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User Guide

for the

EA Controller

Version 03.05b.07 (Z-score and MA-based)

And

Version 03.05c.03 (Z-score and PF-based)

Edition 11 November 2018

© Copyright DIY Forex Skills 2018

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Risk Disclosure Statement and Disclaimer Agreement

This User Guide for the EA Controller (‘User Guide”) is for installation and associated illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or strategy. The sole purpose of this Guide is to assist in the installation and use of the EA Controller and associated software. The material neither purports to be, nor is intended to be advice to invest or to trade foreign exchange or to use any particular trading technique. Readers should not act on the basis of any material presented here without properly considering their individual circumstances. The author is not a licensed investment advisor. By downloading this User Guide, you acknowledge that all content is of a general nature based solely on technical interpretation and does not take into account your individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. It is important to realise that trading foreign exchange on margin carries a HIGH LEVEL OF RISK and may not be suitable for all investors. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange, you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose! You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts. Trading any financial market involves risk. The contents of this User Guide are for general information purposes only (contents shall also mean the websites, www.diyforexskills.com www.facebook.com/diyforexskills and any email correspondence or posts associated with this product). Although every attempt has been made to assure accuracy, we do not give any express or implied warranty as to its accuracy. We do not accept any liability for error or omission. Examples and SET files are provided for illustrative and educational purposes only and are not intended as financial advice. No representation is being made that any account or trader will, or is likely to, achieve profits or losses similar to those discussed in this User Guide. Any statements about profits or income, expressed or implied, do not constitute a guarantee. Your actual trading may result in losses as no trading system is guaranteed. We will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from the use of, or reliance on such information or software. Past performance is not indicative of future results. By subscribing to our mailing list or using the product, software, website or the contents of the website you will be deemed to have accepted these terms in full. DIY ForexSkills, its website content, ebooks, and representatives do not and cannot give investment advice or invite customers or readers to engage in investments through this User Guide. The information provided in this User Guide is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject us to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country. All potential forex traders should take into account the legal requirements and restrictions of trading forex in their particular region and should obtain individual financial advice based on their own particular circumstances before making any foreign currency investment decision. The author expressly disclaims all and any liability to any person, with respect to anything, and of the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this User Guide, Product, software files or the website.

© Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. DIY ForexSkills is a trading name of Tresik Pty Ltd ACN 167 768 494.

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Table of Contents

Page

1. Understanding the use of the EA Controller………………………………….4

2. Preliminary Actions…………………………………………………………………….…6

3. Using the EA Controller with the FX Autotrader Elite EA……………….7

4. Using the EA Controller with any EA by using the Trade Copier…….9

5. Using the Controller with the DIY Trade Manager Plus…………………11

6. EA Controller Settings…………………………………………………………….……14

7. FX Blue Trade Copier (v7.27) Settings…………………………………………..16

8. Using the Controller for Reversed trades during Draw Downs….….21

9. Using the Controller on the one MT4 platform…………………………….23

10. Using the Controller as an on-screen performance monitor………..23

11. Need Help?......................................................................................23

Please note. The FX EA Controller is provided entirely at the user’s own risk and you should

check it thoroughly before using it to trade with real money on a live account. Tresik Pty Ltd

trading as DIY ForexSkills or any of its affiliates accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any

loss of any kind caused by installation or use of the software. You take full responsibility for

your actions, trades, profits and losses. Always test forex software products on demo first

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1. Understanding the use of the EA Controller

The EA Controller is an Indicator which monitors the performance of an EA running on one account

(Demo or a Real/Live account) and uses the performance data of the EA running on that account to

control the trading of a copy of that same EA running on the same or another account (Demo or

Real/Live). And/Or, to control the operation of the FX Blue Trade Copier and/or the DIY Trade

Manager Plus, V25.00 and above (see Sections 4 and 5).

See also Box below where we describe using the Controller on the one MT4 platform.

For simplicity we can call the first account the Controller, and the second one the Slave account.

Similarly, all EAs running on the Controller account are called Controller EAs and all EAs running on

the Slave account are called Slave EAs.

