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Getting Started in Forex RobotsBy Rob Booker and Wes WaltonVersion 1.01, February 8, 2017WARNINGTrading involves substantial risks. Forex trading is risky, and most traderslose money. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.DOUBLE WARNINGIf you are not good with computers, robots are not a good idea for you. Ifyou are a beginner with basic computer tasks, such as opening programs,installing programs, opening files and folders, downloading files - t henrobots are NOT a good fit for you. We love you - and we do not want you tohave a bad experience. If you are a beginner with computers - take a quickclass on computer basics and then come back to the robots.TRIPLE WARNING!!!Run these robots on a demo account first. Run the robots in an accountthat is COMPLETELY separate from your discretionary trading. Run therobots with a TINY TRADE SIZE at first, because something can go wrong,and you do not want to have huge losses. There is plenty of time toincrease trade size later.RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 1

TABLE OF CONTENTSClick a link to jump to a section. THE BASICS What is a trading robot? Why trade robots with forex? Is that dangerous? Why would I use a robot? How is a robot made? Is it hard to learn?THE EQUIPMENT What is Metatrader 4? What is a Virtual Private Server? How to set up a VPS at Amazon How to get a free VPS from your brokerHow to login to your VPS with Remote Desktop Connection HOW TO INSTALL A ROBOT Installing a robot Loading a robot onto your chart How to make sure it is “active” and looking for trades Playing around with robot settings HOW TO TEST A ROBOT The MT4 Strategy Tester Data: the Heart and Soul of backtesting How to run a simple test Reading Test ResultsRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 2

Using the visual mode Optimization Common backtesting problemsTROUBLESHOOTING ROBOT PROBLEMSMy MT4 closed - now what?My server crashedMy MT4 frozeMy robot is not taking any tradesTHE BASICSWhat is a trading robot?A trading robot is a software program. Once the program is installed intoyour trading platform, it can take trades automatically. You can be asleep,working, or spending time with your family and it can take a trade.Robots as “Complete Trading Solutions”Some traders use robots to do ALL of their trading. That’s what I do. I letthe robots run 24/7 and I rarely touch them or intervene. These robots opentrades, manage the open trade, take profit, stop out - everything. I don’thave to touch the computer at all.Robots as “Trading Assistants”RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 3

Some traders use robots as “trading assistants.” For example, you mightknow that you want to buy the EUR/USD currency pair, but you need to goto work right now. Work is awful. But you need to go to work, because yourfamily likes to eat food and live in a house with a roof.How can you trade the EUR/USD AND go to work?You could use a robot, like our “Trendline Robot.” You just draw a trendlineon the chart, and tell the robot to take a buy trade if price breaks beyondthat trendline. The robot can even send you an email alert that it took thetrade. Then the robot “hands” the management of the trade back to you.Why trade robots with forex? Is that dangerous?All trading is risky. Not just forex.Every kind of trading carries substantial risk. Forex is no different. Forextrading is not a get rich quick scheme. It can be, however, a “get poorquick” scheme. Many people lose money trading forex. In fact, most traderswho trade forex lose money - all of their first account, usually within just afew months.With that said, robots do the following things to help reduce that risk:1) They stop out of trades when they are supposed to (instead ofholding onto a loss forever);2) They do not get worried when they have a few losses in a row;3) They do not skip trades because they “see something on the chartthat makes them doubt the trade”;RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 4

4) They take profit when they are supposed to;5) They take the entry on the trade when they are supposed to;6) They add to winners if they are supposed to and so on.In other words, a good robot is reliable. It sticks to the trading plan. Mosttraders who lose money do NOT stick to their trading plan. In fact, theytrade like deranged monkeys.I love robots because I can trust them to follow the plan. I cannot alwaystrust myself to follow my plan - so robots are really good for me.Why would I use a robot?I think I answered this above, but to make sure we’re clear:If you have a full time job and cannot watch the charts, the robots are agood idea.If you have a busy life and do not want to sit in front of the computer, therobots are a good idea.If you have been losing money - and trying to make your own discretionarytrades - then robots might be a good idea.If you find that you have a few good trades in a row, and then you take abig loss (over and over), then robots might be a good idea.How is a robot made? Is it hard to learn?The robots we talk about here are “Metatrader Robots.” They are written ina language called “Metaquotes,” or “MQL” for short.RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 5

