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Forex Software → Portfolio Maker (third party) → Portfolio Maker - create portfolio EA from FSBPro-generated strategies
Thanks Sleytus
I understund the case using parameter NOTHING.
1. What about the case of Reverse, Close, Loser and Winner of FSBpro?
How Portfolio maker treats these cases?
2. Is there a way to do not use Global parameters?
Hello GD,
1. Portfolio Maker does not modify the logic. The cases you mention will execute according to the code that was generated by FSBPro. Portfolio Maker has no affect on that code.
2. It was complicated to figure out how to "bundle" multiple strategies into one portfolio EA. Keep in mind that individual strategies have input values for Entry, Maximum, Adding, and Reducing. If my portfolio EA has 50 strategies, then that means the portfolio EA would have at least 200 inputs -- i.e. Entry, Maximum, Adding, and Reducing for EACH of the 50 strategies. This is why I decided to make Entry, Maximum, Adding, and Reducing global inputs.
Thanks. Everything clear now.
Hi experts,
I have a little confused. As I know, Ontimer frequency in seconds should be lowest number.
Is there any disadvantage?
If I set the variable as low as possible.
Hi!
is there any trial for this soft?
thanks!
Hello,
No demo. If I had to spend time implementing a software copy-protection scheme that included a demo and trial period then I would have to charge a lot more for the software.
Below is a link to the web-site -- it describes the software and also includes documentation:
http://mt4tracker.com/
ok, np!. and Thanks I will read about this software, and if I need in a near future, for sure I will buy.
thanks!
Hi experts,
I have a little confused. As I know, Ontimer frequency in seconds should be lowest number.
Is there any disadvantage?
If I set the variable as low as possible.
Moonsky, the reason the Portfolio Marker use OnTimer (instead of Tick) is because some test have been done and they found out that there are some strategies being on "queue" and hence their trade orders were not executed because on every tick, there is a new chain of commands to be filled (for all strategies) and if these orders are not fulfilled within the tick, by the next tick, new orders will come and these old ones will be forgotton (never carried out, missed trades etc).
Note: The above explanation is a layman (limited) way of explaining. I may be slightly wrong in the terms use.
Hence to ensure the interval are within the control of the user, OnTimer is use.
You can specify whatever setting suits you because different users compile different numbers of EA together (1-1000+)
How many EA you want to compile together is up to you but bear in mind you may be straining the system's ability to handle so many trades request at a given interval. Hence, interval setting is dependent on how many EA you compile and what time chart you are using. Each user need to determine what's the appropriate level to be set via trial and errors.
ok, np!. and Thanks I will read about this software, and if I need in a near future, for sure I will buy.
thanks!
Mauro, Portfolio Maker is extremely useful for users who want to use demo accounts to test run their strategies before they turn it live/real trading.
Hence, in the testing stage, we often run many number of strategies (as for me, I test thousands of EA at a time, in the past, without Portfolio Maker, I can only have time to setup a couple of hundreds EA test that took tiresome hours to set up).
Time is money. Imagine without Portfolio Maker, I can only test out 200 EA at a time and now I'm testing eg 2000 EA a time (actually, it's more but I use 2000 just for discussion sake).
Hence compare 200 EA vs 2000 EA, that's 10x the difference. In another words, it would take me 10 years worth of work and time to test out 200 EA at a time (with a 2000 EA end target) as compare to 1 years worth of time do the same testing for 2000 EA.
Thus I can start live trading after the 1st year (with Portfolio Maker) and spend the rest of the 9 years I've saved, start earning money, instead of waiting for the extra 9 years to complete my work.
So I not only saved 9 years of effort, I also started earning money 9 years earlier. Now that's really worth the saving.
It's the same with computer capacity. That's why I invested more money to get a bigger computer capacity to handle the amount of testing so time is money. Not everyone takes this path. Of cos with accurate backtesting, you can save a lot of forward testing (if you believe backtesting more than demo testing, which is very time consuming but it's the next best testing, after live testing).
