Folow Line 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:
- Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4
- The Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4 – Entry Criteria
- The Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4 – Exit Criteria
- The Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4 – Room for Improvement
The Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4 uses a custom indicator called Follow Line as the main trigger for trade entry. This indicator is available as an attachment to this expert advisor. On every new candle on the timeframe and symbol where it is running, the robot checks if the indicator has printed an arrow on the chart and which type. Then it executes a trade based on the direction of this arrow.
A testing done on the expert advisor using five months of test data for one period and one pair proved to be successful. While it started out poorly, the robot managed to make a huge comeback and generated some profits. The profit amount was not significant, but the noticeable metrics were the low drawdown and high win rate. While this result sounds interesting, it is not enough for anyone to start trading it with real money. Further confirmatory testing must be done to verify the effectiveness of this robot.
The Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4 – Entry Criteria
The Folow Line Expert Advisor utilizes a complex algorithm not only in trade entry but also in trade management. This is obvious when one looks at the code. To be able to perceive how the robot works and control some of its aspects, the user should spend time understanding the meaning of each parameter in Inputs and its default value. The expert advisor offers an array of external variables that cannot be presented here in its entirety. The following variables are the most important:
- IndicatorName ="FollowLine_v1.5" – This is the name of the custom indicator used for generating a trade signal.
- IndicatorsShift = 1 – This is the shift of the bar used for the custom indicator. This means that the value of the custom indicator is obtained from the previous candle of the current period.
- CloseInSignal = false – By default, this variable is false. If true, a trade will be closed when an opposite signal is received.
- UseBasketClose = false – By default, this parameter is false. If true, all trades in the current symbol will be closed simultaneously.
- CloseInProfit = false – If this variable is true, a trade will be closed if it is in profit.
- PipsCloseProfit = 10.0 – If the above parameter is true, a trade will be closed when it has gained 10 pips.
- CloseInLoss = false – If this variable is true, a trade will be closed if it is losing.
- PipsCloseLoss = 100.0 – If the above parameter is true, a trade will be closed when it has lost 100 pips.
- UseTakeProfit = true – By default, this option is true. In this case, each trade will have an explicit take profit value.
- TakeProfit = 10.0 – The take profit value for each trade is 10 pips.
- UseStopLoss = true – By default, this option is true. As such, each trade will have a definite stop loss.
- StopLoss = 50.0 – The stop loss of each trade is 50 pips.
- UseTrailingStop = false – By default, this condition is false. If true, winning trades will be trailed when such function is activated.
- TrailingStop = 5 – A winning trade will have its stop loss trailed upon gaining 5 pips.
- TrailingStep = 1 – When trailing stop is activated, the stop loss is adjusted every time one pip is gained.
- UseBreakEven = false – By default, this condition is false. If true, winning trades will have their stop loss shifted to breakeven when a certain amount of pips is gained.
- BreakEven = 4 – If the above parameter is true, the stop loss of a trade will be moved to breakeven when it has gained 4 pips.
- AutoLotSize = true – Since this variable is true, the expert advisor will define the lot size based on the risk factor set by the user.
- RiskFactor = 1.0 – If the user accepts this default value, the lot size will be one percent of the account balance.
- ManualLotSize = 0.01 – If the user does not accept auto lot sizing, he can set the lot size in this variable or accept the default value.
- UseTimeFilter = false – If this is set to true, the expert advisor will trade only within a specific timeline.
- TimeStartTrade = 0 – If time filter is on, trading will start on this hour, which is the open time for the trading day.
- TimeEndTrade = 23 – If time filter is on, trading will end at this hour, which is the closing time for the trading day.
- MaxSpread = 0.0 – If this value is kept at zero, the robot will execute trades without regard to the real-time spread.
- MaxOrders = 0 – If this figure is zero, there will be no maximum limit on the number of trades to be taken by the robot.
- Slippage = 3 – This information is sent by the expert advisor during trade request to the server to define the maximum slippage between price requested and price executed.
- MagicNumber = 0 – If this number is zero, the expert advisor will set the magic number for each trade.
- CommentsOrders = "FollowLineEA" – This information is added to each trade and is used by the expert advisor in trade management.
The expert advisor uses one technical indicator when looking for a trade entry. This indicator is a custom indicator that comes with the expert advisor. It is placed in the Indicators folder of the MT4 directory to make it accessible by the robot. The custom indicator is explained below:
- FollowLine – This indicator utilizes four buffers in storing and displaying data on the chart. In this system, only two of the four buffers are used in generating trade signals. These two buffers are shown as up and down arrows on the main window. If an up arrow is present on the active chart, a buy signal will be given. If a down arrow is displayed on the chart, a sell signal will be indicated.
When a trade signal has been provided, a buy or sell trade will be executed with a lot size defined by the expert advisor. The position size may vary on each trade as it is computed as a percentage of the current account balance. Each trade initiated by this expert advisor has a clearly defined stop loss and take profit. As defined in Inputs, the take profit is 10 pips and the stop loss is 50 pips.
The Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4 – Exit Criteria
Since the breakeven and trail stop functions are disabled by default, the Folow Line Expert Advisor allows the market to decide the outcome of every trade. From observation in testing, this is exactly the case. Trades are closed either by the take profit or the stop loss. Order modification did not happen.
The Folow Line Expert Advisor For MT4 – Room for Improvement
In testing, the Folow Line Expert Advisor got a profit factor of 1.10, meaning it is profitable. The win rate was 84 percent, which is huge, and the drawdown was about two percent, which is very manageable. However, one apparent drawback is the poor performance at the start of testing. The equity curve was going down for the most part and only rebounded on the later part of testing. That happened because the robot won 15 times in a row.
One can say that the trading system was just lucky to have produced profit in this testing, and that is a fairly acceptable assumption. Therefore, this testing is not sufficient to conclude that the trading system is indeed effective. The user must do further investigations to gauge the performance of the robot. He must use various trading instruments and periods until he gains confidence that the robot can indeed make money.
Partially Automated Trading Besides Your Day Job
Alerts In Real-Time When Divergences Occur
