MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester Window - How to Use MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester Window Tutorial PDF
The MetaTrader 4 Forex Strategy Tester in the MetaTrader 4 platform is the environment used to back test the profitability of an MT4 Expert Advisor which is an Automated Trading Program and determine the profitability of this EA automated trading strategy and then Optimize this EA to a point where it is giving good profits from its forex automated trading activities.
NB: Before starting the MetaTrader 4 Forex Strategy Tester shown below, you must first attach a forex trading Expert Advisor on a MetaTrader 4 forex chart, by going to the Navigator Window, selecting the forex EA and then right click on it and specify the option "Attach to Chart", once the EA is attached to the MetaTrader 4 forex chart it will appear as shown below, Then Right Click on the Expert Advisor, select properties and then select the option by Checking/Ticking "Allow Live Trading" and then continue with the MetaTrader 4 strategy tester shown below.
The MetaTrader 4 strategy tester option can be activated from the view menu and it is the second last menu item on the View Menu, A short Cut is to Press Ctrl+R buttons on your keyboard.
The MetaTrader 4 strategy Tester has the following Parameters for setting up before testing an Expert Advisor automated forex trading system and also for optimizing the profitability of this forex trading EA.
Expert Advisor: Parameter for selecting which forex trading EA you want to test among those installed on your MT4 forex trading platform.
Symbol: The currency pair for which you want to test the forex trading Expert Advisor on
Model: Whether to execute based on tick method, open prices or control points
Use Date: Set the date to start the testing and the date to end the testing of the forex trading Expert Advisor
Visual Mode: Select To view the illustration of where this forex trading EA opens and closes forex trade as the testing goes on, there is also a slide bar to increase or decrease the speed for this visual mode.
Period: Forex Chart Time frame for which to use example 1 Hour Forex Chart
Optimization: Allow Optimization Setting for your Expert Advisor Automated Forex Trading Robot
For example to test the above forex trading Expert Advisor on the EURUSD currency for profitability, the settings can be set up as shown above and the MetaTrader strategy tester is then run, by pressing the "Start Button".
The following trade results are generated and an automated forex trader can choose to optimize the forex trading EA further by changing the Expert Advisors forex trading settings.
Once the optimization of the forex trading Expert Advisor is complete the status bar will show progress, the above status bar shows the progress that the forex trading EA testing is complete.
To view the result click the options highlighted above (Optimization Results, Optimization Graph, Journal)
Before running this MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester for Expert Advisor testing you must go to the navigator window, double click on this forex trading EA to attach it to the forex trading chart and set the parameters as shown below by ticking the options provided below:
After setting the above settings then you can test your automated trading strategy within the MetaTrader 4 strategy tester.
Once you Run your Expert Advisor the Results will be shown on the following windows
MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester Optimization Results
MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester Optimization Graph
MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester Balance and Equity Graph
MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester Profit and Loss Graph - MT4 Strategy Tester
The above is just a brief introduction to the MetaTrader 4 strategy tester - automated trading with EA Forex Robots is a wide topic that a forex trader will take some time and research to learn about but the main environment to test and optimize the forex trading Expert Advisor automated forex trading robot will be the MetaTrader 4 Strategy Tester.
NB: You can only implement an Automated Expert Advisor using data that has been downloaded and saved on your MetaTrader 4 forex trading platform, therefore for the date settings select the dates that you have been trading with your MetaTrader 4 to get a graph representation of how your automated forex trading EA would trade.
