruments Business; Investment Advisory and Agency Business | | India | SEBI | Investment Adviser Registration | | Brazil | CVM | Consultor de Valores Mobiliários register; CVM Analyst register |
Based on its current configuration and scope, BacktestFolio does not fall within the scope of, nor is it subject to, the regulatory regimes governing financial products, services, or intermediaries, including but not limited to: the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014), the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) (Regulation (EU) No 600/2014), the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) (Regulation (EU) No 596/2014), the Prospectus Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1129), the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) (Directive 2011/61/EU), the UCITS Directive (Directive 2009/65/EC), the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or any equivalent national or international legislation.
3. Scope of Features: What BacktestFolio Does and Does Not Do
3.1 Provided Features
BacktestFolio provides, strictly for educational, research, and historical analysis purposes, a suite of deterministic computational tools that, based on user-selected inputs, calculate and display:
- Real and nominal historical returns of portfolios composed of one or more listed financial instruments;
- Quantitative risk and return metrics (including volatility, maximum drawdown, Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, Calmar ratio, beta, and asset correlations);
- Mean-variance efficient frontier modeling and efficient-set optimization;
- Monte Carlo and historical bootstrap simulations;
- Scheduled withdrawal projections (including «safe» withdrawal rate (SWR) modeling, Trinity Study rules, and Guyton-Klinger dynamic guardrails);
- Accumulation models (goal-seeking) and what-if scenario analyses over multi-year horizons;
- Comparative analysis of mutual funds and ETFs (including Total Expense Ratio (TER), asset class recomposition, tracking error, and top holdings).
All calculations performed by the platform are deterministic mathematical functions of the inputs provided by the user. Under identical input parameters, the output is identical for all users.
These features are tools for technical processing, statistical modeling, and historical comparison. Their availability does not imply that BacktestFolio expresses any investment preference, endorses any asset allocation, or provides any personalized judgment on the suitability of a given portfolio for any specific user.
3.2 Excluded Capabilities
Unless otherwise expressly stated in future versions of the service, BacktestFolio is not designed to, and does not:
- Formulate opinions or conduct assessments on the suitability of any financial instrument for the user's financial situation, risk tolerance, or investment objectives;
- Formulate opinions or conduct assessments on the appropriateness of any transaction;
- Recommend, advise, or solicit the purchase, holding, or sale of any specific financial instrument or asset class;
- Assign credit ratings, investment ratings, target prices, or price forecasts;
- Execute, clear, or settle orders on any financial market;
- Route orders to brokers, banks, dealers, or exchanges via APIs, webhooks, or other automated communication protocols, nor maintain any direct technological integration with third-party trading platforms;
- Hold, custody, or safeguard financial instruments, securities, or client funds;
- Offer, issue, or distribute financial instruments or investment products;
- Promote or solicit subscriptions for third-party financial products (BacktestFolio maintains no commercial partnerships, affiliate marketing arrangements, or distribution agreements with fund issuers, brokers, or asset managers);
- Promise, guarantee, or imply that its use will produce favorable financial outcomes, generate profits, mitigate risk of loss, or align with any specific investor profile;
- Guarantee any minimum return, maximum risk threshold, or capital preservation.
3.3 Absence of User Profiling
BacktestFolio does not collect, process, or utilize user data for the purpose of formulating personalized investment recommendations or profiling users' financial capacities, unless a specific future feature is introduced that is expressly governed by separate terms.
4. Hypothetical Nature of Backtests and Structural Limitations
The backtest results generated by BacktestFolio are hypothetical historical simulations and do not represent actual trading or transactions executed on any financial market by any investor. These simulated results are subject to structural, inherent, and unavoidable methodological limitations that the user must thoroughly understand and account for:
4.1 Hindsight Bias
Backtests are, by definition, conducted retrospectively with the benefit of historical data. A strategy or asset allocation that appears "optimal" in a backtest is rarely so ex ante (looking forward). This limitation is inherent to all historical simulations and cannot be mathematically eliminated.
