Every word you need to install and run an Expert Advisor with confidence, explained the way I would explain it to a friend. The chapters follow the order you will meet them in the Start Here roadmap, so you can read one chapter per step instead of everything at once.
The words you need before anything else. If you only read one chapter, read this one. Roadmap: Step 1
Buying (going long) makes money if the price rises. Selling (going short) makes money if the price falls. You can sell something you never bought: the broker handles that, so you can profit in both directions.
ExampleYou buy gold at 2,400 and it rises to 2,410: profit. You sell gold at 2,400 and it rises to 2,410: loss.
With my EAsMy EAs trade both directions. A breakout above a range becomes a buy; a breakout below becomes a sell.
A point is the smallest price step your broker quotes. A pip is an older forex unit, usually equal to 10 points. MetaTrader 5 and most EA settings work in points.
ExampleEURUSD moving from 1.08500 to 1.08510 is 10 points, or 1 pip. On most brokers, gold moving from 2,400.00 to 2,400.01 is 1 point.
With my EAsWhen an EA setting says points, it means points, not pips. A 200-point stop on EURUSD is 20 pips.
How big your position is. In forex, 1.00 lot is 100,000 units of the currency, and 0.01 (a micro lot) is 1,000. Bigger lot means bigger profit and bigger loss for the same price move. Each instrument has its own lot definition, explained under contract size.
ExampleThe same 10-point move is worth ten times more at 0.10 lot than at 0.01 lot.
Buying power the broker lends you, written as a ratio like 1:30. Leverage does not decide how much you win or lose per trade (your lot size does). It decides how much of your money is locked as margin to keep a trade open. High leverage lets you open lots that are far too big for your account, which is how most beginners get hurt.
ExampleRetail clients in the EU are capped at 1:30 on major currency pairs and lower on gold, indices and crypto.
Every price has two sides: the ask (what you pay to buy) and the bid (what you get when you sell). The gap between them is the spread, and you pay it on every trade. Spreads widen around news, market opens and the daily rollover.
ExampleGold at 2,400.00 bid and 2,400.20 ask has a 20-point spread. At 0.01 lot, that costs about $0.20 each time you enter.
With my EAsAn EA pays the spread on every single trade, so a few points of difference between brokers adds up quickly.
An order that closes a trade automatically at a set price to cap the loss. It is your seatbelt: it will not stop every accident, but trading without one is how accounts disappear.
ExampleYou buy at 2,400 with a stop loss at 2,390. If price falls to 2,390, the trade closes and the loss stops there.
With my EAsEvery trade my EAs open has a stop loss attached from the start.
An order that closes a trade automatically once it reaches a set profit. Not every strategy uses one: some let winners run and exit with a trailing stop, or close at a set time with a time exit.
With my EAsMy EAs exit in different ways: some use a fixed take profit, some a trailing stop, and some close any open trade at the end of their trading session, whatever the result (a time exit). Many combine them. The product page says which.
How far your account falls from its highest point before it recovers, usually shown in percent. Every strategy has drawdowns. The useful questions are how deep they get and how long they last.
ExampleYour account peaks at €1,000 and falls to €850 before rising again. That is a 15% drawdown.
How much time each candle on the chart represents. M5 means 5 minutes, H1 means one hour, D1 means one day. The same market looks very different on different timeframes.
With my EAsWhen you attach an EA, use the chart timeframe the product page asks for, even if the EA reads other timeframes internally.
Forex and gold trade around the clock from Monday to Friday, but activity comes in waves as the big financial centres open: the Asian session, the London session and the New York session. Volatility and volume usually jump when London and New York open.
With my EAsSeveral of my EAs trade specific session breakouts, such as the London session or the New York open, and stay out of the market the rest of the day.
What you are actually trading, and why the same settings behave differently on gold, currencies and indices. Roadmap: Steps 2–3
The short name of an instrument in MetaTrader. XAUUSD is gold priced in US dollars, USDJPY is the dollar against the yen, and US100 is the Nasdaq 100 index. Brokers name indices differently: US100, NAS100 and USTEC are usually the same thing.
