Expert Advisors
Optimize your strategy with a suite of EAs to give you professional-grade control and flexibility over your trading.
EAs are provided by FX Blue and can be downloaded for your FOREX.com MetaTrader account free of charge.
What is an Expert Advisor (EA)?
An Expert Advisor (EA) is a program designed to run on MetaTrader, a trading platform developed by MetaQuotes. While MetaTrader comes with the standard charting and trading features you expect from a trading platform, the ability to run Expert Advisors to extend the platform’s functionality is a key reason for its popularity.
Expert Advisors are often thought of as automated trading programs, (trading robots, algorithmic trading, etc.), but there are many other ways EAs can be used. For more details, see What Can an EA do?
MetaTrader allows more than one EA to be run simultaneously. For example, you could run one EA to provide an enhanced display for charts, while another EA automates trades on the account.
Before you start exploring how Expert Advisors can help make you a more effective trader, it’s important to remember that EAs run locally on your computer. This means that they will not execute when disconnected from the server or when your computer is turned off. Additionally, Expert Advisors are not compatible with the MetaTrader mobile app or the web version. For information on how to run your EA on a VPS without the need to keep your computer running, see more information on EA VPS hosting.
What can an Expert Advisor (EA) do?
While Expert Advisors can be coded to do almost anything, they are frequently used to trigger buy and sell signals when certain conditions are met. This enables traders to act decisively without needing to constantly monitor the markets, a feature that is especially useful in the forex market which trades 24 hours a day. By automating strategy, an EA can help to remove emotion from trading decisions, as well as saving investors valuable time and energy.
There are ways to evaluate an EA before using it with a live account. (See ‘How do I evaluate an EA’ section). Finally, Expert Advisors can be used to create different widgets, providing different ways to view and analyze the markets, as well as your account and performance. This includes overlaying additional information on a chart, such as trading session data, news events, market sentiment, and more.
Your FOREX.com MetaTrader account can be supplemented with an array of popular EAs, including Alarm Manager, Correlation Matrix, Mini Terminal, Session map and Sentiment Trader. Each of these Expert Advisors - and more - are available as a free download to use in both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
Key benefits of MetaTrader EAs
Take control with MetaTrader Expert Advisors
Alarm Manager
Set it then forget it. Trigger in platform, email, or SMS alerts based on a wide range of parameters including:
- Account changes such as margin
- Market moves due to news or sentiment
- Trade activity
- Price, time, and technical indicator
Correlation Matrix
Gain confidence and manage risk more effectively with a grid of correlations between all tradable markets.
- Easy to read correlations of -100 to +100
- Spot correlations with color coding
- Highlight markets to spot opportunity
- Identify correlations to manage risk
WATCH CORRELATION MATRIX VIDEO
Correlation Trader
Analysis and execution are combined to streamline your strategy.
- Inspect detailed historic correlation
- Identify and trade emerging correlations
- Display two price charts side by side
- Simple trade ticket allows quick trade entry and exit
WATCH CORRELATION TRADER VIDEO
Market Manager
Manage your account and market information all from one convenient window including:
- Current open position and profitability
- Price movements over multiple intervals
- Font size adjusts based on window size
- Set orders by specifying P&L or price
Mini Terminal
Focus on a specific market with a deal ticket integrated into your chart.
- Simple fields for setting orders in pips
- Open-position marker
- Create templates for quick order entry
- Quick links for closing positions and more
Sentiment Trader
Live sentiment data from FXBlue.com's user database lets you factor sentiment into your trading decisions.
- Current long/short sentiment for a market
- Overview for multiple symbols
- Historic sentiment plotted against price
Session Map
Find the action with a map highlighting active trading sessions around the globe.
- Rise or fall during the session, in pips
- Your local time a point of reference
- Total trading range during the session
- Closing or current price for an in-progress session
Tick Chart Trader
View a variety of tick charts and enter and exit the market ultra-fast with a single mouse click or keyboard stroke.
- Tick chart updates with bid/ask changes
- Prices of markets against each other
- Candle OHLC for number of ticks not time
- Tick chart plus tick speed
Trade Terminal
Access feature-rich professional trade execution and analysis not typically available in MetaTrader.