It is also possible, and perhaps simpler, to use the EA Controller on the one MT4 platform (demo or

live). To do so requires a large enough account, say $1K, so that we can run the EA continuously at

0.01 lot for monitoring purposes as the Controller chart, with a second copy of the EA(s) trading at

say 0.05 lots as the Slave chart.

The disadvantage of this approach is that we will lose some money when trading on a live account

when the EA is in downtrend; but the advantage is that both copies of the EA are running on the

same platform (demo or live). This is particularly important when we are running the EAs on live since

EAs will always perform differently on a demo account compared to a live account due to lack of

slippage and fixed spread on the demo.

This method of operation is described in more detail in Section 9.

With Version 03.05 (MA-based), when the Closed Profit/Loss of the Controller EA, running on the

Controller account, is above the Moving Average (MA) of Closed Profit/Loss (user-defined period and

type of MA), the Indicator sends a YES signal to the Slave EA, running on the Slave account, allowing

that EA to trade; Or to the Trade Copier allowing the trade to be copied to the Slave account; or to

the Trade Manager, disabling it if we want the EA to trade as normal under these conditions. Ie no

trade managements; or enabling it to enter a scale-in if we want to add to our position when the EA

is in uptrend.

When the Closed Profit/Loss of the Controller EA falls below its MA, indicating that the market is no

longer favourable for that EA, the Indicator sends a NO signal to the Slave EA thus stopping that EA

from trading until it receives a new YES signal. Or to the Trade Manager to take action by altering TP

and/or SL levels and/or adding normal or reverse entry scale-in trades. Or when in Copier mode, the

Controller will send the NO signal to the Copier thus preventing trades from being copied until it

receives a new YES signal.

With Version 03.05c.01 (Profit Factor-based), the PF (= total wins/total losses over a user-defined

number of trades) of the EA’s performance is calculated so that we use the value of the PF being

above or below a certain value (eg 1.2) rather than Closed Profit/Loss being above or below its MA,

to determine whether the EA’s performance is in uptrend or downtrend.

In fact, we can vary the levels of PF. Eg if an EA has been in uptrend for a while with PF hovering

around 20, we could set the No signal to be triggered when PF falls below say 10. Alternatively, if the

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EA has been in downtrend for a while hovering around 0.5, we could set the Yes signal to be triggered

when PF rises above 1. Note that these levels can be changed at any time.

With Version 03.05b.07 (MA plus Z score based), we can specify that both conditions, MA and Z

score must be fulfilled before getting a Yes signal. A Z score of -2 (a calculation based on the trading

history) or less than -2 suggests that there is a 95% or higher probability that a win will follow a win

or a loss will follow a loss. In other words, it indicates that our performance curve is in a long-term

uptrend or downtrend, rather than whipsawing.

Similarly for Version 03.05c.01 (PF plus Z score based).

The Z-score is a statistical calculation based on the results of an EA’s trading history which allows us

to estimate how often profitable trades are alternated with losing ones.

The sign of Z informs us about the type of dependence. Plus means that it is most probable that the

profitable trade will be followed by a losing one. Minus says that the profit will be followed by a

profit, a loss will be followed by a loss. A small table in this article illustrates the type and the

probability of dependence between trades as compared to normal distribution.

The Z-score is calculated by the z_include2.mqh array file which must be loaded in the MQL4/include

folder of your MT4. This file is included in the EA Controller WinZip file that you received.

With all versions of the Controller (MA or PF based) the Controller has two modes of operation:

1. A Signal mode for use with Exceptional EAs* and SET files made with the FX Autotrader

Elite EA, and for use with the DIY Trade Manager Plus to manage third-party EAs; and/or

2. A Copier mode, for use in conjunction with the FX Blue Personal Trade Copier, for any third-

party EAs

The overall setup for the Signal mode is shown below.

(* An Exceptional EA is a third-party EA to which the signal code has been added so that it can

operate with the EA Controller.)

And for the Copier mode as shown below.

We use this mode when running with third party EAs which do not have the facility to receive signals

from the EA Controller.

In this case we run our third-party EA on the demo or Controller account and add the FX Blue Trade

Copier Sender to an empty chart on that account; and load a copy of the FX Blue Trade Copier

Receiver onto an empty chart on the Live account. The EA Controller will then signal the Trade

Copier Sender as to when and when not trades should be copied to the Live (Slave) account.

