Alpha Forge MCP vs Backtesting Arena

In-depth architectural comparison of the Alpha Forge MCP and Backtesting Arena MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Alpha Forge MCP when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Finance & Fintech domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: API Key required (BYOK (Pay Provider Direct)).
• You have access to required keys: ALPHA_FORGE_LICENSE, ALPHA_FORGE_BINARY_PATH.
• Primary tools included: list_strategies, get_strategy, list_results.

Explore Alpha Forge MCP Details

Choose Backtesting Arena when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Finance & Fintech domain.
• You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Freemium).
• Primary tools included: Bitcoin and crypto cycle scoring, On-chain indicator access, Aggregated strategy insights.

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Alpha Forge MCP alforge-labs Finance & Fintech	Backtesting Arena Finance & Fintech
Summary	AlphaForge quant CLI as an MCP server — backtest, optimize (Optuna TPE), and walk-forward-test trading strategies from Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Claude Code. Local-first, anti-overfitting. uvx alpha-forge-mcp	Crypto backtesting & Bitcoin cycle analytics. Point-in-time, DSR-corrected, look-ahead-aware.
Category & Scope	Finance & Fintech

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alforge-labs-alpha-forge-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "alpha-forge-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ALPHA_FORGE_LICENSE": "YOUR_ALPHA_FORGE_LICENSE_HERE",
        "ALPHA_FORGE_BINARY_PATH": "YOUR_ALPHA_FORGE_BINARY_PATH_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backtesting-arena": {
      "url": "https://tradingstrategies.work/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

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