• Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Blaiserboy wrote:

Is it easy to include Risk of Ruin or is that too wonky an idea.

also. what about some contribution to this effort, I do not recall seeing much about this project and I know that I will want to use your product

thanks

Not to sure about risk of ruin, but just thinking seeing as the list of copied strategies will be dynamic and always changing risk of Guinness on a portfolio level would not be able to be calculated.

After asking on the forum and gauging interest I decided to take on the project myself as it is something I want to build for myself and wanted to get it done in a timely manner.
Once I have finished testing and tweaking then I will work on how to release it to the public, whether i charge for it or give it out for free but in saying that the tone and money I have spent on it makes it very hard to justify giving it out for free.

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Hi guys,

So a bit of a quick update. I am now currently testing the trade copier as we speak. There has been quite a speedbumps along the way trying to get it working as I wanted. I however cannot take credit for the amount of hard work my coder has put in I had a chat with him today and am very impressed with the effort he has put into the project.

So basically I am going to test for the next week or so with the copier then I plan on releasing it here for people to use at a small fee.

The final inputs which were decided upon were:
Copy trades with profit factor above:
Number of trades to lookback:
Number of top strategies to copy:
Copy trades with Profit above:

A basic way of how the copier works is it involves two MT4 windows, one master and one slave.
The master populates a SQL database of trade statistics which the slave reads and copies accordingly.

One of the biggest advantages to me is utilising a database which I hope to continue to build upon and add more functions and variables as time passes.

28 Reply by hannahis (edited by hannahis 2019-09-21 09:10:40)

  • Registered: 2010-11-18
  • Posts: 1,179

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Hi Michael,

Just some food for thots...

A. THREE look back options: metrics (such as Profit Factor) calculated based on 1) all trades and/or 2) number of trades to look back and/or 3) date

1) Sometimes I want to know which EA has the best overall performance (all past trades, instead of number of trades to look back) because if based on number of trades, then those scalper EA will have more trades as compared to day trading EA, etc and I want to find out the overall performance and select the EA based on all historical performances. 

2) Based on the number of trades will help me zoom in on the most recent performance (but very subjective to how frequent the EA trades)

3) Use date to calculate all EA's performance.  This is very useful when we constantly add in new EA into the portfolio and if I use the overall performance to calculate the metrics, the older EA may have better/worst performance due to more trading opportunities.  So for a fair comparison, I sometimes use date to measure the changes in EA's weekly performance.


B. Copy trade size based on 1) specify lot size (can be different from Master account), 2) based on Multiple of Master (eg if Master uses 1 lot size and If I specify 0.1 it will use 0.1 of the original/master lot size and I use Multiple 1, it means I will use the same lot size of the Master.  Basically users have the choice to choose lot sizes different from the master account so that it is easier over time for Account/Risk Management.

C. Account Protection: Stop copy when account's equity is below certain level (amount).

D. Copy Trade based on Max lot size allocation.  Beside number of top Strategies to Copy, it would be good to have options to choose the number of trades/EA to copy based on the Risk exposure, ie. Total lot size allowed to copy.  If I want to open a max of 3 lot size.  Then as long as there are open positions that reached the max lot size limit, the copier will not allow future trades till existing trades are closed.  This offer greater flexibility to manage the portfolio.  For example, if I decided to increase my risk ratio, trade 10% of my account (i.e. max 2 lot size) and I use only 0.01 lot size per trade, then the copier can allow more EA/strategies to be traded.  If I decided to increase my lot size to 0.1 lot size, then the copier will reduce the number of EA/Strategies to be traded. 


Above suggestions are just for your kind consideration for future improvements etc, no obligations.

Regards
Hannah

  • Registered: 2018-12-16
  • Posts: 341

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Michael1 wrote:

Hi guys,

So a bit of a quick update. I am now currently testing the trade copier as we speak. There has been quite a speedbumps along the way trying to get it working as I wanted. I however cannot take credit for the amount of hard work my coder has put in I had a chat with him today and am very impressed with the effort he has put into the project.

So basically I am going to test for the next week or so with the copier then I plan on releasing it here for people to use at a small fee.

