Broker Profiler: A Tool for Comparing Broker Specifications

Related: Accurate Broker GMT Offset and Daylight Saving Time Rules from Price History - another powerful expert for MetaTrader 5 traders.

An Expert Advisor that performs well with one broker may behave differently with another. While the spread is often the primary factor, it is not the sole determinant. Trading hours and contract sizes can vary between brokers for the same instrument, consequently altering any values an Expert Advisor derives from daily bars or lot sizes.

Also recommended: USDX Trader EA: Trade the US Dollar Index with Any Broker - similar expert with strong performance on MetaTrader 5.

This utility provides a side-by-side comparison of these critical figures across two brokers.

Displayed Information:

1. Trading Hours: Shows trading hours per weekday as reported by the server, including the earliest open and latest close times. A broker without an overnight session will present a different daily bar compared to one that does, even with the same price data but a different trading range.

2. Contract Specifications: Details contract size, tick size, tick value, and the monetary value of a single price point. Position sizing, often calculated as a fixed percentage of equity, depends on this value rather than the lot number. The same lot size can represent significantly different monetary amounts across different brokers.

3. Swap Rates: Presents swap rates for both long and short positions, expressed as a percentage of the price per night and annualized. This allows for a direct comparison of holding costs between brokers.

4. Session Coverage: Analyzes session coverage over the last N days of M1 history, indicating the percentage of the traded period that actually has quotes. Coverage significantly below 100 percent suggests gaps within the session, which can lead to understated daily figures when using such a data feed.

5. Spread Sampling: Samples spreads at a chosen interval, providing minimum, average, and maximum summaries. An optional CSV file can store every sample.

Inputs:

SpreadSampleSec: The spread sampling period in seconds. Set to 0 to disable sampling.

CoverageDays: The number of days of M1 history used to measure session coverage.

WriteCsv: A boolean to enable or disable writing spread samples to a CSV file.

CsvName: The name of the CSV file. If left blank, the file will be named profile_<symbol>_<date>.csv and saved in the common folder.

Usage:

Attach the Expert Advisor to the symbol chart on the first broker, review the journal for output, then repeat the process on the second broker for comparison. This EA does not place any orders or make any modifications.

You may also like: Broker Clock Auditor: Accurately Track Server Time and Daylight Saving Shifts - excellent alternative for expert users on MetaTrader 5.

#property copyright "RobotFX"
#property link "https://robotfx.org"
#property version   "1.00"
#property strict
#property description "This code is educational. Feel free to use, modify and upgrade as you wish. Visit ROBOTFX.ORG for professional trading tools"
input int    SpreadSampleSec = 5;
input int    CoverageDays    = 10;
input bool   WriteCsv        = true;
input string CsvName         = "";
string g_csv;

.......

• This tool is provided for educational and testing purposes only.
• Past performance does not guarantee future results.
• Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Use on a demo account first.
• Results may vary depending on market conditions, broker, and settings.
• We recommend thorough backtesting and forward testing before using with real funds.