Tradecopier

[frankie]

Hi guys.

I usually just lurk around here looking out for great ideas or getting inspiration. But now i think i could need your help or help others.

I'm a trader and not a coder. I can code basic stuff that i need, or redo others work to fit my needs. Also as a trader i have built up some accounts, it has taken time and everytime i read about a broker closing shop my heart skips a beat. I don't want to become a victim so I do try to go with bigger names or brokers that get good scores from users. I want to sleep at night and know if i wake up one morning and a broker has closed shop i will still be able to trade, even if the total accountsize is a bit smaller. Unfortunatly i still dont trade the 250 000 -1 000 000 accounts so you can keep your money in the bank and trade a custodian solution. Just recently I opend up my fifth account and it was with Global Prime after the nice reviews in here.

My problem is that with more brokers, it's harder to trade on all accounts at the same time. My thinking was that I trade of one platform and then the trades get copied to the other platforms. I know there is commercial solutions out there, but why not any at forums? We can build indicators and complex EAs but nothing on tradecopiers. Result is that they want to charge stupid amounts of money for their programs.

Ok i'm fine with that... demand/supply.. What I do not want, after reading tons of stuff regarding Empty4 the last 8 years, is compiled code on my accounts that i can not see the sourcecode of. I trust nobody in that regard, and also, having the sourcecode you dont need to wait for updates or bugfixes, leaving you hanging.

So I wanted to program my own copier and with the help of this forum we might be able to get a solid code, as again, i'm not a coder. What I use 15 lines on a good coder maybe uses 2 lines on. BUT i'm not here to have everybody else do all the work. I will try to make it anyway, but was hoping more people would chip in with knowledge and ideas.

Why open source?

Anyone can customize it to their needs. Understand the logic and fix issues.

I have tried to read up on named pipes and sockets. I get lost in that world. My solution was going to be using a MySQL db as backend. Why, because with multiple accounts you have many more trades open, and putting all info in a DB gives you the abillity to save a lot of data from all accounts. An example, in my masteraccount i can show as text in chart what happens on the other accounts, balance, equity, margin number of trades etc... This solution is good enough if you're not scalping 1-2pips per trade. I trade of 15M chart and go for 10-30 pips per trade. Meaning it do not need to be lightning fast. Maybe a solution could be programmed that makes you choose what protocol you want to use.

Layout:

Masteraccount put on a trade.
EA reads a new trade has been made and puts it in the DB along with other info like balance margin..
EA on other accounts read the DB and see there is a new trade, places a trade based on risk etc or what info there's in the DB.
When we close trade on masteraccount, it again puts that order in DB and slaves read that and closes also and updates with price etc..

From an external source (php, excel or whatever) you could also be able to place a trade, as the trade is placed in the DB and the EAs will read this.
From external source you can check past trades, filter trades, see accounts, balance etc.. the sky is the limt or how much we can code in it. Maybe you have ideas..

One of my brokers uses the JForex platform, so open source makes it possible maybe to adapt to other platforms. JForex can work with MySQL.

Only problem I have seen is that it seems like working with mysql via Empty4, your trading computer must be a 32-bit pc and not 64-bit Right?
I also understand the wrappers out there is not as stable as one would like, but still good enough to use.

Ideas, suggestions?

[dudest]

Hey frankie,

Might be tricky getting people to join the project, seeing as the free MT4i Trade Copier ( now FxBlue ) works just great: http://www.fxblue.com/appstore/app.aspx?id=2

Cheers

[frankie]

Okay, i did not know that. Didn't that use to have a pricetag? Will check it out and see how it works, guess it's still without sourcecode.

Anyway, It could work until i get my own solution up and running. Thanks for the tip.

But when I get started i will put up my project here so others can have use of it.

[McNish]

Mt4i copier if you have multiple brokers.

For same broker with multiple a/c, I guess they have something called PAMM a/c's. Different ones have different term names for such a/c, so check with ur broker.

Let me know, cheers,