Growth of the Robo-Advisor Market

Trading has significantly evolved over the years. One of the mostimpactful developments in recent decades is the widespread use of EAs (ExpertAdvisors). These are automated programs, developed by retail traders or largecompanies to execute trades based on baked-in algorithms. These programs cantrade faster, and sometimes more efficiently, than a human trader, and arerelatively easy to develop, requiring no special programming skills.

As trading becomes increasingly more complex, the usage of these EAsbecomes more and more prevalent. The global robo-advisor market, according to independent research, grew from $6,36 billionin 2023 — to more than $8 billion in 2024. By 2030, it is projected to reachover $33 billion, having an annual growth rate of 26,71% (compounded).

This rise in the robo-advisors is having a huge effect on the globalforex market as well. In the U.S., daily market turnover reached $1,17 trillion— partly attributed to the rise of EAs and algorithms usage. Rising volumesindicate a more active trading environment, with trades being executed more andmore frequently.

Regular retail traders can take advantage of these developments as well— using dedicated EA builders like StrategyQuant X, Forex Flex EA, and EABuilder, among others, to level up a playing field with large institutions.Some of the more experienced traders, having enough free time, prefer learningMQL5 tools on their own, citing flexibility and better control as some of themain reasons.

With recent rise in the AI, which enables an even easier timeprogramming any MQL5 bots, popularity and integration of EAs into tradingstrategies is only bound to increase.

The Role of Expert Advisors

EAs operate on predefined algorithms. They can execute trades based ontechnical signals, statistics, or machine learning algorithms; sometimes allthree are combined.

Many traders active with Defcofx seem to be plenty successful withsetting orders themselves, with their own hands, because they've been doing itfor years. Many others are having a hard time adding all the needed informationinto the model, and prefer to keep it all inside their mind. However, it's hardto argue EAs have three distinct advantages that can make almost any forextrading more profitable:

1. Speed and accuracy. Using AI models, or even simple algorithms, expert advisors can analyze vastly more data than the human mind, and at a much faster rate. This is particularly good for most scalping strategies, where a decision needs to be made within minutes or seconds.
2. Greater discipline. A properly programmed advisor will never stray from correct money-management techniques, and will never make an irrational, impulse-driven decision. EAs eliminate any emotional bias, and can ensure consistent strategy execution.
3. Backtesting possibilities. You can check EAs on historical data, to see which orders they would have executed, and which strategies could've worked in hindsight. This is also a very powerful tool to refine strategies before deployment. This can precisely show, in advance, if your strategy has any merit to it. This, however, works only for rigorous strategies, and not for intuitive traders.

Why is Trading with Expert Advisors Becoming more Prevalent Now

The last few years have been the most important in terms of the rise ofpopularity of robo-advisors, partly because of the advancements in AI. Chatbotscan develop basic EAs on their own, and machine learning can help spot hiddenpatterns, making expert advisors more adaptive to different market conditions.Strategies are becoming more robust and dynamic, and although some say thismakes trading less fun, others counter with "well, it makes it moreprofitable".

Global uncertainties, war, economic turmoil, and drastic news events,make robots increasingly valuable in being able to react to price movementswith sufficient speed — taking full advantage of all these rapid changes, withnews cycles sometimes lasting minutes, instead of days or weeks, like it usedto be years before.

Some of the more popular scalping strategies, designed for quick andsmall profits, rely entirely on EAs nowadays. They take advantage of low-spreadaccounts like DefcofxGold to execute numerous trades, exploiting minor price movements.There have been, however, trend-following and even swing-trading EA strategies,that hold positions over several days or weeks. We have also noticed an uptickin popularity of the grid-based strategies deployed on our VPS, virtual privateserver. These place buy and sell orders at set intervals, creating a grid oforders, and profiting from expected market volatility without the need topredict a direction.

Scalping EAs, though, remain the most popular still. It might havesomething to do with a fantasy of creating the 'ultimate bot', but likely theexpected profitability is the main factor. Hedge funds have long usedalgorithmic trading (HFT bots) to earn billions — even if these operate onmicrosecond scale, instead of milliseconds that EAs enable. Even still, it'sundeniable that a person with a properly calibrated Expert Advisor will have anadvantage over someone trying to do everything on hand.

Best Practices for Using EAs in 2025

1. Choose a broker thatallows them.

Many brokers don't allow EA usage, because these algorithms can be soprofitable in the right hands. Dealing Desk brokers especially don't likeaffluent traders using them sometimes, and can even ban your account for that.

Retail brokers without MT4/MT5 trading platform, or without low-spreadaccounts, might also not be the best for using robot-based strategies. Samegoes for brokers that require you to get external VPS. Any broker supportingEAs should be able to offer an affordable and fast virtual private server thatallows uninterrupted and fast execution, without any limits or restrictions.

At Defcofx,we welcome all kinds of Expert Advisors and embrace a diverse range of tradingstrategies. Whether you're using a custom-built EA or a popular one, we supportyour trading approach with no restrictions.

To address the rise in EA usage, Defcofx now employs top-tier hardwarefor trade servers located in the NY4 and LD5 data centers in New York andLondon, so the exchanges are within a microsecond. Not bad at all for scalpingwith minimal latency.

2. Use MT5, preferably.

MT4 is an older technology without multithreading and high-performanceoptimization, while cAlgo is considerably harder to program and to test.

We recommend MT5 and its programming language, MQL5, for its ease ofuse, advanced programming capabilities, and built-in strategy tester. It alsohas some of the more powerful analytical tools, including custom indicators andmarket analysis tools using AI/ML integration.

3. Test your strategies first

Trading Strategy Tester in MQL5 allows you to easily check theefficiency of your Expert Advisor, and detects the best input parameters beforeyou run the EA on your real account. It's a powerful tool crafted fordevelopers of trading robots. Without the use of the tester, the creation of anefficient and reliable robot is practically impossible. The Strategy Tester cansave you a lot of money and time, and allow for creating an optimal bot.

4. Make dynamic adjustments.

Regularly updating your bots usually proves the most powerful — makingthem more relevant in changing market conditions. Experienced traders usuallyhave a few EAs in their pocket, changing between them depending on thesituation. This is often the most stable and robust way to trade.

5. Hybrid approach is best.

Combine EA automation with manual oversight, at least at first. Lettingrobots run rampant might lead to unpredictable consequences. Even if yourstrategy has shown itself effective on a demo account, make sure you trade withoversight on real at first.

Disclaimer: Article submitted by Defcofx broker team