Hello everyone.
I am at a stage where I have some EA’s that I understand, and that I have back tested on MT4. However, I have Zero experience actually running the EA’s. Please help me and those like me who would like to get started.
I was wondering if someone could let us know the best way to run EAs using MT4. Can we simply leave our laptop open all day while it runs.
Also, does anyone have any recomendations as to what kind of computer system would be Ideal for running EAs and doing multiple back tests.
Maybe you have a daily routine for how you monitor your automated systems, would you mind sharing that routine.
Last, If any of you trades using automated systems, could you tell me any pitfalls that you ran into when you were trying to get started. For instance, perhaps you made some mistake that lost you some money as a result of a coding error, or somthing.
Running an EA on a laptop is fine as long as it doesn’t go into hibernation mode. VPS is more convenient but
not necessary at first. It is better to be “hands on”.
Check the experts and journal tabs for messages on a regular basis as well as ensuring there is a smiley face on
your chart.
An EA will take trades exactly where it is supposed to. Visually it seems to be wrong sometimes, but if you carefully look at the rules and the actual numbers, the EA is right. Your eyes can be wrong and play tricks with your mind.
Any computer that is less than 2 years old will be fine, because it should have 4 GB of memory. If you max that out, you need to rewrite the EA.
Some people write incredibly inefficient code. The most common mistakes are using more bars than necessary for calculations and doing calculations for every tick rather than every bar.
As far as the number of EAs goes, you will have to experiment.
From what I understand about your post it looks like you’re running either a commercial EA or one that someone else has designed.
I’ve traded dozens and dozens of EA’s as well as a number of other automated systems. In my experience EA’s can be a nice compliment to a strategy, however they’re not cash machines. You can’t set and forget.
You are best to use an EA to alert you to specific setups and then use your own manual discretionary trading to decide on taking the entry. That’s the only way to be profitable long term I think.
Alternatively follow a professional trader through the use of forex signals and a trade copier.
Thanks C.Forex
I appreciate those thoughts. I like the idea of using EAs for alerts. Ultimately, I hope to be using automated systems part of the time, and trading manually part of the time. I could be wrong, but I don’t think it is too far fetched to think that an EA by it self (being monitored of course), can produce consistent profits. So I don’t think I am going to give up on a fully automated system just yet, but your ideas are very helpful.
Do you have any EAs that you would consider fully automated?
I’m doing a video diary of the performance of my systems each week. My goal is to turn $30k into $300k over the next 24 months by compounding 10% per month.
Hey Nick,
Enjoyed your videos. Looking forward to seeing you break through that 300K mark! I envy the amount of exposure you seem to have received from all those traders. Hey, there has been something I’ve been wondering about. I noticed you have a bunch of smaller accounts, rather than one or two with a larger amount. Are you limiting your risk by doing that? Is it easier to keep track of each accounts performance that way? This question is off the subject, but what would you consider a large position? 1 Standard Lot? And how big does a position need to be to start raising the eyebrows of brokers and other people who can see? Thanks.
Hello again, I just wanted to ask if there was any more input concerning the thread topic. Any experience that you have with automated trading. Any interesting stories you may have. Daily routines or rituals to help you stay on track. How do you stay organized? [B][U]Any general input about the life of an experienced automated trader.[/U][/B] I hope this thread and request makes since and will be useful. [U]Thanks.[/U]