EA expertdemo

Expert Advisor demonstrating package reuse with KnitPkg for MetaTrader
MIT License

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What is this?

EA expertdemo is a demonstration project that showcases how to build a MetaTrader Expert Advisor (EA) by consuming KnitPkg packages.
It demonstrates best practices for structuring, packaging and compiling MQL5 code with KnitPkg – it is not meant to be a production-grade trading system, but rather an educational example of how to reuse packages from the community or your own library.

Features

• Expert Advisor type (type: expert) – a complete, compilable EA that depends on multiple packages.
• Transitive dependencies – automatically resolves and includes @douglasrechia/bar and @douglasrechia/calc when compiled.
• Flat include mode (include_mode: flat) – generates a single flattened header with all dependencies resolved.
• MQL5 target – works with MetaTrader 5.
• Compile support – kp compile compiles the EA to .ex5 binary.
• Bar watcher for new bar detection - Re-calculates every new bar, not every tick.

How it works

This EA uses two KnitPkg packages:

1. @douglasrechia/bar – provides BarWatcher (detects bar changes) and Bar (OHLCV data access)
2. @douglasrechia/calc – provides technical analysis functions like SMA() and ATR()

When you run kp install, KnitPkg automatically downloads both packages and resolves their transitive dependencies.

Prerequisites

To compile and run this project, you will need:

1. MetaTrader 5 installed.
2. KnitPkg CLI: The KnitPkg package manager for MetaTrader. If you don't have it, you can install it by following the instructions in the main KnitPkg repository.

Downloading and install expertdemo in your MetaTrader

To learn how to structure your own EA with KnitPkg packages, clone this repository:

# Change to your MetaTrader 'Experts' directory.
# How to find it: in the MetaEditor navigator, right‑click the `Experts` folder and select "Open Folder".
cd "C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\MetaQuotes\Terminal\D0E8209F77C8CF37AD8BF550E51FF075\MQL5\Experts"

# Clone the repository
git clone https://forge.mql5.io/DouglasRechia/expertdemo.git
cd expertdemo

# Install dependencies (downloads @douglasrechia/calc and @douglasrechia/bar automatically)
kp install

# Compile the EA
kp compile

# Close MetaTrader and launch it again (needed to refresh navigator Scripts). Open any chart you want.
# The compiled binary `KnitPkgExpertDemo.ex5` will appear in MetaTrader navigator under the Experts/expertdemo/bin entry.
# Double‑click it to run the tests. See logs in the 'Scripts' tab.

Alternatively, execute the get command to query the registry for project metadata, enabling the automatic download and compilation of the latest stable version.

# Change to your MetaTrader Data folder directory. This is step is required only if you have
# more than one MetaTrader instalation.
# How to find it: in the MetaTrader navigator, click on menu File/Open data folder.
cd "C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\MetaQuotes\Terminal\D0E8209F77C8CF37AD8BF550E51FF075"

kp get mql5 @douglasrechia/expertdemo

# Close MetaTrader and launch it again (needed to refresh navigator Scripts). Open any chart you want.
# The compiled binary `KnitPkgExpertDemo.ex5` will appear in MetaTrader navigator under the Experts/expertdemo/bin entry.
# Double‑click it to run the tests. See logs in the 'Scripts' tab.

License

This project is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for the full text.

Disclaimer

*The author provides this code as‑is, for educational purposes only.
No warranty, express or implied, is given. The author assumes no liability for any damages, losses, or legal consequences that may arise from using, modifying, or distributing this software. Use it at your own risk.