Trading robots are software solutions that allow you to simplify your trading routine or automate trades altogether. While the most complex robots are developed by entire teams of professional analytics, an improvised system with relatively simple algorithms can be created by just about anyone. Traders Union experts have explained what it takes to write your own robot in six simple steps, so let’s take a quick look at all of them.
Find a suitable strategy
When you’re writing a trading robot, you should clearly understand what rules it’s going to follow. That means you need a single strategy for the chosen asset that would cover all potential situations on the market. To find one, consider both fundamental and technical analysis.
Choose your language
Once you have found your strategy, you can begin to work on your robot. Choose one of the available coding languages: for example, MT4 allows you to write on MQL4 or MQL5. MQL4 is used more often and considered more novice-friendly, so you should probably start with it if you don’t have any serious IT background.
Learn how MQL4 works
First of all, learn how variables work and how they can be used to store and manipulate information a program receives from the market. Once that is clear, learn how functions work and how to trigger any of them with certain market events. Do not find yourself stuck, Traders Union analysts publish guides on how to write a trading robot online.
Write your code
Organize your scripts into an integral program that follows your chosen trading strategy. Your code will determine the efficiency of your trades, so it should include clear rules about when to open and close trades, how much money can be invested, and so on.
Optimize the code
Optimization requires that you have clear metrics that can be used to evaluate and analyze the overall performance of your software. Optimizing your robot can save you some time and money later.
Test and update your robot
Finally, it is time to test the result. The first thing to do is to backtest your robot on historical data. This way, you can evaluate the efficiency of your bot and fix all flaws before letting it out to the market. The next step is testing on a demo account. According to Traders Union experts, the more your trading bot spends in simulators, the better it will perform on the real market.
