Robot Trading System

It is a rainy Saturday morning   https://d8wyob5mxqc1u.cloudfront.net/RobotTradingSystemCom/membershipSite/Hockeystick2/hockeystick2.mp3 My wife is getting a haircut (should take 4-5 hours) and now I have some time to do several tests with the Hockeystick system. I have changed the algorithm to make it more stable and right now it is running backtests on different computers. I am also […]

  I am building a new system https://d8wyob5mxqc1u.cloudfront.net/RobotTradingSystemCom/membershipSite/HockeyStick/hockeystick.mp3   It is Friday evening, my wife is just taking the girls to the railway station. They are going to party…   I am sitting in front of my computer, writing this text. Because I have a few minutes to spend, my new system is downloading history […]

My daily updated real account results: https://www.myfxbook.com/statements/2559459/statement.html In this video I wanted to talk about a presentation that I have created for the last I think about two weeks, you can find it on: robottradingsystem.com and it contains so much useful information that I think that you might want to watch it. Actually it’s over two hours long, most of it is pure content, I talked about my numbers and my systems, this slide is showing the results for the Robot Trading System on I think September the 28th because that’s what it says here. Let’s visit the website, click on the real time account statement, today we have October the 11th 2018, let’s click on the Robot Trading System to show the current results and currently we have made 7.67%, the profit is 3,819 Dollars and 86 cents, that’s a little bit more than you see here and if you are interested we are going to talk about the 5 steps to develop a trading system that works. It doesn’t matter if you are ever going to buy something from me, I think that the content is something that you might find very interesting and it should help you even if you never consider being an automated trader. Here is a little spoiler; the one big breakthrough that actually became the foundation for the Robot Trading System can be found in the book: “Trade your way to financial freedom” by Van Tharp, Van Tharp once talked to a guy named Tom Basso and this guy thought it was possible to make profits with a random based entry if the other components are good enough. Let’s do that live, we will test it for the year 2018 up to the current day, let’s click on start, this shouldn’t take very long. Okay, in this case we made 50,249 Dollars end-result, that’s a total net profit of: 255 Dollars and 19 cents. Let’s repeat the test, this time it says we made: 125 Dollars and 59 cents and because of the random entry we have different results for the same time span. So if you are interested to find out the details and watch the results for the Robot Trading System for the last two weeks just follow the link and watch a little over 2 hours of video content to find the solution that works for you.

In this new video we are introducing a well known and very common entry type which is the Simple Moving Average entry. The Expert Advisor that you see on the chart right now is calculated for 20 candles and it generates buy or sell signals. If the price falls below the Simple Moving Average we want to sell and if the price rises above we want to buy. Let’s see now how to code this Expert Advisor that will open buy or sell positions in the main module! To begin let’s start the Metaeditor from Metatrader, please hit the F4 key or go to “File/ New/ Expert Advisor (template)” from template, click “Next”, let’s call the file: “CheckEntrySMA”, click on “Next”, “Next” again then “Finish”. Let’s remove all the things above the “OnTick” function and we don’t need the two comment lines either, please delete them too. We are going to code a “string CheckEntry” function instead of the “OnTick” because this is an entry module which sends the signal to our main module. Next we create a variable of a string type for the signal, we also name it as: “signal”, we leave it empty without any value because the calculation will be done later in the code. That is happening right here as we use the “iMA” function and other necessary parameters to get all the calculations done. This one here is for the symbol which is selected on the chart, and the next one is for the period also the one on the chart, we are using the last 20 candles and we don’t use a shift. We define the Moving Average method with “MODE_SMA” and if you hit the F1 key you can see that it stands for Simple Moving Average. We want to go with the close price, so that is “PRICE_CLOSE” in the code and for the current candle. Let’s get to the conditions for the signal. We get a buy signal if the Simple Moving Average is below the Bid price (if my Moving Average (MyMovingAverage) is smaller than Bid) and if that is the case we render the word: “buy” to the signal. For the sell signal we check if the Simple Moving Average has moved above the