How to Plug an Expert Advisor Into a Futures Trading Platform
An expert advisor (EA) is a piece of software that plugs into the Metatrader trading platform.
The EA trading robot gives Metatrader a set of commands, and executes trades in the forex markets automatically. With the correct broker, an EA can also be used in the futures markets.
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Instructions
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Open an account with a futures broker that uses Metatrader as its software platform. A few that you can consider include FXCM, Alpari UK and 4XPlace.
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Download their Metatrader software to your computer and install it. Once the installation is complete, restart your computer.
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From the desktop, click "Start" and double-click "Computer." Go to "Program Files."
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Locate the Metatrader program folder. It will often have the broker's name attached to it. So, if your broker is Alpari UK it may read "Metatrader AlpariUK."
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Click on the Metatrader folder and find the folder labeled "Experts." Drag and drop your expert advisor to this folder. The expert advisor file will have the extension ".ex4."
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Launch the Metatrader application.
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Click "File" and "New" and select the futures contract that you wish to trade.
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Go to "View" once the application is open and click on "Navigator." Look under "Expert Advisors" and find the one that you just installed. Right-click it and select "Attach to Chart."
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Press and hold the "F7" key on your keyboard. This brings up the EA properties window. Click on the "Common" tab and select "Enable Alerts > Allow Live Trading > Allow DLL Imports > Allow Imports of External Experts" and click "OK."
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Click on the "Expert Advisors" button on the toolbar at the top of the screen. This will turn the button green. You should now see a smiley face in the upper right hand corner of your screen. Your EA is now ready to trade.
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