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Meisam Maani

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Kickstart Your MT4 EA Development withmql4-template

🚀 Kickstart Your MT4 EA Development with mql4-template

If you're diving into algorithmic trading with MetaTrader 4 (MT4), you’ve probably felt the friction of working with raw .mq4 files, manually organizing your code, and struggling with code reuse across different Expert Advisors (EAs). After going through this myself, I decided to streamline the process by creating a modern, modular MQL4 EA template — and I’m excited to share it with you.

👉 GitHub Repo: marketnoobtrader/mql4-template

Why This Template?

MT4’s native development environment and scripting conventions are... dated. This template brings structure, consistency, and separation of concerns into MQL4 development — inspired by best practices from broader software engineering.

Whether you're a beginner building your first strategy, or an advanced trader tired of copy-pasting functions across EAs, this repo will save you time and headaches.

✨ Features

  • Modular file structure – Cleanly separates logic (like indicators, entries, risk management).
  • Scalable architecture – Easily extend or refactor without spaghetti code.
  • Built-in utility functions – Common helpers like order management, logging, and more.
  • Ready-to-build EA – Plug in your own logic and hit compile.
  • Commented code – Every block of code includes annotations to help you understand what’s happening.

🧱 Folder Structure 

mql4-template/
├── experts/         # Main EA entry point
├── includes/        # Utility and helper files
├── strategies/      # Your custom trading logic
├── risk/            # Risk and money management logic
├── indicators/      # Custom or wrapper indicators
└── tests/           # Optional: backtesting or testing scripts
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🛠️ Getting Started

  1. Clone the repo: 
   git clone https://github.com/marketnoobtrader/mql4-template.git
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  1. Open the .mq4 file in MetaEditor.

  2. Start modifying the logic inside the /strategies and /risk folders.

  3. Compile and test in MT4 Strategy Tester.

📈 Who Is This For?

  • Forex traders writing custom EAs in MT4
  • Developers building modular and testable trading bots
  • Anyone tired of writing procedural, monolithic .mq4 files

🙌 Contributions Welcome

This project is intentionally lightweight, and I’d love feedback or pull requests if you have improvements in mind. Let's bring some modern dev practices into the world of MQL4.

🧭 Roadmap Ideas

  • Add common indicator wrappers (e.g., RSI, MACD, ATR)
  • Support multi-timeframe logic
  • Add automatic risk per trade calculator
  • Basic backtest data logging template

🔗 Check It Out

👉 GitHub – marketnoobtrader/mql4-template

If you found this useful, feel free to ⭐ the repo, fork it, or share it with fellow MT4 coders. Happy trading!

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