Automated Trading

Hi Guys

UPDATE

Been trying this setup, it is growing, Im now trying it on a $10000 demo account from scratch

Both are in profit and growing

Using Strat 5, only trading between London open and New york close

I am starting the same method, but with strat 6 starting next week

I am going to let them run, no interuptions

Great Stuff !!!!
I like it !!!!

Nice. I will start to test it out for Strat. #6 and upgraded S9 manager.

Overall Strat. #5 just nice and slow and steady.

Congrats Gene, v11 has pulled cpu use well down. 6 terminals running here and only 40 % nominal load. :-)

Please pay attention to the gvariables.dat file. Open 4 MT4 instances and run 4*28 currency pairs. The disk write speed is approximately 4.5 MB/s.
The monthly write volume is approximately 11 TB, which is an extremely large amount of data writing.


1. What is the gvariables.dat file?

1. File name: gvariables.dat
2. Location: usually in ...\1D21F2A9F64E00C45F5A5148673F0534\profiles
3. Content: stores Global Variables of the Terminal (not local EA variables, but variables shared across EAs/indicators).
4. Purpose: ensures global variables persist even after MT4 is closed and reopened.

For example, when you write in code:
GlobalVariableSet("MyVar", 123.45);
it updates the value in memory and also triggers a write to gvariables.dat.
2. Why does it get written so frequently?
Common causes of excessive writes:

1. EA/indicator calls GlobalVariableSet() on every tick
   1. Even if the value doesn’t change, it forces a write to disk.

2. Logic bug with GlobalVariableCheck() or GlobalVariableGet()
   1. Some code writes a variable each time just to “ensure it exists,” even if the value hasn’t changed.

3. Multiple EAs/indicators writing to the same variable
   1. They keep overwriting each other, which increases disk activity.

3. How to avoid excessive writes to gvariables.dat
The key is to reduce unnecessary writes. Strategies:

1. Don’t write on every tick
   Only write when the value has actually changed:
   double oldVal = GlobalVariableGet("MyVar"); if (oldVal != newVal) { GlobalVariableSet("MyVar", newVal); }
2. Throttle updates (add intervals)
   Example: only write once per minute instead of every tick:
   static datetime lastWrite = 0; if (TimeCurrent() - lastWrite > 60) { GlobalVariableSet("MyVar", newVal); lastWrite = TimeCurrent(); }
3. If used only inside one EA, don’t use global variables
   Use static or global variables in MQL4 code instead—no disk writes needed.
4. Delete debug/test variables
   GlobalVariableDel("DebugVar");
5. For cross-EA communication, consider alternatives
   Instead of globals, you can use FileWrite() with your own file, or other custom mechanisms.

4. Best practices

1. Write only when persistence is needed (e.g., before EA exit, or on important events).
2. Write periodically, not continuously (e.g., once per minute/hour).
3. Write only when the value changes (avoid duplicates).

This approach will reduce gvariables.dat disk writes, extend SSD/HDD lifespan, and improve MT4 performance.

In MT4, the way gvariables.dat works is:

1. All global variables (managed with functions like GlobalVariableSet()) are stored in one single file: gvariables.dat.
2. This file is a complete data structure, containing every variable’s name, value, and expiration time.
3. When you modify, add, or delete just one global variable, MT4 rewrites the entire gvariables.dat file, not just the part for that variable.

So:
Even if only one variable is changed, the whole gvariables.dat file gets rewritten.
This means:

1. If an EA/indicator updates global variables at high frequency (e.g., on every tick), it will cause continuous heavy disk writes.
2. The larger the file (more global variables stored), the bigger the cost of each write.
3. Best practices:
   1. Avoid frequent writes
   2. Update only when necessary
   3. Use internal program variables instead of global variables when persistence isn’t required

s9 V11, missed some markers.

Did you try Strategy 6, Strategy 1 - 5 were not changed yet?

I am currently running 5 MT4 terminals.

One MT4 is running Strategy 6, two are running Strategy 5, and one is running Strategy 4.

The last MT4 is only opened without any EA or indicators loaded.

From the screenshot, it can be seen that Strategy 6 is not performing heavy writing. Both Strategy 4 and Strategy 5 are continuously performing heavy writing.

Yes I see that.
I just checked and I see I missed one fix that stops this in strategy 6, so it still has some but not as bad as 1 - 5.
Strategies 1 - 5 have not been changed yet as I wanted to see if anyone was still going to use them after they had tried strategy 6.
Also just found one minor correction that can cause the mouse to be slow in response but doesn't affect results. I will fix this also.
Will see which strategies we keep and in the next version will correct those also.

Strategy 6 is similar to 4 and five but more picky so it could be the only one we keep as 4 and 5 seem to be the most popular.

Everyone: Let me know which ones we should keep by the end of this week and I will get out the next version all cleaned up at the end of the week.

Thank you for your great input.

In the latest version and next version some of these things have been done and will be done.
Earlier versions were mainly just to see if a strategy worked so were not the cleanest in the code department. LOL
NOW:
1: Will only update global variables and check for auto trade action once every hour since that is the chart time frame or in some cases when a key is pressed sending a message to the Manager. I only use closed candles for confirming signals so no auto entries or exits will be missed. If you use the TP or SL buttons these exits are seen on every tick since they watch price action.
2: If a global variable has not changed it is not updated.

Thanks again
Gene

Question strat. #6. I cant see the TP & SL toggles on screen.

Starting to test out Strat #4 for latest indicator v11.

If there are more than 5 currency pairs with open trades, and each of these currency pairs is profitable, could a feature be added to automatically close all orders for these currency pairs?

This is because, in most cases, the market may reverse. At this point, the profit is at its maximum.

By frequently closing orders, the number of held orders would also decrease, thereby reducing risk.

I had some good profits just before new york open but after new York close I was in more drawn than profit.. seems to be recovering a bit now will see how it goes

Hi yes the same with me tried to apply the SL and nothing happens, probably a bug.

Its strange, but im not seeing any trades getting executed on strategy 6, is this a bug?

What does the JOURNAL TAB say?

Working fine for me I have 8 open trades.
Did you try it on an open trade? Was the button available?




Added a trailing stop loss:

If you are having problems and think it is the manager or indicator post what is shown in the Experts and Journal Tabs along with a picture of the Manager at the time of the trade and a picture of the chart of the pair.