Hi Popov,
There are still some tools that can "dramatically" improve the EA results.
Most users would experience this in their trading experience...seeing their floating profit turned into losses.
The market is very dynamic and unpredictable these days and having "dynamic" closing options, that are more reactive and responsive to sudden market changes are very important and essential features for a winning strategy. Without a good profit protection features added to an EA, it is very difficult to incorporate "highly reactive" opening/closing rules to an EA.
One of the basic and very essential profit protection features to have is the profit trailing stop loss added as an alternative closing/exit strategy (in addition to our own closing rules, both for EA Studio/FSB Pro).
I understand your reservation of not able to add profit trailing as a 2nd alternative because of some backtesting issue.
However, we need to learn to find a work around solution and not let software limitations, limit trading options/success.
If you can "mentally" separate your objectives and learn to see users' objective. You could able to add these extra Profit Protection features to enhance your users' results.
1. Once we added in this "extra Profit protection features" when exporting the EA to MT4, it will change the performance outcome and thus the backtesting results is no longer "valid". I understand you don't want to add features that cannot be "validated"/calculated by your backtesting engine and thus you will cross out these features. By crossing out these features, you also cross out users' opportunity to find greater success in their search. Honestly, all these years, I don't care about the backtesting results, I care more about the demo results. Just because FSB backtester can't "measure" trailing (as an alternative closing option) didn't stop me from using an external Trailing EA to help me out in my success. Which is more important to me? Real success in my EA vs limiting my success by what is do-able via FSB. I'm not going to let FSB's limitation, limit my success, so I add in my own external trailing EA myself. However, it would have been more "convenient" if FSB were to incorporate these features into the MT4 EA each time we export it out.
2. I hope you reconsider and able to see that ultimately the primary goal of your users is to experience greater success rate. Having a "validated" backtesting is secondary (though as a developer, you make this as your primary goal).
3. It will be ideal, if you can "merge" your goal and your users' goal together and provide this "special" OPTIONAL Profit Protection function to be added into the EA when user EXPORT their EA to MT4. Eg. in the export MT4, user have the option to choose true/false whether to have profit trailing turn on/off. And able to modify the setting, how much trailing and the steps etc.
Cos ultimately, when your user experience greater/easier success, it also mean your software will get more satisfied customers.
4. No one will "blame" the software's backtesting accuracy, if you were to keep your users informed that 1) after adding the extra profit protection features, the performance outcome is not "measurable by the backtester". I would be happy rather than angry if you were to add these features.
5. Let users have the option to either use the "original" version or the extra version (with added profit protection features). And generally users will likely test both version to see to what extent these added features can improve their results.
One of the key reasons I experience success in my EA development is that I ALWAYS use an external profit trailing stop for ALL my EA.
Similarly, when I use EA Studio, without profit trailing stop the EA failed miserable but with trailing stop, I have much better results (likewise for FSB Pro).
In conclusion, yes a software isn't able to do a better search than an experience trader. But even an experience trader also can't do without good profit protection features/tools added into the EA in order to find success. An experience trader also need power tools/features in order to find success.