4.2 Survivorship Bias and Selection Bias
Available historical market datasets tend to over-represent financial instruments, indices, mutual funds, and markets that have survived to the present day. Instruments that have been delisted, liquidated, merged, or bankrupt are often omitted from historical databases, which systematically biases historical returns upward.
4.3 Transaction Costs and Taxation Limitations
The simulations performed by the platform do not fully model or reflect:
- Trading costs (including broker commissions, exchange fees, bid-ask spreads, and market impact);
- Management and administrative fees not embedded in the Net Asset Value (NAV) (such as custody fees, account maintenance fees, or advisory fees);
- Opportunity costs associated with holding cash or liquid assets required to execute rebalancing rules;
- Individual taxation (including capital gains taxes, dividend withholding taxes, transaction taxes, wealth taxes, tax-loss harvesting rules, or tax-deferred withdrawal rules for retirement accounts), which vary significantly based on the user's tax residency, income bracket, and legal structure;
- Slippage and execution delays, particularly during periods of extreme market volatility or illiquidity.
4.4 Look-Ahead Bias in Underlying Data
Certain historical data series (e.g., retrospective index reconstitutions, corporate earnings revisions, or first-release vs. final inflation figures) may contain implicit look-ahead bias, making simulated historical performance appear more favorable than what could have been achieved in real-time execution.
4.5 Regime Changes and Non-Stationarity
Financial markets are non-stationary systems. Macroeconomic regimes, monetary policy frameworks, interest rate environments, inflation dynamics, market microstructures, and investor demographics shift over time. Historical correlations and volatilities between asset classes are unstable and tend to break down or shift abruptly, especially during systemic market crises.
4.6 Black Swan Events and Tail Risk
Historical return distributions, standard deviation metrics, and correlation matrices systematically underestimate the probability and magnitude of extreme market shocks (fat tails or black swan events). Monte Carlo simulations that rely on normal or log-normal distributions share this structural limitation and fail to model extreme, non-linear tail risks.
4.7 Inaccuracies and Discontinuities in Market Data
The historical data utilized by BacktestFolio is sourced from third-party data providers (including EODHD, FRED, and others listed in the service documentation). This data may contain:
- Errors, data gaps, or publication delays;
- Methodological changes by index providers (index reconstitution, changes in weighting methodologies, or component substitutions);
- Corporate actions (such as stock splits, mergers, spin-offs, or extraordinary dividends) that may not be adjusted uniformly across all series;
- Splicing or back-filling of data (e.g., extending a recently launched ETF's history backward using its underlying index's performance).
BacktestFolio does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of data supplied by third-party providers and disclaims all liability for errors, delays, or omissions therein.
Similarly, where the platform permits the manual entry of parameters or the upload of custom historical data (such as CSV files), BacktestFolio accepts no responsibility or liability for distorted, erroneous, or misleading outputs resulting from inaccurate, incomplete, or unrepresentative user inputs.
4.8 Limitations of Quantitative and Optimization Models
The risk metrics generated by BacktestFolio (such as historical volatility, maximum drawdown, Value at Risk (VaR), and expected shortfall) are retrospective statistical measures of past distributions and do not constitute reliable predictors of future risk. Portfolio optimization models (such as Markowitz mean-variance optimization) are highly sensitive to input parameters and tend to amplify estimation errors, leading to highly unstable or impractical asset allocations when applied to future periods.
4.9 CFTC/NFA Standard Warning on Hypothetical Performance
For users in the United States or those familiar with the regulatory standards of US authorities, BacktestFolio voluntarily displays the standard warning prescribed by NFA Compliance Rule 2-29(c)(6) and CFTC Regulation 4.41(b):
"HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE THE RESULTS SHOWN IN AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, THESE RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, BECAUSE THESE TRADES HAVE NOT ACTUALLY BEEN EXECUTED, THESE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER- OR OVER-COMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE BEING SHOWN."