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Note that the Sender and Receiver of the Trade Copier can both be on the same MT4 if that is how

you want to run the setup.

With v3.03 of the Controller we added a “Reverse Signal” switch, which can be set to True or False.

The default setting is False. When set to True it will send the opposite signal to the Copier, Trade

Manager or FXAE EA.

The purpose of this feature is as follows.

Often when an EA goes into draw-down (DD), it is able to run quite profitably if we reverse the

entries from Buys to Sells and vice versa for as long as it is in DD. The Controller cannot execute such

a switch within an EA, but we can run a second copy of the FXAE EA with trade entries reversed or

inverted. This EA would then need to be switched On and Off at opposite times to the normal EA. To

do that we run a second copy of the Controller on the Controller platform and set Reverse Signal to

True. And link it up with the second (reverse trade) copy of the FXAE EA on the Slave platform.

For third party EAs, the Trade Copier Receiver from FX Blue has an “Invert Trades” function and so

we set that to True on a second copy of the Copier. Alternatively, we can activate a Trade Manager

(v17.00 and above) to scale-in reverse entry trades.

The setup for this is somewhat more complex and is described in detail in Section 8. Users are

advised to become familiar with the normal mode of operation of the Controller first; as described

in the next few Sections.

With Version 03.05 and 03.07 we have added an extra Input field so that we can describe the

purpose of the Controller; eg controlling a normal entry or a reverse entry version of the EA; or

controlling the Trade Manager instead of the EA. See under Strategy in Section 6.

2. Preliminary Actions

The use of the EA Controller requires that you open two copies of the MT4 platform on your

computer or VPS. Or see Section 9 for using the Controller on the one MT4 platform.

Now follow these steps.

1. Copy the EA Controller Indicator onto the MT4 Indicators folder (File→ Open Data Folder →

MQL4 → Indicators) of “The Controller” MT4 platform

2. Download the FX Blue Personal Trade Copier (v7.27 or later) from here

http://www.fxblue.com/appstore/2/mt4-personal-trade-copier

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and install it on both MT4 platforms. This process will install the Sender and Receiver EAs on

both platforms as well as the FXBlueQuickChannel.dll

(this DLL file is required for both the Signal and Copier modes of operation)

3. Open up or download the User Guide for the FX Blue Trade Copier. You will need this to

select the settings for the Copier and the Receiver

http://www.fxblue.com/appstore/u2/mt4-personal-trade-copier/user-guide

The Instructions below are for using the Controller in its normal mode – that is, to stop the EA on the

Slave account from trading when the EA on the Controller account is in DD.

3. Using the EA Controller with Exceptional EAs and the FX Autotrader Elite

(FXAE) EA 1. On your computer or your VPS, set up two copies of the MT4 platform

2. Let us think of the first MT4 Platform as the Controller MT4 platform.

On this MT4 platform open a Demo account with a large opening balance and ask your

broker to make this account indefinite/non-expiring (because the EAs on this account will

need to be left to run indefinitely sometimes through long drawdowns)

Note: Usually the indefinite/non-expiring demo accounts are only possible if the trader

already has a Real/Live funded account with that broker. If not, demo accounts are usually

closed by the broker after one month.

Alternatively, if you have sufficient funds and you want your Controller platform to

operate exactly as your Slave platform in terms of spread and slippage etc, then open a

Real/Live account for this Controller MT4 platform and trade the EAs on this platform with

micro lots (0.01 lots) so that you don’t lose too much money. You will then need to trade

the EAs on your Slave platform with say mini lots (0.1 lots) in order to make enough profit

to offset any loss on your Controller account.

Or, open a second MT4 but run it with the same live account. A step by step guide on

setting up multiple MT4s on the one account is given here

https://mt4.quantumtrading.com/support/how-to-install-multiple-instances-of-metatrader-

4-terminal/

3. Think of the second MT4 platform as the Slave MT4 Platform. Open or start your live

account (or a demo if you want to just test this system) on this Slave MT4 platform.

4. Place a copy of the Exceptional EA or FX Autotrader Elite (FXAE) on the chart and timeframe

to be traded and, in the case of FXAE, load the FXAE SET file. Do the same on both MT4

platforms.

a. However, make sure that you leave the ID# blank on the copy of the EA that you

have placed on the Controller MT4 platform.

