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Most traders understand EA portfolio balance through the lens of traditional risk management — controlling position sizes, diversifying currency pairs, or limiting exposure per trade.
But in automated trading, balance is about deliberately constructing a portfolio where different strategies complement each other, measuring their collective performance, and actively managing the mix based on those measurements.
The goal is to create a “book” of EAs that can help diversify performance over time, even when individual strategies hit rough patches.
A diversified mix of EAs across timeframes and assets can, in some cases, reduce reliance on any single strategy. This approach reduces dependency on any single EA’s performance, smooths your overall equity curve, and builds resilience across changing market conditions.
It’s about running the right mix, identifying gaps in your coverage, and viewing your automated trading operation as an integrated whole rather than a collection of independent systems.
Basic Evaluation Metrics – Your Start Point
Temporal (timeframe) Balancing
When combined, a timeframe balance (even on the same model and instrument) can help flatten equity swings.
For example, a losing phase in a fast-acting M15 EA can often coincide with a profitable run in an H4 trend model.
Combining this with some market regime and sessional analysis can be beneficial.
Asset Balance: Managing Systemic Correlation Risk
Running five different EAs on USDJPY might feel diversified if each uses different entry logic, even though they share the same systemic market driver.
But in an EA context, correlation measurement is not necessarily between prices, but between EA returns (equity changes) relating to specific strategies in specific market conditions.
Two EAs on the same symbol might use completely different logic and thus have near-zero correlation.
Conversely, two EAs on a different symbol may feel as though they should offer some balance, but if highly correlated in specific market conditions may not achieve your balancing aim.
In practical terms, the next step is to take this measurement and map it to potential actionable interventions.
For example, if you have a EURUSD Trend EA and a GBPUSD Breakout EA with a correlation of 0.85, they are behaving like twins in performance related to specific market circumstances. And so you may want to limit exposure to some degree if you are finding that there are many relationships like this.
However, if your gold mean reversion EA correlates 0.25 compared to the rest of your book, this may offer some balance through reducing portfolio drawdown overlap.
Directional and Sentiment Balance
Markets are commonly described as risk-on or risk-off. This bias at any particular time is very likely to impact EA performance, dependent on how well balanced you are to deal with each scenario.
You may have heard the old market cliché of “up the staircase and down the elevator shaft” to describe how prices may move in alternative directions. It does appear that optimisation for each direction, rather than EAs that trade long and short, may offer better outcomes as two separate EAs rather than one catch-all.
Market Regime and Volatility Balance
Trend and volatility states can have a profound impact on price action, whether as part of a discretionary or EA trading system. Much of this has a direct relationship to time of day, including the nature of individual sessions.
We have a market regime filter that incorporates trend and volatility factors in many EAs to account for this. This can be mapped and tested on a backtest and in a live environment to give evidence of strategy suitability for specific market conditions.
For example, mean reversion strategies may work well in the Asian session but less so in strongly trending markets and the higher volatility of the early part of the US session.
As part of balancing, you are asking questions as to whether you actually have EA strategies suited to different market regimes in place, or are you using these together to optimise book performance?
The table below summarises such an approach of regime vs market mapping:
Multi-Level Analysis: From Composition to Interaction
Once your book is structured, the challenge is to turn it into something workable. An additional layer of refinement that turns theory and measurement into something meaningful in action is where any difference will be made.
This “closing the circle” is based on evidence and a true understanding of how your EAs are behaving together. It is the step that takes you to the point where automation can begin to move to the next level.
Mapping relationships with robust and detailed performance evaluation will take time to provide evidence that these are actually making a difference in meeting balancing aims.
To really excel, you should have systems in place that allow ongoing evaluation of the approaches you are using and advise of refinements that may improve things over time.
What Next? – Implementing Balance in Practice
Theory must ultimately translate into an executable EA book. A plan of action with landmarks to show progress and maintain motivation is crucial in this approach.
Defining classification tags, setting risk weights, and building monitoring dashboards are all worth consideration.
Advanced EA traders could also consider a supervisory ‘Sentinel’ EA, or ‘mothership’ approach, to enable or disable EAs dynamically based on underlying market metrics and external information integrated into EA coding decision-making.
Final Thoughts
A balanced EA portfolio is not generated by accident; it is well-thought-out, evidence-based and a continuously developing architecture. It is designed to offer improved risk management across your EA portfolio and improved trading outcomes.
Your process begins with mapping your existing strategies by number, asset, and timeframe, then expands into analysing correlations, directional bias, and volatility regimes.
