INDI/EA that works outside MT4 | Forex Factory

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INDI/EA that works outside MT4

  • #1
  • First Post: Nov 8, 2011 6:24am Nov 8, 2011 6:24am
Hi, I want to write a stand alone indi/ea that works outside MT4, since it would probably crash the platform with all the filters it uses.

I don't really care which language I write it in, as I only have a vague recollection of C and C++ from uni, and will be relearning again anyway.

If anybody knows of any code out there that's already been written to begin the process (importing price history and analysing price) I'd be very grateful to get my hands on it.

Thanks in advance

If
  • #2
  • Nov 8, 2011 10:42am Nov 8, 2011 10:42am
You are headed for a world of hurt. Unless you are absolutely convinced MQL4 can't hack it for whatever you are attempting, you will spend a lot of effort to achieve an unsatisfactory result. Not only do you have to write code that duplicates what is already written in MQL4, but you will have to find some way to back test it. Despite its shortcomings, Strategy Tester is indispensable as a testing and verification tool for most of the coders on these boards.

Your use of the vague term "indi/ea" tells me you don't seem to have to good grasp of what it is you want to do. For instance, have you thought about how to enter and manage trades? There are no broker APIs unless you pay big bucks or have some special account. So you will be left with writing something in MQL which needs to be interfaced. May as well do it in MQL first and prove that the concept works and that you absolutely positively can't abide MQL's quirks and flaws.

My prediction - you concept will fail like 99% of the code that has been already written. You may as well fail the easy way (MQL4) as fail the hard way (managed code). From a technical point of view, my suggestion would be to get familiar with DDE. That seems to work well for the limited functionality it provides.
  • #3
  • Nov 8, 2011 11:15am Nov 8, 2011 11:15am
Quoting CodeMeister
You are headed for a world of hurt. Unless you are absolutely convinced MQL4 can't hack it for whatever you are attempting, you will spend a lot of effort to achieve an unsatisfactory result. Not only do you have to write code that duplicates what is already written in MQL4, but you will have to find some way to back test it. Despite its shortcomings, Strategy Tester is indispensable as a testing and verification tool for most of the coders on these boards.

Your use of the vague term "indi/ea" tells me you don't seem to have to good grasp...
Thanks very much for the input CodeMeister

I had a feeling I was entering a dark place all right

But I do want to continue with this.

The way I trade is very simple indeed though, so maybe I can leave out the filters I was planning, which I never use anyway.

Good suggestion about DDE by the way. I'll get straight on it

Best

If
  • #4
  • Edited Nov 9, 2011 6:31am Nov 8, 2011 5:41pm | Edited Nov 9, 2011 6:31am
Why do you not simply use a dll to handle the code you think MT4 cannot.
See 7bits threads for lots of goodies. Dll coding for MT4, interfacing to R, Python via dlls etc.
http://www.forexfactory.com/7bit
  • #5
  • Nov 11, 2011 4:12am Nov 11, 2011 4:12am
Quoting Xaphod
Why do you not simply use a dll to handle the code you think MT4 cannot.
See 7bits threads for lots of goodies. Dll coding for MT4, interfacing to R, Python via dlls etc.
http://www.forexfactory.com/7bit
Thanks Xaphod

I had been reading alot from 7bit before I decided to do this, and shall go right back and learn some more.

Best

If
  • #6
  • Nov 11, 2011 4:49am Nov 11, 2011 4:49am
Or you could bypass MT4 altogether and interface directly with a brokers API. Look-up the FIX protocol (Financial Information eXchange). You can probably find lots of info on the systematic trading thread:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=167720

FIX:
http://www.lmaxtrader.co.uk/api-trading
http://www.quickfixengine.org/
  • #7
  • Nov 11, 2011 5:17am Nov 11, 2011 5:17am
Quoting Xaphod
Or you could bypass MT4 altogether and interface directly with a brokers API. Look-up the FIX protocol (Financial Information eXchange). You can probably find lots of info on the systematic trading thread:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=167720

FIX:
http://www.lmaxtrader.co.uk/api-trading
http://www.quickfixengine.org/
Wow, never even heard of FIX before.

I'm very glad of all this info

Thanks guys
  • #8
  • Nov 11, 2011 6:01am Nov 11, 2011 6:01am
I had problems with an indicator of mine that was too CPU intensive for MT4. I ended up identifying the part of the algorithm that was hogging the CPU and wrote a DLL in C++ to do the heavy lifting. It was much faster then.

For a beginning programmer I'd suggest doing what Xaphod suggested and check out 7bit's postings. He does work like this in Pascal using a free tool called Lazarus.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  • #9
  • Last Post: Nov 11, 2011 7:34pm Nov 11, 2011 7:34pm
Quoting stevegee58
I had problems with an indicator of mine that was too CPU intensive for MT4. I ended up identifying the part of the algorithm that was hogging the CPU and wrote a DLL in C++ to do the heavy lifting. It was much faster then.

For a beginning programmer I'd suggest doing what Xaphod suggested and check out 7bit's postings. He does work like this in Pascal using a free tool called Lazarus.
I'll give that a try for a start

I'm so happy there are so many great people in this forum sharing what they know

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