5. Place the EA Controller indicator on the same chart as the EA on the Controller MT4

platform and enter the User Inputs.

a. For the Indicator mode select Signal.

b. For the ID# input use a unique number – I suggest using the magic number of the

Initial trade for that SET file preceded by “Signal”. Eg Signal123456

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c. Please see Section 5 for the additional settings that you will need to enter.

6. Now enter that same ID# in the Input field of the EA on the Slave MT4 platform.

So now we have made the connection between the EA Controller on the Controller MT4

platform and the EA on the Slave MT4 platform.

Remember, do NOT enter the ID# on the EA on the Controller MT4 platform – leave that

blank. We do NOT want the EA Controller to control the operation of the EA on the

Controller MT4 platform.

7. Ensure that “Allow DLL imports” and “Allow external experts imports” are ticked on the

Common tab of both the EA Controller indicator on the Controller MT4 platform and the EA

on the Slave MT4 platform and that “Allow live trading” is ticked on the Common tab of both

EAs.

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8. Ensure that “AutoTrading” is activated on both MT4 platforms.

4. Using the EA Controller for third party EAs by using the Trade Copier

1. Follow Steps 1 to 3 from the previous section

2. Place a copy of the EA you want to use on the chart and timeframe on the Controller MT4

platform.

3. Place the EA Controller indicator on the same chart which has the EA you have loaded on

the Controller MT4 platform and enter the User Inputs.

a. For the Indicator mode select Copier

b. For the ID# input use a unique number – I suggest using the characters TC followed

by the magic number of the EA being traded, eg TC654321

c. Please see Section 5 for the additional settings that you will need to enter.

4. Place the FX Blue Trade Copier (v7.27 or later) Sender on the Controller MT4 Platform (any

chart) and enter the ID# you used on the EA Controller (eg TC654321) as the Channel input.

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5. Place the FX Blue Trade Copier (v7.27) Receiver on the Slave MT4 Platform (any chart) and

enter the ID# you used on the EA Controller (eg TC654321) as the Channel input.

So now the EA Controller on the Controller MT4 platform can connect with the Trade Copier Sender on that same platform and the Trade Copier Sender (on the Controller MT4 platform) can communicate with the Trade Copier Receiver on the Slave MT4 platform.

6. Ensure that “Allow DLL imports” and “Allow external experts imports” are ticked on the

Common tab of the EA Controller, the EA and the Trade Copier Sender all on the Controller

MT4 platform and also ticked on the Trade Copier Receiver on the Slave MT4 platform and

that “Allow live trading” is ticked on the Common tab of the EA and on the Trade Copiers

(Sender and Receiver).

7. Ensure that “AutoTrading” is activated on both MT4 platforms.

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5. Using the Controller with the DIY Trade Manager Plus

There are two ways of using the Trade Manager with the Controller (to manage the trade, or to add

a scale-in trade, either normal or reverse).

And there are two ways of using the Controller (using only the MA condition, or the version with

only the RSI condition, or using the MA condition in conjunction with the Z-score condition).

It can all get a bit complex, so a little history is called for.

When we first developed the Controller, it was for use with the FX Autotrader Elite (FXAE) and/or

the FX Blue Trade Copier.

The idea has always been to be able to switch FXAE EAs or the FX Blue Trade Copier on or off

depending on whether the monitoring EA is in uptrend or downtrend. This is commonly known as

Equity curve trading. It should actually be called Balance curve trading since we are relying on the

Balance (Closed P/L) of the trades for the EA rather than the Equity (Closed P/L plus Open P/L) to

determine whether the EA is in uptrend or downtrend (drawdown).

Normally in Balance curve trading people just add extra positions when the EA is in uptrend. And

stop trading when the EA is in downtrend, usually as defined by the Closed P/L falling below its MA.

My approach with the Controller is to also be able to initiate trades in the reverse direction during

downtrends (DD). After all, if an EA is constantly losing, then reversing a Buy into a Sell and vice versa

means that we should be able to have winning trades during DD periods.