When you reach the stage where one EA’s drawdown is another’s opportunity, you are no longer simply trading models but managing a system of EA systems. To finish, ask yourself the question, “Could this approach contribute to improved outcomes over time?”. If your answer is “yes,” then your mission is clear.
If you are interested in learning more about adding EAs to your trading toolbox, join the new GO EA Programme (coming soon) by contacting [email protected].
Market response to any specific economic data release is far from standard even if actual numbers differ greatly from consensus expectations. Rather the market response is based on context of the current economic situation. This week’s non-farm payrolls, being one of the major data points in the month, is a great case in point.
There are many factors and of course the key one for you as an individual trader is your chosen vehicle you are trading (and of course direction i.e. long or short for open positions). The context of today’s impending non-farm payrolls from a market perspective is interest rate expectations going forward. This week the Fed gave the market the expected.25% cut that was already priced into currency, bond and equity market pricing.
The market response however, as this was already priced in, was as a result of the accompanying statement which was not as dovish as perhaps anticipated and a reduction in expectations of a further imminent cut. From an equity market point of view the result, despite the interest rate cut, was to sell off, whereas from the USD perspective this lessening expectation of further rate cuts was bullish. Perhaps this could be viewed as contrary to what the textbooks would suggest is a standard response.
So, onto today's non-farm payrolls (NFP) figure… Logic would suggest that a strong number is good news for the economy, and so should be positive for equities and perhaps bearish for USD. However, as this may be a critical number in the Feds decision making re. interest rate decisions, a strong NFP is likely to have the opposite effect. A weaker number is likely to be perceived as potentially contributory to thinking that another rate cut may be prudent sooner and so despite on the surface being “bad news”, it would not be surprising to see equities stronger and USD weaker.
It remains to be seen of course what the number is and the actual response but is perhaps a lesson in seeing new market information within the potential context of the current economic circumstances and of course incorporate this in your risk assessment and trading decision making. Mike Smith Educator Go Markets [email protected] Disclaimer The articles are from GO Markets analysts based on their independent analysis. Views expressed are of the their own and of a ‘general’ nature.
Advice (if any) are not based on the readers personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Readers should therefore consider how appropriate the advice (if any) is to their objectives, financial situation and needs, before acting on the advice.
At the recent GO Markets Daryl Guppy seminar, we had a presentation from Daryl that covered both an insightful economic outlook as well as some of his technical trading approaches. During the seminar, a question was asked about how to match the two. i.e. if you have an economic idea how can you integrate this into your trading style. We have put together one potential approach that could be used for your consideration.
Arguably, the same rigour of process should be applied to this as with any trading strategy, and this video presentation aims to outline such a potential process. Traditionally, many Forex and CFD traders, enter short term, often intraday positions. With a longer term economic view, generally you are placing a longer term trade, based on that view with the idea that it could move in your desired direction.
As well as share holdings, this trading approach is very possible with Forex, index and commodity CFDs and of course, share CFDs with the potential advantage of being able to trade "short" easily compared to when trading shares. The video is a recording of this weeks Inner Circle session (we have edited out the market watch section of the recording to focus on the educational component). https://vimeo.com/377703349
Please find the recording of the Latest Inner Circle session, the first in our NEW interviews with successful traders series. Nigel Hawkes is the epitome of a lifetime trader, now at 71 he trades for a living. Hear his fascinating trading journey, the foundation principle of "Six ways the market moves" and his 3 golden rules he abides by in his trading on a daily basis.
You can make the video full screen by clicking on the icon in the bottom right hand corner. Couple of quick notes: a. When Nigel refers to the ES aas an instrument this is the S&P500 E-mini contract (so not dissimilar to the SP500 CFD). b.
Nigel chooses to use minutes as a personal choice not available so 240 minutes = 4 hours (not available on MT4/5). https://vimeo.com/385016331 Any comments or questions to [email protected] Don't forget the latest "Next steps" course starts next week, click HERE for more information and get on board. If you are not yet a member of "Inner Circle" don't miss out and join us (click HERE to find out more) Mike Smith Educator and course facilitator GO Markets
Another fantastic webinar session yet again, with this week's session of the Interviews with Successful Traders series featuring Mark Austin of Magnetic Trading, whose main speciality is Index trading. What Mark shared not only had relevance to Index trading, but also across all trading vehicles. We are delighted to share the video from the session which you can watch here.
