Getting started

QuantForge Studio builds Expert Advisors (EAs) for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 without hand-writing MQL. You connect blocks on a canvas, test the result on your own price history, and export source code that MetaEditor compiles.

The ten-minute tour

1. Create an account and open Strategies. Click New strategy, or start from a template.
2. Look around the editor. Blocks live in the palette on the left. The canvas in the middle holds the strategy. The right panel shows the selected block’s settings, a plain-English guide to the strategy, and the generated code.
3. Import some history. Open Market data and follow the steps to export M1 bars from your MetaTrader terminal. See Importing price history.
4. Run a backtest. Back in the editor, open the Strategy Tester at the bottom. Pick your history and dates, then Run backtest. See The Strategy Tester.
5. Export. Use the .mq5 or .mq4 button at the top to download the source. See Exporting and compiling.

How the pieces fit

• A strategy is a set of graphs, one per MetaTrader event: onInit, onTick, onTimer, onTrade and onDeinit. Most strategies live in onTick.
• Each graph runs from its root blocks (blocks with nothing wired into them) down through their connections.
• Inputs become the EA’s input variables, the settings you can change in MetaTrader. Block fields can be linked to them. See Inputs.
• The Strategy Tester runs the same graph with the same rules as the exported EA, so a test describes the code you download.

Where to go next

• Building a strategy: the canvas, wiring and shortcuts
• Block reference: what every block does
• Plans: what the free plan includes