Trading Robots and EAs: Telling a Real Algorithm From a Drawn Curve
What a backtest shows and what it hides, why forward testing and tick data matter, how to spot martingale inside someone else's EA, and why a 99% win rate is a red flag.
An EA is a program that opens and closes trades by fixed rules. Automation confers no edge by itself: it executes a strategy faster and without emotion. If the strategy loses, the robot will empty the account more neatly and more quickly than a human.
What to look at in a report
Equity drawdown, not balance drawdown. A gap between them means the EA holds losing positions open.
Trade count. Under 200 trades there is no statistics. Any result on that sample can be chance.
Volume chart. Constant size is fine. Size rising after losses is martingale.
Test period. One year is not enough. You need trending, ranging and crisis regimes.
Data quality. A backtest on "open prices only" means nothing. You need every-tick mode with real tick data, spread and slippage modelled.
Red flags
- A 95%+ win rate with no large losses in the history.
- An equity curve without a single visible drawdown.
- Settings named lot multiplier, martingale step or grid distance.
- A seller who shows a report screenshot but will not give an investor password for live verification.
- Results from demo accounts only.
How to verify
- Run the backtest yourself, on your own data, over three to five years.
- Forward test on demo for at least three months without touching the settings.
- Then run minimum live size for another three months.
- Only then scale up.
Six months of verification feels excessive right up until the EA empties an account in a week.
Read next
Frequently asked questions
Can you make money with a purchased EA?
Occasionally — but the overwhelming majority of EAs on sale only perform on the history they were fitted to. Verify with a forward test on demo for at least three months.
What is over-optimisation?
Fitting parameters to a specific stretch of history. Such an EA looks perfect in backtest and falls apart on new data because it learned noise rather than structure.
How do I spot martingale quickly?
Look at the position size chart in the report. If size grows after losses and equity drawdown diverges sharply from balance drawdown, it is martingale whatever it is called.
- Min. deposit
- $50
- Spread
- from 1.0 pip (Standard STP)
- Commission
- $3 per lot per side (Raw ECN)
CFDs are complex instruments with a high risk of losing money
- Min. deposit
- $100
- Spread
- from 1.1 pips (Standard STP)
- Commission
- $3 per lot per side (Raw ECN)
CFDs are complex instruments with a high risk of losing money