Whether you have developed or purchased an Expert advisor there is a certain procedure that has to be followed before the Expert advisor is ready to trade on a live account.
The first step is called Back-testing. Back-testing can be performed with the Metatrader platform using a Strategy Tester tool. Back-testing is not reliable, however, it is the first step, it is fast and it can give you some picture of your robot. Back-testing results should not be considered at all if your modeling quality is under 90%. Modeling quality can be improved if you import the history data. That data can be found at forextester.com.
Strategy tester has two very useful back-testing features: optimization and visual mode back-testing. Optimization compares the trading efficiency with different values of robot entry parameters. It can help you to choose the most profitable combination. Back-testing in visual mode is very interesting when you are developing your own Expert advisor, so you can check does the robot follows your strategy completely.
When your Expert advisor accomplishes satisfactory results on back-testing, it is ready for the testing on a demo account. So, put the EA using the best performing back-testing entry parameters on a demo account and leave it for 3 weeks to three months. The duration depends on the time-frame EA has been using. For EAs trading on 1-minute charts, 3-week testing is fine; those trading on 4-hour charts should be left for 3 months on the test. If your EA has achieved satisfactory results on a demo account, it is ready for live trading.
Optionally, to be more certain you can start live account trading on a smaller account or using a smaller amount of lots (if is it available) as an entry parameter. Then after one month, you can switch to live to trade on the normal account.
Well, if you have followed the testing process completely and if your EA has successfully passed all steps. You will certainly enjoy live account trading.
