Respuesta corta: Copy the Expert Advisor file to your MT4's data folder, start up MT4, go to "Tools/Options" and make sure the box "Allow autmated trading" is checked, go to "Expert Advisors", double click on your Expert Advisor, then click "Ok".
Respuesta más larga: Search the internet for brokers that allow customers to use Metatrader 4 (or MT4) for trading, e.g. by using the terms "broker" and "MT4". Open a free test account with virtual money. Download MT4 and get familiar with it. Connect it to your account. Get an Expert Advisor. All algorithms found by Algocrowd are implemented as Expert Advisors, so you can simply download one of these files. Copy your Expert Advisor to the data folder of your MT4. Restart your MT4. Make sure that the box "Allow automated trading" in "Tools/Options" is checked. Open a chart with the correct "symbol" and "timeframe", double click on your Expert Advisor, then click "Ok".
Respuesta larga:
First of all, don't worry. If you are able to use a computer and to install and run programs, you will be able to install and run Expert Advisors. It's not a big deal. Just have a little patience, if you are new to Expert Advisors.
Expert Advisors are programs written in the programming language "MQL4" (or "MQL5", but we only consider MQL4 here) that can trade, i.e. buy and sell, stuff "on the market". The stuff that Expert Advisors buy or sell is often called "security" or "instrument" or "symbol". Examples: Gold, oil, stocks, euros, US dollars, are all possible "securities" or "instruments" or "symbols" that Expert Advisors can buy and sell. However, in order for an Expert Advisor, or EA, for short, to be able to trade securities, it needs two things:
- A software that runs it.
- A trading account with a "broker" (i.e., roughly, a bank).
The software that can run Expert Advisors is "Metatrader 4", or MT4 for short. You can easily download it an install it on your computer. While you can use MT4 on smartphones, you need to run it on a computer when you want to use EAs. It is said that MT4 runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux, but you will probably have a hard time getting it to work on Linux.
To actually use MT4 for trading, you need to find a broker that offers MT4 accounts. The broker lets your EA access the market. #! HIER All you need to do is to get a free account with such a broker and connect your MT4 to it by giving it your account number and password. You can choose between many such brokers. Be sure to open a completely free account with virtual money. Do not use real money for experiments.
So, to get started with EAs, or, more generally, with automated trading, open a free MT4 account, download MT4, start it, and enter your log-in credentials. It is probably a good idea to get a little familiar with MT4 before running your first EA. MT4 can be configured in many ways, but usually you will see something like this, when you start it up:
In the top left corner of your MT4 window, there is a menu that has the following items:
- File
- View
- Insert
- Charts
- Tools
- Window
- Help
Under "File" you will find "Login to Trade Account". Use this to connect to your test account. Under "File" you will also find "Open Data Folder". When you click on it, you will see a directory that contains a directory "MQL4". When you double click on "MQL4", you will find another directory named "Experts". This is the directory where you have to put your EAs.
Under "View" you can control how the elements of your MT4 are organized and which of them are visible. If you click on "Terminal", a subwindow will open at the bottom of your MT4. This subwindow is used to see the communication of your MT4 with your trading account. There you will also see open and closed trades and how much money you made or lost with them. If you click on "View/Navigator", a subwindow named "Navigator" will open on the left side of your MT4. But usually, the Navigator window will already be visible. It gives you access to your EAs. Usually, there will be a window with the title "Market Watch" right above your Navigator window. If you don't see it, click on View/Market Watch". You can use the Market Watch window to open charts for "symbols", such as "GOLD", "EURUSD", and so on.
To learn more about MT4, go to "Help".
Below the menu there is a series of buttons including one that says "Auto Trading". You can use it to make sure automated trading is allowed, before you run an EA. Another way to enable auto trading is to click on "Tools/Options" and make sure that the box "Allow automated trading" is checked.
Assuming that you have managed to download and install MT4, to connect it to your account and to play around with it, you might ask yourself: What does all of this mean? What does MT4 actually do?
There are two types of EA files: mq4 files and ex4 files. Both types of files can be used for trading. But you can only read and modify mq4 files. All EAs found by Algocrowd can be downloaded as mq4 files. That means that as a member of the Algocrowd community you will truly own every EA you download. You get the source code.
Here is a summary of the steps you need to take to run your first EA:
- Download an EA, for example from us
- Open a free test account with a broker. (Search with "broker" and "MT4")
- Make sure not to use an account with virtual money.
- Download Metatrader 4 and install it on your computer.
- Enter the log-in credentials of your test account into your MT4 and connect it with your account.
- In your MT4, click on "File/Open Data Folder". There you will find a directory named "MQL4" and this directory will contain a directory "Experts". Copy your EA (a file that ends with ".ex4" or with ".mq4") to this directory.
- Restart your MT4.
- Go to "Tools/Options" and make sure that "Allow automated trading" is enabled.
- Open the chart with the timeframe and the instrument of your EA.
- In the "Navigator" click on "Expert Advisors", then double click on your EA.