The methodological limitations detailed in this section pertain strictly to the statistical, historical, and hypothetical nature of the simulations and do not exclude, limit, or waive any statutory, non-waivable consumer rights to which the user may be entitled under applicable digital service conformity or consumer protection laws.
5. General Financial Risk Warnings
The following list is provided for informational purposes only and is not an exhaustive catalog of all risks associated with investing. Investing in financial instruments involves substantial risk, including the inherent possibility of the partial or total loss of the capital invested. Users must be aware of the following primary risk factors:
- Market Risk: The risk that the market value of securities or asset classes will fluctuate due to broader economic, political, or market-specific factors;
- Credit and Default Risk: The risk that an issuer of a debt security or a counterparty to a transaction will fail to meet its financial obligations;
- Liquidity Risk: The risk that an asset cannot be bought or sold quickly enough or at a fair price due to market thinness or disruption;
- Currency (Exchange Rate) Risk: The risk that fluctuations in exchange rates will adversely affect the value of investments denominated in foreign currencies;
- Interest Rate Risk: The risk that changes in prevailing interest rates will negatively impact the market value of fixed-income securities (bond prices fall when interest rates rise);
- Inflation Risk: The risk that the purchasing power of capital or investment returns will be eroded over time by rising consumer prices;
- Operational and Cyber Risk: The risk of loss resulting from inadequate internal processes, system failures, human error, fraud, or cyberattacks targeting platforms, custodians, or issuers;
- Regulatory and Tax Risk: The risk that changes in laws, regulations, or tax codes will adversely affect investment returns, transaction structures, or the legal status of specific assets;
- Sovereign and Country Risk: The risk that political instability, expropriation, nationalization, or capital controls in a specific country will impair investment values;
- Concentration Risk: The risk of heightened volatility or loss resulting from a lack of diversification across asset classes, sectors, or geographic regions;
- Systemic Risk: The risk of a widespread collapse or severe disruption of an entire financial system or global market;
- Model Risk: The risk that quantitative models, historical assumptions, or statistical parameters fail to accurately reflect future market realities (as detailed in § 4).
6. Specific Asset Class Disclosures
6.1 Equities and Equity ETFs
Equities are volatile instruments subject to significant price fluctuations and historical drawdowns exceeding 50% in major markets. The value of an equity investment can decline to zero in the event of issuer insolvency, bankruptcy, or delisting. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) that track equity indices inherit all risks of the underlying index and introduce specific risks, including tracking error, liquidity mismatches, and structural counterparty risks (for synthetically replicated ETFs).
6.2 Fixed Income (Bonds) and Bond ETFs
Fixed-income securities are exposed to interest rate risk (bond prices fall as interest rates rise), credit risk (the risk of issuer default or credit rating downgrade), inflation risk (eroding real yields), and reinvestment risk. In low-yield, negative-rate, or high-inflation environments, even sovereign bonds of the highest credit quality can experience substantial real (inflation-adjusted) capital losses. Bond ETFs may exhibit different price behaviors than individual bonds held to maturity, as they do not have a fixed maturity date and are constantly rebalanced.
6.3 Commodities and Commodity ETFs
Commodities are subject to extreme volatility driven by geopolitical events, supply chain disruptions, weather conditions, and seasonal demand. Commodity ETFs typically gain exposure via derivative contracts (futures) rather than physical storage. Consequently, they are subject to roll yield risk (losses or gains from rolling futures contracts, known as contango and backwardation), which can cause the ETF's performance to diverge significantly from the spot price of the underlying commodity.
6.4 Currencies and Foreign Currency Exposure
Investments in assets denominated in foreign currencies expose the user to foreign exchange risk. Fluctuations in exchange rates can severely diminish or completely erase investment returns when translated back into the user's domestic currency. Currency hedging strategies implemented by certain funds carry additional costs and rarely eliminate exchange rate risk entirely.
