[Asser]

Attempt to attach the lost screenshot… (Edit: obviously successfully this time)

[Asser]

Hi Petko,

Having problems generating good strategies with EA Studio, let alone generating strategies at all.
What’s wrong?
Is it my settings?
Are my brokers’ spreads too high?
Attached, please check my settings.

Followed your settings (to the letter) in the following course:
Algorithmic Trading – The Complete Expert Advisor Bootcamp
Apart from “Broker” and “Symbol settings”, the “Reactor” had the exact same settings. Nevertheless, I get the message:
The Generator Cannot Find Strategies.

It’s almost the same with any currency pair I choose. Either the generation is too slow or I’m not generating any strategies at all.
Of course if I don’t select any Acceptance Criteria, no Monte Carlo, no SL or TP, then I can generate many strategies.
But even with minimum criteria like:
Minimum count of trades of 300 (for M15 and 3,6 years of period)
or
Minimum profit factor of 1,1 (for generating only winning strategies)
… I’m still having problems generating strategies.

PLEASE HELP!

Thanks.

[Asser]

I use Firefox with up to 20 windows opened at the same time with almost no problems. I suspect EA Studio runs better if the windows are opened separately in stead of one windows with multiple tabs – but I’m not sure. I prefer to open them side by side but stacked worked OK too. I have a very large screen.

[Asser]

Hi (Hej) Jens,

Sorry for the delay. The forum (or my browser) wouldn’t allow me to insert an image (no matter how much I reduce it’s size).

• Go to the top of this forum page
• Click on Blog
• There you can see many articles (with screenshots & video links)
• Do a search in the search box
• or scroll down through the many titles on the right side.

Here’s the complete URL address:

The Trading Edge

I’m attaching a screenshot (the one I couldn’t insert even though I reduced the size to ridiculous 50 kb… and the moderator wouldn’t help)

[Asser]

Tried to reply to you twice yesterday but this forum wouldn’t let me post my reply. Why? Beats me! Sent an email to [email protected] 24 hours ago, still no reply from them.

 

[Asser]

Always nice to hear (read) your method of thinking Richard.
Only now I understand why and how you’re gathering so many strategies over time. Nice tactic!

I am systematically testing the exact 4 pairs you mention but I’ll be testing XAUUSD (gold) and XAGUSD (silver) as well.
Will use two computers: One with 16 GB RAM and another with 32 GB RAM.
I’ll be running a the live accounts on my new laptop. The idea is that the laptop will continue running on battery in case of power failure, provided Internet connection is still working.

Started with Tools > Settings where I chose $1000 as initial account and 1/500 leverage (since my broker allows it).
In Generator, I chose an “Entry lot” of 0.03  since I’ll be using 4 pairs and 10 EAs on each pair.

Regarding Historical data:
My two brokers delivered excellent data via EA Studio Data Export Script.
One broker delivered 33-58 months of data (M15, M30 & H1) and the other delivered 16-29 months of data for the same TFs (Timeframes).
I checked the accuracy of the data, they had a max. days off of 2 & 3 (better than Dukascopy. Not for longer period, but long enough)
Decided to stick to the scripts (in stead of Historical data App) because I’d save adjusting the data using Symbol Settings and avoid entering wrong values.

I also noticed that one broker has normal commission (about $7.5 per lot on gold and silver) and the other has ZERO commission on gold and silver. So I’m excited to test the profits on gold and silver there.

Started by running the Reactor for 10 minutes with almost no criteria & no robustness to see how many strategies I can get.
Then I increased the working time to 30 minutes with more stringen Acceptance criteria & Monte Carlo.
30 minutes was enough to test-generate strategies and filter them down to 10 strategies which I added as a PF-EA (Portfolio Expert Adviser).
Recalculating the PF-EA gave me a pretty good idea about what kind of profit I’d expect per day and per month.

If and when all goes well, I’ll let the Reactor run for many hours and thus create solid strategies with confidence.

[Asser]

Thank you Petko.

[Asser]

Useful information indeed. What a great guy Richard is to share his thoughts in a very comprehensive manner. Thank you Richard.

[Asser]

Petko’s demonstration of how 10 EAs work together in a PF as one EA with a pretty good united equity line (because they complement each other’s drawdowns) inspired me to focus on creating exactly PF of 10 EAs. I could narrow down to 5 PF EAs, inspired by you, but I must have enough successful simulations prior to doing that.

[Asser]

My current goal (if it holds) is to set up a routine (a system) consisting of creating 10 NEW Portfolio Expert Advisers (PF EAs) each month, so that I avoid uploading old strategies and recalculate or validate them, making the routine a tad simpler. I’d rather avoid demo-trading but having enough successful simulations would be similar to demo-trading in my view.

[Asser]

Always happy to read your wise comments Richard. Yes, I’m experimenting with a few ideas. But now, I’m even more inspired by your thinking which I’ll certainly take into consideration.

My current plan is to turn everything into a routine – which (as you point out) always will have room for improvement. I’m getting closer to my goal everyday.

