If an EA Is Truly Profitable, Why Sell It?

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If EA can continue to make money, why would it need to be sold on the MT5 market?

Wouldn't creators make more money by quietly trading with their own funds instead of selling copies for a few hundred dollars?

As a potential buyer, this has always been my biggest concern. Is there a reasonable explanation, or should traders generally be skeptical of publicly selling EAs?

I would love to hear the real opinions of developers and traders.

 
Lei Zhai:

If EA can continue to make money, why would it need to be sold on the MT5 market?

Wouldn't creators make more money by quietly trading with their own funds instead of selling copies for a few hundred dollars?

As a potential buyer, this has always been my biggest concern. Is there a reasonable explanation, or should traders generally be skeptical of publicly selling EAs?

I would love to hear the real opinions of developers and traders.

Self funding. You code your own EA, start with few bucks, and scale up your capital using the revenue from sales.

 
Asking why people sell trading bots is like asking why restaurants sell food if they can eat it themselves. 😊
 
I will share my experience as a seller:

Point 1: If you start buying truly good trading bots that don't just "paint" profits on a chart but actually generate them, you will discover that even in this case, you need substantial capital to realize your edge. In the vast majority of cases (over 99%), the available funds are simply insufficient. This is why developers of good trading systems often have to sell their bots to build up their own initial capital.

Point 2: You need to understand what a trading bot actually is and what tasks it is designed for. First and foremost, a bot is the automation of simple actions that you could perform manually; only secondarily is it a "money-printing machine." A failure to grasp this distinction leads to inflated expectations, which consequently result in 1-star reviews and disappointment.

Overall, I could break this down from A to Z, but I think this is enough for now. No one on the forum will tell you more than this if they have any sense of self-preservation, respect for platform ethics, and a desire for future development within the MQL5 community.
 

Truly profitable systems are extremely rare. The internet is flooded with EAs claiming unrealistic returns, but very few survive long-term testing with stable behavior and acceptable risk metrics.

A PROFITABLE Expert Advisor, even if it makes “only” 20–50% per year and shows profitability across 20 years of backtests, is not just a piece of software.

It is a potential cash-flow generating asset. And assets are not valued based on how they were code. They are valued based on the economic value they can produce over time.

Think about it logically. If an EA can consistently generate 20–50% annually with controlled drawdown, then the owner already possesses a mechanism capable of compounding capital at a rate far above traditional investments. A strategy producing even 20% annually outperforms most hedge funds, mutual funds, and professional money managers over the long term. At 50%, the numbers become extraordinary due to compounding alone.

The real value comes from the relationship between tested years and earning potential. If an EA can realistically generate even $30,000–$50,000 annually on moderate capital, then selling it for $10,000 or $30,000 makes little economic sense. The seller would essentially be exchanging a long-term cash-flow engine for a short-term payment. A serious quantitative edge is closer to intellectual property than a retail product.

That is why truly profitable algorithmic systems are NOT sold cheaply. (if they even sold at all) If they are authentic, robust, and scalable, their value is not determined by retail EA market prices, but by their future earning potential, scarcity, and strategic importance as a financial asset.

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