6.5 Leveraged, Inverse, and Derivative Instruments
Leveraged and inverse financial instruments (such as CFDs, futures, options, and leveraged or inverse ETFs) are highly complex and carry extreme risk. They can result in losses exceeding the initial capital invested or the complete liquidation of the investment within extremely short timeframes. Historical simulations on these instruments fail to adequately model critical real-world risks, including margin calls, forced liquidation, and path-dependency (the compounding effect of daily-leveraged rebalancing, which causes long-term returns to diverge drastically from the simple multiple of the underlying index). BacktestFolio explicitly discourages using its computational outputs as a basis for trading leveraged or derivative instruments.
6.6 Crypto-Assets and Digital Assets
Crypto-assets (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital tokens) are highly speculative and carry unique, extreme risks:
- Extreme Volatility: Price fluctuations are far greater than in traditional asset classes and cannot be reliably modeled using the limited historical data available (typically less than 15 years);
- Severe Operational and Custody Risk: Digital assets are highly vulnerable to hacking, smart contract exploits, protocol failures, loss of private keys, and the insolvency or fraud of unregulated digital asset exchanges and custodians;
- Regulatory and Legal Instability: The regulatory framework for digital assets is rapidly evolving (e.g., the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation — MiCA, or shifting US SEC and CFTC enforcement postures). Regulatory crackdowns, bans, or restrictive tax treatments in individual jurisdictions can abruptly destroy market liquidity and asset value;
- Asymmetric Liquidity: Trading volumes can be highly fragmented across venues, leading to severe slippage during market stress;
- Irreversibility of Transactions: Transactions on blockchain networks are permanent and irreversible, meaning losses from fraud, error, or theft cannot be recovered.
BacktestFolio's simulations involving crypto-assets are provided for strictly educational and academic purposes and do not constitute an endorsement of the suitability, safety, or legitimacy of digital assets for any category of investor.
6.7 Illiquid, Alternative, and Private Market Assets
Alternative investments (such as hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, unlisted real estate, infrastructure, and equity crowdfunding) present specific risks, including extreme illiquidity, lack of public pricing transparency, long lock-up periods, and redemption gates. These characteristics cannot be modeled by a backtesting platform designed for public market data. Any available historical index data available for alternative assets (e.g., hedge fund database indices) is heavily distorted by survivorship bias, self-reporting bias, and backfill bias.
7. User Responsibility and Autonomy
7.1 Independent Decision-Making
The user retains sole, exclusive, and absolute responsibility for all investment, divestment, asset allocation, and trading execution decisions. The outputs generated by BacktestFolio are purely technical and informational tools and can never substitute for the user's independent qualitative and quantitative assessment of their own financial objectives, personal circumstances, tax liabilities, and risk tolerance.
Nothing in this Disclaimer is intended to exclude or limit the provider's liability in jurisdictions where such exclusions or limitations are prohibited by applicable law.
7.2 Mandatory Pre-Investment Assessments
Prior to making any financial or investment decision based, in whole or in part, on the outputs of the service, the user is strongly advised and expected to independently evaluate:
- Their personal financial, tax, retirement, and family situation;
- Their risk tolerance profile, investment time horizon, liquidity requirements, and prior knowledge and experience in financial markets;
- The official regulatory disclosure documents (including Key Information Documents (KIDs/KIIDs), prospectuses, and annual reports) of any specific financial instruments under consideration;
- The advisability of seeking professional, personalized counsel from a licensed and qualified financial, legal, or tax adviser in their local jurisdiction;
- The fundamental financial principle of never investing capital that they cannot afford to lose entirely.
This service does not perform any suitability, appropriateness, or know-your-customer (KYC) assessments, as are legally required of regulated investment firms and financial advisers.
