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 Quantamental Trading Approach

Quantamental is a new trading approach that combines quantitative and fundamental analyses in order to forecast future market conditions. Trading and data mining will share a common ground in the near future.

In general, forecasting is the process of predicting future market conditions based on past and present market conditions, and on the analysis of key trends. All forecasting methods are divided into two broader categories:

(i) Quantitative methods, based on mathematical models, and

(ii) Qualitative methods, based on educated guessing.

(1) Quantitative Forecasting

Quantitative forecasting means forecasting future data as a function of past data. Quantitative forecasting requires the existence of past numerical data and assumes that some of the recognizable patterns in the data series are expected to continue into the future. Quantitative forecasting is more effective in short and mid-term-range decision-making.

Two (2) Quantitative Methods

There are two main types of quantitative methods:

(i) time-series methods (using simple historical trends and patterns in the data series to generate forecast)

(ii) explanatory methods (using additional data as inputs into the forecasting model and attempting to combine two or more variables)

Quantitative Forecasting Approaches in Finance:

These are some key approaches:

(1) Average Forecasting Approach:

Assumes that the course of future market data will be equal to the statistical mean of past market data.

(2) Naive Forecasting Approach:

Assumes that the time series follow certain seasonality. This approach is particularly useful for financial time series, which include patterns difficult to recognize and predict. Naive Forecasting is often used as a benchmark, against which other forecasting models can be compared and filtered.

(3) Drift Forecasting Approach:

It is a more sophisticated variation of the Naive Approach. It includes an increase or decrease over time, which is called a drift.

(2) Fundamental Analysis

Fundamental analysis is a method of pricing a Financial Instrument by examining and evaluating all related internal and external factors. These factors include financial, economic, social, political, strategic, and other quantitative and qualitative variables. The fundamental analysis aims to produce a 'fair value' that can be compared with the current price of the market.

Fundamental Analysis uses a broad range of real data (macroeconomic data, industry analysis, balance sheets, earnings reports, key data releases, etc) in the evaluation of a financial instrument's value.

The fundamental and the quantitative analyses are characterized by core differences, but at the same time, they share also many similarities. For example, when evaluating shares, both methods use market capitalization, sector classification, price/earnings ratio, dividend policy, etc. Therefore, quantitative models can be used for optimizing the outcomes of the fundamental analysis.

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Free MT4, MT5 Expert Advisor Builders

Automated Forex Trading is the 'Holy Grail' of advanced Forex trading. Τhe following EA builders are offered for free / or provide a free-trial period and can be used for creating EAs on MetaTrader-4 and MetaTrader-5.

MT4 builders are designed to generate customized Expert Advisors by compiling MQL4 or MQL5 code. Some of the following EA builders are web-based, while others require installation. When you create your first customized EA you are advised to test it risk-free in a Demo Account before trading for real money.

Here are the free Expert Advisor Builders:

(1) EA Builder for MT-4, MT-5, and Tradestation

◙ PRICE: Free for creating Indicators

◙ BUILDER: Web-Based App

◙ EXPERIENCE: Semi-Advanced / Advanced Traders

The EA builder is a free application for creating indicators. You can turn your manual trading into arrows and alerts and create indicators for MT4, Mt5, and TradeStation. You can also turn any manual system into a fully working Forex Robot (EA).

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Here are the basic features of the EA Builder:

• Develop indicators and EAs for trading Forex pairs, stocks, indices, ETFs, commodities
• Create EAs without knowing anything about programming
• Tens of built-in functions such as support, resistance, trendlines, and time (select when to trade)
• Every feature of the EA Builder has a popup tip that helps and guides you
• Three (3) Alert Types (eMail, Audible alerts, print to output window)
• Full Money-Management system with custom functions
• The generated code is contained in a single file, ready to be used on MT4, MT5, or Tradestation

EA builder is completely free for creating Indicators but if you want to create EAs there is a one-off payment.

Here is the website of EA Builder:

» Find here the EA Builder for MT4 & TradeStation

(2) Expert Advisor Builder for MetaTrader 4

◙ PRICE: Free

◙ BUILDER: Web-Based App

◙ EXPERIENCE: Semi-Advanced / Advanced Traders

The Expert Advisor Builder (EAB) is a web-based EA builder that is free and simple to use. EAB generates EAs for MT4 by using seven (7) fields. 
(i) EA Template field
In this section, you may enter your own script. 
(ii) EA Variables field
In this section, you will set up your main variables according to which you will control your trading strategy {Buy and Sell strategy / Close(Buy and Sell) strategy}. 
(iii) EA Buy-Strategy field
Set up your EA buy strategy. 
(iv) EA Sell strategy field
Set up your EA sell-strategy. 
(v) EA Closing (Buy) strategy field 
This section allows you to enter the conditions for Closing Positions opened according to the 'Buy strategy' field. 
(vi) EA Closing (Sell) strategy field
This section allows you to enter the conditions for Closing Positions opened according to the 'Sell strategy' field. 
(vii) EA Order Options field 
Set up some extra settings for your Expert Advisor. 

Here is the website of the Expert Advisor Builder (EAB):

» http://sufx.core.t3-ism.net/ExpertAdvisorBuilder

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