ExampleIf you can't see a symbol, open Market Watch (Ctrl+M), right-click and choose Symbols or Show All.
Many brokers add letters to symbol names to mark the account type, such as XAUUSD.r, XAUUSDm, XAUUSD.raw or simply GOLD. It is the same instrument with a different label.
With my EAsAlways attach the EA to the chart of the exact symbol your broker uses. If an EA says it can't find its symbol, a suffix is almost always the reason.
What you trade with most retail brokers. You never own the gold or the shares: you hold a contract that pays the difference between your entry and exit price. That is why you can go short as easily as long, and why overnight swap applies.
How much of the instrument one full lot represents. In forex, 1.00 lot is 100,000 units. On gold, 1.00 lot is usually 100 ounces. On indices it varies a lot between brokers. Right-click a symbol in Market Watch and choose Specification to see it.
ExampleOn most brokers, 0.01 lot of gold is 1 ounce, so every $1 the gold price moves is worth about $1 to you. The same 0.01 lot on EURUSD is worth far less per move.
With my EAsThis is why a lot size that feels small on EURUSD can be large on gold. Let the EA size positions from your risk setting rather than copying lot sizes from forums.
How much money one point of movement is worth for 1.00 lot, in your account currency. EAs use it to turn "risk 1% of my account" into a lot size.
With my EAsBecause tick values differ between brokers and account currencies, the same risk setting can produce slightly different lot sizes on two brokers. That is normal.
How much and how fast price moves. Gold and indices are usually more volatile than major currency pairs. The ATR (Average True Range) is the most common way to measure it: the average size of recent candles.
With my EAsMany EAs, including breakout strategies, adapt their stops and filters to volatility, so quiet days produce fewer trades.
The platform vocabulary you need on the day you install your first EA, from the Algo Trading button to where the EA writes its messages. Roadmap: Steps 3–4
The free trading platform your broker gives you. EAs run inside it. MetaTrader 4 is an older, separate platform: EAs built for MT5 do not run on MT4, and the other way round.
With my EAsAll my EAs are built for MetaTrader 5 only.
A practice account funded with virtual money that behaves like a real one. Free, with no deposit. Every EA should run on demo before it touches real money.
An EA is a file. .ex5 is the ready-to-run version; .mq5 is source code. Manual installs go into the MQL5 > Experts folder, which you can reach with File > Open Data Folder. EAs bought on the MQL5 Market install themselves under Experts > Market.
The switch in the MT5 toolbar that allows EAs to place trades. If it is off, no EA can trade, however well it is set up. Each EA also has an Allow Algo Trading box in its settings window.
With my EAsIf an EA is on the chart but nothing happens, check this button first. It is the most common reason.
The settings you see when you attach an EA to a chart: risk, filters, trading days and so on. A .set file is a saved set of inputs. Use Load in the Inputs tab to apply one instead of typing values by hand.
With my EAsStart with the default inputs. Change one setting at a time, and only once you understand what it does.
An ID number an EA stamps on its own trades so it can recognise them. If you run two EAs on the same account, or the same EA on two charts, give each one a different magic number so they don't manage each other's trades.
MetaTrader allows one EA per chart. To run an EA on gold and on USDJPY, open two charts and attach it to each. To run two different EAs on gold, open two gold charts.
Two tabs at the bottom of MT5 (open the Toolbox with Ctrl+T). Experts shows messages written by your EAs. Journal shows what the platform itself did: connections, orders sent, errors from the broker.
With my EAsWhen something looks wrong, these tabs usually say why. Copy the last lines into your message when you contact me for support.
The part of MT5 that runs an EA on historical data (Ctrl+R). It is where you backtest before trading live. My plain-English walkthrough is in the backtest guide.
