MACD Sample expert advisor is a famous sample expert advisor made by MetaQuotes Software to implement a very simple MACD-based strategy of Forex trading. MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence) is one of the basic financial trading indicators, which is present in every MetaTrader platform. This version of MACD Sample was optimized specifically for GBP/USD H4 chart. This expert advisor uses crosses of four MACD indicators and two moving average indicators to determine the next position's direction. MACD Sample uses a trailing stop-loss for its orders. That is why it has a very high percentage of profitable orders. But this expert advisor should be always active to stop out the losing positions in time.
Warning! The latest backtest of this expert advisor on the period from 2006-11-20 through 2013-12-30 has shown a complete account wipeout. Do not run this EA on a live account! Use for educational purpose only. The backtest results presented below are outdated.
My test of MACD Sample MetaTrader expert advisor showed some interesting results. I used GBP/USD H4 chart (I optimized it for this combination) with 0.3 standard lots orders. The results were about $4,450 profit and about $1,030 maximum drawdown in one year period. Checking it on a three years period did not reveal any problems for this EA.
MiniFAQ
What are the stop-loss and take-profit used by this EA?
It uses 30 pip take-profit and 60 trailing stop-loss. The average losing position is 196 pips. You can also set a plain stop-loss. It is not used by default when set to zero.
How often does it trade?
On 4-hour GBP/USD chart (the optimum settings), this EA will trade about 3 times a month on average.
This EA is ECN-compatible., If you are trading with an ECN broker (with market execution for orders), you cannot set SL/TP on position opening. You have to open a position first without SL/TP and only then modify it, adding stop-loss and/or take-profit level. This EA will do it automatically.
Discussion
Warning! Before you ask basic questions regarding installation of expert advisors, please read this MT4 Expert Advisors Tutorial to get the elementary knowledge on handling them.
Do you have your own trading results or any other remarks regarding this expert advisor?
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