EA Competition

[Sergiu Luzov]

Across this platform there are thousands of EAs, yet retail traders continue losing money — often because they purchase products that turn out to be scams or contain hidden logic capable of destroying an account. MQL5 validation cannot fully detect concealed modules, and developers here cannot realistically safeguard users from every manipulation.

Another recurring issue is that retail traders buy “top” products and still suffer heavy losses, either due to poor real‑market performance or because sellers fail to disclose the true risk profile. <product-name-redacted> and <product-name-redacted> are clear examples: both showed strong historical returns, yet many users were liquidated — maybe because they used higher‑risk inputs, but ultimately because people buy expensive products expecting high reward with controlled risk, based on backtests.

This raises a straightforward question for MQL5 administrators:  

Why not introduce a long‑term, fully controlled EA competition — algo‑only, strict rules, and a 3–6 month duration? Any EA relying on hidden marketing logic would be exposed quickly, and genuine engines would stand out. Without such a system, approving products without observing their real‑market behaviour is increasingly pointless. A transparent competition would easily separate good EAs from bad ones.

[Ryan L Johnson]

Sergiu Luzov:
Why not introduce a long‑term, fully controlled EA competition...

There formerly was a Metaquotes Automated Trading Championship, but those days are long gone.

[Andrew Pun Magar]

This is actually a great idea, I am up for the competition specially if the prize pool is great! And would love to have different segment in the competition like, I specialize in USDJPY, GBPUSD and XAUUSD... so separate category would be  great as I do not really touch other pairs.

Btw tbh if the competition is about highest ROI, bro martingale and grid will surely make the most out and reliable, excellent long term logic might be overshadowed, isn't it?

[Ryan L Johnson]

Andrew Pun Magar #:

This is actually a great idea, I am up for the competition specially if the prize pool is great! And would love to have different segment in the competition like, I specialize in USDJPY, GBPUSD and XAUUSD... so separate category would be  great as I do not really touch other pairs.

Btw tbh if the competition is about highest ROI, bro martingale and grid will surely make the most out and reliable, excellent long term logic might be overshadowed, isn't it?

Here I go again... That's what proprietary trading firms are for.

As you allude, Maritingaling will blow any proprietary trading firm account in the long run─if Martingaling were even allowed by such a firm.

[Sergiu Luzov]

Andrew Pun Magar #:

This is actually a great idea, I am up for the competition specially if the prize pool is great! And would love to have different segment in the competition like, I specialize in USDJPY, GBPUSD and XAUUSD... so separate category would be  great as I do not really touch other pairs.

Btw tbh if the competition is about highest ROI, bro martingale and grid will surely make the most out and reliable, excellent long term logic might be overshadowed, isn't it?

For me, a competition should separate the high‑risk algos — martingale, big lot sizes, hidden logic, marketing hype — from the real engines that use small lots and don’t depend on spread tricks, HFT, or slippage.

I lost over 5k with “TOPs EA” here because the developers didn’t mention the real risk or the hidden logic. Without a proper competition, you can’t tell which algos actually work in real‑market conditions. a transparent competition would clearly show which engines are genuine and which ones are just high‑risk marketing products.

[Victor Paul Hamilton]

Yeah they are gonna  expose all the  high priced Algos on here and kiss bye bye to a 20 percent cut , not going to happen . 

Once again I say just make all EAs on here for rent at a base low price per month ,That would in short enough time  expose what is what , but does Metaquotes want to change the model ( they need to if they are actually legit with the rise of A.I ) . Maybe they are happy and complicit within the status quo. 

[Sergiu Luzov]

Victor Paul Hamilton #:
Yeah they are gonna  expose all the  high priced Algos on here and kiss bye bye to a 20 percent cut , not going to happen . 

Once again I say just make all EAs on here for rent at a base low price per month ,That would in short enough time  expose what is what , but does Metaquotes want to change the model ( they need to if they are actually legit with the rise of A.I ) . Maybe they are happy and complicit within the status quo. 

only 20? xd. at least 50% down

[Jean Bruchlen]

Sergiu Luzov :

Sur cette plateforme, on trouve des milliers d'Expert Advisors (EA), et pourtant, les traders particuliers continuent de perdre de l'argent, souvent parce qu'ils achètent des produits qui s'avèrent être des arnaques ou qui contiennent une logique cachée capable de ruiner un compte. La validation MQL5 ne permet pas de détecter complètement les modules dissimulés, et les développeurs ne peuvent pas, en pratique, garantir la sécurité des utilisateurs contre toutes les manipulations.