The final inputs which were decided upon were:
Copy trades with profit factor above:
Number of trades to lookback:
Number of top strategies to copy:
Copy trades with Profit above:

A basic way of how the copier works is it involves two MT4 windows, one master and one slave.
The master populates a SQL database of trade statistics which the slave reads and copies accordingly.

One of the biggest advantages to me is utilising a database which I hope to continue to build upon and add more functions and variables as time passes.

can you make a demo beta test for others maybe we can check and have more ideas

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

hannahis wrote:

Hi Michael,

Just some food for thots...

A. THREE look back options: metrics (such as Profit Factor) calculated based on 1) all trades and/or 2) number of trades to look back and/or 3) date

1) Sometimes I want to know which EA has the best overall performance (all past trades, instead of number of trades to look back) because if based on number of trades, then those scalper EA will have more trades as compared to day trading EA, etc and I want to find out the overall performance and select the EA based on all historical performances. 

2) Based on the number of trades will help me zoom in on the most recent performance (but very subjective to how frequent the EA trades)

3) Use date to calculate all EA's performance.  This is very useful when we constantly add in new EA into the portfolio and if I use the overall performance to calculate the metrics, the older EA may have better/worst performance due to more trading opportunities.  So for a fair comparison, I sometimes use date to measure the changes in EA's weekly performance.


B. Copy trade size based on 1) specify lot size (can be different from Master account), 2) based on Multiple of Master (eg if Master uses 1 lot size and If I specify 0.1 it will use 0.1 of the original/master lot size and I use Multiple 1, it means I will use the same lot size of the Master.  Basically users have the choice to choose lot sizes different from the master account so that it is easier over time for Account/Risk Management.

C. Account Protection: Stop copy when account's equity is below certain level (amount).

D. Copy Trade based on Max lot size allocation.  Beside number of top Strategies to Copy, it would be good to have options to choose the number of trades/EA to copy based on the Risk exposure, ie. Total lot size allowed to copy.  If I want to open a max of 3 lot size.  Then as long as there are open positions that reached the max lot size limit, the copier will not allow future trades till existing trades are closed.  This offer greater flexibility to manage the portfolio.  For example, if I decided to increase my risk ratio, trade 10% of my account (i.e. max 2 lot size) and I use only 0.01 lot size per trade, then the copier can allow more EA/strategies to be traded.  If I decided to increase my lot size to 0.1 lot size, then the copier will reduce the number of EA/Strategies to be traded. 


Above suggestions are just for your kind consideration for future improvements etc, no obligations.

Regards
Hannah


Hannah sorry but I have to laugh, most of your ideas I’ve already done and currently testing smile

Basically for lot sizing, we have a lot multiplier or lot size/SL so if we copy a trade with 10pip stop loss we risk X% of account EQUITY (not balance) let’s call it 1%
Then if we copy a trade with 50pip SL we still risk 1%. This way we can risk weigh the account. Othwise we have no control.

I’ve added a prefix and suffix of symbol incase we use different brokers/account types.

Max number of trades to copy ie copy top 10 profit factors above X

Min profit made over X trades

Historical trade look back (look at only last N trades).

So basically that’s the inputs. Still testing all inputs and also some other funtions. I have some ideas for more inputs but for now I just want to get the copier working correctly, tested and risk management done then I can start to get fancy.

It’s been a long and anxious wait. I’m getting impatient but I know that these things cannot be rushed and take a huge amount of work.

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Roughey wrote:
Michael1 wrote:

Hi guys,

So a bit of a quick update. I am now currently testing the trade copier as we speak. There has been quite a speedbumps along the way trying to get it working as I wanted. I however cannot take credit for the amount of hard work my coder has put in I had a chat with him today and am very impressed with the effort he has put into the project.

So basically I am going to test for the next week or so with the copier then I plan on releasing it here for people to use at a small fee.

The final inputs which were decided upon were:
Copy trades with profit factor above:
Number of trades to lookback:
Number of top strategies to copy:
Copy trades with Profit above:

A basic way of how the copier works is it involves two MT4 windows, one master and one slave.
The master populates a SQL database of trade statistics which the slave reads and copies accordingly.

