MetaTrader 4 is the biggest forex trading platform for traders worldwide. So, it is important to know about the best MetaTrader indicators that can help you generate trading ideas.

Expert Advisors In The Metatrader 4 Platform

There is a vast array of MetaTrader 4 expert advisors, known as ‘EA’s. These are custom algorithms which run on the MT4 platform, like an add-on or plugin. They monitor price movements, looking for a pre-defined pattern or relationship between variables, and suggest trades or even automatically place them.

Some of those are developed to trade news events and then stay out of the market, while other EAs stay active 24/7. Experienced traders who develop their own manual trading forex systems often assign MQL4 programmers for automating their systems. Hence, a custom MT4 EA is created. 

All EAs have the same purpose which is to automate the forex trading process fully and hopefully generate profits while doing it. Technical indicators are used by expert advisors to gauge the market conditions and then making trading decisions. Before you use an expert advisor, you must attach it to a chart first on the best MT4 brokers platform.

The MT4 EA can take various factors and elements into account to decide on its next course of action. The capability of considering a vast range of price effecting elements and the discipline of an automated trading system free from emotions can often result in a very different trading experience.

Functioning of EA on MT4

The program calculates the several indicators that it was developed to utilize. Then, it takes action when the right criteria are found in the market conditions, as described in the source code of the EA. For example, an ordinary MT4 EA may have a setup resembling something like this – if the 20 day and the 9 day MA (Moving Average) cross with the 9 day MA above the 20 MA, and there is RSI higher than 50, then you will open long buy position. 

From this example, you can understand that an infinite amount of conditions can be assigned to enter and exit the market. Moreover, certain trades can be managed with trail stops and multiple take-profit levels. Usually, there are three parts of an MT4 EA – the ‘init’ function or a startup, the ‘deinit’ function or cleanup, and the major function. The expert advisor runs through the startup option, and upon startup, it also runs through the cleanup function at the end. 

At the same time, the MT4 EA program runs through a cycle of the major functions again and again with every incoming tick while being attached to a chart. Expert advisors, especially the best MT4 expert advisors that are free do not start other cycles for new ticks, in case it still is in the middle of a preceding one. 

This is a simple explanation of what a simple EA can be programmed to do. The best forex trading books can help by providing much more detail on this topic. Traders can assign it for checking their accounts to see if there is enough equity for beginning a trade. It can also check if there is any available trade to join at that moment. If there is, you can enquire if they would be closed or if they need the trailing to stop to be adjusted. When there is no open trade, you can ask your EA if the market conditions are ideal to open one. 

The Types of MT4 EAs In Detail

There are various kinds of EAs available for the MT4 trading platform. Here is a list of some of the most commonly used ones:

News MetaTrader 4 Expert Advisor: This is an EA for hedging. The News EA is developed for traders so they can benefit from news events and significant price shifts that occur during the releases of financial news. 

Hedge Expert Advisor: This category houses every EA that plays two opposing and separate positions to reduce the loss on one. By doing this, the EAs help traders to isolate a very specific play; such as the pricing differential between two instruments, without being as impacted by overall market movements.

Scalper Expert Advisor: This one is a kind of MT4 expert advisor that could get the trader’s account cancelled or the account could at least be limited heavily by brokers, although the best forex brokers may be happy to allow high-frequency trading of this nature. The purpose of scalping is to secure small profits as soon as they are available through lots of small, short term trades.

The Breakout Expert Advisor: This EA is programmed to open a position as soon as the price breaks through a predetermined support and resistance level. This is an example of technical analysis (see books on this topic).

As long as you use the best MT4 indicators wisely, they could serve you well in combining manual and automated trading methods.