Ask price (if my moving average (MyMovingAverage) is greater than Ask) and if the condition is true we render the word: “sell” to the signal. Once we received a buy or a sell signal we want to return the value to the main module, so we use the “return” function to do that. My main module is the Forex Trading Framework; this contains several functions which are opening, managing and closing positions. Here you can use your own main module or if you don’t have one you can download the Forex Trading Framework demo version from my website. So now we are importing the “CheckEntry_SMA” file we just have created into our main module by the “include” function and we recompile the code. Well done, we don’t have errors and no warnings, so we can get back to Metatrader and run a test. (Please hit the F4 key or use this little button here.) When the test is running we would like to see the Simple Moving Average Indicator displayed on the chart, so we use a simple trick: please go to “Insert/ Indicators/ Trend/ Moving Average”, let’s set the period to 20, the shift value to 0 (zero), the Moving Average method to simple and the price calculation method to close price. Click on “OK”. Now we have the Simple Moving Average on our chart, let’s right-click into the chart then go to “Template/ Save Template” and let’s save the template with a name: “tester.tpl”. This way when we run the back-test we will see the same template displayed on the chart. Now we can start the Strategy Tester panel by clicking on “View/ Strategy Tester” or you can just press CTRL + R. Here we select the main module – so that’s the Forex Trading Framework in my case – then start the test by clicking on “start”. Here we go, our EA is already trading based on the buy or sell signal and now you just learned how to code a “CheckEntry” module that is importing buy or sell signals into the main module (like the Forex Trading Framework) based on the calculation of the Simple Moving Average and you buil...

In the new video today we shall code an entry module (CheckEntry) with the Indicator called: Commodity Channel Index (CCI). This is an oscillator type Indicator. See the green line here? Whenever its crosses the dotted lines above or below it generates a signal. The sell signal is when the green line goes above the upper dotted line (overbought) therefore our expectation is that price will dive. We receive a buy signal when the green line goes below the lower dotted line (oversold) so price is about to rise. Alright, let’s see how to code an entry module (CheckEntry) for the Expert Advisor which shall receive buy and sell signals from the Commodity Channel Index and open a trade by using a main module for trade management like my Forex Trading Framework! To begin – as always – please start your Metaeditor from Metatrader by using the shortcut F4 or click the button here. In the Metaeditor click on: “File/ New/ Expert Advisor (template)” from template, click “Next”,” Next” again then “Finish”. Let’s remove all the things above the “OnTick” function even the comment lines. Instead of using the “void OnTick” function we shall use a string function called: “CheckEntry”. So inside the “CheckEntry” function we place a string for the signal and name it “signal” so we can easily read our code. We leave it empty without any value because we haven’t calculated yet. That shall be done in the next step here; for that we call the function: “iCCI” which is in-built in MQL4. The function needs a few parameters, such as the symbol of the current chart as the first and the second and the last are shift values. You would use the shift if you wanted the drawing of the Indicator to be moved to the right or the left. We do the calculation with the default values; that is 14 candles applied to the typical price. You can take a look at the default settings by clicking on: “Insert/ Indicators/ Oscillators/ Commodity Channel Index“ We are going to buy when the Indicator’s value goes above 100 – so the green line here crosses the dotted line – let’s pause the Indicator please, then click and open “properties”, here open the “levels” tab. Now you see here that the upper dotted line is sat to plus 100 and the lower dotted line is sat to minus 100 (-100). In the code we say: if the ICCI value (ICCIValue) is greater than 100 we have an overbought condition therefore it is a sell signal and we set the “signal” to sell by rendering the word: “sell” to it. We get a buy signal when the opposite happens, so that the ICCI value (ICCIValue) is smaller than minus 100 and then we have an oversold condition therefore we render the word: “buy” to our signal. After this the final step is to return the signal to our main module. The main module contains several functions which are opening, managing and closing a trade. My main module is the Forex Trading Framework but you can code your own main module. You can also download a demo version of mine from my website which can trade