1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4
WE IMPROVED THIS EXPERT ADVISOR FOR YOU!!!
PLEASE NOTE: This expert advisor was publicly available for free usage on other websites and is not programmed by us. We explain the functionality and possible improvements of the EA. Furthermore, we are convinced that fully automatic Expert Advisors will fail in the long run. On the other hand, our semi-automatic approach with detecting the best setups and then activating our Expert Advisors (e.g. V-Power EA, EdgeZone EA) produced many successful traders and some of them even got prop traders at prop trading firms. Therefore, we added a similar semi-automatic trading feature (to allow only buy or only sell trades) to the free Expert Advisors. You can download the modified version here and enjoy!
Table Of Contents:
- 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4
- The 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4 – Entry Criteria
- The 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4 – Exit Criteria
- The 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4 – Suggestions for Improvement
As the name implies, the 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4 is designed for use in the one-minute chart of any major foreign exchange instrument using the MetaTrader4 trading platform. While the robot is designed this way, the user can still use it in any timeframe of his choice. In back testing, trading activities started late into the testing period. Still testing showed that the algorithm is working as designed. Profitability is another matter and cannot be determined by testing in the strategy tester alone. Demo trading is necessary, and it is left to the user to find the settings, instruments and timeframes that will yield profitable results.
The 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4 – Entry Criteria
Before looking for trade entries, the 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor checks if certain conditions exist and if so carries out the required actions. The program executes the trading algorithm once on every new candle. In each iteration, the robot looks at the current drawdown, the number of pips lost or gained on every trade, the number of bars on the active chart, the take profit value, the account free margin and the technical indicators.
Any user interested to use this expert advisor must fully understand the options available in Inputs. This is to avoid unnecessary losses and optimize the performance of the trading system. These parameters and their default values, along with their descriptions, are discussed below:
- IncreaseFactor = 0.001 – In theory, this parameter defines the increment value for the subsequent trades. In reality, setting a bigger value will increase the lot sizes to unexpected amounts, significantly magnifying the risk on every trade. This setting is better left to its default value to protect the trading account.
- Lots = 0.01 – This amount is the lot size of all trades throughout the trading implementation.
- TrailingStop = 40 – The trailing stop function kicks in when a trade gains 40 pips.
- Stop_Loss = 20 – Each trade taken by the robot has a defined stop loss of 20 pips.
- MagicNumber = 1234 – The expert advisor assigns this number to every trade it takes.
- Take_Profit = 50 – Each trade executed by the expert advisor has a defined take profit of 50 pips.
- FastMA = 6 – This number is the period for the fast-moving average in use.
- SlowMA = 85 – This number is the period of the slow-moving average in use.
- Mom_Sell = 0.3 – The momentum value must not exceed 0.3 for a sell trade signal to remain valid.
- Mom_Buy = 0.3 – The momentum value must not exceed 0.3 for a buy trade signal to remain valid.
- UseEquityStop = true – When this condition is true, the robot will forcibly close all trades when the drawdown is beyond the tolerable limit.
- TotalEquityRisk = 1.0 – The tolerable limit for current drawdown on the trading account is one percent of the account balance.
- Max_Trades = 10 – The expert advisor can open up to 10 trades on a trading cycle.
The expert advisor uses two technical indicators to identify a trade opportunity. Which indicators are used, what their settings are and how the values are interpreted to obtain a trade signal are all covered below:
- Linear weighted moving averages (periods 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 200; price typical) – This trading system employs 13 moving averages to define a trade entry. All values of these moving averages are obtained from the current period and symbol and only for the previous candle. To get a buy signal, all moving averages should be aligned and moving in the upward direction, with the smaller-period moving average placed above the bigger-period moving average. This means that the 3-period LWMA is above the 5-period LWMA and so on. To get a sell signal, the moving averages should be aligned and pointing down, with the smaller-period moving average placed below the bigger-period moving average.
- Momentum (period 14, price close) – The values of the momentum indicator are obtained from the three previous candles on the next higher period of the active symbol. If any of these values is less than 0.3, the signal provided by the moving averages is confirmed.
If a trade signal has been generated and confirmed and if there is no open trade yet or the maximum number of trades is not yet reached, the expert advisor will immediately execute a trade. This trade will have a lot amount of 0.01, with the take profit and stop loss as defined in Inputs. The actual stop loss and take profit values factor in the current spread, though. Whatever the spread is at the time of trade execution will be added to the stop loss and subtracted from the take profit. This results in a trade risk higher by the amount of the spread and a trade reward lower by the same amount.
The trading system takes only one type of trades in every trading cycle. It does not mix up buy and sell trades together. When one trade is a buy, for example, the rest of the trades taken later will also be buy trades. It is possible for the expert advisor to open up to 10 trades of the same type in one cycle. When the default IncreaseFactor value is not modified, the lot size of 0.01 for each trade is maintained throughout.
The 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4 – Exit Criteria
Apart from the stop loss and take profit, trades taken by the 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor may be closed at other prices. This is due to the use of breakeven and trailing stop functions, which are enabled by default. The stop loss of a trade gaining at least 30 pips will be moved to the entry price to remove the risk on the trade. If this trade makes more points or pips, trailing stop comes into play when a total of 40 pips is gained, securing at least 10 pips in the process. At this point, the trade is already a winner, and it does not take much to reach the take profit target, which is just 10 pips ahead.
The 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor For MT4 – Suggestions for Improvement
Testing using four months of historical data is done to determine the profitability of the 1 Minute Scalper Expert Advisor. However, trading started almost in the middle of the testing period for an unknown reason. Testing ended with a minimal loss for the trading account. Win rate was low (34 percent), but drawdown was acceptable (less than two percent).
This testing shows that the trading system is not yet ready to be used in live trading. However, the trading algorithm works as intended by the program creator. To get an idea of the trading performance of the robot, demo trading for a significant time duration must be done by the user.
One possible cause for the poor performance is the sheer number of trades taken at the same time. Taking a maximum of 10 trades at one time could lead to more frequent losses. In addition, the trades are placed closely together from each other. The trading system might perform well if the trades are spaced out regularly or evenly on the active symbol.
Another observation is that stop losses are adjusted individually for each trade. If the spacing of trades is improved and stop losses are adjusted for all trades, the user might see a different result in back test or demo trading. Implementing these changes in the code might give the robot a chance to deliver results.
Partially Automated Trading Besides Your Day Job
Alerts In Real-Time When Divergences Occur