Un autre problème récurrent est que les investisseurs particuliers achètent des produits « phares » et subissent malgré tout de lourdes pertes, soit en raison de leurs piètres performances sur le marché réel, soit parce que les vendeurs omettent de divulguer le véritable profil de risque. <product-name-redacted> et <product-name-redacted> en sont des exemples flagrants : tous deux affichaient de solides rendements historiques, pourtant de nombreux utilisateurs ont liquidé leurs positions – peut-être parce qu'ils utilisaient des paramètres plus risqués, mais surtout parce que les investisseurs achètent des produits en espérant un rendement élevé pour un risque maîtrisé, sur la base de simulations rétrospectives .

Cela soulève une question simple pour les administrateurs MQL5 :  

Pourquoi ne pas instaurer un concours d'EA (Expert Advisors) à long terme et entièrement contrôlé ? Ce concours, basé exclusivement sur des algorithmes, serait soumis à des règles strictes et durerait de 3 à 6 mois. Tout EA utilisant une logique marketing opaque serait rapidement démasqué, et les moteurs performants se distingueraient. Sans un tel système, approuver des produits sans observer leur comportement réel sur le marché perd de plus en plus de sens. Un concours transparent permet de distinguer facilement les bons et les mauvais.

Good intention, but I think the contest format has a real structural flaw: over 3-6 months, it's exactly the most aggressive strategies (martingale, heavy sizing) that will temporarily come out on top — the opposite of what you're trying to filter for. Real robustness gets tested over multiple market cycles (high volatility, calm periods, major macro events), not a single quarter. A high-risk system can easily go 6 months without ever hitting the conditions that expose its flaws.

A maybe more solid approach: instead of a competitive ranking, a "verified long-term" badge based on a public MQL5 signal running for 12+ months minimum, with strict criteria on both max drawdown AND consistency (not just raw return). That filters for the same thing you're after, without creating a perverse incentive to take on more risk just to win the contest.

[Sergiu Luzov]

Jean Bruchlen #:

Good intention, but I think the contest format has a real structural flaw: over 3-6 months, it's exactly the most aggressive strategies (martingale, heavy sizing) that will temporarily come out on top — the opposite of what you're trying to filter for. Real robustness gets tested over multiple market cycles (high volatility, calm periods, major macro events), not a single quarter. A high-risk system can easily go 6 months without ever hitting the conditions that expose its flaws.

A maybe more solid approach: instead of a competitive ranking, a "verified long-term" badge based on a public MQL5 signal running for 12+ months minimum, with strict criteria on both max drawdown AND consistency (not just raw return). That filters for the same thing you're after, without creating a perverse incentive to take on more risk just to win the contest.

12M is even better.

[Vladislav Boyko]

Recently, I accidentally came across a paid indicator in the market that has relatively high sales. "This reminds me of something," I thought, and fed the screenshots from the market to the AI, asking it to find the source code. The AI ​​complied and found the same indicator in codebase. The codebase version was published before the market product. I'm just citing facts and not making any claims; it's entirely possible the seller isn't aware of the codebase version. Also, to be fair, I should note that the version in the market has some additional primitive features.

So here's my point...

I've once again become convinced that salesmanship is no less important than the ability to code your product. If you can't sell your stuff, instead of building conspiracy theories, just admit to yourself that you don't know how to sell. Take responsibility for your life, stop looking for someone to blame, and once you've identified your weaknesses, work on improving them.

Your ideas are absolutely worthless. Your execution is everything.

[Victor Paul Hamilton]

Vladislav Boyko #:

Recently, I accidentally came across a paid indicator in the market that has relatively high sales. "This reminds me of something," I thought, and fed the screenshots from the market to the AI, asking it to find the source code. The AI ​​complied and found the same indicator in codebase. The codebase version was published before the market product. I'm just citing facts and not making any claims; it's entirely possible the seller isn't aware of the codebase version. Also, to be fair, I should note that the version in the market has some additional primitive features.

So here's my point...

I've once again become convinced that salesmanship is no less important than the ability to code your product. If you can't sell your stuff, instead of building conspiracy theories, just admit to yourself that you don't know how to sell. Take responsibility for your life, stop looking for someone to blame, and once you've identified your weaknesses, work on improving them.

"Your ideas are absolutely worthless. Your execution is everything." 

Totally appropriate possibly on another space . For me I am more than happy from what I earned from Metaquotes it was like pulling money from thin air but to disregard some of the the nefarious activities be metaquotes complicit or not as a conspiracy theory  would be naive .