A computer in a data centre that stays on 24 hours a day. An EA only trades while MetaTrader is open and connected, so if you close your laptop, it stops. A VPS keeps it running and is usually close to the broker's servers, which speeds up execution.
With my EAsSee my VPS guide for what I use and how to set it up.
Why an EA places orders that later disappear, and what happens between the moment it decides to trade and the moment you see a position. Roadmap: Step 4
An order to buy or sell right now at the best price available. Fast, but the exact fill price can differ slightly from the one on screen (see slippage).
An order waiting to be triggered at a price you choose. A buy stop sits above the current price and triggers if price rises to it. A sell stop sits below and triggers if price falls to it. Limit orders work the other way round: buy lower, sell higher.
With my EAsBreakout EAs often place a buy stop above a range and a sell stop below it, then wait. An order that never triggers is usually cancelled when the setup expires. Pending orders appearing and disappearing without a trade is normal behaviour, not a bug.
When price escapes a range it has been stuck in, and often keeps going in that direction. The idea behind my trading EAs is explained in step 2 of the roadmap.
The difference between the price you asked for and the price you got. It is common during news and fast markets and can go in your favour or against you. Good brokers and a nearby VPS keep it small.
ExampleYou send a buy at 2,400.00 and get filled at 2,400.15: 15 points of negative slippage.
With my EAsMy Broker XRay tool measures your broker's real slippage and execution.
A jump in price with no trading in between, usually when the market reopens after the weekend or after major news. A stop loss cannot fill inside a gap, so it fills at the first available price, which can be worse than planned.
A stop loss that follows price as a trade moves into profit, locking in more gain as it goes. It never moves backwards. If price turns, the trade closes at the trailed level.
Moving the stop loss to the entry price (sometimes a little beyond it) once a trade is far enough in profit. From then on the trade can no longer turn into a loss, except through a gap or slippage.
Closing a trade because time is up rather than because a price was reached. A breakout that hasn't done its job by the end of the session often won't, so the strategy takes whatever profit or loss is on the table and steps aside instead of holding into quieter or riskier hours, like the overnight rollover or the weekend.
ExampleA trade opened during the New York session is still open and slightly in profit when the session ends. The EA closes it there, even though neither the stop loss nor the take profit was hit.
With my EAsSome of my EAs close every open trade at the end of their session. If you see a trade close with no stop loss or take profit hit, this is usually why.
The numbers at the bottom of MetaTrader, what they mean, and which one to watch when you go live. Roadmap: Step 5
The money in your account counting only closed trades. It does not change while trades are open.
Your balance plus or minus the profit or loss on trades that are still open (the floating P&L). Equity is what your account would be worth if you closed everything now, so it is the number that matters.
ExampleBalance €1,000 with an open trade showing −€40 means equity of €960.
The part of your equity the broker locks as a deposit while a trade is open. You get it back when the trade closes. It depends on lot size and leverage.
Example0.10 lot of EURUSD is €10,000 of currency. At 1:30 leverage, the broker locks about €333 as margin.
Equity minus the margin in use: what is left to open new trades. If it runs out, new orders are rejected with a "not enough money" error.
Equity divided by used margin, as a percentage. The lower it gets, the closer you are to a stop out. Above a few hundred percent is comfortable.
ExampleEquity €960 and margin €333 give a margin level of about 288%.
When margin level falls to the broker's warning level, you get a margin call. If it keeps falling to the stop out level, the broker starts closing your trades by force, biggest loser first. For EU retail clients, brokers must close positions once equity falls to 50% of the required margin.
With my EAsWith sensible risk per trade you should never get anywhere near this. If you do, the lot size is too big for the account.
A small financing charge or credit for keeping a trade open past the broker's daily rollover. It can be positive or negative, and on one day of the week (usually Wednesday) it is charged three times to cover the weekend. Spreads also widen for a few minutes around the rollover.
Brokers charge in two ways. Standard accounts have no commission but wider spreads. Raw or ECN accounts have very tight spreads plus a fixed commission per lot. For EAs that trade often, raw accounts usually cost less overall.
