Home > Blog

FX EA & Auto Trading Blog

33 articles — EA operation, backtesting, and broker selection know-how, explained without hype

All Articles

2026-05-22

Gold EA Risk Management: How to Set Lot Size & Avoid Blowing Your Account

Learn how to set RiskPercent, calculate correct lot sizes, and manage drawdown when running a XAUUSD gold EA on MT5. Practical guide for beginners and intermediate traders.

Risk ManagementGold EAMT5

2026-05-22

Best MT5 Broker for EA Trading in 2026 | XM vs Exness vs HFM Compared

Compare XM Trading, Exness, and HFM for running gold and forex EAs on MT5. Key differences in spreads, gold symbol name, bonuses, execution speed, and withdrawal policy for automated traders.

Broker ComparisonMT5XM Trading

2026-05-22

MT5 EA Not Making Money? 7 Reasons Why (and How to Fix Each)

Your MT5 Expert Advisor passed backtesting but loses money live? Here are the 7 most common reasons — spread, slippage, over-optimization, wrong symbol, and more — with fixes.

MT5EA TroubleshootingAutomated Trading

2026-05-22

How to Run Your MT5 EA 24/7 (VPS vs Always-On PC — Full Comparison)

Should you use a VPS or leave your PC on to run your MT5 Expert Advisor 24/7? This guide compares cost, latency, reliability, and ease of setup for gold and forex EA trading.

MT5VPSEA Setup

2026-05-22

Best Free EURUSD EA for MT5 in 2026 | Backtest-Verified Forex Bots

Looking for a free EURUSD Expert Advisor for MetaTrader 5? Compare the top free EURUSD EAs with 5-year backtest results: profit factor, drawdown, and annual return.

EURUSD EAMT5Free EA

2026-05-22

What Is a Good Profit Factor for an EA? (And When High PF Is a Red Flag)

Profit factor explained for MT5 EA traders. What PF 1.3, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0+ actually mean — and why a suspiciously high profit factor often signals over-optimization.

EA EducationBacktestMT5

2026-05-22

Best Trading Hours for XAUUSD EA — When Gold Moves Most

When should your gold EA be active? This guide analyzes XAUUSD volatility by session (Tokyo, London, New York) and explains how to set time filters to avoid low-quality hours.

XAUUSDGold EATrading Hours

2026-05-22

How to Forward Test an MT5 EA Before Going Live (Step-by-Step)

Forward testing is the final check before running an EA with real money. This guide explains how to forward test an MT5 Expert Advisor on a demo account and what metrics to track.

MT5EA TestingDemo Account

2026-05-22

XAUUSD EA Settings Guide — Optimal Parameters for Gold Trading in 2026

Complete guide to configuring XAUUSD Expert Advisor settings: risk percent, max spread, lot sizing, stop loss, and time filters. What each parameter does and how to set it correctly.

XAUUSDEA SettingsGold EA

2026-05-18

MT5 EA Daily Monitoring Checklist — 5 Things to Check Every Day

Once your MT5 EA is running on VPS, daily checks are essential. Expert log inspection, position review, margin level, weekly maintenance — practical routine for safe long-term EA operation.

EA OperationMT5VPS

Know-how & Guides

How to Run a Backtest with MT5 Strategy Tester

A detailed guide to configuring, running, and reading the results of a backtest using MT5's Strategy Tester.

Backtest

How to Optimize EA Parameters and What to Watch Out For

A guide to optimizing EA parameters with MT5's optimization feature and precautions for avoiding overfitting.

Optimization

EA Portfolio Strategy — Risk Diversification with Multiple EAs

Learn the portfolio theory behind combining low-correlation EAs to smooth drawdowns. Covers correlation coefficients, lot allocation, and practical risk management.

Portfolio

What is Forward Testing? vs Backtest

Understand the difference between backtesting and forward testing. Learn how to read forward test results and use them to validate your EA in live market conditions.