your entry module by using the include function. You can just import this currently coded file for the Commodity Channel Index also and it will trade it. It is able to trade with most of the entries. Now please save the entry module (CheckEntry) then compile the code. If we have no errors or warnings we can return to Metatrader, please use the F4 shortcut or click the button. In the Metatrader we want to run a back-test and when we turn on the visual mode we want to see our Expert Advisor trading with the Commodity Channel Index the same way we would see if trading manually. To do that we will tweak the “tester.tpl” template file. So please click on “Insert/ Indicators/ Oscillators/ Commodity Channel Index“, let’s use the standard Indicator settings, click on “OK”, now we see the Indicator on our chart, do a right-click in the chart and here click on “Template/ Save Template” and save it as: “tester.tpl”. Now the Metatrader will use this template when running the back-test. Okay,

The topic of this video is about a question people keep asking me regularly. That is if it still makes sense to learn and use Metatrader 4 and MQL4 or best to use and learn MQL5 exclusively? If you look here you will see that I am still having a Metatrader 4 account and using MQL4. I have a real account with RoboForex which you can see here and it is a FixCent account. Now I click on the “About” tab and you can see that I have branded Metatrader 4 version released by Admiral Markets. Let’s see the details. It is a version 4, 1090 of March 2017. I used to direct everybody to metatrader4.com. The website says: “Metatrader 4 is the most popular Forex trading platform”. I believe it’s still it is. Here you see the download link (Download Metatrader 4) so let’s click on it and now you see that this button here says: “Download Metatrader 5” the next generation platform. This is very strange! Everything on the site talks about Metatrader 4. Here is another button which says: “Download Metatrader 4”. Alright. Let’s try that. It is taking a few seconds to download. Now we got a file: “mt4setup.exe”, it looks okay. Let us run the file, the installation assistant pops up and here is a surprise! While reading the terms and conditions I notice it’s all talking about MQL5 and the Metatrader 5 platform. Can you believe? This link here is downloading Metatrader 5 instead of Metatrader 4! Should you not double check and read you would have installed Metatrader 5! I cancel the installation and go back to metatrader4.com. And once again I am on the “Download Metatrader 5” site. Now it is clear we no longer have a way to download Metatrader 4 from metatrader4.com. Maybe we could use the Admiral Markets website, let’s try. This one says here: “Metatrader 4 for Windows” but when clicking on the button to download the website is asking for registration. Now I don’t want to do that and I think neither you are. So, you can just go to my website: mql4tutorial.com, click on “menu” and there you should see the download link: “Metatrader 4 Download” which allows you to freely download the Metatrader 4 platform without any hustle. Here I am already getting the right exe file, let’s run it. This one says “its Metatrader 4”. When checking the installation it is still talking about the MQL4 language and confirms we are to install Metatrader 4. Now I can clearly confirm here that it would install Metatrader 4 which I will not do now because I already have one and don’t wish to overwrite that. Please feel free to use my download link. Metatrader 4 and MQL4 is still very popular and I think it will be around for a while longer. After installing it please remember to switch on the auto update. Next, let us go to the website of Forex Peace Army (www.forexpeacearmy.com) and see what they have to say about Metatrader 4. There is a lot’s of information here, including broker reviews which we are interested in now. Here is a list of 756 brokers for Metatrader 4. Now let’s see about Metatrader 5! This is the list of brokers for Metatrader 5 and we can see that more brokers supports Metatrader 5 today. Around one or two years ago only a dozen of brokers supported Metatrader 5. Okay, how about release notes? The last version of Metatrader 4 is from May 2017. It seems to me that Metaquotes does not want to support Metatrader 4 any longer but many traders and brokers still want to stick with it. I am using both MQL4 and MQL5. In case you wish to find out if MQL4 or MQL5 is the better choice for you just try my free MQL5 email course, click on: www.mql5tutorial.com to subscribe so you can get your own experience. Actually I like both versions. I think MQL4 is a little easier to learn but MQL5 has few advantages. For example: I am running a back-test here in Metatrader 4 and I have to import historical data into the “History Center” for every single currency pair I want to test, which is really time consuming and a hustle. In Metatrader 5 I don’t have to do that.

