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Hey Adam,
It’s very rare for an EA to be consistently profitable for a long period of time. Market conditions change, so we’re always generating new strategies based on the most recent data from the broker/s. An EA may, over an entire 5 year period be profitable overall, but it will, a few times, go through draw downs. We try to avoid these draw downs by regularly analyzing our EAs and selecting the most profitable ones in current market. conditions.
Thanks,
Ilan
Hey Adam,
It really depends on the asset and market conditions. Personally, most of my EAs are M15. I’ve just found this works best for me, but try different time frames and different assets on demo accounts and see which you prefer.
I always have about 10 – 15 demo accounts running where I test different strategies, time frames and assets.
Ilan
Hey guys,
100% correct.
Tai, it’s always best to check your broker’s asset specs, and adjust in EA Studio as needed. It will give you more accurate results. Don’t forget to check the spread too. Most regulated brokers have floating spreads, so watch the spread in the Market Watch window in MT, and set it at the highest value you see, so if it is lower when your trade executes, you will make a bit more profit if it goes in your favour, or a bit less of a loss if it goes against you.
Cheers,
Ilan
Hey Tai,
The way I do it, is I look at EA performance in my demo accounts using FX Blue on a weekly basis. If an EA has performed well in the last week AND month, I then transfer it to my live account. My personal criteria is a profit factor of 1.4 and min. count of trades of 3 for both periods. It’s also important to ensure you keep a balanced portfolio, meaning a number of different assets, and if possible the same quantity of EAs for each, so you manage your risk better. I change my EAs every week on my live account. I close all positions, delete all EAs, then copy the new EAs that I have selected based on the criteria mentioned from my demo accounts to my live account and attach them to new charts. Market conditions change all the time, so EAs that have been profitable, can become unprofitable, and vice versa, so it’s important to analyse and update your EAs regularly.
Cheers,
Ilan
Hey Samuel,
All courses can be found on our website. The one you are asking about is below in the link.
If you’re unsure which would be best for you, simply ask me and I’ll guide you.
Cheers,
Ilan
Hey Jordy,
Net profit is of course very important, but I would include a minimum count of trades too. This way, you will know the EAs are more robust. But let us know how your current system is working.
Cheers,
Ilan
Hey Richard,
Yes, there were some draw downs, but overall, the portfolio is profitable for the week.
Which broker are you using?
Ilan
Hey Richard,
This is very interesting. Please keep us informed, not only on the development, but the results of you “live” demo account.
The question I have for you is, if you choose to change the criteria by which the system selects the EAs to move from demo to live, how easy is it to do?
Cheers,
Ilan
Hi Adam,
Try the following settings, it’ll be a good place to start. Once you’re more familiar with the software, you can additional acceptance criteria (R-Squared would be good to try too).
Please let me know how you get on, and if you need more assistance.
Cheers,
Ilan
Hi Samuel,
My advice would be to use either the Premium Data (DukasCopy) or Meta-trader Demo (JFD) data in EA Studio, if possible. If the asset you want to generate strategies with is not listed, then I would look at DukasCopy to export historical data from. From my experience, they have the most amount of bars. On most M15 time frames, for example, you should get about 65 000+ bars. Just remember to change the Symbol Settings to match the broker you’ll be trading with.
Here is a video explaining how you can do it:
Thanks,
Ilan
Hi Wayfarer,
You can use the Validator in EA Studio. Simply load your Portfolio EA, remove all Acceptance Criteria, Robustness and Optimizer Tools, and hit the Start button. All of the strategies in the Portfolio EA will load into the Collection. From there, delete the strategies you no longer want to use. Then, you can create a new Portfolio EA from the Collection of strategies that remain. Just remember to empty your collection beforehand if you have any strategies in it. You can also change the date range in Data Horizon, and select performance filters to check which strategies performed best during a certain time period.
To maintain risk diversity, as you say, you need multiple assets, preferably in the same quantity. If one asset performs better than the others, simply select fewer of the better performing asset. For example, if you have 4 EURUSD EAs that are performing well but only 2 EURJPY and 2 EURGBP, check which of the 4 EURUSD performed the best, and select the top 2, so you have 2 EAs in each of the assets. Petko and I are releasing a course in the next few days that addresses this in detail. We will show you the process I follow, and it will include the spreadsheet that I use, as a downloadable resource to make managing your EAs much easier.
Your third question really comes down to personal choice. Obviously, if an EA is in a draw down period due to market conditions, you should remove it. Again, this is discussed in detail in the upcoming course. Personally, on my accounts, if an EA has not reached a profit factor of 1.4 and at least 3 trades for a period of 7 days AND 30 days, I do not use it in my live trading account. Because the EAs that are currently on my live account all come from my demo accounts, I only monitor and analyze my demo accounts. Once I have selected the EAs I will be copying from my demo accounts to my live account, I delete all of the EAs on my live account, whether they performed well or not, and copy the selected EAs from my demo account to my live account, and ‘restart’ my live trading. I do this weekly.
Again, this is just the system that I currently use. It’s what I have found works well for me and the criteria I need to be comfortable. We are always testing new ideas and trading systems. But, risk diversification is vital, and you should always try to keep a balanced portfolio. The profits may be less if one particular asset does very well for a period, but it also (and in my opinion more importantly) lessens the risk.
Cheers,
Ilan
Hi Wayfarer,
Once you have exported (downloaded) your Portfolio EA, copy it from the downloads location. Then on your platform, open the Data folder from the File menu, navigate to MQL4/Experts and paste it in the folder. Close the folder, then right click on Expert Advisors in the Navigator window, and once it complies, enable Auto Trading on your platform, and drag the Portfolio EA onto your chart. Make any changes you want to – lot size, base numbr, etc. and you should be good to go.
You can remove the EA that is not performing well by loading the Portfolio EA into the Validator in EA Studio, loading the strategies and deleting any that you no longer want to use. Then repeat the process of attaching it to your chart.
Have a look at the user guides below
Thanks,
Ilan
Hi fraclehe,
This is interesting, however the image doesn’t necessarily show the whole picture. In some or many of the trades, the trade may have moved into SL territory beyond the 60 pips, before turning and eventually closing at a TP up to the 60 pips. If you were to set SL at 60 pips, some of the trades that finished in profit, may have closed before they got the chance to correct. Remember, the EAs are based on historical data, and are executed according to current market conditions, which can change very quickly, especially in major news events. But as mentioned, it is an interesting observation, and probably worth exploring on a demo account. Maybe run 2 demo accounts – one with the EAs as they are and one where you set the SL for all of the EAs at 60 pips, and compare the results.
Let us know.
Cheers,
Ilan V