How to start with MetaTrader and forex, the beginning - page 16

[Sergey Golubev]

A system of voice notifications for trade events and signals

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Developing a voice notification system
• Practical application in indicators
• Practical application in trading Expert Advisors
• Practical application in Quick Trading Tools
• Conclusion

[Sergey Golubev]

Forum on trading, automated trading systems and testing trading strategies

New MetaTrader 5 platform build 2715: General improvements

MetaQuotes, 2020.11.25 16:56

The updated version of the MetaTrader 5 platform will be released on Thursday, November 26, 2020. The update provides the following changes:

1. Terminal: Fixed platform freezing when using the options board. Freezing could be caused by a zero tick size specified in trading instrument settings.
   
2. Terminal: Fixed UI display errors on HiDPI displays.
   
3. MQL5: Fixed string to time conversion by the StringToTime function. An error could occur when specifying time as "yyyymmdd [hhmiss]".
4. MQL5: Fixed operation of implicit copy operator for objects containing dynamic arrays. Now, the operation reduces the destination object size to the copied object size.
   

   struct MyStruct
   {
     string Array[];
   };
   
   void OnStart()
   {
     MyStruct a1,a2;
     ArrayResize(a1.Array,3);
     ArrayResize(a2.Array,1);
     a1=a2;
   }

   Earlier, the "a1" array size was equal to 3 after the function call. Now, the size will be 1.
   
   
5. MetaTester: Updated rating calculation algorithm for MQL5 Cloud Network testing agents. The rating is now determined more accurately and is changed less frequently.
   
6. Documentation has been updated.
   
   

The update will be available through the Live Update system.

[Sergey Golubev]

Basic math behind Forex trading - the article

I am a developer of automatic strategies and software with over 5 years of experience. In this article, I will open the veil of secrecy to those just starting to trade in Forex or on any other exchange. Besides, I will try to answer the most popular trading questions.

I hope, the article will be useful for both beginners and experienced traders. Also, note that this is purely my vision based on actual experience and research.

[Sergey Golubev]

Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part I): Finding a basic pattern

Any trading algorithm is generally a tool which may bring profit to an experienced trader or instantly destroy a deposit of an inexperienced one. The issue of creating a profitable and reliable algorithm is that we cannot understand what needs to be done in order to earn money and what methods are used by "successful traders". While HFT, arbitrage, option strategies and calendar spread-based systems boast a solid theoretical basis clearly stating what needs to be done to make profit, the algorithms based on price analysis and fundamental data are much more ambiguous. This area has no full-fledged theoretical basis that would describe pricing making it extremely difficult to create a stable trading algorithm. Trading turns into art here, while science helps systematizing everything.

But is it possible to create a fully automated trading algorithm based only on the analysis of price changes working on any trading instrument without optimization and with no need to manually adjust parameters for each trading instrument separately? Is there an algorithm you can simply apply to a necessary trading instrument chart so that it immediately defines profitable parameters for it? 

[Sergey Golubev]

The market and the physics of its global patterns

In this article, we will try to understand how market physics can be used for automated trading. The language of mathematics implies transition from abstractness and uncertainty to forecasting. This allows operating with clear formulas or criteria, rather than with some approximate and vague values, in an effort to improve the quality of the created systems. I will not invent any theories or patterns, but I will only use known facts, gradually translating these facts into the language of mathematical analysis. The market physics is impossible without mathematics, because the signals that we generate are mathematical substance. Many people try to create various theories and formulas without any statistical analysis or using very limited statistics, which is often not enough for such bold conclusions. Practice alone is the criterion of truth. First, I will try to reflect a little, and then, based on these reflections, I will create an Expert Advisor (EA). This will be followed by the EA testing.

[Sergey Golubev]

Sergey Golubev:

Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part I): Finding a basic pattern

Any trading algorithm is generally a tool which may bring profit to an experienced trader or instantly destroy a deposit of an inexperienced one. The issue of creating a profitable and reliable algorithm is that we cannot understand what needs to be done in order to earn money and what methods are used by "successful traders". While HFT, arbitrage, option strategies and calendar spread-based systems boast a solid theoretical basis clearly stating what needs to be done to make profit, the algorithms based on price analysis and fundamental data are much more ambiguous. This area has no full-fledged theoretical basis that would describe pricing making it extremely difficult to create a stable trading algorithm. Trading turns into art here, while science helps systematizing everything.

But is it possible to create a fully automated trading algorithm based only on the analysis of price changes working on any trading instrument without optimization and with no need to manually adjust parameters for each trading instrument separately? Is there an algorithm you can simply apply to a necessary trading instrument chart so that it immediately defines profitable parameters for it? 

Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part II): Improving efficiency 

Before reading this article, I recommend that you study the first article "Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part I): Finding a basic pattern". This is not necessary, since the main point will still be clear, but reading will be more interesting.

In the previous article, I detected a simple pattern and developed a very simple algorithm that exploits it. But the algorithm has no flexible structure, and it makes no sense to expect any outstanding results from it.

We need to greatly improve it so that it becomes more flexible and adjusts its operation parameters depending on the market situation so that it is possible to achieve better results and stability.

[Sergey Golubev]

Sergey Golubev:

Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part II): Improving efficiency 

Before reading this article, I recommend that you study the first article "Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part I): Finding a basic pattern". This is not necessary, since the main point will still be clear, but reading will be more interesting.

In the previous article, I detected a simple pattern and developed a very simple algorithm that exploits it. But the algorithm has no flexible structure, and it makes no sense to expect any outstanding results from it.

We need to greatly improve it so that it becomes more flexible and adjusts its operation parameters depending on the market situation so that it is possible to achieve better results and stability.

Self-adapting algorithm (Part III): Abandoning optimization

Before reading this article, I recommend that you study the second article in the series "Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part II): Improving efficiency". The methodology applied in the current article differs significantly from everything discussed earlier, but it will be useful to read the previous articles to understand the topic.

[Sergey Golubev]

Combinatorics and probability theory for trading (Part I): The basics 

Contents

• Introduction
• How can probability theory be useful in market analysis?
• Specifics of applied probability theory for manual and automated trading
• Probability trees and hypotheses
• About fractals
• Bernoulli scheme
• Creating the first fractal
• Summary
• Conclusion

[Sergey Golubev]

Bid/Ask spread analysis in MetaTrader 5 

If you don't use Limit or Stop orders for both trade entry and exit then you will use market orders and of course these depend on the size of the Bid/Ask spread to determine what prices you receive.

When you hit the buy button, you actually buy at the ASK price which is a spread size above the bid price that you probably used to decide to buy.

When you hit the sell button, you actually sell at the BID price which is a spread size below the ask price.

Of course when you hit the close button to close a position that you had previously bought, you actually sell at the current BID price.

And the reverse is true, when you hit the close button to close a position that you had previously shorted, you actually buy back or cover at the current ASK price.

Now we can use tick data from MetaTrader 5 to analyze what the historic true average Bid/Ask spread actually have recently been.

You shouldn't need to look at the current spread because that is available if you show both bid and ask price lines.

[Sergey Golubev]

Forum on trading, automated trading systems and testing trading strategies

Installing EAs

Eleni Anna Branou, 2021.09.11 18:19

How to buy, install, test and use a MT4 Expert Advisor

https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/366152  (MT4)

https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/366161  (MT5)