Automated trading

[Scottish Mike]

Hi

Im new, so I hope I can explain my question in a way that is understandable.

I use MT4, demo account. I am trying lots of different things at the moment, across a few charts.

Whenever I want to put on a new trade, I have to type in
- the price at which the buy/sell,
- the stop loss (after I calculate it manually in my head)
- the take profit (if I preplan this)
- the type of trade (buy stop, limit etc)

My question is:
If I know the market conditions, and I have a trading strategy planned for this condition, for example, I know my SL will always be 10 pips (for e.g.) and I know I will always want a trailing stop of say 10 pips,

Is it possible to pre-program the software with all my settings (SL, TP etc) so that putting on a trade can be a faster one click event ?

Michael

[jado911]

Originally Posted by Scottish Mike

Hi

Im new, so I hope I can explain my question in a way that is understandable.

I use MT4, demo account. I am trying lots of different things at the moment, across a few charts.

Whenever I want to put on a new trade, I have to type in
- the price at which the buy/sell,
- the stop loss (after I calculate it manually in my head)
- the take profit (if I preplan this)
- the type of trade (buy stop, limit etc)

My question is:
If I know the market conditions, and I have a trading strategy planned for this condition, for example, I know my SL will always be 10 pips (for e.g.) and I know I will always want a trailing stop of say 10 pips,

Is it possible to pre-program the software with all my settings (SL, TP etc) so that putting on a trade can be a faster one click event ?

Michael

Yes it is possible, you just need a good programmer. depending on your strategy you might have to change or add a few more details, because an ea cant see what you see, its a bunch of If statement. If MA 5 is less than x then do this and so on.

[Scottish Mike]

what is the programming language, and would this then be an EA ?

the thing is Im not looking for an EA to trade for me, I just want to automate the process where I place a trade.

I wonder if there is a platform which already allows this ?

[jado911]

Originally Posted by Scottish Mike

what is the programming language, and would this then be an EA ?

the thing is Im not looking for an EA to trade for me, I just want to automate the process where I place a trade.

I wonder if there is a platform which already allows this ?

yes it would be an EA, the language is called mql. MQL4 Tutorial
the platform is MT4.
yes you can hire some one to do it, or you an do your self by using using an Ea generator , there is a number of those on the web just Google Ea generator.

[Scottish Mike]

thank you :-)

[Sweet Pip]

Sounds like what you want is a "script". A script is basically the same as an EA, but it is runs only once...kinda like a macro if you know what those are....and can automate all the mechanical steps that you would do manually.

Scripts are saved in a separate "script" folder within your MT4 folder on your harddrive, and shows up in the "script" section of the Navigator window.

However, you do need to know how to program it. There is a Wizard in the MetaEditor that comes with MT4 that you can try...I've never used it so I'm not sure how easy it is or not without some programming background. There may even be a generic script already in existence that allows you to set your own stops and takeprofit when you run it.

Actually I do have one now that I think about it, but I'd have to modify it, as it opens a basket of pairs at the same time..lol, but not difficult to do. I have 3 of them...2 for opening orders buy/sell, and 1 to close if I don't want to wait to for it to hit the stop or take profit. I'll see what I can do over the weekend and upload them for you.

...then you can learn about "hot keys" to hookup to them...