7.3 Prohibition of Exclusive Reliance
The user expressly acknowledges and agrees that BacktestFolio's outputs must not be used as the sole or primary basis for making any investment, financial planning, or tax decisions. The platform's outputs are limited historical and quantitative computations subject to the structural boundaries detailed in this Disclaimer.
7.4 Execution on Third-Party Trading Platforms
BacktestFolio maintains no technological integration, commercial connection, or operational link with brokers, banks, digital asset exchanges, or trading platforms. The execution of any asset allocation or portfolio simulated on the platform—whether performed manually or via automated third-party tools—is entirely at the user's discretion and sole risk.
BacktestFolio shall not be liable under any circumstances for:
- Order-entry errors (including "fat-finger" errors), typographical errors, or incorrect ticker, quantity, or price inputs made by the user on any external platform;
- Slippage, adverse bid-ask spreads, or market impact costs incurred during real-world execution;
- Price or performance discrepancies between the platform's historical simulation environment and real-time market conditions at the moment of execution;
- The unavailability, technical malfunction, latency, or operational limitations of any third-party broker, custodian, or trading platform utilized by the user.
This section governs solely the user's autonomous decision-making regarding external order execution and does not limit any non-waivable statutory rights the user may possess against the provider regarding the conformity and performance of the digital service itself.
8. Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability
8.1 Nature of Service and Exclusion of Financial Warranties
BacktestFolio is provided as a quantitative computation and historical simulation software service. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. The provider makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, that the service's outputs are fit for any specific investment purpose, nor that their use will result in profitable outcomes, prevent financial losses, or align with the specific financial needs of any user.
Nothing in this Disclaimer shall exclude or limit the provider's statutory obligations to supply the digital service in conformity with contract, provide necessary security and functional updates, or respect the non-waivable statutory remedies available to consumers under EU Directive 2019/770, the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015, or equivalent national consumer protection laws.
8.2 Limitation of Liability for Financial Decisions
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, BacktestFolio and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and data providers shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, trading losses, capital losses, or opportunity costs, arising from investment, divestment, or trading decisions made by the user based, in whole or in part, on the platform's outputs. All such decisions are made at the user's sole discretion and risk.
Furthermore, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the provider disclaims all liability for inaccuracies, gaps, delays, or discontinuities in third-party market data or user-uploaded inputs, except where such damages arise directly from a breach of non-excludable statutory or contractual obligations.
Nothing in this Disclaimer excludes or limits liability for willful misconduct, gross negligence, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, personal injury, death, or any other liability that cannot be lawfully excluded or limited under applicable law.
8.3 Liability Cap
Subject to the exclusions in § 8.2 and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the total aggregate liability of BacktestFolio for all claims, damages, or losses arising out of or in connection with the supply of the service shall be limited:
- For paying subscribers: to the total amount actually paid by the user to the provider in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to liability, in alignment with the liability cap established in the "US Users" section of the Terms and Conditions;
- For free tier users: to the minimum extent permitted by applicable law, without prejudice to non-waivable consumer remedies for digital service non-conformity.
8.4 Non-Waivable Consumer Protections
No provision within this Disclaimer is intended to exclude, limit, or prejudice the statutory, non-waivable rights of consumer users under applicable local laws. This includes, where relevant, remedies for failure to supply digital content, lack of conformity of digital services, or rights that cannot be contractually waived in advance.
Any contractually agreed limitation of liability for willful misconduct (dolo) or gross negligence (colpa grave) is strictly excluded to the extent prohibited by law. The protections afforded to consumers by the Italian Consumer Code (D.Lgs. 206/2005), the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015, the EU Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83/EU), the Australian Consumer Law, and equivalent consumer protection statutes in the user's country of residence shall remain fully unaffected.
9. Jurisdiction-Specific Disclosures
The disclosures below are descriptive and informative of the regulatory boundaries within which BacktestFolio is currently presented. They do not constitute an exhaustive or definitive legal opinion on the service's status in any jurisdiction, which remains subject to locally applicable laws and the actual functional features of the service.