Here we are going to code a little Expert Advisor which will find out for us if the market is closed or it is open, just as you can see it here. We begin the code with of the Expert Advisor with external variables. This enables you to set the market opening and closing time for your country manually. I live in Germany so the trading hours start here at 9:00 am and end at 5:30 pm. – in German notation that is 17:30 so, when the time will reach 9:00 the text here will change to “Market is open” and when time will reach 17:30 it will change to “Market is closed”. So, how can we code an Expert Advisor which is able to recognize the local time and create a signal for the market opening or closing time? To start the code, please click on the Metaeditor button here or press F4 to use the shortcut. When your Metaeditor is running please click on “File/ New/ Expert Advisor (template)” from template, click “Next”, let’s name the new Expert Advisor as: ”SimpleTime”, click “Next”, “Next” again then “Finish”. Here let us remove everything above the “OnTick” function, even the two comment lines. This time we need to define two string variables above the “OnTick” function so you can set the opening and closing time of the market manually. It is the “extern” command which is a modifier that makes this possible. When you open the properties for the Expert Advisor you can modify the variable settings. We also need to define two integer variables; one will be the index for the time of the market opening and the other one will be the index for the time of the market closing. I want one more string variable for showing the market state. We begin with a closed market and in the “OnTick” function we calculate the time in seconds and convert it to string by the function; “TimeToStr” and with the function “TimeLocal” we get the values of the “TIME_DATE” and the “TIME_SECONDS”. Please press F1 and here you will find out that “TIME_DATE” will give you the year the month and the day while “TIME_SECONDS” is giving you the hours, the minutes and the seconds. This provides us the data for the current time on our computer. Next we want to check in the time string if the opening time is present by using the command: “StringFind”, this will search for the previously calculated market opening time in seconds. Now we have the last parameter to add which is for the starting position. In the string we want to start our search exactly from the first character then we apply the same for the closing time. For this purpose we need another command, which is: “StringFind”. This will search the time string to find the market closing time. Once it finds the opening time and the value for index market opening time is greater than zero then we set the market state to open. If this isn’t true and the closing time is being found and the index market closing time is greater than zero we set the market state to closed. Now we have left with the text output on the chart, for that purpose we use the “Comment” function. So, we output the texts directly on the chart: “Time:” following by the current time as it was calculated and the text: “Market is” following by the market state. Now we can compile the code by clicking on the “Compile” button here or by hitting F7 on the keyboard. We haven’t gotten any errors or warnings so we have finished the code. Let’s go back to Metatrader by clicking this button here or by hitting F4 on the keyboard. When you are back in Metatrader let us launch the Strategy Tester , so please click on “View/ Strategy Tester” or use CTRL + R. Let’s select the Expert Advisor we just coded: “SimpleTime.ex4”, let’s turn on the visual mode by this checkbox here then let’s start a test to see our Expert Advisor at work. If it works well we need to see here that it says market is closed and when the time reaches 9 am – which is about to happen just in a few seconds – it should say: market is open. Yes, it said it just like that.