One of the biggest advantages to me is utilising a database which I hope to continue to build upon and add more functions and variables as time passes.

can you make a demo beta test for others maybe we can check and have more ideas


That’s already the plan. I also have been working on some codes for the portfolios for added functions (which I cannot take most of the credit for) for those users which don’t want to run a copier. I’ll post those in due course as they have been tested and are working correctly.

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Hi guys,

bit of an update I have an updated version of the copier running which you can see the inputs of the master and slave. I am currently working with my coder to develop a licence key function to allow me to offer the copier at a fee to users.

Once I have finished that and further tested I will begin a thread with how to videos and explanations of how it works. It does take a bit of mucking around with SQL however once installed once on your VPS or PC you will not have to do it again.

Please feel free to comment and let me know your interest. As the ability to have licence codes for the copier is costing me money and if there are only 2-3 users who are interested then I will struggle to see the benefit or putting in more work.

  • Blaiserboy
  • Blaiserboy
  • Junior Part-Time Aspiring Space Cadet
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  • Registered: 2010-09-06
  • Posts: 2,848

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Once you have a demonstration as to how it works and can clearly spell out the benefits.. I am sure you will have a significant interest.

There is no way that people can manage a few hundred strategies without proper software.

I expect that the number of users of the FSB products is going to grow substantially as time passes and one of the drawbacks is the management of the output.

I will be greatly surprised if there is not the interest you need.


What you could do is set this thread up in the Third Party Software of the forum and accept an advance fee to help defer the costs.

I will be glad to send some money today.

Blaiserboy's Website

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Hi Guys,

So i have had the copier in testing phase for quite a few weeks now with some very good results. Except there are a few drawbacks and bugs that need fixing.
I now understand why creating software takes so long, everytime we create a new version I find more features and bugs that need attending to.

The way the copier works is through a SQL database which is used to collect the stats of each magic number and is used to send trades between master and slave.

A couple of issues I am having (just to keep everyone updated as we are working to fix these issues)
1. The master is BASE MAGIC NUMBER specific, meaning we need a master EA loaded onto each chart to pair with a new portfolio (fix is already done for this).

2. When we remove the BASE MAGIC NUMBER  feature and have the master scanning all EA's on that account we have run into some substantial CPU load issues. The account I am testing on has about 1000 EA's running (10 portfolios). A fix for this as we are currently building/testing is to limit the EA's to 2-3 symbols and 1000 strategies max. I hope to have the new build ready for testing by the end of week and would like a week of testing to check CPU loads.
FYI is anyone is thinking 'my computer is powerful' dont bother, the PC im testing on is one I have build with 64GB ram, 12 core, 24 thread. I want the copier to be able to run on a basic VPS service.
The reason for the high CPU load I do not need to go into however we are aware as to why this is and are working hard to fix it.

3. The slave (receiver) I want to add some more risk management which include:
Max % Loss for the day: Measured as Account balance at midnight broker time to total losses of all open and closed trades for the day (regardless of symbol and direction)
Max % Win for the day: As above
Max trades allowed open per symbol per direction: I find that even with picking only the highest net profit and PF strategies over N trades I have too many trades opening on the same symbol and direction within a short timeframe of each other (sometimes on the same bar) the problem with this is we can be putting on more risk than what we wanted to at any given time. Imagine 5 of your 'best strategies' all placing a trade at the same time same market and same direction at once and the market goes against you.

Risk % of account balance per trade (related to SL): This is unbelievably advantageous as we can now equally risk weight strategies no matter the SL amount. ie I want to risk 1% of account balance per trade. I then have a strategy with a 50 pip stop and a strategy with a 10pip stop. The copier will automatically adjust the lot size so that if the SL is hit we only loss 1% of the account regardless of how far our stops were placed. If the strategy does not have a SL it will default to the min lot size allowed by the broker. I always use a SL on my EA's and personally I think your crazy if you dont which is why I do not plan on putting an input for 'IF no SL use X lot size:'

So I know that there are a few people waiting on the copier but I want to make it as robust as I can before releasing it so please bear with me and Im sure it will be worth it in the end.

