What Is an Expert Advisor?

An expert advisor is a specially designed software that can carry out trading functions. This software notifies forex traders of opportunities and advises them on the trades they should make. An expert advisor can also manage trades in the place of the forex trader.

Programmed using Meta Quotes Language (MQL), an expert advisor works on the Meta Trader platform. The Meta Trader platform is an online platform for forex traders. The expert advisor comprises a mathematical model that uses trade signals to determine the best entry points into trades.

Some forex EAs gather data on forex markets and then send trading signals to the trader. Others analyze this data and use it to decide the best time to enter a market. What your expert advisor does depends on the way you have programmed it.

You can even program your EA using specific instructions. The expert advisor will then make trades according to those instructions while you are occupied.

How Can I Use Forex EA?

After installing an EA, you need to set its parameters according to the trading strategies you want it to use and the functions you want it to have. Using the parameters, the Forex EA analyzes different trading opportunities and decides whether or not to invest in them.

The Forex EA does this through a set of questions incorporated into its mathematical model. Using these questions, it makes a decision about the trade.

You can either build your own EA or download one built by someone else. Using the signals of the EA, you can make decisions or choose to act quickly.

When using an EA, you should always try the demo version first. This way, you can check whether the software is suitable for your forex trading. You should also do your research beforehand and set up adequate parameters.

How Do Forex Expert Advisors Work?

Forex expert advisors make the trading process automatic, helping you make a profit through trades. They use technical indicators and trade parameters to identify profitable trading opportunities. They use the data they have gathered to pinpoint the lowest cost to enter the market and the highest cost to sell.
After you attach an EA to a chart on your MT4 platform, the forex expert advisor will analyze market conditions and use them to advise you on trades to make. It uses different factors and situations to draw conclusions about the direction a market will go.
When making trade decisions, an EA follows a set of rules or conditions. With these conditions in place, the EA manages trades on behalf of traders by entering and exiting markets as needed.
The functions of an EA range from advisory functions to making decisions for you. What a certain EA does depends on the type of expert advisor it is and how you have programmed it.

Forex EA Pros and Cons

Free foreign expert advisors are an appealing option for forex traders. This is because they free them from the stress and the time spent making trades. A forex EA allows them to sit back and let a forex robot do the work.

Despite that, a forex EA does not come without disadvantages. You will require a constant internet connection for a foreign expert advisor to work properly. Additionally, many forex EAs can turn out to be scams, doing more harm than good.

👍 Pros

1. A Forex EA Takes Emotions Out Of Forex Trading: At times, fear of a loss can stop you from making a decision that has good prospects. A forex EA will not take this fear into account and will just make a trade according to your instructions. A forex EA will also be free of biases and greed. This will prevent delays from happening and will enable smarter decision-making.
2. A Forex EA Is Faster: A forex EA can do the needful to find trades with good prospects in seconds. This includes surveying markets, analyzing factors, and deriving the probability of a profitable trade. This speed allows the EA to grab as many trading opportunities as possible and work more efficiently than others.
3. A Forex EA Can Trade 24/7: A forex EA can stay active on the market and be on the lookout for opportunities all day. On the other hand, humans need to sleep, work, and go about their daily lives. Humans often need to take breaks, which can lead them to miss an opportunity. This will never happen with forex EAs.
4. A Forex EA Makes Back testing Easier: A forex EA speeds up the process of testing various strategies while making decisions. An expert advisor can do this in seconds, while if a human does it, it will be difficult and time-consuming. Since EAs can store a lot of data, they can use it to test out multiple strategies and then choose the best one for the trades.
5. A Forex EA Removes the Need for Expertise: With a forex EA, people who are just starting with forex trading will be able to trade easily. They will not require any expertise since the expert advisor will advise them and act on their behalf.

👎 Cons

1. A Forex EA Does Not Recognize Fundamental Data: A forex EA makes decisions using statistics, charts, and historical data. However, they ignore external factors such as industry trends or political factors. These factors can play a part in determining the profitability of a trade. In the absence of this knowledge, the results of trading can be less than favorable.
2. A Forex EA Is Subject to Technical Problems: Since you run a forex EA from a computer at home, technical issues can arise. These include connectivity issues, hardware failures, and power outages. A technical issue can interrupt the trade execution, leading the EA to miss opportunities or make wrong decisions.
3. A Forex EA Has to Stick to One Instrument: A forex EA cannot carry out trading strategies that involve multiple instruments. This reduces diversification and increases risk. It can also reduce the number of trading opportunities available.
4. A Forex EA Cannot Execute Certain Strategies: A forex EA cannot handle strategies such as wave analysis. This type of strategy is better suited to live traders with access to real-time news.

Main Types of Forex EAs

There are several types of expert advisors depending on your trading objectives, your requirements for the expert advisors, and the type of trades you wish to use a forex EA for.
Expert Advisor Scalper: An expert advisor scalper opens multiple positions at one time. This type of forex expert advisor keeps these positions open until they make small profits. The EA closes these positions as soon as they generate a profit. Through an expert advisor scalper, you make multiple trades in a day and earn small profits in many of these trades. Expert advisor scalpers can get your account banned since brokers frown upon them.
News Expert Advisor: A news expert advisor bases its decisions around price or trend changes following big news releases. It takes advantage of these changes to make profitable trading decisions. The news releases in question are financial news releases surrounding interest rates and payroll decisions. These releases can have a major impact on prices, which is exactly what a news expert advisor predicts and uses to its advantage.
Hedge Expert Advisor: A hedge expert advisor works by opening two opposing positions. It aims for one position to get a profit while the other reduces a loss. The profitable position is often left open while the other is ultimately closed. A hedge expert advisor observes the profitability of both these positions.
Breakout Expert Advisor: When price surpasses preset resistance and support levels, a breakout expert advisor opens up a trade. The position it opens is often connected to the price increase, which a breakout expert advisor uses to make a profit.
Adaptive Expert Advisor: Adaptive expert advisors do not have a set way of acting. They just act according to how the market acts. This means that, with adaptive expert advisors, you just need to set parameters, and the advisor will make the decisions.

4 Rules of Forex EA

When launching a forex expert advisor, there are some rules you should follow to reduce risks and increase profitability.

1. Pay Close Attention to Backtesting Results: You should use the same data you used during backtesting when actually conducting trades. Good backtesting results do not indicate that your entire system works well. It just means that the data you used for the backtesting was of good quality. Not using that data can lead to unfavorable outcomes.
2. Check Your Metatrader Connection: As mentioned before, your expert advisor will not work if your connection gets interrupted or if technical issues arise. Therefore, you should keep checking your MetaTrader connection. To improve the execution of your EA, you should reduce the number of windows open in your MT4 workspace.
3. Research Market Conditions: One possible cause of your EA failure is its inability to keep track of and adapt according to market conditions. This makes it essential for you to have full knowledge of these conditions. If you want to make a decision based on market trends, you can even run an EA that is meant for trending markets.
4. Take Care to Avoid Scams: Since your EA manages your forex trading, a scam can create immense financial problems. You should make sure to avoid scams when downloading an EA. Doing your research will bring your attention to various tried and tested options that other traders believe in. This can help you to make an informed decision. Look for genuine customer reviews and make a decision accordingly.