In today’s short video we shall trade with the Accumulation Distribution Indicator which you see on the chart. It is an oscillator and we shall receive a buy or a sell signal based on the Indicator’s value. Let’s add some speed here and we can notice its generating profit. Okay, so let’s see how we can code this Expert Advisor which will execute trades based on the signals. Let’s begin the code by starting the Metaeditor so please click the little button here or hit the F4 key in your Metatrader. In the Metaeditor please click on “File/ New/ Expert Advisor (template)” from template, click on “Next”, let’s name our file as: “CheckEntry_IAD” and this is the file we are going to call in the main module. Click on “Next”, “Next” again then “Finish”. Please remove all the things above the “OnTick” function and the two comment lines as well. In most cases we use the “OnTick” function because we want to call it based on a new thick, a new tick is generated with each price change on our chart. Now we continue our code by creating the signal, we start with a new check entry (CheckEntry) function which is a string variable and I shall use it in my main module. My main module is the Forex Trading Framework; it is the German version for MQL4. I haven’t finished the English version yet but you can use your own main module or download the Forex Trading Framework from my website which soon will be available. Let’s get back to the check entry (CheckEntry) function. So the first thing we code is the string variable for the signal. We name it as “Signal” to keep our code clean and simple to read. We do not add any value to it because that will be done later. Next we define the IAD value (IADValue), for that purpose we use the MQL4 function: “iAD” which comes with MQL4. Let’s highlight it and press F1 on the keyboard. Now you can read that the “iAD” calculates the Accumulation Distribution Indicator and returns the calculated values. It needs 3 parameters: the symbol, the period and the shift. The symbol is the currency pair which is actually in your chart, the period is the time frame sat on your chart. Now we have a 1 minute chart here but this could be 5 minutes or 15 minutes, etc. The shift would move the Indicator to the left or the right. In our simple example here we say we get a sell signal when the “IADValue” goes above the zero line and then we assign the word: “sell” to the signal. If the opposite happens and the “IADValue” drops below the zero line then we get a buy signal so we assign the word: “buy” to the signal. Our final step is to return the signal to the main module (the Forex Trading Framework) by the function called: “return”. After all we call the check entry (CheckEntry) function here so it can return the value for the signal. The entry module needs not to be compiled but saved only so please click on “Save”. However the main module needs to be compiled so please click the “Compile” button here or press F7 in your keyboard. Good, we got no errors or warnings; let us return into Metatrader by clicking here or pressing the F4 key. When inI Metatrader we shall make a simple trick, click on “Insert/ Indicators/ Volumes/ Accumulation Distribution”, let’s just use the standard values, click “OK” you can see the Indicator below the candles. Okay, now let’s do a right mouse click in the template here, we select “Template/ Save Template” then save it with a name: “tester.tpl” and this way the back-tester will display our desired template when running in visual mode. Let’s open the “Strategy Tester” so we can start a test. Please click on “View/ Strategy Tester” or use the shortcut (press CTRL + R), here I select my main module the Forex Trading Framework and you need to use your own main module. Let us not forget to enable the visual mode then click on “Start”. Our little Expert Advisor is right here and running, we could increase the speed as well. In this short video you just learned how to code an Expert Advisor which can exec...

Here is the new video in which we shall code an Expert Advisor that is able to trade the Bollinger Bands Indicator. Some few years before this was the first Indicator that generated profit for me so it is one of my favorite. Now, how do we get a sell signal from the Bollinger Bands for example? Once the last candle goes outside the upper band and closing outside the band we wait for the current candle to reenter inside the Bollinger Bands and actually close below the upper band. Accordingly we get the buy signal when the current candle returns inside the lower band from below. Now let’s see how to build an Expert Advisor which shall generate the signals and will function as an entry module (CheckEntry_Bollinger) that is working together with a main module and opening positions by using the Bollinger Bands Indicator. For to start please hit the button here in your Metatrader or use the F4 key for the shortcut and wait for the Metaeditor to come up. Then let’s create a new Expert Advisor by clicking on: “File/ New/ Expert Advisor (template)” from a template, click on “Next”. I name the new file as: “CheckEntry_Bollinger” and it will be called by the main module. Let’s continue by clicking on: “Next”, “Next” again then “Finish”. Here please delete all the things above the “OnTick” function even the two comment lines. Now we don’t need the “OnTick” function but instead we shall use a string function (string CheckEntry). Our main module shall run this function to check if there is a signal. Let’s code the string variable to start with and let’s leave it empty – that is we are not adding any value. We name it as: “signal”. Next is to do the calculations for the Bollinger Bands Indicator. We shall calculate the values for the upper and the lower bands with the “iBands” function which comes with MQL4 for the same symbol and the period which are sat on the chart. We are using the values of the last 20 candles based on the close price and the deviation of 2 for calculating the signal. This is done by “MODE_LOWER” for the lower Bollinger Band and “MODE_UPPER” for the upper Bollinger Band. Now let’s see the calculation for the buy signal. Here is the calculation for candle 1 – candle 1 is always the last candle before the one which is currently building, so this is candle 0 here and candle 1 is this one. We are having 3 conditions to be confirmed to say we have a buy signal. First we want to know if a crossover has happened. So how do we do that? For that we also need to calculate the values of the candle before candle 1, so that is for candle 2. Basically we do that the exact same way as we did for candle 1. Secondly we also check if the price is going up and thirdly if the close of candle 1 is now above the lower band from outside. If all 3 conditions are true we render the word: “buy” to the signal. Logically with we have to repeat the same for the sell signal. So we want to confirm if the price bar (candle) has returned inside the Bollinger Band after crossing the upper band a second time. So if price is moving down (close 1 is lower than close 2) and if candle 2 closed above the upper Bollinger Band and candle 1 closed inside the band (below the upper band) we render the word: “sell” to the signal. After confirming a signal we need to return its values (buy or sell) to the main module. We do that with the “return” function. My main module is the Forex Trading Framework for MQL4/ version of April 2018. What my framework is doing; it contains several functions which are opening and closing trades based on predefined criteria’s in MQL4. Now let’s save the file we just coded (CheckEntry_Bollinger.mq4) then by the use of the “include” function we are going to import it into the main module. So next I am opening my main module (Forex Trading Framework), you could do the same and open yours or if you don’t have one just download my demo version from my website. Next we can compile the framework by hitting the F7 key or use the “Compile” ...

