EA for multiple timeframes and pairs?

Hi all!

I have a question about using an EA on multiple timeframes and multiple currency pairs. I have been developing and testing an EA for a while now, and it seems to work quite well on pretty much all currency pairs and also on three different timeframes that I’m interested on. EA is now made to work just on a one pair and one TF, so I have been optimizing & live testing it separately on every chart. But, since it’s method is quite strict, it trades quite rarely. And because of this, I would like to use it with all 28 pairs I’m using, and with 3 different TF’s for every pair, that is 84 charts in common. And of course it is not so easy to manage 84 different charts in MT4…

So my question is; how would you solve this problem? Would you develop an EA that opens trades on multiple pairs, on multiple time frames, or even both of them (= 1 EA instance for all 84 pairs)??

Pros/cons I can see for these options are:

EA that trades on all timeframes, but just for one pair:
– Still 24 charts open
– Every pair should still be optimized separately
+ I can still visually check from a chart if the trade was taken on a right time, same indicators can be seen on all TF’s on a chart

EA that trades on all pairs, but just on one timeframe:
+ Only 3 charts open, one for every TF
+ Optimization could be done for all pairs at once
– Trades cannot be visually confirmed from a chart (or they can, but only for the pair that EA is attached on) -> quite a big risk for errors

EA that trades on all pairs and all timeframes:
+ Just one chart open, easy to manage
+ Optimization could be done for all pairs and all timeframes at once (if wanted)
- Trades cannot be visually confirmed at all from a chart (or they can, but only for the pair &TF that EA is attached on) -> quite a big risk for errors

Any comments?

Hi AlliumPorrum

I'm working to a similar project that involves 7 pairs and 5 TFs.
It just works on one windows pretty well.
For BT it's necessary to optimize 1 pair at time, but it can be done.
So I can't see you concern...

Thanks for your comment, sym!

I know that *might* be better to test every pair at a time, but there is also a big risk for a curve fitting failure this way. I'd prefer a method where I try to find best possible setting for all pairs in common, and after that I also check that how it works on every separate pair. If exactly the same settings work for every pair, I think that there is way less risk for the curve fitting.

Anyway; if your EA uses 7 pairs and 5 TF's for each of them, is there any way to visually confirm that the trades that your EA did are actually correct, i.e. there isn't any bugs on your EA?

Yes, there is!

Every single trade must be checked and confirmed by the EA.
If anything goes wrong the EA writes an ALLERT MESSAGE on the screen...
it can be done.

The EA also needs to understand what happened, why, and take countermeasures.

Good luck

Thanks Sym, but if I understood correctly you are talking about error handling, right?

What I meant is that I would like to always visually check from the chart that every trade was opened & closed with exactly the correct parameters, i.e. my EA does not have mistakes regarding the indicator parameters etc. I want to SEE every trade on a chart, and confirm WHY it was taken.

And this is why I actually don't have any trading rules on EA, but they are all counted on my own indicator that draws everything to the chart. So I can basically trade my system manually as well. And the indicator just writes to one of it's buffers if trade should be opened, and EA just checks that buffer.

Yes, I was talking about error handling...

I apologize but I can't understand your point. Pheraps because I don't know your system...
I can't understand why you need visual confirmation.
If the system works, works well with or without visual confirmation!!!!

Have a nice day

Well yes, if it works, it works :=) But how do you exactly know that it works correctly on every trade, if you don't check it?

My trading method is quite complex, and even though I have tested it a lot, every now and then I still notice that some trade was taken on a wrong place, or some good place was missed. And of course, if I change it to be multi TF and/or multi pair EA, there are LOTS of new places for some mistakes that cannot be seen from the code, but from how it actually functions in the chart. I could never trust my money for a software, without seeing what it does and why.

Actually, I think that the wisest choice for me would be to implement the EA so that it CAN trade with all pairs and all timeframes, but it's parametrized so that it still can be used only for one pair or one timeframe, if wanted.

This way I can:
- Optimize it with all pairs together (but just for one timeframe), to find the right settings for the selected timeframe
- Attach it to charts so that it trades only for the current chart, so I can visually check for every trade even on different TF's. If I create a template for a chart, and then a profile for all charts, it should not be so hard to handle 28 charts after all, I think.

But, now I really would like to have some good advices on how to create a solid multi pair & multi TF EA?? Of course I must be sure that all method calls are setting the TF & chart values correctly (instead of NULL and 0) and that I don't have any references to "Ask" or "Bid" and such, but what else should I be aware of? Are there any good examples on such EA's around??

But now that I started reading about the backtesting of the multipair/multitimeframe EA in MT4, I found out that it is not possible at all

Or is it really so? Isn't there any way to test & optimize multiple pairs/TF's in MT4??

Probably TS is going to exploit some correlation principle between pairs, otherwise there is no sense in using indicator across 84 charts simultaneously. Looks like grid trading, but there is very complicated risk management system and perfect broker with good liquidity on all pairs. Anyway it is unfeasible with only one brain.