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Top Forex Brokers for Expert Advisor (EA) Trading



Dec 21, 2021   1587 
With Expert Advisors (EA), traders don't need to keep staring at the screen anymore while trading. Here are some of the best brokers for EA trading to check out.

Anyone can access the forex market these days, but not all come back with hands full of fortune. In fact, you might have heard that the majority of traders lose their money and end up quitting.

This is why developers have created many tools and instruments to help traders maximize their potential returns and smoothen their trading experience. One of the useful trading tools to check out is Expert Advisor (EA).

Expert Advisors, also known as forex robots, would let you automate your trades based on certain trading criteria. Expert Advisors eliminate the need of sitting in front of your computer the whole time while trading.

You will no longer have to stare at the screen and analyze the market for hours because the tool will do the work for you as well as execute the trade on your behalf. This would be particularly beneficial for many traders, especially those who use trading as a part-time job.

And the good news is, nowadays there have been so many brokers who already integrated Exper Advisor into their trading platform, such as:

  • IC Markets: Raw Spread account was built for Expert Advisers
  • FP Markets: Fast execution speed for EA users
  • AvaTrade: Educational resources about Expert Advisor
  • HF Markets: Allowing EA for automated trading
  • Axi: Allowing EA testing on demo account
  • XM: Disable automated trading when the account has been changed
  • Admirals: Allowing multiple Forex EAs on MetaTrader 4
  • FXOpen: Allowing EA in ECN Account
  • Pepperstone: Smart Trader Tools for all clients to backtest their EAs

To get to know which EA brokers are the right choice for you, let's first take a look at the criteria you need to consider!

 

Choosing the Best Broker for Expert Advisor

While choosing the Expert Advisor itself is important, remember that you also need to connect the EA with your trading account. This makes your choice of broker matters quite a lot for your trades. Here are some of the factors that you need to consider before choosing a good broker for trading with EA:

  • Broker's EA Policy
    Make sure that the broker allows you to run EAs and they have no issue with the type of trades that your EA uses. Most forex brokers typically don't have issues with EAs in general but there might be some limitations for certain types of EAs.

  • Trading Platform
    Since most EAs are programmed for MetaTrader, especially MetaTrader 4, then it's best to pick a broker that supports MT4 and MT5.

  • Broker's Execution Speed
    Broker's market execution speed is important especially if you use a scalping method where your Expert Advisors should open and close trades several times a day.

  • Slippage
    Brokers with more and larger liquidity providers would be able to handle these situations better, so slippage isn't really a big deal for them. Therefore, this sort of broker is the type that's highly suggested for EA users.

  • Spread and Commission
    Spread and commission are particularly important for short-term EA that can trade several times a day. Even though the fee for each trade is usually small, it could pile up into a considerable amount by the end of the day.

Based on the criteria above, here's a list of the best forex brokers to integrate with Expert Advisor software:

 

IC Markets

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: MT4, MT5, cTrader
  • Execution speed: Under 40ms
  • Slippage: Subject to slippage when trading stocks, forex, commodities, futures
  • Spread and commission: Start from 0.1 pips, and a commission of $3.50 per lot

IC Markets is one of the major forex brokers that was founded in 2007 and based in Australia. There are at least 200 tradable assets available, such as forex pairs, CFDs, as well as for cryptocurrencies. The minimum deposit in IC Markets is $200 and you can choose to trade with a demo or regular account. In addition, there are no withdrawal and inactivity fees.

IC Markets is supervised and monitored by several regulators including ASIC. In IC Markets, there are three trading platforms offered, namely MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader.

You can sign up for IC Markets Raw Spread Account, as the account offers aggregated source of pricing from up to 25 institutional grade sources, and was built for day traders, scalpers, and expert advisors

 

FP Markets

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: MT4, MT5, Iress
  • Execution speed: 80ms
  • Slippage: Not likely to be an issue
  • Spread and commission: $3 commission per lot per trade plus spread cost 0.2 pips in Raw Account

FP Markets is a well-known global brokerage firm that has been around since 2005 and is headquartered in Australia. For over a decade, the broker has grown to offer forex and CFD trading for retail traders from all around the world. As a multi-asset platform, FP Markets offer more than 100 tradable assets including forex pairs, precious metals, indices, and commodities.

Moreover, the ASIC-regulated broker also offers great trading conditions for EA users. Traders can choose between MetaTrader 4 and 5, with top execution speed and minimum slippage. In addition, the broker allows scalping, hedging, and news trading. Traders using Expert Advisors (EAs) can take advantage of FP Market's fast execution speed.