Forward Test

Walk-Forward Analysis and Detecting Over-Optimization

A validation method that separates EAs with genuine edge from those merely curve-fitted to historical data. Covers in-sample/out-of-sample splitting and how to interpret Walk-Forward Efficiency.

Walk-Forward

How to Spot Scam and Low-Quality EAs

Unlimited martingale, no stop-loss, backtest-blocking DRM, compound-interest hype, and reselling the same EA under a new name — a checklist of red flags to check before you spend any money.

EA Selection

VPS Setup and 24/7 MT5 Trading Environment

How to choose a VPS and set up MT5 so your EA never stops. Covers required specs, the difference between broker-provided free VPS and commercial VPS, and daily checks for stable around-the-clock operation.

VPS & Operations

Backtest Pitfalls — What Only Live Testing Can Reveal

An honest look at why backtest results often look better than reality. Covers modeling quality, frequently overlooked costs, and why multi-period and live forward testing matter.

Backtesting

EA Risk & Money Management — How to Calculate Lot Size and Set Your Risk %

How to set your per-trade risk %, calculate lot sizes, understand the difference between compounding and fixed-lot trading, and the basics of margin levels. Essential knowledge for protecting your account while running EAs.

Money Management

Evaluating the Risk of Nanpin/Martingale EAs

How to properly assess high-risk EAs designed to eventually blow up. Covers survival rate, cumulative withdrawal amount, Monte Carlo simulation, daily withdrawal strategies, and other key operating rules.

Nanpin

How to Read Backtest Performance Metrics

How to correctly interpret the numbers in a backtest report — profit factor, expected payoff, recovery factor, maximum consecutive losses, Sharpe Ratio — from the perspectives of profitability, risk, and stability.

Performance Metrics

Handling Drawdown — Surviving Losing Streaks

How to deal with the drawdowns that inevitably come with running EAs. Covers the asymmetry of recovery, what not to do during a losing streak, and how to set a stop-trading line.

Drawdown

MT5 Error Codes — Why Your EA Stops Trading and How to Fix It

Common error codes and causes when an EA stops executing trades, along with step-by-step troubleshooting. Covers how to read the Journal and Expert tabs in MT5.

Troubleshooting

Setting Up the Economic News Filter — Protecting Your Account from Volatile Moves

Why trading around news releases is risky, which high-impact events to avoid, how to configure the filter parameters, and how to decide whether your EA needs one.

Economic News

Moving from Demo to Live — Before You Run Your EA on Real Money

What to verify on demo, the criteria for switching to a live account, how to size your initial lot, and the key differences between demo and live environments.

Account Migration

Running Multiple EAs at Once — MagicNumber and Interference Prevention

How MagicNumber manages position ownership, preventing EAs from interfering with each other, thinking about combined risk, and how many EAs one MT5 instance can handle.

Multi-EA Operation

Choosing a Broker for Your EA — Your Broker Affects Your EA's Performance

A practical guide to how spread, execution method, and slippage affect EA performance, the differences between account types, and how to verify compatibility between an EA and a broker.

Broker Selection

Swap and Trading Costs — The Silent Drain on EA Profits

How the four trading costs — spread, slippage, commission, and swap — affect EA performance, how swap works, and practical strategies for keeping costs under control.

Trading Costs

EA & Automated Trading Profits and Taxes — What You Must Check in Your Country

A country-neutral overview of principles that apply everywhere: EA profits may be taxable, the types of taxation, the importance of keeping trading records, and why consulting a professional matters.

Taxes

EA Lifespan and the Retirement Decision — Recognizing When an EA Has Stopped Working

Why EAs stop working as market conditions change, how to tell the difference between performance deterioration and a normal drawdown, and the criteria and steps for retiring an EA.

EA Lifespan

Download GOLD EA for Free

10-year backtested. XM & Exness compatible. Free signup gets you instant access.

🎁 Download Free EA