Is there a profitable EA on mql or are they all scams? - page 6
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Very familiar story. I went through the same thing, and it cost me roughly $30,000 before I stopped trusting smooth equity curves.
What helped me most was changing what I look at before I trust a system. A few things that repeatedly exposed recovery logic early, especially on gold: Equity drawdown, not balance drawdown. A martingale or grid closes its winners and carries its losers. The balance curve stays beautiful while the floating drawdown quietly grows. If a seller only shows balance, that alone is a signal. Lot size after a loss. Export the trade history and sort by time. If lot sizes step up after losing trades, or several positions open in the same direction at worse prices, it's recovery logic, whatever the description says. Backtest vs. live divergence. Compare the backtest period with the live signal over the same months. Recovery systems often look almost identical in quiet phases and split apart exactly in the trending weeks you describe. Track length in trades, not months. Six months with 60 trades says very little. A recovery system can survive a long time simply because the one bad sequence hasn't arrived yet. Time in losing trades. Winners closed in minutes, losers held for days: that asymmetry is typical and easy to measure.I ended up logging these signals systematically for every EA I look at, and the pattern you describe shows up again and again on XAUUSD. Fully agree on your conservative direction. Fewer trades, no stacking, volatility-based stops.
My question back: when you adapt stops to volatility on gold, do you use ATR on the entry timeframe or a higher one?
I've found the choice changes the behavior in trending weeks quite a lot.
Best regards
In my opinion, this comment is one of the best explanations I’ve found so far about the MQL5 Market and EA selling:
https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/364384#comment_21163904
Honestly, I think something like this should be read and understood before even opening the Market section for the first time. It explains very well why good marketing and a high ranking do not necessarily mean a good EA.
I’m currently trying to find good material for beginners on how to properly choose an EA, but so far I haven’t found much that is really useful.
For example, this article:
https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/1776
doesn’t really give me much practical value as someone who wants to understand how not to buy a bad EA.
This one is a bit more interesting:
https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/10212
because it at least goes a little more into how to analyze an EA before buying it.
But I still feel that the bigger picture is missing — how a beginner can distinguish a genuinely good EA from a product that simply has very good marketing. That is actually the main problem I’ve run into so far.
I’d also really like to find a good article or guide on how to properly read MQL5 Signals — what to look at, how to interpret drawdown, deposits and withdrawals, trading history, and the other statistics.
If anyone knows any good material on this, I’d be happy to read it.
I found the discussion here very interesting.
I've noticed that many people are dissatisfied with backtest simulations and real-world models. The models are propagated using historical data, and the parameters are adjusted for these conditions multiple times, leading to overfitting. What I recommend for those looking to buy an Expert Advisor (EA) is to perform a Walk Forward Efficiency(WFE) test with a variety of parameters and observe the sample results. If they show positive behavior, there's a chance the strategy will propagate in the real market. Additionally, check if nearby parameters also produce a positive sample. Statistical analysis can help in choosing and even building good EAs.
And for those who think that the strategy only works in the past, the market goes through various periods in which the parameters can adjust. A good WFE analysis will also tell you if the EA produces temporal and atemporal results. Just analyze the recurrence; sometimes the EA is good, it's just poorly calibrated for that period.
And for those who think that a good Expert Advisor (EA) shouldn't be shared, many conservative EAs generate profits with a certain R-factor and calculated risk, so why not monetize them by sharing them?
This was just one example among many factors.
In my opinion, this comment is one of the best explanations I’ve found so far about the MQL5 Market and EA selling:
https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/364384#comment_21163904
Honestly, I think something like this should be read and understood before even opening the Market section for the first time. It explains very well why good marketing and a high ranking do not necessarily mean a good EA.
I’m currently trying to find good material for beginners on how to properly choose an EA, but so far I haven’t found much that is really useful.
For example, this article:
https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/1776
doesn’t really give me much practical value as someone who wants to understand how not to buy a bad EA.
This one is a bit more interesting:
https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/10212
because it at least goes a little more into how to analyze an EA before buying it.
But I still feel that the bigger picture is missing — how a beginner can distinguish a genuinely good EA from a product that simply has very good marketing. That is actually the main problem I’ve run into so far.
I’d also really like to find a good article or guide on how to properly read MQL5 Signals — what to look at, how to interpret drawdown, deposits and withdrawals, trading history, and the other statistics.
If anyone knows any good material on this, I’d be happy to read it.
Hello WoutTrader!
I find this article very interesting for those looking for signs:
Social trading. Can a profitable signal still be improved? - MQL5 articles
He teaches how to interpret a signal and how to protect yourself from scammers.
Hello WoutTrader!
I find this article very interesting for those looking for signs:
Social trading. Can a profitable signal still be improved? - MQL5 articles
He teaches how to interpret a signal and how to protect yourself from scammers.
Yes, the idea of the article is good, but in my opinion it is made more complicated than necessary for a new EA buyer. Many of the main problems can already be noticed simply by carefully looking at the trading history, lot sizes, and how the profit curve is being built.
I’m still looking for a good, easy-to-understand article that explains all the MQL5 signal sections — drawdown, risk, deposits and withdrawals, trading history, and the other statistics — and what they actually mean in practice when evaluating an EA.
If anyone knows any other really useful articles or forum discussions like this one about EA marketing tricks and hidden risks, I’d be very happy to read them.
Hi Luke, after that experience, your scepticism is understandable. But I think it is unfair to put all EAs and all developers in the same category. Selling an EA does not automatically mean it cannot be profitable, just as a high price or an impressive backtest does not prove that it is.
One useful distinction is between EAs that rely on repeated optimisation and updated settings, and those designed to operate without that ongoing intervention. Some developers reoptimise when performance deteriorates and publish new settings or versions. Frequent updates can be a reason to investigate, although they can also contain genuine fixes and improvements.
For me, a useful first filter is an out-of-sample test: how did that exact EA version and those exact settings perform on data after the period used to optimise them? Testing an unchanged version over several months following its release is much more informative than looking only at its optimised historical results.
Signals can provide useful evidence too, but we should check whether the trades are consistent with the advertised EA and settings, allowing for broker and execution differences. Otherwise, what exactly are we evaluating?
The market contains good products, weak products and scams, like any other market. We should judge them individually. An out-of-sample test is not a guarantee of future profits, but it is a far better starting point than assuming either that every EA works or that every seller is dishonest.