Start of Application
Grant MetaTrader permissions
For simplification of license management, all products interact with a backend server. Therefore, you'll need to adjust some settings in your MetaTrader. Please open the instance of MetaTrader you chose during installation and go to the Options menu.
Next, please navigate to the Expert Advisors tab and check the boxes for Allow automated trading and Allow DLL imports. Stay calm about the warning associated with the second option.
The application only uses native Windows libraries to communicate with the backend license server.
You must be logged in with a trading account, which is added to your Custom Expert Advisor subscription. Otherwise, the application cannot be started!
Open a chart
From the perspective of MetaTrader, the Custom Expert Advisor Live functions as a standard expert advisor and must be applied to a chart. The application is then linked to the chart, meaning the Custom Expert Advisor Live will close if you close the chart. Next, please open a new chart window by accessing the right-click context menu of any symbol in your market watch and open a new one by selecting Chart Window.
Configure input parameters
To apply the Custom Expert Advisor Live to the recently opened chart, please search for it in the navigator view and drag and drop it onto the chart window. The application is located in FEA Trading - MT4 - Custom Expert Advisor Live 2.0.
Before the application finally starts, MetaTrader will display a dialogue where you can check some metadata of the application itself and configure its input parameters. To do so, please navigate to the tab Inputs. You can either start with the default values, modify them in the shown table, or load a SET file, which can store input parameters.
Each input parameter for the Custom Expert Advisor begins with a group identifier for easy navigation and linkage to this documentation. The Custom Expert Advisor has various input groups, each explained separately in this documentation. This approach is consistent across all product user manuals.
The table below lists the available input groups for the Custom Expert Advisor.
| Abbreviation | Category | User Manual Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| FOL | INPUT FOLDER | Input Folder |
| VOL | VOLUME CALCULATION | Volume Calculation |
| MAG | MAGIC NUMBER | Magic Number |
| AISP | ALL INSPECTOR | All Inspector |
Setting files can be saved and loaded via the Inputs dialogue. Given that different symbols and timeframes often exhibit varying volatility and market behavior, you might prefer different settings for each. For instance, settings files for EUR_M15, USDCAD_M15, or any other symbol and timeframe can be easily saved and loaded. Upon clicking OK, the Custom Expert Advisor initiates. Please note that it may take up to a minute for all background data to be processed. The progress is displayed in an indicator window at the top left and in the experts' log tab.
The Custom Expert Advisor in its live variant is now executing on the chart you've opened.
Tester variant
As previously stated, the Custom Expert Advisor is designed to work with the strategy tester. The application will issue a warning if you attempt to add it to a live chart. Therefore, it's crucial to use it with the strategy tester.
To access the strategy tester in either MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5, go to View - Strategy Tester.
In the tester view, select the tester variant under FEA Trading\MT4\Custom Expert Advisor Tester 2.0 or FEA Trading\MT5\Custom Expert Advisor Tester 2.0, depending on your MetaTrader version.
For MetaTrader 4, you can configure the input parameters by opening the Expert properties and navigating to the Inputs tab. For MetaTrader 5, switch to the Settings tab to configure the input parameters.