We can do this easily enough with FXAE EAs since they have reverse trade entry feature and for third

party EAs with the Trade Copier since we can invert the trades being copied. But after several

months of trading I believe that we can most simply do these reversals by using the scale-in feature

of the Trade Manager. With the TM we can scale-in either normal trades, ie adding a Buy to a Buy

during uptrends, or scale-in a reverse trade, ie adding a Sell to a Buy trade during downtrends.

For instance, if our monitoring EA, running on our live account, and trading at 0.1 lots, is in

drawdown and has opened a Buy, and we then scale-in 0.2 lots of a reverse entry trade, ie a Sell,

then we will effectively have a net Sell at 0.1 lots (0.2 – 0.1 = 0.1).

Before we introduced the Z-score as an additional condition for determining a sustained uptrend or

downtrend, the coding for the above procedure was relatively straightforward. And so we can use

either v03.05 (MA-based) or v03.07 (RSI-based) as described in User Guide dated 15 December 2017.

(http://www.fxautotraderelite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/User-Guide-for-FX-EA-Controller-

v03.05-and-v03.07-15-December-2017.pdf)

But in order to also use the Z-score condition to determine sustained uptrends or downtrends, we

have had to add new features to the TM (v 25.00) and the Controller (v03.05b.07) to accomplish this.

The reason is simple even if the algorithm for it proved to be more complex. The use of Z-score is

based on the statistical fact that when the Z for a trading history is < -2.00, the probability of a win

following a win or a loss following a loss is greater than 95%. That is, the Z-score condition for

uptrend and downtrend is the same.

So how do we do these setups?

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Controller using MA condition only. (ie with Use Z-score set to false)

Place one copy of the Controller on the monitoring EA chart with these settings for normal scale-ins.

Ie leave Trend Mode unselected.

And place a second copy of the Controller on the monitoring EA chart with these settings for reverse

scale-ins. Ie Set Reverse Signal to true

And enter the other required settings re magic, MA etc.

On the Trade Managers, one for each Controller, select ScaleIn for the Signal Mode. And enter the

other required settings, eg pair, magic and ScaleIn at say 5 for normal and -5 for reverse

So, for the TM which will do the reverse ScaleIns for instance set the Inputs in Label 7 as follows:

Having the Close on Main set to true means that when the monitoring EA is closed at profit or loss,

the scale-in will also close at that price. And any remaining pending will be removed. But you can

also set your own TP, SL or TS if you so wish.

Controller using both MA and Z-score conditions. (Ie with Use Z-score set to true)

This is where we use the new feature of the Controller – the Trend Mode. Select either Up or Down.

Up for what to do when the EA is in Uptrend. Down for what to do when the EA is in Downtrend.

Place one copy of the Controller on the monitoring EA chart with these settings for normal scale-ins.

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And place a second copy of the Controller on the monitoring EA chart with these settings for reverse

scale-ins.

And enter the other required settings re magic, MA etc.

For example

On the Trade Managers, one for each Controller, select ScaleIn for the Signal mode. And enter the

other required settings, eg pair, magic and ScaleIn at say 5 for normal and -5 for reverse.

Explanation:

When the Signal Mode is left unselected or set to Manage, the TM will interpret a Yes signal from

the Controller as a NO and hence stay disabled. That is what needs to happen when we are using the

TM to manage unwanted trades by tightening the SL. Eg if an EA is in uptrend, the Controller will

signal Yes. And that means the trade from the controlled EA should be allowed to continue. Hence

the TM needs to be disabled.

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But for what we are trying to do now with scale-ins, when we want to add an extra position to an EA

in uptrend, Controller signals Yes, we need the TM to be active. And so we don’t want the TM to

reverse the signal it receives from the Controller. Hence, we set the Signal Mode to ScaleIn.

6. EA Controller Settings (for both MA and PF versions)

The EA Controller MA is an Indicator with the following Input fields. You can have two or more

controllers on the one chart for the one EA, each with different settings if needed.

Indicator Mode – select Signal or Copier as described above.

Reverse Signal – use only when Use Z-score is set to false. When Use Z-score is set to true, leave

Reverse Signal on false.