There is also an opportunity to see Mark and partner Cameron Malik in action, implementing some of the trading strategies that were referenced in the session as part of a special two-week free trial of their LIVE trading room, exclusive only to GO Markets clients. Gain access here. https://vimeo.com/391110084 If you have any questions about this session, please feel free to drop a line through to me at [email protected] Trade Safe, Mike Smith Educator and course facilitator Go Markets Disclaimer The article from GO Markets analysts is based on their independent analysis. Views expressed are of their own and of a ‘general’ nature.
Advice (if any) are not based on the reader’s personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Readers should, therefore, consider how appropriate the advice (if any) is to their objectives, financial situation and needs, before acting on the advice.
Your trading plan is arguably THE most important system to have in place and having a complete and evidence-based plan may for many be a key goal to aim for in your 2020 trading journey. It should serve you in guiding your every trading action, for every vehicle, in entry, intra-trade management and exit. We want to help you achieve this aim.
We have discussed on many occasions how making each statement sufficiently specific and unambiguous will not only enable you to develop the consistently that most experienced traders suggest is crucial for long-term positive outcomes but will facilitate measurement so you can amend your plan to better fit your individual trading style. This week GO Markets Inner Circle session tackled this topic head on. Find below the video from last nights Inner Circle session "How to make your trading plan potentially serve you better in 2020?" You can watch with 'full screen' by clicking on the icon in the bottom left corner. https://vimeo.com/380241718 If you want to join us for future "Inner Circle" sessions please feel free to CLICK HERE to find out more and register to join this growing trading education community.
Mike Smith Educator GO Markets
We frequently refer both in the articles we publish and the weekly “Inner Circle” sessions we present, to the benefits of a trading journal. However, the reality is that many traders make the choice not to measure trading despite the logical benefits of doing so. Whether you do or don’t currently, the bottom-line decision you are making is not only whether you do or don’t but how that positions yourself with your trading development.
We would suggest that this overall choice can be broken down into the following three sub-choices. You can make the decisions that are right for you subsequently. Sub-choice 1 – Measuring your system You are either making the choice to: Have certainty on not only whether your trading plan as a whole can create positive outcomes but have evidence to know which component parts of your plan are e.g. indicators you use for entry and exit, comparing strategies you trade, timeframes that work best for you, (and which are not) contributing to such outcomes.
Additionally, it allows you to compare what would happen if you change some of the perimeters on your potential results. OR You have no evidence as to whether your system as a whole and its components parts are working well to serve you in getting the results you desire. Nor do you can test and gather evidence as to what the impact of nay changes you may make to that system, Ask yourself… If I am serious about trading results which choice should I make?
Sub-choice 2 – Measuring you as a trader You are either making the choice to: Know the degree to which you are following your plan or otherwise so you can ultimately make a judgement on: a. Whether your system is working for you (all the points in sub-choice 1 above CANNOT be made unless you are following your plan religiously). b. What you need to work on in terms of tightening your behaviour e.g. on exits or entry c.
Whether there are certain market conditions which you find difficult or are ill-prepared for (so you can fill any knowledge gaps or avoid in the future). OR You can continue to trade as you do, avoiding any self-assessment and growth, and the refinement of your behaviour that may contribute to more positive trading outcomes. Ask yourself… If I am serious about trading results which choice should I make?
Sub-choice 3 – Improving your trading (closing the circle) (let’s assume you are keeping a journal for this one) You are either making the choice to: Measure with purpose that has clear follow through into further development and refinement of your trading plan and subsequently your actions. This facilitates the development of you as a trader based on your individual character and trading style. In practical terms, you ‘close the circle’ with a defined review and develop an action plan based on your review to test and change parts of your plan.
This is evidence-based trading! OR You can measure for measurements sake to on the surface appear to be “doing a right thing” but in reality, failing to unleash the real power of journaling, that is to make an on-going and continuous positive difference to your trading outcomes. Ask yourself… If I am serious about trading results which choice should I make?
In summary, if you have made the choice to read this article to its end you are left with one ultimate choice…to journal or not to journal including the three sub-choices that dependent on which you are making can impact on your trading. So, for one last time, Ask yourself… If I am serious about trading results what should my actions be with what I have read in this article? Our next steps and Share CFD education programme both have indicative trading journal templates to help get you started, and we would be delighted if you could join us.
Mike Smith Educator GO Markets Disclaimer The articles are from GO Markets analysts based on their independent analysis. Views expressed are of their own and of a ‘general’ nature. Advice (if any) are not based on the reader’s personal objectives, financial situation or needs.
Readers should, therefore, consider how appropriate the advice (if any) is to their objectives, financial situation and needs, before acting on the advice. Find additional Forex trading education resources here. Next: 5-point checklist for using chart patterns within your tradin