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Info about having an ea made for me

  • #1
  • First Post: May 18, 2007 7:00am May 18, 2007 7:00am
Hi,
I've got a few ideas about what I would like an ea to do for me.

I'm just wondering if I could get some feedback from everyone.

I will be a bit vague as I'm at work at the moment an can't post everything I would like to (I'll probably edit later with more specifics).

How difficult would it be for an experienced c++ programmer to get fully aquainted in programming ea's, I understand the language isn't very different? I know this will vary from person to person, but if you can give a rough guess it would be appreciated.

I would like the ea to trade off of several differnt indicators, probably about 3, as well as several set conditions for a certain trade to initiate. Each trade it makes would be decided by a different indicator or different parameter met.

I.e. if rsi goes above 70 and then dips back below, THEN sell, and if rsi dips below 30 and then back above, THEN buy.

or just as an example, if I noticed that prices for "x" currency pair tend to be quite predictable at a certain time, then it would buy/sell at the time I specify.

I would also like a choice of money management such as a certain percentage of the account per trade, fixed lots etc.

I'd also like to make it modular i.e. if I want to only trade 1 element of the ea for some reason i.e. the rsi part i mentioned, it would only trade from those paramaters. Or if I decide that I want to trade them all, then I should be able to activate all of the trade seeking paramaters.

And finally I should be able to modify the maximum number of open positions.

Sorry to ask so much.

How much time should I expect this to take and how much do you think it would cost roughly?

I've seen 2 websites that offer custom ea's but I haven't had a reply from them. Since there are a lot of experts here you're the best people for me to turn to

Thanks

steve
  • #2
  • May 18, 2007 11:13am May 18, 2007 11:13am
  •  tesla
  • | Joined Oct 2006 | Status: Friendly Neighborhood Programmer | 533 Posts
A decent C++ programmer will have no issue with the syntax (since it's C) but if they don't have familiarity with MetaTrader then I would be hesitant to hire them. Your specs are pretty broad but nothing mentioned is horribly difficult, the biggest factor will probably be how robust you need it.

  1. Should it attempt to account for connection issues and order submission errors (requotes, trade context busy, etc.)?
  2. Should it query the server and adjust stoploss/takeprofit levels to make sure they're legal based on the broker's stoplevel (minimum allowed distance for stoploss and takeprofit values)?
  3. Should it account for daylight savings in your time params?
  4. Should it error check your params to make sure you haven't entered obviously bad values (1000% equity risk, etc.)?

I'd guess that you'll get quotes between $50 and $250+ for a finished product. The hard part is figuring out who's offering the best value for the price. I'd recommend that you NOT hire anyone who doesn't bother to ask you the kind of questions mentioned above. If you get an offer from someone who frequents this type of board, check their post history to get an idea of their level of expertise.

  • #3
  • May 19, 2007 3:57am May 19, 2007 3:57am
wow, that was very good info, thanks a lot.

I'll make sure I include these in my specifications. Are there any more important things that you or anyone else can think of for me to ask?

I would like it as robust as possible.

Quote

  1. Should it attempt to account for connection issues and order submission errors (requotes, trade context busy, etc.)?
  2. Should it query the server and adjust stoploss/takeprofit levels to make sure they're legal based on the broker's stoplevel (minimum allowed distance for stoploss and takeprofit values)?
  3. Should it account for daylight savings in your time params?
  4. Should it error check your params to make sure you haven't entered obviously bad values (1000% equity risk, etc.)?


1. yes. I don't understand what "trade context busy" is though. How could it take connection isues into account? You mean if it disconnects, it looks at all the trades again to make sure they're still within the parameters?
2. Yes, if the stops and take profits aren't valid, it could completely ruin the system so it's very important.
3. Is this important? I don't know what the negative effects would be? I suppose it would make sense.
4. Yes, I'm human and can easily make a stupid mistake, I would like the ea to notice obvious errors

Do you still think it would be about $250 ish?

This might sound like a very stupid question, but would it be a very good idea to keep a computer on 24/7 so the ea can work it's magic constantly, or is that overkill?

If it should be on 24/7, do you think I should buy a dedicated laptop just for metatrader to run properly. My broadband disconnects everyonce in a while, good idea to get a dedicated broadband line that is more reliable? If so, it there an optimum broadband speed I should buy or is standard just fine?


Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I've got everything covered
  • #4
  • May 20, 2007 12:04pm May 20, 2007 12:04pm
  •  tesla
  • | Joined Oct 2006 | Status: Friendly Neighborhood Programmer | 533 Posts
Quoting stevex33
I don't understand what "trade context busy" is though. How could it take connection isues into account? You mean if it disconnects, it looks at all the trades again to make sure they're still within the parameters?
"trade context busy" is an error that can be thrown if you've performed some other order activity too recently. If your system can call for reversing orders or opening multiple order simultaneously, you can potentially see this error (it's much less common than it used to be, some brokers used to require 5 seconds or so between orders). It's just one of many errors that a robust system should accommodate.

Quoting stevex33
...would it be a very good idea to keep a computer on 24/7 so the ea can work it's magic constantly, or is that overkill?
Depends on the system. If your system is a 24hr a day system, then yes.

Quoting stevex33
do you think I should buy a dedicated laptop just for metatrader to run properly. My broadband disconnects everyonce in a while, good idea to get a dedicated broadband line that is more reliable? If so, it there an optimum broadband speed I should buy or is standard just fine?
MetaTrader isn't overly taxing on a PC or on an internet connection. That said, you have to examine for yourself the risk of disconnects and what it would mean for your system. Some folks here use a VPS service so that they can get better uptime.