- Simple fields for setting orders in pips
- Create templates for quick order entry
- Dealing window for creating orders
- Displays key trade information
Where can I find EAs?
You can find Expert Advisors to assist your forex trading in several different locations, depending on your needs and ultimate trading goals.
As mentioned above, FOREX.com provides a comprehensive suite of nine popular EAs which can be used with every MetaTrader account, as well as 15 custom indicators. These are available as a free download for MT4 and MT5 and are designed to help enable professional-grade control and flexibility when trading forex.
There are thousands of EAs available for purchase and download from the official MQL market (Expert Advisors and Indicators for MetaTrader 4 and Expert Advisors and Indicators for MetaTrader 5), ranging in price from $50 to as much as $30,000. You can also find a sizable catalogue of EAs that are free to download and use. EAs from the official MQL market can also be accessed using the ‘Market’ tab in MT4 and MT5.
Alternatively, you can buy Expert Advisors from any number of third-party sites. However, since an EA is a piece of software downloaded onto your computer, we recommend exercising caution when sourcing EAs from third parties in the interests of security.
How do I create my own EAs?
MetaQuotes provides documentation on how to write your own EAs (please refer to the MQL5 docs and MQL4 docs), as well as a forum for users to interact. MT5 and MT4 comes with an editor that any EA can be opened in to see how it was written, and with basic coding knowledge one should be able to edit or create an EA in the Meta Editor.
How do I evaluate an EA?
From your MetaTrader, go to ‘View’, select ‘Strategy Tester’, choose 'Expert Advisor' from the list and set your back test parameters.
You may test your EA in live trading conditions on your demo account.
How can I host an EA?
FOREX.com can provide you access to a Virtual Private Server (VPS). This a virtual computer in the cloud that you can connect to remotely from your desktop or mobile device. The VPS has a Windows environment so you can run your EA on it 24 hours a day even when your computer is turned off or disconnected from the internet, and you can use the platform the same way as you would on your own desktop.
To qualify for free EA VPS hosting and take advantage of our customizable trading systems, all hosted on a secure professional server and at no additional cost, you must trade a notional volume of at least $500,000 per month.
We will re-evaluate your eligibility at the end of each calendar month. A fee of $30 will be debited from accounts that do not meet the minimum eligibility requirement to cover the VPS service.
Expert Advisor VPS Hosting is provided by Liquidity Connect.
What is the difference between an EA, an Indicator, and a Script?
EAs, indicators, and scripts are all programs written in MQL that run on MetaTrader platforms. However, each program type has a different function and addresses a different need for the trader. Below we provide the differences so traders can determine whether an EA, an indicator, or a script is the best solution for their needs.
As you can see from the description of an EA above, an Expert Advisor can automate trades and/or provide advanced platform functionality. EA, Custom Indicators and Scripts are all programs coded in MQL to run on MetaTrader platforms. If the emphasis is trade automation, then such a program is called an EA. If the focus is on provided trade signals, then it’s usually called a custom indicator. And if the focus is to automate some aspect of the order execution process, such as placing several related orders simultaneously, this program may be referred to as a script.
Chart-in-Chart
Candle Countdown
Freehand Drawing
Highs and Lows
Magnifier
Order History
One easy download powers up MetaTrader with 15 indicators
In addition to nine Expert Advisors, this FOREX.com MetaTrader download package includes 15 custom indicators to give you an inside edge on the markets and analysis of your strategies.
Third-party software and/or apps are obtained from companies not affiliated with FOREX.com, and are provided for informational purposes only. While the information is deemed reliable, FOREX.com does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness for any purpose, and makes no warranties with respect to the results to be obtained from its use. Neither FOREX.com nor its information providers make any representations about the suitability of the information, software, products, or services. As such, if you elect to use any third party trading software and applications, you do so at your sole discretion and risk. FOREX.com is not responsible for any damages or losses arising from the use of any third party software, apps and services elected for your personal use. FOREX.com makes no representation or warranties of any kind associated to any software and/or app. You are solely responsible for the correct setup and execution of any third-party software and/or app (EA), and if such operation creates undue stress on our servers, we may require you to amend your strategy.