AmazingEA: Automated Straddle Trading Expert Advisor

Version 11.02 Released

01 March 2020
Version 11.02 Modified by Alan Prothero
Improved Error Message for No More Events

30 September 2019
Version 11.01 Modified by Alan Prothero
Name Check ignores order of Names

This minor update improves a confusing error message which is displayed when Events could not be downloaded from Forex Factory Calendar.

Instead of saying 'Unable to retrieve next calendar event for XXXYYY from www.forexfactory.com'

It now says: '"No more calendar events for XXXYYY for this week from www.forexfactory.com'

The old error message gave the impression that the EA was not working properly, when in fact it could be the end of the week when there were no more events left in the Calendar.

The previous change regarding Names only affected something related to the License.

Both these changes have no functional effect on how well the EA works, so if you still have V11.00 that is fine.

Hello Alan.
If I put ReadSettings=True, even if I put MoneyManagement=False, and Lots=1,
EA will read MoneyManagement=True and will use RiskPercent

if I put ReadSettings=FAlse, it will follow MM settings

In other words, ReadSettings=True will make the MM setting as True, no matter what

How can I change that?

thanks
MT5 platform, AmEA 11.01

Thanks for reporting this. I will check it out today and report back.

Hey it's working for me.



There are a few gotchas though

1) Need to save as a .csv not .xls
2) Close Excel if you are using that to edit as it locks the file
3) Swap Profiles to get MT4/5 to pickup changes. When you do that, you should see the new values reflected on the screen
4) TRUE / FALSE needs to be in CAPITAL LETTERS

If you're in a Spanish speaking country be careful about delimiters which need to be ',' and Decimal Separator needs to be '.' and End of Line needs to be <CR><LF>.

Just to preempt any enquiries about why the EA did not trade the AU Interest Rate Decision:-

1) AmazingEA relies on the Forex Factory Calendar
2) The FF Calendar did not originally contain the Cash Rate event. (The version on the Right contains the Event, the one on the Left does not)

3) The FF Calendar was updated sometime between 42 minutes before the Decision and 18 minutes after.
4) I know this because the EA checks once per hour and the last trade AUD Employment Change finished at 48 minutes past the hour.
5) So when the EA checked 42 minutes before the trade, the Calendar was not updated and when it checked 18 minutes after it was updated.

Unfortunately, there is little I can do about this except make the EA check much more often, which would be a little over zealous.

I published an article on my website:-

"News Trading catches Covid-19"

https://amazingea.wordpress.com/2020...ches-covid-19/

Version 11.04 Released

05 March 2020
Version 11.04 Modified by Alan Prothero

Changed Default for FilterByCurrency=true
Cosmetic Code Tidy Up
Name Check handles up to 3 Names

03 March 2020
Version 11.03 Modified by Alan Prothero

Trial Version rebadged Subscription Version
MaxSpread shows Disabled instead of 0

Fairly minor update with some cosmetic changes plus the default for FilterByCurrency has been changed to true.
Existing users of Version 11.00 or higher do not need to get this upgrade.

How is this bad girl going, have not used it in a while due to slippage??

Hi Alan,

The EA haven't been functioning since Feb 2021, and I didn't do anything to it.

Unfortunately, Forex Factory decided to change the URL for the XML News Calendar again. This happened a couple of years ago but it seems like they weren't happy with the result and changed it again.

I've coded a fix and sent you an update which I will announce on here shortly.

I published a follow up article on my website:- "News Trading gets the Jab !"

https://amazingea.wordpress.com/2021...-gets-the-jab/

Version 11.05 Released

20 April 2021
Version 11.05 Modified by Alan Prothero
Update XML Location on Forex Factory

Hello.
Can you insert another calendar? Myfxbook has more news. Thank you
https://www.myfxbook.com/forex-economic-calendar

Unfortunately, it is not that easy. The EA reads an XML version of the Calendar. You can view it yourself by clicking the XML option in the bottom left of the Calendar page:-


If MyFXBook published an XML version, it might be possible, but I would need to reprogram the reader functions.