9.1 United Kingdom
The service is structured and presented to remain outside the scope of "financial promotion" under Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and outside the scope of regulated activities under the FSMA (Regulated Activities) Order 2001. BacktestFolio is not an authorized firm or an appointed representative under the FCA. However, this Disclaimer voluntarily adopts the principles of clarity and fairness outlined in the FCA Handbook, specifically COBS 4.5 (Fair, clear and not misleading) and COBS 4.6 (Past performance and representative models). For UK consumers, the statutory protections of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 apply in full.
9.2 United States of America
- Federal Securities Law (SEC): The service is structured to comply with the "publisher's exclusion" from the definition of an investment adviser under Section 202(a)(11)(D) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as interpreted in Lowe v. SEC, 472 U.S. 181 (1985). No information or tool provided on the platform constitutes investment advice, a recommendation of any security, or a solicitation of any transaction under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934;
- Federal Commodities Law (CFTC): To the extent any simulated instruments qualify as commodities, commodity interests, or swaps, the service constitutes a general-circulation publication of mathematical analyses and does not provide commodity trading advice under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act or CFTC Regulations 4.7 and 4.14;
- State Blue Sky Laws: The service does not constitute investment advice or investment advisory services under the Uniform Securities Act or the securities laws of any US state;
- FINRA: BacktestFolio is not a broker-dealer and is not a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA);
- Dispute Resolution: US users are subject to the jury trial waiver and class action waiver set forth in the "US Users" section of the Terms and Conditions.
9.3 European Union / EEA
The use of BacktestFolio by EU/EEA consumers is protected by the non-waivable provisions of Directive 2011/83/EU (Consumer Rights Directive) and Directive (EU) 2019/770 (Conformity of Digital Services). For financial-regulatory matters, the service is designed to remain outside the scope of regulated investment services under Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II).
- Germany: The service does not constitute Anlageberatung under § 2 (8) Nr. 10 of the Wertpapierhandelsgesetz (WpHG);
- France: The service does not constitute conseil en investissement under Article L. 321-1, 5° of the Code monétaire et financier;
- Italy: The service does not constitute investment advice under Article 1, paragraph 5-septies of the TUF (D.Lgs. 58/1998) or the CONSOB Intermediaries Regulation (Reg. 20307/2018).
9.4 Australia
The information and tools provided are presented as factual information or general mathematical modeling, structured to fall within the factual information exemptions under ASIC Regulatory Guide 244 and ASIC Information Sheet 80. The service does not constitute "financial product advice" under Section 766B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). BacktestFolio does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). For Australian consumers, the non-waivable consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) apply in full.
9.5 Canada
The platform's outputs are presented strictly as general financial information and do not constitute advice on securities under National Instrument 31-103 (NI 31-103) or provincial Securities Acts. BacktestFolio is not registered as an adviser or investment dealer with any Canadian Securities Administrator (CSA) or the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO).
9.6 Switzerland
The service is structured to remain outside the scope of financial services under the Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA / LSerFi) and does not trigger any prospectus requirements (Wertpapierprospekt) thereunder. For Swiss consumer users, Swiss law applies in accordance with the "Exception for Consumers in Switzerland" section of the Terms and Conditions.
9.7 Brazil
The information provided is presented strictly as general market information (informação geral de mercado) and does not constitute investment advice (consultoria de valores mobiliários) or security analysis (análise de valores mobiliários) under Resolução CVM 178/2023 or Lei 6.385/1976. BacktestFolio is not registered with the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM). For Brazilian consumer users, the non-waivable protections of the Código de Defesa do Consumidor (Lei 8.078/1990) apply in full.
9.8 Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, India, and other Asian jurisdictions
The service is structured to remain outside the scope of regulated or licensed financial activities under the Financial Advisers Act 2001 / Securities and Futures Act (Singapore), the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Hong Kong), the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (Japan), or the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations 2013 (India). BacktestFolio does not actively solicit or target retail investors in these jurisdictions.