 

AvaTrade

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: Web trading, AvaTrade GO, MT4, AvaOptions
  • Execution speed: Executed exclusively via a bilateral transaction
  • Slippage: Limit orders are filled at set prices or better ones, eliminating slippage
  • Spread and commission: Commission fees start from $100 with spreads from 0.03 pips

Founded in 2006, AvaTrade is one of the well-known brokers that offer various trading types and more than 1,000 tradable assets, including forex pairs, commodities, indices, stocks, cryptocurrencies, bonds, vanilla options, ETFs, and CFDs. Other than that, AvaTrade also supports social trading and spread-betting.

The minimum deposit needed is $100, with no withdrawal, inactivity, and deposit fees. Traders can choose between various trading platform options, including MetaTrader 4 and 5, AvaTradeGo, DupliTrade, ZuluTrade, and more.

AvaTrade provides an extensive range of educational resources, including webinars and dedicated account managers, to enhance your market knowledge and necessary skills to trade alongside your Expert Advisor seamlessly.

 

HF Markets

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: HFM Platform, MT4, MT5
  • Execution speed: Rapid trade execution
  • Slippage: Orders may be subject to slippage during high volatility
  • Spread and commission: Commissions start at a low USD 0.03 per 1000 lot and super tight spread

HF Markets was established in 2010. The company offers various trading types including forex trading, CFD trading, social trading, spread-betting, and share-dealing trading.

With a minimum deposit of only $5, traders can get maximum leverage of 1:1000. There are several payment methods to choose from, such as wire transfer, Union Pay, Neteller, Skrill, and even Bitcoin. Traders can choose between MetaTrader 4 and 5. Scalping, hedging, and news trading are also allowed.

HF Markets enables bot trading on its platforms, allowing you to install and activate any Expert Advisor for automated trading

 

Axi

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: MT4
  • Execution speed: Ultra-fast execution speeds
  • Slippage: You may experience a positive or negative slippage depending on the market movement
  • Spread and commission: The spreads for the 'Standard Account' are competitive, and no trading commissions are charged

Axi was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Australia. There are more than 140 tradable instruments offered, including forex pairs, metals, oil, indices, and CFDs. The broker also supports social trading. The minimum deposit is $1 and the maximum leverage is 1:500. Scalping, hedging, and news trading with EAs are all allowed.

Traders can use MetaTrader 4 to execute their trades. Axi allows you to test your EAs on a demo trading account before signing up for a live account.

 

XM

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: MT4, MT5
  • Execution speed: 99.35% of all orders executed in less than 1 sec
  • Slippage: Slippage may appear with all types of accounts
  • Spread and commission: With XM Zero accounts, there is a $3.5 commission per lot per trade and a small spread cost

XM is another top broker to choose from. Founded in 2009, the broker offers more than 1,000 tradable assets which include forex and CFDs. As a global broker, XM is available in 186 countries with over 3,500,000 users worldwide. The minimum deposit is $5 and the maximum leverage is 1:888.

Traders can choose to use MetaTrader 4 or 5. Some of the payment methods available are bank transfer, debit/credit cards, Fasapay, Neteller, Skrill, and more. One of the biggest benefits of trading with EA in XM is you can disable automated trading when the account has been changed.

 

Admirals

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: MT4, MT5
  • Execution speed: 4 milliseconds
  • Slippage: Acceptable slippage
  • Spread and commission: $3.00 commission per lot per trade plus an average spread of 0.1 pips

Established in 2001, Admirals has grown into a major broker with over 10,000 users across various countries. The broker is considered safe and reliable based on its experience and licensed service. There are more than 100 tradable assets offered including forex, indices, metals, stocks, ETFs, and CFDs.

The minimum deposit is $100 and the maximum leverage that you can get is 1:500. In Admirals, traders can use multiple Forex EAs on the MetaTrader client terminal.

 

FXOpen

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: MT4, MT5, TickTrader
  • Execution speed: Executed instantly
  • Slippage: Yes on all accounts except Micro
  • Spread and commission: Spreads from 0.0 pips and commission from $1.50 per lot

FXOpen is a global multi-asset broker that was established in 2003. The company is available in 194 countries with over 10,000 users worldwide. There are over 100 tradable assets available for traders including forex pairs, indices, commodities, metals, stocks, and crypto.

Other than regular forex trading, the broker also supports social trading and PAMM service. The minimum deposit is $1 and there are various account types to choose from, signifying its commitment to support all types of traders. Additionally, the broker also offers a wide range of payment methods, including bank wire, VISA Mastercard, Neteller, Skrill, Webmoney, Unionpay, and more.