Ernest Chan, an expert in the application of statistical models and software for trading currencies, futures, and stocks. He has built and traded numerous quantitative models for investment banks and hedge funds, mentioned most accurate testing in ranking order is 1) Live Testing, 2) Demo Testing 3) Backtesting
Demo testing (with an honest broker) can give you a better idea of how your EA perform in "walk forward" testing because now you are testing your strategies in "unknown" data.
I personally prefer demo testing as a more reliable method of walk forward testing (not that demo testing is without any flaw) and hence Portfolio is an excellent tool and a great time saver.
Instead of installing EA individually on each MT4 chart and key in the magic number etc, now with Portfolio Maker, I only need to install once and I don't have to key in the magic number of the EA individually.
So if you are planning to do demo testing for hundreds of EA, then it is very worth it to get Portfolio Maker and you won't regret having it unless you don't find the need to demo test your strategies before you trade in live accounts. There are people who jump from generating strategies and straight into live trade and then write in the forum to cry foul and why the strategies bust their trading accounts. I feel sorry for Popov, it's no fault of his cos these people are too naive to think that a profitable EA will stay profitable in whatsoever market.
Hi, I'm new with software And I don't understand why you need to buy Portfolio Maker when EA Studio can make it ???
Maybe it's because MT4 Tracker can't Analyze Strategy by Strategy when portfolio is build with EA Studio ?
Hi, I'm new with software And I don't understand why you need to buy Portfolio Maker when EA Studio can make it ???
Maybe it's because MT4 Tracker can't Analyze Strategy by Strategy when portfolio is build with EA Studio ?
Portfolio Maker is for FSB Pro users, who don't have the Portfolio Expert feature in EA Studio.
Portfolio Maker is for FSB Pro users, who don't have the Portfolio Expert feature in EA Studio.
Thank you for you're answer!
I am now trying to use Portfolio Maker for the first time and everything seems fine until I try to compile. It comes up with 95 errors and 10 warnings. What can I try?
The error messages show the compiler can't find the include (*.mqh) files. This probably means you aren't building in the same directory where the portfolio EA and its supporting files were copied. So, if you have multiple MT4 installations and are attempting to copy just the high-level *.mq4 file to a different MT4 and building from there, then that won't work. You need to build the *.ex4 from the original location, and then you can copy the resulting *.ex4 wherever you wish.
Also, should the "Use OnTimer" be ticked? (This isn't shown in the Documentation help file).
And just on this when I run the strategy tester in mt4 it is giving me these errors.
1. When you run Portfolio Maker in Step 2 you specify a data folder. This is the data folder of the MT4 installation you intend to build from.
2. The MT4 error is caused because your settings do not allow DLLs imports -- you'll need to change that.
3. MT4 Strategy Tester does not recognize OnTimer -- so, if you want to use Strategy Tester (which I do recommend), then you'll need to create the portfolio EA with OnTimer *NOT* checked.
The jury is still out on whether or not to use OnTimer or OnTick when trading in a Demo or Real account. I use both. If the portfolio EA includes less than 20 strategies and there are no other charts open, then I'll use OnTick. Otherwise, I'll use OnTimer.
Hi Sleytus,
I created a portfolio expert containing 3 strategies in Portfolio Maker. I followed all the steps and the portfolio creation was successful. I copied the .ex4 file to the metatrader on my VPS. I first noticed that the lower icon of the file name under Experts folder was grey instead of yellow. However, I went ahead and added the Portfolio EA to the charts. It will first seem to be working showing the smily face and loading charts successfully. Then the EA will be automatically removed. I went to the logs and noticed that the error is related to SideKick. I don't have SideKick yet because I just want to quickly test few strategies to see if it is worth my efforts.
Do I need SideKick to make Portfolio Maker work? I thought it was self-contained. What can I do to make this work. Should I purchase SideKick? and If yes, what steps after installation is required. Nothing was said about this in Instructions page. Thanks for your help.
I went ahead and purchased SideKick and installed it on my local machine where I also have Portfolio Maker installed. I also specified my MT4 data path. I then regenerated the Portfolio EA on my local machine and copied the .ex4 file to my VPS. It still didn't work. It seems to be looking for the SideKick.dll
Could you please let me know what to do to get this working? Thanks.
