The available universes
A "universe" is the set of instruments on which you can test a strategy or build a portfolio. The quality of a backtest depends first of all on the quality and breadth of the data: Skewlab covers all the main asset classes, from US to European and global markets, with thousands of instruments per category.
In each universe you can select instruments manually or use screening: advanced filters (sector, market cap, liquidity, etc.) that build the universe objectively.
Data quality. For stocks, the data also includes companies that went bankrupt or were delisted during the tested period: this makes backtests realistic and free of survivorship bias — the error of testing only on surviving companies, which artificially inflates the results.
US Stocks — Free
About 7,800 US stocks listed on NYSE and NASDAQ — large, mid and small cap — with history since 2000. Screening by sector, market cap, P/E, annualized volatility and average daily volume.
ETF — Pro
About 5,000 ETFs, filterable by underlying asset class, issuer (Vanguard, iShares, SPDR, Invesco, Schwab...), region, leverage and strategy.
Crypto — Pro
The leading cryptocurrencies, categorized: Layer 1, Layer 2, DeFi, Memecoin, AI/Agents, Privacy, Stablecoin, Gaming/GameFi and more. Filters by market cap, rank and 24h volume.
World currencies (Forex) — Pro
The Major and Cross currency pairs, filterable by base currency and quote currency.
World indices — Pro
128 global indices from the main exchanges (S&P 500, NASDAQ, Dow Jones, FTSE 100, DAX, Nikkei 225 and many others). Prices only, no volume.
Futures — Pro
131 continuous futures contracts (CME, CBOT, NYMEX, ICE): equity, rates, FX, energy, metals, agriculture. With ratio adjustment for the continuous series, suited to long-period backtests. Ideal for trend-following and CTA-style strategies.
European Stocks — Pro
733 European stocks from the main exchanges: Frankfurt, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Switzerland, Brussels, Lisbon, Milan. Screening by sector, market cap, P/E, volume and dividend yield.
In summary
US Stocks ~7,800 · European Stocks 733 · ETF ~5,000 · World indices 128 · Futures 131 · Forex Major and Cross pairs · Crypto categorized
US Stocks + ETF are the starting point; with the Pro plan you unlock all the asset classes to test strategies and portfolios on any market.