Algorithmic Trading is allegedly fairly common, however almost kept behind lock and key for the majority of the non-technical public. Retail Traders appear to focus more on rather manual trading strategies. I love automation. So lets take a crack at it.
Okay, so. Following on from the last stage, this is the rough outline for what I figured would be next.
Lets try it.
Note, I’m not giving any financial advise, and am not telling you to follow these steps, this is purely a blog for the purpose of entertainment and tracking. If you choose to repeat the steps, you choose to do so at your own risk.
I already have one. Done ✔.
Before that we need to install MT5.
IC Markets has their own version, once you make an account, theres a link to download in the downloads section.
IC Markets also gives easy access to practise accounts, using paper money. Although depending on who’s analysis of the world you agree with, all money could be considered paper money.
So. I’ve gone and downloaded and installed MT5 on my trusty steed my Asus laptop running yee ol Windows 11, and created a Demo account, and logged in.
Specs to keep is realistic:
Trading Platform: MT5
Account Type: Standard Account
Currency: GBP
Leverage: 1:30
Initial Deposit: 200
Of course, since we’ll only be trialing the strat for the time being, the initial deposit doesn’t matter so much. One we have the mechanics worked out thats when it will make the biggest difference.
Logs in. Oh boy, I forgot about Metatrader’s glorious sound effects.
Maybe at this point its worth mentioning, this blog likely isn’t the best to learn how to program from. I’ll be approaching it as more of a log rather than a tutorial for beginners, for example if you’re new to Python and don’t know how to install it, there’s probably a better guide out there on how to do that! YouTube is great also.
Standard stuff Really.
The Software versions I’m running are as follows:
I’m using WSL 2 running Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS, Python 3.8.10, and pip 20.0.2.
I’m following this guide for this process.
Oh. Metatrader’s module doesn’t support ubuntu. Guess we’re working with powershell and windows.
pip install MetaTrader5
fun fact
If you have Python2 and Python3 installed, sometimes your pip command will point to the Python2 pip, and if you’re developing with Python3, you’ll find your modules that you’re attempting to install.. won’t. In that case what you can do is specify it as a module for Python3. I used this.
python3 -m pip install MetaTrader5
Looks like the MT5 Module has some example code.
import time
import MetaTrader5 as mt5
# display data on the MetaTrader 5 package
print("MetaTrader5 package author: ", mt5.__author__)
print("MetaTrader5 package version: ", mt5.__version__)
# establish connection to the MetaTrader 5 terminal
if not mt5.initialize():
print("initialize() failed, error code =",mt5.last_error())
quit()
# prepare the buy request structure
symbol = "USDJPY"
symbol_info = mt5.symbol_info(symbol)
if symbol_info is None:
print(symbol, "not found, can not call order_check()")
mt5.shutdown()
quit()
# if the symbol is unavailable in MarketWatch, add it
if not symbol_info.visible:
print(symbol, "is not visible, trying to switch on")
if not mt5.symbol_select(symbol,True):
print("symbol_select({}}) failed, exit",symbol)
mt5.shutdown()
quit()
lot = 0.1
point = mt5.symbol_info(symbol).point
price = mt5.symbol_info_tick(symbol).ask
deviation = 20
request = {
"action": mt5.TRADE_ACTION_DEAL,
"symbol": symbol,
"volume": lot,
"type": mt5.ORDER_TYPE_BUY,
"price": price,
"sl": price - 100 * point,
"tp": price + 100 * point,
"deviation": deviation,
"magic": 234000,
"comment": "python script open",
"type_time": mt5.ORDER_TIME_GTC,
"type_filling": mt5.ORDER_FILLING_RETURN,
}
# send a trading request
result = mt5.order_send(request)
# check the execution result
print("1. order_send(): by {} {} lots at {} with deviation={} points".format(symbol,lot,price,deviation));
if result.retcode != mt5.TRADE_RETCODE_DONE:
print("2. order_send failed, retcode={}".format(result.retcode))
# request the result as a dictionary and display it element by element
result_dict=result._asdict()
for field in result_dict.keys():
print(" {}={}".format(field,result_dict[field]))
# if this is a trading request structure, display it element by element as well
if field=="request":
traderequest_dict=result_dict[field]._asdict()
for tradereq_filed in traderequest_dict:
print(" traderequest: {}={}".format(tradereq_filed,traderequest_dict[tradereq_filed]))
print("shutdown() and quit")
mt5.shutdown()
quit()
print("2. order_send done, ", result)
print(" opened position with POSITION_TICKET={}".format(result.order))
print(" sleep 2 seconds before closing position #{}".format(result.order))
time.sleep(2)
# create a close request
position_id=result.order
price=mt5.symbol_info_tick(symbol).bid
deviation=20
request={
"action": mt5.TRADE_ACTION_DEAL,
"symbol": symbol,
"volume": lot,
"type": mt5.ORDER_TYPE_SELL,
"position": position_id,
"price": price,
"deviation": deviation,
"magic": 234000,
"comment": "python script close",
"type_time": mt5.ORDER_TIME_GTC,
"type_filling": mt5.ORDER_FILLING_RETURN,
}
# send a trading request
result=mt5.order_send(request)
# check the execution result
print("3. close position #{}: sell {} {} lots at {} with deviation={} points".format(position_id,symbol,lot,price,deviation));
if result.retcode != mt5.TRADE_RETCODE_DONE:
print("4. order_send failed, retcode={}".format(result.retcode))
print(" result",result)
else:
print("4. position #{} closed, {}".format(position_id,result))
# request the result as a dictionary and display it element by element
result_dict=result._asdict()
for field in result_dict.keys():
print(" {}={}".format(field,result_dict[field]))
# if this is a trading request structure, display it element by element as well
if field=="request":
traderequest_dict=result_dict[field]._asdict()
for tradereq_filed in traderequest_dict:
print(" traderequest: {}={}".format(tradereq_filed,traderequest_dict[tradereq_filed]))
# shut down connection to the MetaTrader 5 terminal
mt5.shutdown()
Make the example script work, since it errors at the moment.
~H
2023-05-11