Hi all, I've been on the lookout for a developer for my own EA, and also have noticed that lots of others are also looking for programmers for EA's they have, so I thought I would post a new subject about what ought to be taken into consideration when constructing a system to be automated.
Know your budget (Magnumfreak) Don't expect a $10,000 EA for under $100.00. Would you expect a mechanic to construct a race motor to get $100?? True experience comes at a price put your cent rolls and get ready to offer a fair wage. Physicians and lawyers aren't cheap so do not expect a developer with 10 years of experience to work for $1.00 an hour.
Construct your gameplan: First thing you should do is put out a gameplan by determining what kind of system it is, can it be trending, including etc etc..
Know the Market: Be certain you understand the market, and that's it is not a game, you can win large, and loose a lot, nobody wins 100% of the time. Knowing the importance of risk/reward is mandatory.
Know the information: be certain that you understand exactly how to use any indior that may be portion of this system for both yourself, and for the developer (both of you want to understand exactly how it works).
Stoploss and Takeprofit: This is probably among the most essential facets of Forex Trading, knowing when to get out of a trade with a large win, or a little loss. This is more significant than any entrance sign.
Backtest Manually: you must always backtest your own system for at LEAST a 6 month interval to make sure it is a very long haul profit system and not a 1 month wonder, after backtesting proves to be profitable, then ahead test to make sure it can handle real world market conditions (test during news hours, asian market etc etc.)
Tweek the machine: If you think the machine you've pieced together could do better, try tweeking it to see whether it can do better (notice, nevertheless not 1 penny has been spent)
DO NOT ALTER THE CORE SYSTEM: Often forex traders fail because they jump from system to system attempting to find that ideal 100% winner. Don't do this, unless you're able to look at it, do not even try a system and grasp the fundamentals of it without any excuse. When you have sufficient experience are you going to be able to browse the complied indiors properly.
Look for experience: After deciding your EA is how you want it to be, and is still profitable on both long term backtests, and ahead evaluations, the next step would be to find an experienced developer, afterall, we're looking for someone to automate a MONEY MAKING SYSTEM (there is no space for ameture mistakes here).
Verify Experience: Would you buy something if the only person that has an opinion of it is the person selling it? I really hope not. Be certain the person you are talking with about programming is seasoned, ask for people to vouch for them, request projects as proof of experience, do anything YOU FEEL YOU HAVE TO DO to make certain you're getting the ideal person for your job. Afterall, you expecting your investment cash. (if a developer gets offended because you are only attempting to confirm that they're what they say, then proceed to the next developer.)
Workout the bargain: Be certain all aspects of this arrangement are known to both parties, such as code request, comments within the code, security systems for supply, the ability to distribute etc.. Both parties should know ALL aspects before anything ought to continue. And both parties ought to AGREE to persue. Progr your system with no and if a developer goes forward agreeing to the job. Move on to the next developer (this isn't something that is to be rushed) - (Magnumfreak) NOTE: Regardless of how much you pay to get your EA secure, 20 seconds after it could be decompiled. It is only an ugly fact of managing metatrader get over it.
Demo Test EA: Always demo test you EA once you recieve the compiled product, make certain that there are no mistakes, compare with backtest results (if the outcomes from your manual backtests are extremely different than the EA backtest, the developer made a mistake somewhere or you did not backtest properly.)
Testing is OK: as soon as you've analyzed your compiled EA, and are satisfied with it, credit the developer, let them understand you will guarantee them in their future ventures. Respect is always a 2 way street.
Initial stride by Magnumfreak in 2007
1. Supply more detail than you believe is needed. Individuals who write software are a fascinating breed to say the least (that includes me). We typically take things very literally. Our minds operate very much as a pc in that should the smallest detail is left by you out, we tend to generate a pile of mistakes.
2. Spend a little time searching. This forum and others have built in search features that will allow you to search8217;s of thousands of articles in only a few seconds. For simpler things like moving average crosses, stochastic overbought or oversold, etc chances are they've already been achieved. Which is not quite what you need post it 14, should you find one and the coder may be able to modify the present indior to suit your needs. Preventing us from having to re-invent the wheel.
3. If it is part of a trading platform, provide links in the event that you can so we could look into the system operates. The more we understand, the better your chances of having your request filled properly the first time (or close to the very first time).
4. Be conscious of this coder#8217;s time and energy. Not sure about others on here but up until now my Forex income exceeded my software development earnings, I spent 10-20 hours composing software. I would take on little indior projects simply to break the monotony and to help spark new ideas for the software I was working on. If you don#8217;t get a reply from someone in 24-48 hours bump your post back around the top. Odds are the programmers who write metatrader code are occupied doing other things and only haven#8217;t had the opportunity to jump in here to look at requests.
5. Understand that the code that is generated for you might not work 100% the first time you try it. Metatrader does not have a debugging system which makes development rougher. Until it is right, be patient and coders will continue working with you. Don't under any circumstances go live with your indior or EA. Prior to going 20, if it is an EA, I would demonion trade it for AT LEAST 2 weeks. The markets are dynamic and changing, for two or a day then going live analyzing something is suicide.
6. If the job is large enough that the person feels that reimbursement is necessary, don#8217;t even get angry. You need to ascertain this project will give you. Will it allow you to go do something else before an alert is delivered to your email or mobile phone giving you much more freedom? Can it grab transactions you might have missed? If be respectful, you do not want to cover their time and only let them know.
7. Have realistic expectations. Even though a majority of work goes on here for free, some projects warrant reimbursement. For instance, large complied EA projects, indiors or EA#8217;s that you plan on selling on a retail level, all these are simply a few examples but fit within this class. Open market, U.S. based programmers like myself and others with this forum TYPICALLY control 35-100 U.S. Dollars an hour. Factor in someone who understands about Forex and Metatrader and you will find there are only a few who do so on a professional degree. There are programmers from different countries who work for much less (some are extremely good, others nicely you take your chances).
8. Don#8217;t. Quite frankly we've got a hard time coping with our minds let alone looking into someone else #8217;s. If you need help determining everything you need for your job, simply ask for it. Let people know you are prepared to take tips or suggestions. Maybe the coder will recall that you want a good money management egy for your EA, or anything.
I feel this advice from both myself, and Magnumfreak, is essential to producing a successful EA. Remember people, This is a massive decision. Take some time.
This concludes my how to on building a successful EA. Thank you for reading.
If you've any extra information you believe I have missed only post and I will update this initial post and add credit to who led.
Take them pips home everybody, Lets make them ours.