  • Registered: 2019-04-15
  • Posts: 19

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Have been quietly following your progress here.  Looks very interesting and certainly keen to try out when you are ready to release.  Keep up the good work.......

  • Registered: 2019-11-29
  • Posts: 5

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Have you finished the program or are you still testing phase?

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Hi guys, so I have had the copier running for a while now and have been making modifications as I go, I am quite happy with how it works on single symbols, So now hopefully today I have the finished version which will be able to copy 9 portfolios and manage there stats. Once this is tested I will licence it and provide a subscription based service. Stay tuned

  • jox51
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  • Registered: 2019-12-16
  • Posts: 13

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Interested in this. Hopefully this is released soon. Would be happy to donate to the effort.

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Hi guys,
So basically I have a final update for the copier.
I have spent a lot of time and a lot of money to get this working correctly, I have utilised MySQL to copy the trades over.
The copier is capable of running 9 portfolios which can be up to 9 different symbols/timeframes.
It uses three selection metrics:
Profit factor, win % and net profit
All metrics are based off an input of Most Recent Trades so you can choose to only look at the last 1-99999 trades of a strategy.
The copier also creates a log each hour in excel spreadsheet form of the above stats of the EA’s

It doesn’t matter what program is used to generate the strategies as long as the have a magic number we can copy the trades. So unlike MT4 Sidekick we can use both EA Studio or FSB strategies or even a custome EA you have made or bought.

There is no modifications of code needed to make the copier work as it is completely stand alone from your EAs/Portfolios.

The ‘Slave Account’ or real account has inputs for Risk Per Trade (as a %) based on SL so if you want to risk 1% of the account Margin it will calculate your entry size based on the SL of the trade that is being copied.

We also have a max loss % and max profit % of account per day input.

Max slippage and ‘Do Not Copy Trades Older Than X seconds’ input to make sure we don’t copy trades to late or get slippage.

On average it takes about 0.1 second to copy a trade over so latency is basically zero.


I have received a quote to have the Copier protected and the ability to provide users with a licence. Depending on how many people are interested in subscribing on a monthly basis @$29 USD a month will determine if I go ahead with spending the money to have it licences and setup a website with instructions and support etc.

Please if you think you are interested reply to this thread.

  • Registered: 2018-12-16
  • Posts: 341

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

what about full version? without monthly subscription

  • Registered: 2017-04-16
  • Posts: 382

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

In theory it all sounds good ... but I would be interested in a practical run, illustrated and with results from an EA studio portfolio, for example.
Gladly also in the members area, does not have to be public.

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

I haven’t thought of selling the product with a lifetime licence as of yet, that’s not to say I won’t. It will still need a licence code to work.

As for the practical use, if your wondering about performance stats well that’s something that you will have to work out yourself. It’s the same as EA Studio it is all about how you trade and what settings you use. This is why it is available At a small monthly fee.

  • jox51
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  • Registered: 2019-12-16
  • Posts: 13

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

I would be interested. Preferably a lifetime version.

  • Registered: 2019-04-15
  • Posts: 19

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Yes I'm interested.  The monthly subscription sounds good....

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

And for such software what do you you think would be a reasonable price for a lifetime licence?

  • jox51
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  • Registered: 2019-12-16
  • Posts: 13

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

$150-$200.

@Michael How does the software treat the Portfolio Expert Advisors? Does it treat them as 1 expert or does it count each individual strategy within the expert as one?

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Hi Jox,

All the copier looks for is a base magic number then three digits so let say you set a base magic number input on the copier to 111 it would then look for 111000 to 111099. The arrays are written to handle 100 strategies per base magic number input.

The copier treats each individual strategy in a portfolio as its own.

The copier does not care what software (if any) a portfolio or magic number was created.

For example:
Inputs:
Base magic number: 5
Copier then looks through all closed trades with magic number ranging from 5000-5099 and calculates The stats of each magic number as individual strategy’s.
Again these magic numbers 5000-5099 do not have to come from any particular software like EA Studio or FSB etc the copier doesn’t care about anything else except the stats of those magic numbers.