MetaTrader 5 accounts come in two kinds. Hedging lets you hold several positions on the same symbol, even in opposite directions. Netting merges everything on a symbol into one position. You choose when you open the account and can't change it later.
With my EAsMost multi-strategy EAs expect a hedging account. Check the product page, and when in doubt, open a hedging account.
The clock your broker's server runs on. Every candle, trading session and the daily rollover is in server time, which is often not your local time. Many brokers run two or three hours ahead of GMT and shift with daylight saving.
With my EAsEAs that trade specific sessions need server time to line up with the real session. Follow the setup notes on each product page.
The smallest trade size your broker allows, usually 0.01. On a small account trading gold, even 0.01 lot can be more risk than your risk setting asks for. Depending on the EA, the trade is then skipped or taken at the minimum lot.
With my EAsThis is the main reason very small accounts behave differently from backtests on larger ones.
A rule that stops your account going below zero after an extreme move. EU retail clients have it by law; outside the EU it depends on the broker, so check before you deposit.
How to read a backtest or a live track record without being fooled, including by your own hopes. Roadmap: Steps 4–6
How much of your account you lose if a trade hits its stop loss, as a percentage. It is the single most important setting you control. Most beginners are far safer at 0.5–1% than anywhere above that.
ExampleAt 1% risk on €1,000, a losing trade costs €10. Ten losses in a row, which will happen eventually, cost about 10%.
R is the amount you risk on a trade. Results are often measured in R: a +2R winner made twice what was risked. Risk:reward compares the possible loss with the target, such as 1:2.
ExampleRisking €10 to make €20 is a 1:2 risk:reward. The winner is +2R.
The percentage of trades that close in profit. On its own it means little. Many breakout and trend systems win less than half their trades and still make money because the winners are bigger than the losers.
Total money won divided by total money lost. Above 1.0 the strategy made money; below 1.0 it lost. Be sceptical of very high profit factors, especially over few trades.
ExampleA profit factor of 1.3 means €1.30 won for every €1 lost.
The deepest peak-to-bottom fall in a backtest or track record. Assume live trading will sooner or later see a drawdown at least as deep, and size your risk so you could live with it.
The line chart of your account value over time. A steadily rising, jagged curve is healthy. A curve that looks too smooth to be true usually is: see martingale and grid.
A backtest runs an EA on past data. A forward test runs it on a demo account in real time. Live is real money. Each step catches problems the previous one can't, so go through them in that order.
How precisely the Strategy Tester recreates past prices. 1 minute OHLC uses only the open, high, low and close of each one-minute candle: fast, and good for a first look. Every tick based on real ticks replays every real price change: slower, but the one to trust before going live. For strategies with very tight stops or scalping entries, the two can give very different results.
ExampleRun the same EA over the same years in both modes. If the results are close, the strategy isn't depending on what happens inside each minute. If real ticks are much worse, be careful.
With my EAsMy EAs aren't scalpers, so a first backtest on 1 minute OHLC is fine and usually comes out very close to the real-ticks result. Run it quickly on 1 minute OHLC, then confirm with real ticks and compare.
Tuning a strategy so precisely to past data that it memorises history instead of finding a real pattern. It looks brilliant in the backtest and falls apart live. The defence is testing on out-of-sample data.
Data the strategy was not built or tuned on. If an EA still performs on years it never saw during development, the pattern is more likely to be real.
With my EAsI validate my EAs on out-of-sample data before releasing them.
Strategies that add to losing trades, often doubling the size, to win back losses when price turns. They produce beautiful equity curves for months, then lose the whole account in one bad move.
With my EAsNone of my EAs use martingale or grid.
Spreading risk across strategies and instruments that don't all lose at the same time. Two strategies are correlated when they tend to win and lose together. The portfolio article explains why this matters.
The fastest way to make these terms stick is to see them on your own screen. Download a free EA, run it on a demo account, and come back here whenever something on the chart doesn't make sense.