Set to false when using the Controller, with MA the only condition, to operate in normal mode; that

is to stop the Slave EA from trading or the Copier from copying when the Controller EA is in DD. Set

to true for when you want a Slave EA (with trade entry reversed) to trade or the Copier to copy

inverted trades when the normal Controller EA is in DD. Or, when linked to the Trade Manager, to

have the TM enter a reverse scale-in trade.

Trend Mode – New in v03.05b.07 leave unselected if Use Z-score is set to false. If Use Z-score is set

to true, then select Trend Up if you want a Yes signal when both the MA and Z-score conditions have

been met (ie closed P/L is above its MA and Z-score is < Threshold). Select Trend Down if you want

the Controller to signal Yes when the EA is in DD as determined by both the MA and Z-score

conditions (ie closed P/L is below its MA and Z-score is < Threshold).

Email address – enter the email address you used when purchasing this Indicator

ID# - as described above in Section 4. Any combination of letters and/or numbers. Make sure you

also enter this setting in the EA, Trade Copier or Trade Manager that you want to use for controlling.

Strategy – you can enter a descriptive title. Useful for when you several copies of the Controller on a

Chart since the strategy descriptor will then be visible in the Controller sub-window. Eg

Magic Numbers – most EAs only have one, so enter that and enter a 1 for the others (leaving it blank

or entering a 0 will result in all manual trades for that currency being included). Some EAs have more

than one internal strategy and hence more than one magic number. A maximum of 10 magic

numbers for any one EA can be entered.

V03.05 and v03.07 are restricted to a single currency pair. However, with v03.05b.03 and onwards

the magics you enter can be for different currency pairs. This will enable you to Control a portfolio

of EAs running on different currency pairs, as one.

Trade at Start – select True if you want the EA on Slave MT4 platform account to start trading

immediately, or in case of Copier mode, if you want copying to start immediately; select False if you

want to wait until a Moving Average (MA) has been calculated (requires at least three trades) to see

whether the EA is profitable under current market conditions (ie Closed Profit/Loss is above MA of

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Closed Profit/Loss). Since a MA of 30 is considered a reasonable first choice, whether you set Trade

at Start to True or False depends on your risk tolerance.

Similarly for the RSI version of the Controller (v03.07).

(MA) Average Period – Period here actually refers to the number of closed trades to be calculated

for the MA and so the graph that will appear in the Indicator Window is not connected in any way to

the time period bars of the main chart. In other words, the graph is a plot of Closed Profit/Loss on

the vertical axis vs number of trades on the horizontal axis; and then the MA of that line.

This is a crucial setting. Too low a setting will result in a worse performance. Suggest you start off

with a smallish number, say 30, and then later increase that to say 60 or higher so as to avoid

whipsawing from YES to NO. Balance or equity curves need “room to breathe” just like price does

when we are trading with MAs.

See also http://exceptionalfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Importance-of-monitoring-

Moving-Average-Selection-for-EA-Controller-1.pdf

(MA) Average Shift – default is zero. But you can alter to say 10 if you want to give your

performance curve “more room to breathe” as it were.

(MA) Average Method – select from drop-down menu – SMA, EMA, SMMA or LWMA. You can

change from one to the other at any time to best suit the nature of your performance graph. Eg if

your performance graph is choppy but heading north you might choose SMMA so that the copying

or trading does not stop and start.

Use Z-score -this is a new feature in v03.05b.05. When set to True, both the MA condition and the

Z-score condition will be used to determine a Yes or No signal. When set to False, the Yes or No

signal will be determined solely by the MA condition.

Z-score Trades History – enter the number of trades over which you want Z to be calculated. If that

number is greater than the number of trades in the history, the calculation will be based on however

many trades there are in the history. Statistically speaking we need an absolute minimum of 30

trades. The more the better.

Z-score Threshold – enter the value below which you want this filter to meet the condition for a Yes

signal. To understand the meaning of this value, please see https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/1492

Eg, a value of -2 indicates a probability of 95% that a win will follow a win or that a loss will follow a

loss. In other words, nice clean trends, either up or down.

Z-score Trade at Start – if set to true, this filter will be inactive until the requisite number of trades

have been closed, with the signal relying on the MA settings. If set to false this filter will signal No

until the requisite number of trades have been closed; at which point the condition will signal Yes or

No depending on the Threshold set.