Scalping, hedging, and news trading with EAs are all allowed in FXOpen. The broker allows using Expert Advisor in ECN accounts on the MT4/MT5 platform. However, there are some limitations if you do scalping with small lot sizes. Both MetaTrader 4 and 5 are available and can be accessed via desktop, webtrader, and mobile.

 

Pepperstone

  • EA policy: Allowed
  • Trading platform: MT4, MT5, cTrader
  • Execution speed: 30ms
  • Slippage: Yes, when opening a position
  • Spread and commission: No commissions on Standard account, but there's a 1 pip markup on the raw spreads

Pepperstone is a top global broker that was founded in 2010. The Australian-based broker offers more than 100 tradable assets and various trading accounts. Pepperstone offers three types of trading platforms, namely MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader.

Some of the advantages offered in this broker are the support for hedging and scalping strategy, as well as the negative balance protection. Pepperstone has a range of Smart Trader Tools available for all clients to backtest their expert advisers & algorithmic strategies.

 

What You Need to Know about Expert Advisors

In forex trading, an Expert Advisor is computer software that is designed to automate forex trading. The software can analyze the currency pairs in the forex market and spot trading opportunities for the trader.

Commonly, traders would analyze the market by using several chart setups and trading indicators, then deciding when to open and exit positions, as well as choosing what kind of orders must be used to produce the best outcomes. All of these are automated.

The Expert Advisor that we know today has undergone a few modifications over time. In its early days, Expert Advisors were used simply to help analyze the market while today it offers way more advanced uses. Now the robots can run analyses on several currency pairs at once and ultimately provides buy and sell signals on the trading platform.

Moreover, Expert Advisors are mostly used within the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms, where all EAs are written by using a programming language called MetaQuotes Language (MQL). Each trader can create their own EAs and modify them based on their trading strategies. The robots will then automatically carry out the trades depending on the pre-programmed parameters.

The challenge is to find the right programmer that could translate your requests well into an actionable EA without messing up the codes.

Other than that, traders can also choose the pre-made EAs that are ready to use. Currently, there are tons of EAs sold online, some of them are even offered for free as rewards or lead-in products to other forex projects.

However, buying pre-made EAs is considered pretty risky because the programmed strategy or code is usually not revealed. Generally, the strategy is only briefly explained to avoid imitations (scams).

A good Expert Advisor must meet several basic criteria that could make them work perfectly. Some of them are as follows:

  • The Expert Advisor must have well-defined entry and exit parameters.
  • The EA must be able to provide acceptable money management parameters.
  • The EA should have periodic updates in order to keep up with the market changes.
  • The codes should be bug-free and error-free.
  • It's best to pick an EA that has been back-tested and forward-tested for over a year to avoid failures.
  • Last but not least, the EA must have well-layered protection, especially from hacking issues.

It's crucial to know the exact candidate of the EAs before buying and always make sure to check the reviews from other buyers. Alternatively, you can use the "open source" EAs, which allow traders to see the robot's programmed codes.

In this case, the developer sets the default settings of the EA and lets the trader modify them further to suit their trading strategy. Whether you use your creation or someone else's EA, you must test it on a demo account.

 

Final Words

In conclusion, Expert Advisor is a computer program that can automate your trades. A reliable Expert Advisors can be useful especially if you have a tight schedule and require some help to monitor the trades for you. However, keep in mind that this does not mean your trades will always be successful. Similar to trading strategies, not all EAs are effective.

This is why it's highly crucial to test it out before trusting it completely. In addition, it's also highly recommended to use VPS to avoid failures and other issues.


2 Comments

Smith

Apr 25 2024

Hey! So, I was thinking of trying out an Expert Advisor (EA) for my TradingView, but I read in the article that EAs are mainly used in MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms. They're written using a programming language called MetaQuotes Language (MQL).

Now, here's the scoop: Why is MQL the go-to for most EAs? And can I still use an MQL-based EA on TradingView, or do I need to switch over to MT4 or MT5? Also, can an EA designed for MT4 be used on MT5, or is it a whole different ball game? Thanks for the help!

Kendrick

Apr 29 2024

Hi there! If you're dead set on using an MQL-based EA, you gotta pack your bags and head over to MetaTrader land.

Now, about compatibility between MT4 and MT5, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Some EAs might work on both platforms with a bit of tweaking, while others might need a total overhaul. It's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

So, bottom line: If you're cool with TradingView and open to exploring other EAs, stick with it. But if you've got your heart set on a specific MQL-based EA, you'll need to make the switch to MetaTrader

hope it can clarify your doubts!;