Automated trading has become a vital component for many traders aiming to enhance efficiency, remove emotional decision-making, and apply a consistent strategy. At Valutrades, we support traders who prefer both manual and automated approaches. One of the most popular tools for automating strategies is the Expert Advisor (EA)—a customizable program that identifies trading signals based on set parameters.
In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know about installing and using EAs on both MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
What Is an EA?
An Expert Advisor (EA) is a software tool designed to analyze market conditions and provide trade signals based on pre-configured rules. Unlike fully automated trading robots, EAs generally advise the trader, who then decides whether to act on the recommendation. However, many EAs can be coded to execute trades automatically depending on how they’re configured.
Whether downloaded from the MetaQuotes app store or custom-built in MQL4/MQL5, EAs can enhance your trading strategy by offering consistency, discipline, and around-the-clock monitoring.
Advantages of Using EAs in Forex Trading:
- 24/7 Research: EAs conduct continuous market research, allowing traders to capitalize on opportunities that may arise overnight.
- Strict Trading Strategy: Well-designed EAs enforce a disciplined trading strategy and parameters, removing emotional bias from trade evaluation.
- Convenience: Integration with MT4 and MT5 platforms offers convenience for forex traders.
Disadvantages of Using EAs in Forex Trading
- Rigidity: The rigidity of EAs can limit their ability to evaluate trades beyond predefined parameters or incorporate essential market information.
- Uncertain Profitability: There is no guarantee that an EA will deliver consistent profits over time, especially when creating a customized EA based on personal trading strategies.
- Variable Performance: The performance of an EA can fluctuate unpredictably, leading to dramatic swings in performance and potential illusions of success during demo testing that may not translate to live trading success.
What You Should Know Before Using an EA
If you’re interested in incorporating an EA into your trading strategy, the most important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t start using an EA with live trades until you’ve had time to practice and become comfortable with this trading tool.
Even though performance can be difficult to evaluate over a limited sample size, practice through a demo account will give you an opportunity to become familiar with your EA and figure out how to best use it in support of your trading strategy. If you’ve created your own EA, this is also an opportunity to test-drive your own creation and identify potential amendments you want to incorporate before taking your EA live.
You can also use this trial period to determine how you want to balance the guidance of your EA against certain variables and data points it can’t account for. Even the best forex EA, for example, can’t take political or news-related variables into account when identifying trade opportunities. As a trader, you’ll need to balance any recommendations this tool offers against the potential implications of events beyond its view.
Creating an EA
Let us tell you: Creating your own EA is not the easiest task—there is a reason why there are lengthy courses related to the process. However, thanks to software shortcuts and various coding templates, anyone can create a basic EA. Helping you get up to speed, creating an EA in MT means understanding the coding structure of an order, along with grasping MQL4, which is the “language” used to create an EA.
Each EA you create will follow a similar pattern of:
- Header
- Special function initialize
- Special function start
- Special function de-initialize
- Control
The header is the lead within any EA. This is where you will place the indicators and parameters within which your EA will be working. Through the header, you can also implement any money management rules and dictate global variables such as stops.
Anything that follows builds upon this foundation. On top of this, you’ll need to add the special function initialize, special function start, special function de-initialize, and control.
The latter two functions are fairly self-explanatory, addressing your exit from a trade. However, the special function initialize and special function start are a different story. Through this part of the coding process, you can retrieve the value of your chosen indicators, address trading logic specified within the header, and address current orders and signals. The special function part of the code is what obtains the indicator value before using it to cycle through the other active processes.
Purchasing an EA from the MetaQuotes App Store
Creating an EA from scratch isn’t for everyone; it can be a complex and lengthy process. For those who don’t have the wherewithal to create one, you can consider buying a ready-made EA directly within your MT4 or MT5 platform via the MetaQuotes Market. Here's how:
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Go to the Market tab within the Terminal window.
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Browse or search for available EAs.
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Review product descriptions, performance, and user reviews.
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Purchase and install directly into your platform.
While prebuilt EAs are more accessible, they may not suit your strategy as well as a custom EA. Always test them in a demo account first.
How to Install an EA on MT4 and MT5
Step 1: Transferring Files
- Open the MT4 or MT5 desktop application.
- Click on "File" at the top left corner.
- Select "Open Data Folder."
- For MT4 users, navigate to the "MQL4" folder and then open to the "Experts" folder.
- For MT5 users, navigate to the "MQL5" folder, then open the "Experts" folder, and lastly open the "Advisors" folder
- Copy and paste the original EA files into the folder.
- Restart the MT4/MT5 platform to apply changes.
Step 2: Finding and Loading Your EA
- Go to the "Navigator" panel on the left side of the terminal.
- Expand the Expert Advisors section by clicking the "+" icon.
MT4 MT5 - The EA you copied into the folder will be visible there. If the EA doesn't appear, right-click on "Expert Advisors" and click "Refresh".
MT4 MT5 - Drag and drop the desired EA onto the chart where you want it applied.
Step 3: Choosing a Chart and Time Frame
- Choose your desired chart (e.g., EUR/USD) and time frame (e.g., H1).
- In the Navigator, right-click the EA under "Expert Advisors" and select Attach to Chart.
- Once attached, you will see the EA's name in the top right corner of the chart. For example, if you’re using a MACD EA, it will appear as such, confirming it's applied to that chart.
Step 4: Adjusting the Settings
- To customize the EA, adjust its settings by double-clicking on it. A pop-up box will appear, allowing you to tweak the EA as desired.
MT4 MT5 - Click "OK" when finished.
Step 5: Activating the EA
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On MT5, find the "Algo Trading" button at the top of your platform window. Click it to activate EA execution.
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On MT4, look for the same "AutoTrading" button at the top and click to activate.
| MT4 | MT5 |
You will see a small icon (usually a smiley face) in the top right of your chart confirming that the EA is running. If it's not smiling or has a cross or frown, double-check your settings and make sure Algo Trading/AutoTrading is enabled.
Conclusion
Every trader is always looking for an additional “leg up,” and for those who have a preference for automated trading, EAs may represent just that. Although EAs carry a large number of advantages—and they can certainly help boost your trading efforts—they are not for everyone. We must remind you that using an EA blindly is ill advised, so test it out through a demo platform first as a means to get a true understanding of it before committing any actual capital.