Expert advisor trading, one position at a time
High Tide Trading builds EA trading software for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
The Expert Advisors I write take one position at a time, put a stop on every trade and show you exactly what they're doing
Why I stopped running grid systems
I ran grid and martingale EAs for a while. They work, in the sense that the account climbs steadily and you start to feel clever. What's actually happening is that losing trades aren't being closed. They sit open while the system adds more positions around them, waiting for price to come back.
Most of the time price does come back. Then one day it doesn't, and months of gains disappear in an afternoon. Once should have been enough to learn that lesson. In my case this has happened 3 times. These were using expert advisors with a very strong track record spanning a few years that came undone in the volatility of a Trump administration. A few sleepless nights with deep drawdowns prior to that were a warning sign in hindsight. With grid martingale systems once you get into a deep drawdown the only way to get out is to take a loss or ride it out. You can bet that whichever choice you make will be the wrong one!
I don't think everyone running a grid system is being reckless, and I still run one myself in a heavily de-risked way, which I've written about openly. But I stopped building them, because I'd rather sell something whose worst case I can describe honestly.
What one position at a time actually means
One trade open at a time. A hard stop on every entry. If the trade is wrong, it closes and the EA moves on to the next one.
The honest trade-off is that this looks worse day to day. You see losing trades, because they're actually closed instead of buried, and the equity curve is bumpier than the ones in the adverts. What you get back is a risk profile you can look at and reason about, where the worst case on any trade is roughly known before you take it.
Trading is a long game. The systems that survive it are usually the boring ones.
What's on this site
A trade copier you can buy today, which moves and filters trades between MetaTrader accounts. Two Expert Advisors in development, High Tide for trends and Low Tide for mean reversion. Honest write-ups of the EAs I run on my own accounts, including the ones I have reservations about. And articles explaining how this software works, for people who want to understand a system before trusting it with money
Ask me something
If you're weighing up an EA, mine or anyone else's, and want a straight answer, send me a message. I'm not going to pitch you. I've made most of the expensive mistakes in this field already and I'd rather you didn't repeat them.
My goal is to help people navigate this industry as best they can. It’s very difficult but I believe if you do it in the right way it can be a lucrative path.
Important information. High Tide Trading sells software. Nothing here is financial advice, a trading recommendation or a forecast of returns. Automated trading carries risk, including losing more than your deposit on leveraged products. How you configure and use any EA is your responsibility. High Tide Trading is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.