9.9 Sanctioned or Restricted Jurisdictions
BacktestFolio does not offer its services to residents, citizens, or entities located in jurisdictions subject to comprehensive unilateral or multilateral international sanctions (including those administered by the EU, US OFAC, UN, or UK FCDO). The user is solely responsible for verifying the lawfulness of accessing and using the service under their local laws. The provider reserves the right to immediately restrict or terminate access to comply with applicable international sanctions or regulatory restrictions.
The legal robustness of these jurisdictional disclosures, and the regulatory status of the service as a whole, depends on the absolute consistency of all public-facing communications (including website copy, landing pages, pricing tables, social media posts, and onboarding flows). This Disclaimer is a necessary but not solely sufficient component to maintain the unregulated status of the platform.
10. Marketing, Educational, and Promotional Materials
Any content published by BacktestFolio or its representatives—including website copy, blog posts, social media content, webinars, videos, podcasts, newsletters, or email communications—is provided strictly for informational, educational, and general outreach purposes. Such content is entirely impersonal, is not tailored to the profile of any individual recipient, and must not be understood as investment advice, a solicitation to buy or sell, or an operational recommendation regarding any financial instrument.
Any reference to tickers, specific funds, ETFs, indices, model portfolios, or asset allocation strategies is purely illustrative, exemplary, or comparative, unless expressly stated otherwise.
The existence of any commercial relationships, sponsorships, affiliate marketing arrangements, or other forms of economic interest relevant to the content or parties mentioned will be clearly disclosed in accordance with applicable advertising and consumer protection laws.
No element of the website, the user interface, or promotional materials should be interpreted as a promise of financial return, a guarantee of risk reduction, or an endorsement of a portfolio's suitability for any specific user.
The maintenance of the service's non-regulated status—including the exclusions detailed in §§ 1, 2, and 9—depends on the absolute consistency of the tone and content of all public communications (including the homepage, landing pages, pricing pages, blog posts, social media, and onboarding flows). Promotional statements that promise returns, guarantee performance, or suggest a personalized advisory relationship are strictly incompatible with this Disclaimer and could compromise the regulatory standing of the platform.
11. Language, Translations, and Governing Version
The Italian version of this Disclaimer constitutes the sole legally binding and governing version, except where mandatory local laws of the consumer's country of residence require otherwise. Any translations of this Disclaimer into other languages are provided solely for convenience and courtesy. In the event of any conflict, discrepancy, or interpretive divergence between the Italian version and any translation, the Italian version shall prevail, without prejudice to the non-waivable statutory rights of consumers in their respective countries of residence.
12. Amendments and Updates
BacktestFolio reserves the right to amend, update, or modify this Disclaimer at any time to reflect regulatory changes, judicial precedents, technical enhancements, or functional updates to the service. Amendments shall become effective immediately upon their publication on the website. Such amendments shall not apply retroactively to rights already accrued by users and shall not prejudice any non-waivable statutory rights recognized by applicable consumer protection laws. For any material amendments, the provider will provide at least thirty (30) days' prior notice via email or in-app notification.
13. Survival of Provisions
Any provisions of this Disclaimer which, by their nature, are intended to survive the termination of the contractual relationship—including but not limited to the limitations of liability, disclaimers of warranties, and warnings on the nature of the service and historical simulations—shall continue in full force and effect to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.
14. Severability and Savings Clause
If any provision of this Disclaimer is found by a court or regulatory authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable in any respect under the laws of any jurisdiction, such invalidity, illegality, or unenforceability shall not affect any other provision of this Disclaimer or its validity in any other jurisdiction. The invalid or unenforceable provision shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid, legal, and enforceable while preserving its original intent.
15. Contact Information
For any questions, clarifications, or inquiries regarding this Financial Disclaimer, please contact us at: info@backtestfolio.com
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