Please note:

If either the MA or the Z score "Trade at start" is set to false (and the requisite number of trades

have not been made), then the signal will be No.

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In the PF version, V03.05c.03

The bulk of these parameters are the same as for the MA version of the Controller. Only the

following two are different.

Profit Factor Period – enter the number of trades over which you want the PF to be calculated

Profit Factor level – enter the PF level above which the Controller should give a Yes signal

Below is an example of the two EA Controller Indicator windows (the MA, top window, and the PF,

bottom window, versions) on a EURUSD.pro chart. The blue line on the Controller MA is straight for

the first 20 trades since the “period’ has been set to 20. So it will need at least 20 closed trades to

enable the MA (and the PF) to be calculated in this example. If the PF has been high for a while, as in

this case, you may want to change the PF level setting to 10 or higher and re-evaluate if and when

the EA goes into DD.

7. FX Blue Trade Copier (v7.27 or higher) Settings

The FX Blue Personal Trade Copier is a very versatile instrument and operates like an EA. It

communicates between two MT4 platforms (Sender to Receiver) via the FXBlueQuickChannel.dll

and hence it is crucial that this DLL file is loaded on both MT4 platforms.

Both the Sender and the Receiver have a range of features that can be used in the trade copying.

Some are optional and can be used on default settings but others like lot size must be set by the

user.

Hence, please familiarise yourself with these options and make your own selection for the Input

settings by referring to the FX Blue Personal Trade Copier User Guide which can be accessed from

here.

http://www.fxblue.com/appstore/u2/mt4-personal-trade-copier/user-guide

BUT please ignore the comments in Sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 suggesting that you only need to run

one copy of the Sender and Receiver when running EAs on several currency pairs. That advice only

applies to when you are using the Copier in its normal mode, without the EA Controller.

Or, when using the new version of the Controller, v03.05b.03, and controlling a portfolio of EAs as

one – all off or all on.

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When using the FX Blue Trade Copier with the EA Controller system of trading, you MUST have a

dedicated Sender and Receiver for each currency pair, unless you want to control a portfolio of

EAs as one. If you don’t, then when an EA on one currency pair switches the Copier on or off, the

Copier will be switched on or off for all currency pairs.

With the EA Controller we are making use of the new feature of the Trade Copier as described in

Section 3.13, reproduced below.

3.13 Controlling the Copier using MT4 Global Variables

You can block the Copier from placing new trades using a Global Variable in MT4 (press F3, or

choose Tools / Global Variables).

You can use this either as a way of controlling the Copier manually, by creating and removing the

Global Variable yourself, or you can have an automated system which uses the Global Variable to

turn the copying on and off based on something such as account equity or performance.

(This is what the EA Controller has been created to do).

The Copier is controlled by a Global Variable called Suspend-X, where X is the channel name. For

example: Suspend-MySender. If a variable exists with this name, regardless of its value (zero/non-

zero) then the Copier will ignore new trades. The Sender EA will not issue a message to the Receiver

EA.

FX Blue Trade Copier Sender Inputs

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FX Blue Trade Copier Receiver Inputs

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FX Blue Trade Copier Receiver Inputs (cont)

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8. Using the Controller for Reversed trades during Draw Downs

In its original form (prior to Version 3.03) the Controller works by disabling the Trade Copier or the

FXAE EA during drawdown periods. And then restarting the EA when it pulls out of the DD.

However my tests have shown that if we reverse the trade logic of the EA during DD periods, ie

change Buys to Sells and vice versa, the EA can often trade profitably during those DD periods. As

shown for two examples below.

The asymmetry is not perfect but we can see that overall there are times when the normal EA is in a

losing trend while the same EA, but with trade entries reversed, is in an uptrend

In order to run an EA so that the normal version is active while in uptrend and the other (with

trade entries reversed) is active while in downtrend, we need to proceed as follows.

When using Copier Mode

1. Setup the EA and the Controller and Copier (Sender and Receiver) as normal on the demo and

live accounts. Let's call this Controller 1 and Copier 1.

2. On Controller 1 set Reverse Signal to false; on the Trade Copier Receiver 1 on the live account,

set Invert trades to false.

