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SmartForexExpert has been developing automated Expert Advisors for Metatrader since 2014.

Do not forget to join our telegram group for any questions, request for more information or share some experience about automatic trading.

Why automate trading?

The market is very challenging and in the case of forex it is a zero-sum market, so to win yourself, other traders must lose. Not only this, every time you open a trade, a direct loss is taken between the spread, commissions and swaps in case the trade is not closed on the same day. This means that unless you are an advanced trader with great knowledge and great psychological strength, you are probably part of the traders that will feed the professionals and large investment firms. They use algorithmic trading because on average it is a more successful path than doing it manually, so by trading with automated algorithms you are trying to be on the winning side of the trader's queue.

Is so easy? No, 99% of Expert Advisors 'trading bots' are junk or scams, so be careful and spend your time finding real sources of good EAs.

The important thing is that using EA to trade does not mean that you do not have to do anything. Having a knowledge of the behavior of the market, to decide in which systems you risk more or less in the current market is under your decision, and this will make the difference between obtaining or not obtaining consistent profits.

How to get started with algorithmic trading? (the expert advisors)

Although there are other approaches, the common is to have a VPS (virtual private server) in the cloud with an MT4 / MT5 instance running all day, and in this instance, you can attach the different EAs that you own.

The MQL5 market offers a large number of EAs and generally there is the option to buy a lifetime license or rent for a specified period.

Instead of directly owning and using EAs, you can also follow a "signal". If you follow a "signal", the trades of the signal account will be replicated on your account, with the selected ratio.

How to get started with algorithmic trading? (the broker)

The first step is to have a good broker. In a broker you need: a reliable company behind, good customer service, competitive spreads and commissions.

In the end, the margin to be profitable is narrow, so the decision of the broker is one of the most important to be successful.

The two that I use and recommend the most are Tickmill and ICMarkets. Both are great trustworthy companies with very good conditions and services.

I have used more ICMarkets than Tickmill over the past few years because Tickmill doesn't have MT5 in the past, but they already offer MT5 so it's on my top list again.

Right now and based on the operations that I follow in my accounts, the spread is very similar, very good in both cases, among the best in the industry. But right now Tickmill has an advantage in two respects:

1. The commission is quite less. The commission without affiliate discount is $ 7.0 / lot at ICMarkets and $ 4.0 / lot at Tickmill. With affiliation to a partner that offers the maximum possible discount, such as SmartForexExpert, drops to $ 5.5 / lot at ICMarkets and $ 3.8 / lot at Tickmill, so Tickmill has a much cheaper commission.

A detail is, the commission in Tickmill is not in $ or in equivalent account currency like ICMarkets, it is 0.0038% of the contract amount, so in symbols where the Base is AUD, CAD, NZD, the commission is much less than 3.8 $ / lot. It is true then that with Base as GBP especially it is higher, but if you use the crosses of the main currencies in general, the total commission is better than a fixed one of 3.8 $ / lot, so this adds more advantage.

2. At the moment swaps are also significantly better on Tickmill, one of the best I have seen, so while this is not critical for short-term trading, it starts to be an important factor when trades holds several days. With the current incorporation of the SFE 'Server' systems, where the time horizon is a few days, this cheaper swap is a significant advantage over most current brokers.

If you want to join Tickmill or ICMarkets or if you are an existing client but want to benefit from the affiliate discount, click on the broker icon to see the steps to follow.

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