How to build a robot in Metatrader 4

In simpleton talk, can someone explain what is involved in building a robot for Metatrader 4, please?

[B]Some questions:[/B]

  1. What are the basic steps involved?

  2. Must one learn MQL4 or 5 to build a robot?

  3. Is there any decent, free or inexpensive, robot building software out there?

  4. And any important info I didn’t ask is appreciated.

I’ve only been into forex for a week. Now I’m just studying and practicing with an MT4 demo account. I realize that people will want to discourage building robots for beginners, as one should get comfortable with manual trading first. I agree, but I would like to see what I would be getting into, play around with it a bit. I would like to do some backtesting with Expert Advisors at some point.

Slow down and take it easy. There are far too many things to learn in 6 months before trying to build an EA, like how to run an EA and keep it running. Things to do after learning to trade is to run a test EA for a month and forward test a [B]mechanical[/B] strategy for 2 months. Don’t bother learning MQL4, start with an automated builder. There are free ones available including several on these forums and one bundled with MT5. But it is best to learn everything well before starting something else.

The bold are my answers. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the advice guys. Sorry for the late reply.

I’ve looked into robots further, and you guys are definitely right; it’s too complicated for now. The coding and building processes are too complicated, and also technical trading is just inherently complicated. Better learn more about trading strategies first.

The main reason I wanted to build robots was so I could backtest strategies, before investing time in slow forward testing. The main drawback in that would be the test results would be useful mostly for robot trading only, and wouldn’t really apply to manual trading.

I’m looking into manual backtesting now. Started another thread about that:

http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/42464-how-build-robot-metatrader-4-a.html