Could you please let me know what to do to get this working?
I think the problem is that you didn't run the installation on the same computer that will be running the portfolio EA. For example, the sidekick.dll needs to reside in the ..\Libraries folder.
Thanks Sleytus. It means I need to install SideKick on my VPS.
Do I need to install Portfolio Maker on my VPS also or is it okay to generate the EAs on my local PC and copy over to the VPS. Just to make sure I'm not missing anything; below is my current setup and what I plan to do.
Current:
Metatrader, Portfolio Maker and Sidekick installed on local machine.
Metatrader only installed on VPS
Plan:
Install SideKick on VPS; specifying VPS metatrader data path
Generate Portfolio EAs on local machine and copy .ex4 file over to VPS
Hope I'm on the right path.
Thanks Sleytus. It works now.
I have another question on replacing EAs with active open trades. While I was waiting to resolve the SideKick issue, I went ahead and added the 3 individual EAs to 3 charts.
2 of the EAs have open trades. Now that I have Portfolio Maker working, can I remove the 3 EAs and replace them with the Portfolio EA containing the 3 strategies? Will the Portfolio EA automatically take over the open trades since I saved the .xml strategy files as the magic numbers?
Will the Portfolio EA automatically take over the open trades since I saved the .xml strategy files as the magic numbers?
Not to be rude, but this is a very fundamental question that anyone who uses an EA in MT4 should understand. However, having said that, it wasn't so long ago I also had the same question.
Look it -- an EA is a simple program that only runs when it is attached to a chart. When it is running most of the time it is doing nothing. Only when it detects a signal then it will perform some action -- e.g. Enter a new trade or Exit an existing one.
Suppose there are open orders and the EA detects an Exit signal -- how does it know whether or not to apply the signal to an open order? By the Magic Number -- as you've already suggested. So, any code associated with a particular Magic Number can affect open orders that were created with that Magic Number.
Here's some related information -- if an order was opened with a StopLoss and TakeProfit then after the order has been created the EA no longer has to be running. That is because the StopLoss and TakeProfit are registered with the broker at the time the order was placed and the broker will automatically close the order if / when the StopLoss or TakeProfit price is reached.
If you think about, making judicious use of StopLoss and TakeProfit can make your strategies *much* simpler because you don't have to worry about the Exit logic. You simply place an order and let it run to completion. Usually this works best when using a small TakeProfit and results in a high WinRatio. The downside is that you end up leaving pips on the table, but you more than make up for it by having many small wins. Plus, your strategies are much simpler.
Thanks Sleytus for the detailed response. You correctly observed that my question is fundamental because obviously this is my very first set of EAs. Hopefully I learn along and become more experienced and successful like you and many other traders here who I benefit from reading their excellent posts. I don't have much trading experience but I'm a data analyst by profession. Maybe this will be an advantage in finding good strategies but only time will tell. Thanks again for your help.
I had a ton of trouble today........ because the indicator 'Chppiness Index' uses a similar name variable as in 'Portfolio Maker'
I had to use my 'advanced' detective and programming skills and a bit of swearing to make the good things happen.
In any event, if generating strategies for use in Portfolio Maker, I suggest that you deactivate the indicator 'Choppiness Index'.
That is the first and only time I have had an issue working with Portfolio Maker and I have used it a lot.
Steve, this program has done me awful well for a couple years, I thank you for the efforts you have made.
Thanks Dave for that information. Choppiness Index is a major part of my strategies. I use it often as an overall filter (logic group All). The 3 strategies in my Portfolio all use the Choppiness Index. I'll keep an eye for any unexpected behaviour in my EAs. Sleytus, could you please take a look to see if we need to make any changes. Thanks.
I just tried an experiment with a high frequency EA which uses Choppiness Index indicator. I made two versions; a regular EA and Portfolio EA; and placed both on the charts. The EAs opened trades just about the same time. Seems to be working for me.
Well, that is great, I have no idea as to why I had a difficulty. In any event I recall the variable name as being Fli in case anyone else has a difficulty.
Forex Software → Portfolio Maker (third party) → Portfolio Maker - create portfolio EA from FSBPro-generated strategies
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