A robot built with the Metaquotes language is often called an “ExpertAdvisor.” I have no idea who created that name but I would like to punchthat guy in the face. There is no reason they should have called it an“Expert Advisor.” It’s a trading robot.Here is an example of what the code looks like:// Preliminary processing if( Bars Period MA 2 )// Not enough bars{ Alert ( "Not enough bars in the window. EA doesn't work." );return;// Exit start()} if( Work false) // Critical error{ Alert ( "Critical error. EA doesn't work." );return;// Exit -----------------------I don’t expect you to learn MQL. I don’t know how to program using it. Ifyou want to learn more, here is an online book about the language:https://book.mql4.com/There are thousands and thousands of metaquotes programmers in theworld. The program language is similar to C. I just overheard someone saythat at a cocktail party, and I don’t even know if it’s true.Why do we use Metaquotes?Metaquotes is a hugely popular programming language. It has been usedto build millions of indicators and robots. It is reasonably easy to debug. ItRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 6

does not require a huge investment of time and money. It does not requireexpensive charts. So we use Metaquotes.You might hear people say that “successful traders don’t use Metaquotes,”and then they will tell you that you should be trading with a Pythonprogram, or Easy Language, or whatever. Tell them to go fly a kite. Youand over 1 million other traders around the world are doing just fine withMetaquotes.THE EQUIPMENTWhat is Metatrader 4? Why do we use it?Metatrader 4 is the world’s most popular forex trading software.MT4 (for short) is free. It is easy to learn and use. It is not the world’s besttrading software. But it is good. It is stable. It works. It is not perfect - but itworks.Every forex broker in the world offers the Metatrader (MT4) platform fortrading. It is easy to load a robot into this software. It is easy to test arobot’s historical performance with this software.Here is what MT4 looks like:RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 7

I don’t know why I included that picture. I mean, you could have justgoogled, “What does MT4 look like?”How to Install MT4Ask your broker for a download link for Metatrader 4. (Not Metatrader 5 that is the newest version of Metatrader and we do not use it for about 100reasons that do not matter right now).You install Metatrader on a Windows computer. You cannot run Metatraderon a Mac.If you have a Mac: You can run the robots using a “Virtual Private Server”(see more in the next section) to access your Metatrader trading platform.There is a MT4 phone app. Can you use that?Yes, you can use that to monitor your trades. But you cannot use that toload robots or test robots.What if you do not like MT4?RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 8

Then you should stop reading this guidebook.Where can you get more information on how to use MT4?YouTube is FILLED with lessons (for free) on how to use MT4. I suggestyou start with this trader-guide-intro/And then watch some videos on YouTube.DO NOT INSTALL A GENERIC MT4 PLATFORM!!!You might be tempted to download MT4 from a different broker than yourown, or the MT4 website. DO NOT DO THIS. Download MT4 from thebroker where you are going to do your trading, so that you are familiar withthe way your broker has set up MT4 - this is important, because everybroker will have a slightly different way of handling open orders, runningrobots, and so forth.What is a Virtual Private Server? Why should I use one?A Virtual Private Server (VPS for short) is a Windows computer. It is alwayson, it is managed to protect it from viruses, and you can turn off your homecomputer - and the VPS stays on.This is great because in order to run a robot on MT4, the computer runningMT4 needs to be on all the time. And a VPS can stay on day and night, allthe time, and only needs to be rebooted once a month (if even that).A VPS is going to run robots. It is not going to be used for games, orhomework, or web browsing, and all that garbage.RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 9

You will be able to access your VPS through a software program named“Remote Desktop Connection” - or other programs that do the same thing.These programs allow you to open a window on your home computer - andthen look at the VPS computer’s desktop. And then you can move yourmouse around, you can type - anything - and you will be using the VPS asif it were right there in front of you. A VPS is another computer, just sittingsomewhere else, that you manage and operate from your home computer.It is “Virtual” because it’s not in your house. It’s a computer sitting in a bigroom, in a company’s server room, somewhere else.It’s “private” because it’s just yours.And it’s called a “server” because it usually runs a version of Windows usedfor Servers.How to set up a VPS at Amazonhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v zqORpKde29Q This video supposedly shows you how to get Metatrader set up on a freeVPS at Amazon.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v uxF6lmnLgNE And this video does the same, as well.How to get a free VPS from your brokerMany brokers will offer a free virtual private server when you open anaccount. You can also just call and say, “Do you offer a VPS for clients?”RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 10

Another option is to contact Justin Hertzberg at Forest Park FX. He knowsthe details on free VPS options at almost every forex broker. You cancontact Justin here:http://forestparkfx.comTell him that Rob Booker sent you. He is the one who set up my accounts.How to login to your VPS[coming soon]HOW TO INSTALL A ROBOTInstalling a robotDownload the robot to your computer (or onto your Virtual Private Server /VPS). Remember where you’ve placed the file.Open Metatrader 4. At the top of the left of the menu screen, you shouldsee the world “File”. Click on that.RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 11

Click on the item “Open Data Folder”.Now open the folder called “MQL4”.Now open the folder called “Experts”.RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 12

Once the “experts” folder is open, drag the robot file you downloaded - andput it into the “experts” folder. Now your robot is “installed” into MT4.To get the robot to “show up” in your MT4, you must now do the followingsteps:Go to your “Navigator” panel in MT4.Right-click on “Expert Advisors”.Click “Refresh”. Your robot will now show up in MT4.RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS RobBooker.com Page 13