When I was a little boy, I had a very bad idea. I wanted to leave our yard on a skateboard and close the garden door. When I tried to do that, my mother yelled at me and as I answered I made a mistake. I simply forgot to release the door handle. So I fell on my butt, still holding that door handle with my hand. Well, that obviously was a mistake. And you might have similar experiences, maybe with a bike or roller blades. I must admit that I didn’t like it, but that is how you learn things as a child. You fall on your butt. You get up. And you fall on your butt again. That isn’t always fun, though. But someone once asked an interesting question. When would you tell your child that it is better to stop trying to learn how to walk? If you have any children, you probably know the answer. Mistakes and errors are part of the process. To learn anything, you need to try something. That involves the risk of failing. When I started to trade, I was convinced that it couldn’t be so hard to make a good profit. I mean, how hard could it be to find out if the price will go up or down? Well, it turned out that it was not as easy as I thought. I made a lot of mistakes – and I still continue to do this. As a beginner I always felt that demo accounts are a waste of time. Does that sound familiar to you? Does it feel like you are wasting your time? Do you think that you need to make real money as fast as possible? In that case you might need to flatten your account before you become more patient. Most beginners manage to do that – within the first six months. But today I am a little smarter and do it on a demo account. Usually I have an idea and change something in one of my systems. Basically I clone the system and open a new demo account for the new version. That account needs to be traded automatically for at least three months. If it works as desired, everything is okay. But most of the time something goes wrong and I still think that the most money you can make at the beginning is the money you don’t lose on a real account. Humans have a weakness: They always try to save time and effort! So the evolution gave us something that is called heuristics. Heuristics are basically a shortcut to make decisions faster, without spending much brain power to solve the problem. Here is a simple example for you, please try to get the answer as fast as possible: How many animals of each kind brought Moses to the ark? If you are in any kind like me, your answer is probably two, is it? You might have considered that this is a trick question, but you are really confident that two animals of each kind have been saved by the ark. And that is true, but your answer to the question is still false. Moses did NOT have anything to do with the ark – that was Noah! You fall for the trick, because Moses also belongs to the bible context – so you didn’t spend much attention to the name. And that is exactly what happens to most traders: They focus on the entry and after they have lost all their money, they start to ask the right questions. Is the entry really the most important thing to make profits? Is there a way to make profits with any kind of entry? Is one entry better than another one? And how could I measure or prove that? Basically there should be a way to find out, if something is better than another solution. Automated trading offers a good way to find out the differences, because you can use so called backtests. A backtest is a way to trade something for a period of time, change a single parameter and trade the same period again. Imagine you could do that with any kind of entry signal for any currency pair. Wouldn’t that be a good way to get a lot of experience in a very short time? Actually that is one of the biggest benefits in automated trading! You can make thousands of trades in a few minutes. You can trade one year or ten years, one or ten currency pairs and improve things again and again! You can make as many mistakes as you want,