Lessons learned on Expert Advisors

I had never used an EA or traded from one. I had done research, checked reviews, looked at ones online, etc. A friend of mine approached me with a strategy for an EA. After explaining how it would trade the market, we decided to invest in the EA and have it created by a programmer. One EA strategy turned into now 4 different EA’s all with different market strategies. Those 4 EA’s gave us various versions of the EA’s, etc. Before anyone goes out and buys an EA from anyone or anywhere on the net I think there are a few things you need to understand about EA’s. In order to efficiently trade an EA you need to understand the inner workings of the EA you are purchasing. Realize that it WILL NOT work the same on each pair. I have spent hours upon hours back testing, front testing, analyzing, checking and double checking these EA’s. For someone to think that you are going to buy an EA off the net, connect it to a pair and watch your bank account grow is LUDICROUS. If anything learn C++ coding and develop one yourself. After the time I have worked with and come to understand the inner workings of an EA and how it pertains to the market it is a huge undertaking. We have complete control over our EA’s, the distance between when it creates a new basket, lot size, time it trades, the distance of each movement, etc. Trust me when I tell you it all matters! I can change the basket distance on an EA from 25pips to 15pips and that EA on a different pair will go from losing to winning. I can change from 8 distances overall to 4 distances to 3 distances and get different results from each scenario. GBP/JPY does not work well on an EA that is designed for a long distance movement, where as CHF/JPY may be better suited for that pair. Stop looking all over the net for the next big idea in EA’s and learn C++ for yourself. I can BACK TEST anyone of my EA’s and make it show good numbers, question is will it make MONEY! Stop paying someone for a piece of crap EA just because Forex Peace Army or My FX Book says it’s good.

So, where do we get this EA?

The creation of one EA or strategy has turned into now what is 14 different EA’s. Again I have come to learn that BACKTEST mean nothing. The only thing BACKTEST tell you is if the EA enters and exits where it’s supposed to. We have broke down our EA’s and checked for strategy’s over 15years of back test to see how many times the profitable and unprofitable situations take place. I am not currently comfortable marketing any of them. I don’t have a way to protect them from copying because I haven’t gotten to the DLL coding section yet. In the future we may put a few out there but it will be very limited supply. I can promise you, you will not see me with a website selling my EA’s. I can say that #14 using EUR/USD over the 15year period did 3 million. Now question is will it do it on a front test, that’s the true test of an EA.

I wrote EA that made 100 million on GBPUSD in 8 years. It wasn’t working on real. I’m not suggesting that yours will do the same, instead I think you’re on a good path.
One advice I always give is that the less technical analysis you base your EA on, the better, implement other information: Fundamentals, timing, volatility… something deeper than just the surface noise which will never predict the future, it’s just impossible. Technical analysis doesn’t consistently work on its own. You can apply 10% of Technical analysis on 90% Fundamental analysis or deep market analysis of an instrument you’re an expert in. This is how you make money: You master a particular subject and monetize your knowledge (which is superior than that of most other participants’) on market (forex, stock futures or other). I make profits month by month and I know I will because I’m not basing my entries on guesswork, I know why I do something.

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I’m looking for a good EA but the more research I do the more dissatisfied I get. I believe that there are good EAs out there but why anyone would share it with the rest of is. I think the mql4 championships are genuine but then again those codes are not available. So I would be interested in getting your EA and see how it performs.

[QUOTE=tobeone;738040]I wrote EA that made 100 million on GBPUSD in 8 years. It wasn’t working on real. I’m not suggesting that yours will do the same, instead I think you’re on a good path.
One advice I always give is that the less technical analysis you base your EA on, the better, implement other information: Fundamentals, timing, volatility… something deeper than just the surface noise which will never predict the future, it’s just impossible. Technical analysis doesn’t consistently work on its own. You can apply 10% of Technical analysis on 90% Fundamental analysis or deep market analysis of an instrument you’re an expert in. This is how you make money: You master a particular subject and monetize your knowledge (which is superior than that of most other participants’) on market (forex, stock futures or other). I make profits month by month and I know I will because I’m not basing my entries on guesswork, I know why I do something.

I totally agree with you and as I previously said on this thread I would be interested in betting your EA.

Hi there Moondoggy,

Thanks for sharing your story. I understand what you are talking about and I know that you are right. It is in an awkward way a bit funny when I see people chasing EA’s to buy without understanding what they do.

I code EA’ s myself and they do evolve over time and result in different strategies. That for me is a fun part of forex. It is always cool to find a different approach that seems to work.

I also understand that you keep it to yourself. The support and all the questions from other traders using it can kill our trading spirit. I have been there. So happy coding!

You mentioned C++, what trading platform do you use? I code in MQL4 for the metatrader.

I guess MQL4 language is same as C++, I know C++ and I can see all the syntax are same.