Where to learn how to program a spreadsheet based strategy EA?

I’m back folks. Long time since I have been on BP. I am finally at a point in my trading that I want to create an EA off my Microsoft excel spreadsheet based strategy. I am at a loss searching the net trying to get an idea of where to even start.

I have seen that there are many tutorials on how to program an ea based off existing indicators but I have not seen anything about programing your own ea based out of an original Microsoft excel indicator.

I use Microsoft excel to run my own formula off price data through oanda to place my trades currently. I do not have excel connected to oanda so my current process goes like this…

  1. I download the most recent 1 hr bar data for EUR/USD at market open on sunday, which happens to be 5pm eastern time where I live.
  2. I open the spreadsheet oanda gives it to me in.
  3. I copy all information for the most recent 48hrs. (Date. Time. High. Low. Close. and Volume.)
  4. I paste this information into my own spreadsheet that generates the signal
  5. I then manually interpret and record the relationship of the algo generated numbers that create the signal onto the same spreadsheet.
  6. I place the trade based off the repetitive patterns I discovered

On a side note, I can reprogram my entire algorithmic strategy from scratch in about an hour. I do not use any of the built in math or trend functions that analyze the data etc. My strategy is advanced yet basic as it measures exactly what I want within the market. It is simplified down to that absolute bone and I can not refine it any further. It takes a long time for me to generate signals on multiple pairs each night which limits my trading opportunities. I can trade anything with this but have hit my limitations with human data collection and signal generation.

Where do I look to start programing this into an ea, how do I begin to learn even where to start as a complete rookie as myself?

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You can outsource to a dev on upwork or you can learn to code.

I’m a quant so I program in 5 diffrent languages so call me biased but I would recommend you learn as what is going to happen when you come up with your next trading strategy or you want to refine this one?

Devs from India or Asia can be stubborn and misunderstandings can occur so costs can rack up and attention slip from trading to man management which is detrimental as your not getting paid while your man managing

I appreciate the response. The strategy I am using know I haven’t refined in almost a year. It’s rock solid and I can not change the math behind it. An ea would help me with backtesting, rule refinement, and the ability to trade 100’s of pairs are any given moment. Machine learning is something I would like to incorporate to help identify massive movers (patterns that generate lots of movement) and have it immediately enter those trades.

I worry about outsourcing my strategy to a programmer or coder. I’m worried it can be easily copied, stolen and sold. I have spent an incredible amount of time manually back testing and developing this for years now. The qualities I desire to have in this ea or “program” are a little bit crafty and I would probably need to pay a pretty penny to get everything I am shopping for.

Is there anywhere you can recommend me to go to read to learn about where to start on this project? Or is this a new trading approach you haven’t really seen before as a quant? This strategy has the potential to trade high frequency. I one day will take it there

I think the start point is at Oanda Developer API. I know how to program, so I can probably help you on your way, if needed.

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Thank you very much for your help. I will check into that tonight! I appreciate the response.

Oanda API definitely sounds like the best bet from me as well. Not only can it put in the trade for you, but it can pull the data into excel and crunch the numbers as well. The calculations might be a bit tricky considering how complicated your strategy may be (and as a new programmer) but the data pulling might be helpful if you’re trading a lot of different pairs.

I wouldn’t worry about someone stealing your idea. I mean what are they going to do…sell it…If you cant sell it I doubt a dev will be able to or have the resources to

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Hey @Leg0nd,

I’m also a dev and think that since you were able to figure out how to string together excel formulas and output a trading signal, then probably already have the mindset necessary to port the logic over to MQL4 or whatever language you want to use.

I would spend the weekend going through some of free MQL4 tutorials on YouTube - like this one. That should give you the confidence and technical foundation to code this up yourself!

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Thanks man. I haven’t had the time but I intend on checking it out today. I can tell the people in here who have posted are genuine. Those who are curious to see what I am working with please message me with your email and I will attach me EU workbook and email it. After you have seen the document and go over some of the calculations maybe one of you can point me in a better direction or possibly help me with the coding?

You guys are the best. I’m going to start a trading journal today off this spreadsheet so you guys can see how it is live as well.