Grid Science · Education

Expert Advisors: The Promised Land

Jason Kelland · 15 min read

A 20-year practitioner's checklist for choosing an Expert Advisor: separate a developer's EA from a marketer's, see through inflated gains, and avoid the hype.

If you're reading this, then like me you've been both fascinated and disappointed by the lure of auto-trading the markets. Everyone has different reasons for pursuing this, and many get completely infatuated and absorbed into the ever changing (yet strangely cyclical) EA landscape.

I've been involved in this market for almost 20 years now, and have witnessed the rise and fall of many 'hype' Expert Advisors. Remarkably, not much has actually changed in all this time, strategies that were running hot 20 years ago remain popular today, and have the very same technical flaws. In this article I'll unpack my thoughts about this space, by stepping through a proposed evaluation checklist any prospective buyer can use to assist when searching for a new EA.

Distinguishing between a Developer's EA and a Marketer's EA

EAs are marketed and sold on many platforms, well beyond the official MetaQuotes EA Marketplace.

If you're new to the industry, trying to decide which EA to invest your time and money into can be daunting. Maybe you've read an article on a review website, seen a social media short, or follow a trading content creator. Once you start the process and ask the right questions, the rabbit hole can get really deep really fast. Hopefully this article can assist you in this process.

If you've been in the game for a while, like me, you're probably a sceptic. You've learnt to identify the difference between EAs that have been professionally engineered by a trader, versus one that is being peddled by a marketer (unfortunately this is by far the largest category).

Getting involved with this industry is a financial, emotional and time-based investment, so choosing the right fit for you should not be as simple as 'How much money can I make, with the least amount of investment possible... and can you make it fast please?'

If I could offer the simplest piece of advice, never touch an EA that is being sold by someone who is not the designer and developer of the EA. This is more challenging than it looks, however there are some simple ways to at least prod around and find out.

1. Does the seller have a comprehensive website with detailed information on how the EA works? This should not just be a list of features, but explanations as to how it works and why, including how the EA deals with adverse market setups (which is 100% inevitable). If it were not inevitable, none of us would still be looking.
2. Does the website include contact details and support channels (a forum for example)? And no, Telegram is probably the bottom of the list when it comes to real professional support channels. Whilst I have no issues with the technology and security of Telegram as a business, the app has unfortunately become the home for the marketing gurus too. I cannot caution enough about this.
3. Does the seller appear on any other channels other than their website? Do these channels provide additional information, such as demonstrations and technical education?

Any EA developer who has invested years of their time, skills and money into building out a professional EA, will have invested considerable effort in their public and customer marketing and support presence. Spend time in this space, and you will very quickly eliminate many Expert Advisors. The website need not be pretty, engineers are rarely designers, but it should at least be comprehensive and professional. Ignore the marketing fluff and go for the detail.

Once you know you are investing into an EA supported by the developer, you are already in a much better place. Your list of candidates has been drafted.

Understanding what the EA actually does

Now you have a realistic list of EAs to evaluate, it's time to dig in and research, arming yourself with knowledge on how the EA works and why.

Developers love to talk about their EAs (we're infatuated), with detailed information, videos and supporting documentation. A list of features is not a disclosure, this is marketing. What you need is to understand how the combination of dozens or potentially hundreds of setfile inputs combine to create a trading strategy without ending up in a complete daze. Don't worry about performance at this early stage, we're evaluating product fit.

If your decision making is going to centre around a marketing campaign, there's an extremely good chance you're going to fail, and it may not even be the fault of the EA itself. There are many extremely good EAs on the market today, however put in the wrong hands they can be detrimental to an account.

If you are unsure how to safely configure and use the EA without step-by-step instructions, or the non-default pre-configured setfiles, you are walking a tightrope.

Often, there is a marketed setfile that promises 'this' configuration on 'that' symbol is the surest way to realise financial freedom.

Not only is it highly unethical to sell/promote a setfile promising results (this is drawing parallels with providing financial advice), it's completely the wrong way to approach this industry. An EA seller providing the 'promised results' setfile gives you the buyer the false impression that you are now on the way to financial freedom. You have no idea what the setfile does, or even worse how the EA will actually trade with the sold setfile.

An EA is a tool, usually very complex. If after investigation you are confident that you will have the required support material to be able to safely configure and run the EA, your confidence should be much higher that you are on the right track.

There are many technicalities you need to understand, a list would be overly exhaustive for this article. The point is, what does each setting do, how does it interact with the other settings, what does the EA do when the going gets tough, what are the risk parameters, and so on. Be comprehensive and do not be afraid to ask these questions, it is your right, it's going to be your investment on the line at the end of the day.

I assure you, your list of potential EAs is now going to be much shorter. Great job!

Seeing through the haze of third-party performance websites

Performance of an EA is a key marketing tactic in the industry, and rightly so. You need to understand how well the EA has performed, on what assets, over what time, and how much risk was involved to achieve the claim.

A real developer will be completely transparent about this (what's the point in hiding), most aren't, but there are some. Firstly, the published account should be an open book, nothing should be hidden. Open positions, history, deposits, withdrawals, assets and so on. A developer marketing on the back of historical performance should be transparent, to strengthen their claim.