  • jox51
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  • Posts: 13

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

Awesome. Thank you Michael for spearheading this project for all.

49 Reply by GD (edited by GD 2020-01-15 06:21:25)

  • GD
  • GD
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  • Registered: 2015-05-22
  • Posts: 444

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

It looks to me as a very expensive solution without future.

I follow this procedure

1. I run EAs to DEMO
2. I have a commercial copier 30$ to copy signals from DEMO to MT4 REAL
    This coppier has the ability to use specific magic numbers, I select from portfolio
3. I use MT4Tracker to select numbers of EAs, who always run.
4. You can make further tricks.
5. Simple solutions are always better.

This way works fine for me

After what happened with Sleytus I have no interest to buy something without FULL Popov`s responsibility.
I lost 100 USD because of Him as I have no licenses to use in two programs of his software, after reinstall windows.
I also asked him to permit a Custom indicator to select EAs in his menu, so any statistics can be fine if user can make some programming or EAs numbers, which he refused to do. He had some ego problem, I call it internal error, a bug. Portfolio made for FSB pro by Sleytus had a lot of problems. I lost my money with that software.

I have a working solution for 30 dollars and I can do anything. EA studios is fine and final portfolio EA easly can be understund. I can use even an MT5 for real rading using MT4 Demo.

The above offered price after that is very expensive for me.

As I have some time now to write. EA studio should include more indicator presets using Timeframe selections plus more indicators in total. Popov should think about it. In other case FSB pro is fine for me. As if I have best selection of indicatros I can use another product I have to complete what I want to do. FSB pro code is very heavy to run as portfolio but for one EA is more functional.

  • Registered: 2018-11-15
  • Posts: 167

Re: Interest in MT4 sidekick like program for EAStudio?

GD wrote:

It looks to me as a very expensive solution without future.

I follow this procedure

1. I run EAs to DEMO
2. I have a commercial copier 30$ to copy signals from DEMO to MT4 REAL
    This coppier has the ability to use specific magic numbers, I select from portfolio
3. I use MT4Tracker to select numbers of EAs, who always run.
4. You can make further tricks.
5. Simple solutions are always better.

This way works fine for me

After what happened with Sleytus I have no interest to buy something without FULL Popov`s responsibility.
I lost 100 USD because of Him as I have no licenses to use in two programs of his software, after reinstall windows.
I also asked him to permit a Custom indicator to select EAs in his menu, so any statistics can be fine if user can make some programming or EAs numbers, which he refused to do. He had some ego problem, I call it internal error, a bug. Portfolio made for FSB pro by Sleytus had a lot of problems. I lost my money with that software.

I have a working solution for 30 dollars and I can do anything. EA studios is fine and final portfolio EA easly can be understund. I can use even an MT5 for real rading using MT4 Demo.

The above offered price after that is very expensive for me.

As I have some time now to write. EA studio should include more indicator presets using Timeframe selections plus more indicators in total. Popov should think about it. In other case FSB pro is fine for me. As if I have best selection of indicatros I can use another product I have to complete what I want to do. FSB pro code is very heavy to run as portfolio but for one EA is more functional.

Let me start off saying, if you didn’t like the price then there is no need to buy the product no one is forcing you to.

This is a live trading product which completes the workflow that Popov has created with EA studio.

If I was to charge what it has personally costed me out of pocket it would be 10x the price. The o top of that literally the hundreds of hours I have spent drafting ideas, logic, testing it would cost even more.

Software is not cheap especially when you develop something from scratch as well as complex as the copier is. It may sound like a simple concept but to put it into practice is a different story.

The amount of hours that have gone into ‘simple’ things like CPU loads as the copier is running is huge. I have literally thought of everything when it comes to this copier. Sleytus’s portfolio maker is stupidly CPU intensive and as a result is highly unreliable. This is by no means a stab at him/her as no one else was taking on such a huge project and hats off for pulling it off even if it does have bugs. These sorts of things are simple and require a huge amount of time and effort for little reward.