Hi Alan, what was the last free version before the paid ones and does it still work? if yes please share download link or thread.

thank you.

Why is this EA not for sale anymore?

Basically, I was unhappy that traders were buying AmazingEA and struggling to get the same results they had been able to get on Demo.

AmazingEA works equally well on Demo and Live accounts. There is no difference in the code that gets executed, except during Startup where some account parameters are checked to ensure compliance with the license.

However, it is not possible to achieve the same results on a Live account that one can achieve on a Demo account. Mainly, this is due to 'slippage' or the broker being unable to execute a Pending Order at the price requested. Often the trade will be executed at the next available price, which may be a long way away (known as a 'Price Gap').

MT4 and MT5 are setup in such a way to help the broker make money, not the retail investor. It makes sense as Brokers pay to use MetaTrader but you the Retail Investor do not. So of course, Metatrader are going to protect their broker client base who pay for the software.

For example, if one could setup a Pending Order with a Maximum Slippage setting which would not execute the order if the price had gapped too much. But this is no longer possible. I believe there used to be a technical ability to do this but it was not used by the Brokers so is probably no longer there anyway.

So in my opinion, using AmazingEA used to work well in the following circumstances:-

1) With Market Maker brokers. These brokers would not pass your trade to a Tier 1 or other Major Broker but would net off Trades from time to time. In other words, they took the opposite side of your transaction. Many of these brokers would use dirty tricks or server plugins to automatically kill news trades as it would be difficult for them to keep up with volatile news trades. Sometimes trading with these brokers would allow retail traders be able to 'win' and some would even let you withdraw.

2) With Direct Market Access brokers. These brokers would give you the same trading conditions as they themselves enjoyed. Occasionally, one could find one with low slippage and spreads.

3) Fast ECN Brokers. Using a VM close to the Data Center might get you a very fast ping time and if the Broker had fast servers and low spreads, one could do reasonably well.

A few Traders made money relatively quickly as I did in the early days with 1) and 2) above, until I started concentrating on selling/coding the EA.

Since then, only those traders who were with the right brokers and limited their risk (either by using the Spreadsheet method of varying their Lot Sizes) or by using very low risk settings to allow them to trade for a very long time and only gradually increase their account, were able to make any money.

Therefore, I have decided to stop selling AmazingEA, as my moral compass is telling me that it is unfair to make money selling something that is technically great but may be bought by people who will go on to lose their hard earned cash.

However, I have decided to make the last free version (AmazingEA V7) easily available on Post 1 of this thread, so that you can try Straddle Trading on a Live Account. The free version does not download News Events itself - you have to manually setup a timer for it to trade at a specific time. But trying out a few trades this way will give you an idea whether your broker would be suitable to trade with. If you are still sure you want to purchase AmazingEA send me a DM in Forex Factory or to my Twitter account @Alan111S.

Version 11.06 Released

06 July 2022
Version 11.06 Modified by Alan Prothero
Increase line spacing to make chart more readable
Fix Magic Number too big for Integer

Hi Alan, I'm trying to get in touch with you.
Can you give me a contact,pls?

Thanks

Hello, I tried trading the CPI today and got slipped on the entry for about 62(+18) pips. (had entry 180 points away)
I banked around 24 pips on the trade but I still feel it was quite underwhelming in regards to how big the move was.

I have tried trading news manually where I would make a market order in both directions and could bank around 400-500 pips on a move like this. Perhaps it is better to make a market order 2 seconds before instead of stop orders?

Also if you look at the time, I was entered in the market at 15:30:04 instead of 15:30:01 or 15:30:02. Is this simply because of bad liquidity or was the EA acting up?

With that being said, I appreciate you posting this EA for free and it will come in handy in the future