My theory (always based on Petko’s teachings) is to work with a Portfolio EA of 10 (will maybe move to 5 inspired by you if it works for me), because I could see the equity line of 10 strategies united into one PF EA equity line – almost regardless the weaknesses of each individual strategy because they complement each others.

Imagine if I could routinely turn creating a PF EA of 10 each month and run them live because I’ve tested them enough times with simulation. My current idea is NOT to use old EAs and validate them, but create 10 COMPLETE new EA each month. That would be my dream… But first, I’ll have to satisfy myself with enough successful simulations. In my view, that’s better than demo-trading.

Regarding playing with the correlation %:
Great idea. However, are you sure that .90 is stead of .98 will give you more different strategies? I’d think the opposite is true (but I could be wrong).

Thank you Richard & good luck to you too.

[Asser]

Hey Petko, Richard & everybody

@ Petko:

YOUR BEST, LATEST & EASIEST METHOD (condensed – in my words):

1.      Create 10-25 strategies over 3 years of Historical data
2.      Wait one month
3.      Add the that one month to the Historical data
4.      Recalculate everything and create a Portfolio Expert with NEW 10 best strategies
5.      Run the Portfolio Expert with these 10 EAs on the new month LIVE
6.      Rinse & repeat (without waiting one month)

MY METHOD (inspired from and built on your method):

1.      Create a Portfolio Expert with 10 best strategies over 3 years of Historical data
2.      Wait one month
3.      VALIDATE the Portfolio Expert with 10 strategies on that month ONLY (BEFORE adding that month to the 3 years)
so that we can see what would have happened if we run them LIVE on that same month
4.      Now we add the last month to the historical data (and subtract one month from the beginning of the historical data
to keep the period length of 3 years constant)
5.      RECALCULATE and CREATE a NEW Portfolio Expert of 10 best strategies
6.      Run the Portfolio Expert with these 10 EAs on the new month LIVE
7.      Rinse & repeat (without waiting one month)

 

Is my method useful or full of holes?
Please comment!

Thanks.

[Asser]

@ MODERATOR
Is it possible to change the title of this forum topic
from:
Glitch in Historical data App
to:
Use of Historical data & Data Horizon
Thank you in advance.

@ Petko
Of course it’s similar to what you teach in your videos. I learned almost everything I know from you!
Not only do you teach me how to operate EA Studio, you also teach me how to think! I’m so grateful for that.
Love your teaching methods, your spirits and your optimism.

@ Richard
Thank you for showing me your own method. Very interesting and inspiring indeed.
I totally agree when you say:

“This gives you the ability to test 100’s of ideas and get a pretty good idea of how they will work in the future. Of course, I am sure that this will not be quite as effective as running your ideas forward in actual time but it will let you know if you are on the right track. “

This is exactly my missing link to getting started as a newbie.

Ilan (our teacher and moderator) has already introduced me to the Validator, and I studied everything I found about this tool in EA Studio. But pointing out that the Validator is not limited by 300 strategies as do the Collection, was new to me. An eye opener. Thank you again Richard.

[Asser]

Hey Petko,

Your explanation is indeed simple and clear. Thank you sooo much!

As you say: There’s nothing I can do about it because whether I set my computer time zone to UTC or to GMT+1, the discrepancy with summertime and wintertime is the same. Meaning my broker does not synchronize with me. So, as you say, I cannot set the App to be from this to this date to apply on one time zone and from that date to that date to apply on another time zone… Understood!

Now: Can I do the following with the “Data Horizon” function? (regardless the discrepancy in summer-/wintertime)
In stead of training on a demo account for weeks and months, I had the idea of testing 10 best strategies I generate every month from the beginning of 2020 and up to the end of October 2020. I was going to do so, by forcing (via Data Horizon) a start date and an end date of 3 years (not 5) up to every month of 2020.

Here’s an Excel illustration of my plan if that’s easier to understand:

It should be doable since the historical data is one huge block of data (timeframes and bars) – only synchronized at the end – Right?

Have you (Petko) or anybody had the same idea? Is it a good plan or a waste of time – honestly?

Please comment, fellow traders! Don’t leave everything to Petko.

Thanks.

[Asser]

I get it now (I think) …

The most important thing is that charts in MT4 match the charts from Historical data App of the same time-frame.

The synchronizing must match with a RECENT distinguished bar.

When going half a year back in time, the charts still match but there may be a difference in the time stamp due to winter- and summertime. This difference SHOULD NOT affect back-testing.

If understand it right this time, and in order to maintain my sanity (sorry – I’m like 62,000 years old), I’ll have to partially (only partially) disagree with you when you say in your course:
Forex Trading with Expert Advisors + 30 Best Strategies (Every Month)
Lecture: Preparation
Video: The best solution for historical data
Timeline: 04:03

“but before you download the data, you need to do something VERY-VERY important. You need to SYNCHRONIZE the time zone. Something EVEN professional traders are missing. They ask me why their back-test in EA Studio doesn’t match with the back-test in Metatrader. The reason for that is the TIME ZONE.”

 

Any comments?

[Author]

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