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3. Place a second copy of the Controller on the same chart as the EA and Controller 1 on the demo

account. Let's call this Controller 2.

4. On Controller 2 enter the same settings as for Controller 1 but change Reverse Signal to true;

and change the ID# to say Copier1234R; assuming you had used an ID# of Copier1234 for

Controller 1. (So just add an R to whatever ID# you use.)

5. Place a second copy of the Trade Copier Sender on another chart on the demo account and enter

the ID# that you have used for Controller 2 as the Channel Input.

6. Place a second copy of the Trade Copier Receiver on another chart on the live account and enter

the ID# that you have used for Controller 2 as the Channel Input.

7. Now set the Invert trades to true on the Trade Copier Receiver 2 on the live account.

So we have two Controllers each linked to its own Copier.

Controller 1 will enable copying of normal trades when the EA is in uptrend. And stop copying when

in DD.

Controller 2 will enable Copying of inverted or reversed trades when the EA is in DD. And stop

copying when EA is in uptrend.

When using FXAE EAs

1. Set up the EA and the Controller as normal on the demo account and the EA on the live account

as normal. Let's call this Controller 1. And lets call the EA on the live account as EA 1.

2. On Controller 1 set Reverse signal to false. And on EA 1 set Reverse Entry to false.

3. Place a second copy of the Controller on the same chart as the EA and Controller 1 on the demo

account. Let's call this Controller 2.

4. On Controller 2 enter the same settings as for Controller 1 but change Reverse Signal to true;

and change the ID# to say Signal1234R; assuming you had used an ID# of Signal1234 for Controller

(So just add an R to whatever ID# you use.)

5. Place a second copy of the EA on the live account and enter the ID# you have used for

Controller 2. Let's call this EA 2.

6. Now set Reverse Entry on the EA 2 Inputs to true.

So we have two Controllers on the demo account EA, each linked to its own EA on the live account.

Controller 1 will enable trading of normal trades by EA 1 when the demo EA is in uptrend. And stop

trading when demo EA is in DD.

Controller 2 will enable trading of inverted or reversed trades by EA 2 when the demo EA is in DD.

And stop trading when demo EA is in uptrend.

Probably sounds a bit daunting at first but please just try to follow the logic. Contact me if still

confused.

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11. Need Help?

If you need help with setting up this system, please contact me. If necessary, we can arrange a Skype

session to help you get started.

Andrew Peters

Info@diyforexskills.com

Please note. The FX EA Controller is provided entirely at the user’s own risk and you should

check it thoroughly before using it to trade with real money on a live account. Tresik Pty Ltd

trading as DIY ForexSkills or any of its affiliates accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any

loss of any kind caused by installation or use of the software. You take full responsibility for

your actions, trades, profits and losses. Always test forex software products on demo first.

When using third-party EAs

Please see Section 5 for how to effectively place reverse entry trades using the Trade Manager.

If you think about it, these systems would probably work best if the TP of the reverse entry trade

was set to be the same as the SL of the normal entry trade. And vice versa. Otherwise you might

end up with two losses if price fluctuates badly. Or of course two wins if you are very lucky!

9. Using the Controller on the one MT4 Platform

Using the Controller over two MT4 platforms as described above can be awkward. And of course, a

demo account does not always behave the same as a live account.

The alternative is to place the “controlling” EA and the “Slave” EA(s) all on the same account. Then

run the “controlling” EA at 0.01 lot, the smallest possible, and trade the “Slave” EA(s) at say a factor

of at least 5 higher, eg 0.05 lot. Make sure that your account size is large enough to give a

reasonable %Risk value (say 2% or so) for such larger trades. You can do the same when using

Copier mode by placing the “Controlling” EA and both the Sender and Receiver, all on the same

platform.

10. Using the Controller as an on-screen performance monitor

We can of course monitor the performance of our EAs using myfxbook or the FX Blue Publisher EA.

But sometimes it is handy to have an on-screen graph of an EA’s performance. We can do that with

the EA Controller.

To do that place the MA-based EA Controller v03.05 on the chart, do NOT select for Signal or Copier

mode, do NOT enter an ID#, label the Strategy Input as eg Monitor, and then just enter the magic

number of the EA as usual. You can leave the MA settings blank or add an MA of your choice.