MT forward testing and going live

hello,

can someone please help me understand MT better..

1. If you want to forward test an EA or go live, are you required to keep your computer on 24 hours a day ??

2. Can you close or change profiles / charts without affecting the EA running ? (or do you have to have the chart with the EA up on the screen 24/7 ?)

3. If you have the same EA but on different pairs, do you need a different magic number for each pair ?

I think that's all..
cheers, Anthony

I'd wait until someone verfied what I said, but I think I can say,

1. Yes
2. I do believe that you'll have to keep that chart with the EA up and running. If you need to do something with another chart or profile, why don't you just install another copy of MT?
3. I think this depends on the EA. I've seen some that required them and some that didn't.

1. If you turn off your computer, your EA will stop functioning. Everything is handled client side. Note that anything that disrupts communication between your computer and the broker's server will also stop your EA from functioning.

2. Leave the chart alone. You're free to open new charts and do as you wish, but any changes to the chart that the EA is loaded on will cause the deinit() and then the init() functions to be called. It's basically like shutting down the EA and restarting it on the new symbol and/or timeframe.

3. Depends on how intelligent the EA is. People who know what they're doing typically have the EA coded so that it checks symbol and magic number to determine if the trade should "count" as a trade to be managed. If someone coded it without a symbol check, then the EA would get confused. Basically, this is a "it depends" kind of answer.

thanks for your replies - they have clarified my questions.

in regards to installing another copy of MT, I think I tried it, but then when I went to open the 2nd copy, it just closed down the first one.

anthony, it is very easy to run a second copy. Just install into another folder. You can even copy the first MT4 folder to the desktop (without running through a new setup) and then run an identical version of the same installation simultaneously

best way is to run on a vps, a cheaper solution, that way u dont need to run on ur pc 24/7, also protected (depending on the quality of ur host), from powerouts, and other issues if u run on ur pc.