Learn Automated Trading

Before an Expert Advisor (EA) trades your money, you need to know what its settings mean in money: how big a trade is, what it costs, what a stop really protects, and which broker holds the account. These free guides cover those basics, one topic per page, the way MetaTrader 5 (MT5) uses them.

Read them in order. Each one builds on the one before, and the worked examples carry through: the 0.40-lot trade sized on the first page is the one the next two pages put a margin, a commission and a swap on.

Five Guides, One Topic Each

1. 0.1

   Pips, Lots and Pip Value

   What points, pips and lots mean in MT5, how to turn a stop in pips into money, and how to work out a lot size from the amount you're willing to lose.

   Read the guide →

2. 0.2

   Leverage, Margin and Margin Calls

   What leverage changes and what it doesn't, how MT5 works out the margin a trade needs, and what happens at a margin call and a stop out.

   Read the guide →

3. 0.3

   Spread, Commission and Swaps

   The three costs every trade pays, where MT5 shows each one, and why commission changes the lot size your risk allows.

   Read the guide →

4. 0.4

   Stop Loss, Take Profit and Order Types

   Why a stop is a limit and not a guarantee, who holds it, the minimum distances a broker sets, and MT5's order types, expiry rules and filling policies.

   Read the guide →

5. 0.5

   Choosing a Broker for an Expert Advisor

   How to check a broker at its regulator, spot a clone firm, confirm the broker allows what your EA does, and open a demo that matches the account you'd use live.

   Read the guide →

How To Use These Guides