My recommendations are as follows:

  1. Draw up a document completely detailing your system and all parameters you want to have control over when it's automated.
  2. Have the core system coded up, WITHOUT the additional stuff like parameter and server error handling (and without any money management). This will give you an EA that you can use for backtesting and forward testing.
  3. If you decide that you want to continue with the system, then work with a programmer to make it robust enough to use on a live server.

After step #1, you'll have something to show programmers for them to quote you a price. If you've already put some effort into backtests, you can probably post the doc and the backtest results here and get someone to code up the core system gratis.

After step #2, you'll be in a better position to answer those other questions you were asking.

  • #5
  • May 20, 2007 4:25pm May 20, 2007 4:25pm
I think you should try and build yourself.
Only reason that i say that is I think your strategy on the rsi will get chewed up.

I would use info from:
www.forex-tsd.com
http://sufx.core.t3-ism.net/ExpertAdvisorBuilder/
forex factory
and also down loads from
elcactus.com

good luck!
  • #6
  • May 20, 2007 5:07pm May 20, 2007 5:07pm
Tesla, thanks for your very constructive advice.

About vps, I own a good few websites, so I should have no problem requesting some sort of solution from my website, thanks a lot

Quoting 4XWeezal
I think you should try and build yourself.
Only reason that i say that is I think your strategy on the rsi will get chewed up.

I would use info from:
www.forex-tsd.com
http://sufx.core.t3-ism.net/ExpertAdvisorBuilder/
forex factory
and also down loads from
elcactus.com

good luck!

Hi 4xweezal,
thanks for your comments as well as those links.
Out of interest, what makes you say that about the rsi system? Have you seen or done something similar that didn't work out too well? Or is it gut feeling?

Great advice guys, if anyone wants to offer more perls of wisdom then please go right ahead
  • #7
  • May 20, 2007 6:02pm May 20, 2007 6:02pm
Quoting stevex33
Tesla, thanks for your very constructive advice.

About vps, I own a good few websites, so I should have no problem requesting some sort of solution from my website, thanks a lot




Hi 4xweezal,
thanks for your comments as well as those links.
Out of interest, what makes you say that about the rsi system? Have you seen or done something similar that didn't work out too well? Or is it gut feeling?

Great advice guys, if anyone wants to offer more perls of wisdom then please go right ahead

Steve, why don't you just ask Tesla to give you a price and have him code it? He is one of the best MLQ programmers around...
  • #8
  • May 21, 2007 2:57am May 21, 2007 2:57am
Hi,
someone just recently made an offer for the project for me.
An undisclosed amount for my full specs and he really seems to know what he's talking about.

I wont mention his name because he might not appreciate it, if he wants me to then I will

If tesla made an offer then it's quite possible that I would have accepted, but seeing as he/she (Sorry I don't know tesla's gender) didn't make an offer, I assumed that tesla didn't want to do it.

The project has been allocated now so it would be unfair to give it to someone else.

However I might privately contact tesla and pay him/her to give the ea a once over with a second pair of eyes, perhaps he can suggest improvements, additions, changes etc
  • #9
  • May 21, 2007 11:41am May 21, 2007 11:41am
  •  tesla
  • | Joined Oct 2006 | Status: Friendly Neighborhood Programmer | 533 Posts
Quoting stevex33
Hi,
someone just recently made an offer for the project for me.
An undisclosed amount for my full specs and he really seems to know what he's talking about.

I wont mention his name because he might not appreciate it, if he wants me to then I will

If tesla made an offer then it's quite possible that I would have accepted, but seeing as he/she (Sorry I don't know tesla's gender) didn't make an offer, I assumed that tesla didn't want to do it.

The project has been allocated now so it would be unfair to give it to someone else.

However I might privately contact tesla and pay him/her to give the ea a once over with a second pair of eyes, perhaps he can suggest improvements, additions, changes etc
I'm a guy.

And that's totally cool, I'm staying extremely busy without additional work.

Feel free to I'm me with quick questions and such, I try to make myself available to other members.
  • #10
  • May 21, 2007 2:51pm May 21, 2007 2:51pm
cool, when it's finished I might have to shoot a pm your way
If you think of anything else important that you think should be added, please do post it.

Oh and on the note of metatrader not causing too much of a drain on the computer. I'm a little worried about it because I spent a lot of money on my computer, but im more concerned about it being in my bedroom, it can be noisey with it's 6 fans and I'd never get any sleep if I left it on lol.

How would you go about setting up meta trader on a vps? Can you point me to any topics? I've looked at the wikipedia but it didn't explain much in relation to metatrader.

regards
steve
  • #11
  • May 21, 2007 4:49pm May 21, 2007 4:49pm
  •  tesla
  • | Joined Oct 2006 | Status: Friendly Neighborhood Programmer | 533 Posts
There have been some informative threads on vps here on ff. Give search a whirl.

Would add additional thoughts but on blackberry right now.
  • #12
  • Last Post: May 21, 2007 6:53pm May 21, 2007 6:53pm
We have EAs in MT3 and MT4 that have evolved over the last several years that will make you cry like a little girl.

We did very well in the fully automated division of InterbankFX trading contests, when they still were being run. And that was with our older, less effective EAs.

We're smokin' now.
Bob/autofx
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