Marketing on the back of inflated gains % is the usual trick. The first place to start is deposit stripping, which is removing the effect of deposits and withdrawals so the growth figure reflects trading alone. Review both the official published accounts and those of reputable content creators who are testing in live accounts. Compare these closely, note any discrepancies and question them if need be.

For long-running accounts, look for consistency of returns in the history. Many times high risk is taken up front, and then once the 'gains' boost has been achieved the EA is reconfigured to be low risk to ensure survival for marketing purposes. Strictly speaking this is not an issue, it's just good account management by the seller and something you should look at doing yourself. But understand, these accounts have a history that is not so easy to uncover, and expecting the same returns will in all likelihood be very difficult to achieve. The developers understand their software, they have likely run many different versions of their software against the account (which you cannot see), and there will be a narrative.

Avoid the temptation of published marketing gains, it's too early in the game to be railroaded by these. Whilst the software may very well be capable of achieving the stated returns, there will be a trading journey you will need to walk first to come even remotely close to any of these.

By this stage, with some simple scrutiny and cross-checking, your list is more concise.

Using review sites and content creators' evaluations critically

Both of these are hugely important, and I encourage you to read/listen to them, these are individuals who often come with years of experience, have likely failed many times, and have learnt how to evaluate strong EA candidates.

There are many I follow myself, they come with fresh perspectives and can often uncover what is not easy to do without having run the software for an extended period of time.

Interesting data points you should note will be reported performance, configuration guidance (and cautions), drawdown values and frequency (and critically how the software handled the events), and, if made available, access to the published analytics. Following on from your earlier work you now have some additional data to add into your NotebookLM.

Like many industries, commissions are a double-edged sword. The 'affiliate' or reviewer needs to be compensated for their efforts, however on the flip side if the commissions are overly lucrative, there can be some doubts into how comprehensive or accurate the review really is. I have over the years seen content creators promoting 'hype EAs' to cash in on the buzz, however in the months that follow when the EA starts to show signs of distress, the content dries up and the next 'hype' is adopted.

I understand the model, it's completely relatable and highly challenging. My advice is to follow reviews with the intention of learning about, not making a purchasing decision. When things go wrong or get tough, you need to be able to stand on your own two feet and not point fingers at someone else for misleading you.

On the actual purchase, when the time comes, I would strongly encourage you to make that through the creators links if you follow them. It's a huge effort to make this content, and without them many of us would be left to do this work ourselves. Support wherever possible! If the honest industry can support each other, we will all be better off for it.

Your cross referencing and integrity research will have now curated a much sharper list of EA candidates.

What do I get with my purchase?

With a concise list of EA candidates, you can now delve into what exactly happens after you part with your money.

At the low end of the spectrum, it will be - an EA sent to you somehow, maybe e-mail, download link, or wherever. Good luck, email me with any problems!

An upgrade from this will be a PDF/MD/HTML based help guide. Don't be fooled by the 'size' of the guide. Number of pages matters less here, it's about what these pages contain. Are they just giving you the settings parameters, or are you getting a tutorial on how to use the EA properly? A good EA developer will advise you before purchase exactly what to expect.

Next are the support channels post purchase. Where does the community for this EA live online? You want to be sure you can join like-minded traders and customers who are active users of the software in discussing strategies, testing, performance, new features and so on. Apart from a technically strong EA, this may well be what saves you from blown accounts when using an EA.

On the high end of the spectrum, are the EA developers who have actually invested in building out a home for their customers. A portal so to speak, where everything you need as a customer can be found in one simple-to-use place. It doesn't need to be fancy or cutting edge, it just needs to exist and be maintained. Self-managed licences, software upgrades, support guides, learning videos, access to the community, ticket system, and so on are common features any self-respecting EA developer is more than capable of providing. If it's available it will be well marketed as they know it's what is expected, and what is required to run a strong loyal support community for their product.

You now have a very short list

By this stage, you will have a well-researched and thought-out short list of potential EAs. Now you can safely start to evaluate price/value/feature fit and anything else you feel is important to you. The hard part is out the way.

The rest of the equation may be down to which assets you want to trade, what your budget is, and other technical considerations. Some EA developers bundle a few free months VPS access (a nice touch), or access to some tooling.

Rank the EAs that are left standing and the choice should be an easier one to make.

My conclusion

I hope this checklist approach has walked you through how to side-step some easy mistakes.

Educate yourself. Never trade with an EA if you don't completely understand how to use one. It's a skill worth having if you take the time. Failing this, my advice is to walk away and find somewhere else, Red/Black at the casino may fare you better.

Take time to make an informed decision. Don't race into your purchasing decision, future you will thank yourself for spending a little bit of time doing the right research.

Don't buy the snake oil. If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.

An EA is only as good as the trader. Trust and invest in your own knowledge and skills and practice being patient. These are often more important than the EA itself.

If you're seeking The Promised Land, it will likely arrive on your doorstep as the marketing guru in disguise, and you'll be right back where you started in a few months time, a little wiser, a lot poorer.