Converting Indicator Calls into EA Functions and Measuring the Trade-Off

Summary

The article describes converting a currency Expert Advisor that uses the RAVI and ASCTrend1 indicators into a version that calculates their values through functions. Its example separates buy and sell parameters, supports buy-only, sell-only, or two-sided operation, and combines changes in RAVI direction with ASCTrend1 as a trend filter. It uses indicator values from four-hour and daily timeframes and describes how the resulting signals lead to orders.

The author reports that the converted and original EAs produced identical historical test results when the settings, period, and testing method matched. However, the converted version ran more slowly, including a variant that removed emulated indicator buffers. The conclusion is that replacing lightweight custom indicator calls with custom functions may not improve speed in this case; making an EA autonomous by removing indicator dependencies may still be possible but requires extra work. These findings come from one sample implementation and do not establish a universal performance rule.

Key ideas

• The example EA combines RAVI direction changes with ASCTrend1 trend direction to generate signals.
• Buy and sell calculations use separate parameters and can be enabled independently or together.
• The article reports identical historical trades for the original and converted versions under matching test conditions.
• The converted EA ran more slowly in the reported tests, even without emulated indicator buffers.
• The speed comparison concerns a specific example and may not generalize to other indicators or systems.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.