Three bots, one year of real ticks
Each bot started with $1,000 on 31 Oct 2025 in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester, on the same ticks with the same costs. Here is how they compare.
The three bots compared
| Disciplined | Balanced | Aggressive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One year, 31 Oct 2025 to 30 Oct 2026 | |||
| Final balance | $4,724.11 | $10,470.01 | $22,814.82 |
| Return on $1,000 | +372% | +947% | +2,181% |
| Profit factor | 1.52 | 1.83 | 1.70 |
| Worst fall, floating P&L included | 27.35% | 32.22% | 45.04% |
| Biggest floating loss on one grid | −12.30% | −10.69% | −15.25% |
| Worst fall, closed trades only | 25.56% | 27.18% | 38.68% |
| Worst day | −11.22% | −10.63% | −15.11% |
| Losing months | 2 of 12 | 2 of 12 | 3 of 12 |
| Trades | 610 | 810 | 811 |
| Winning trades | 58.52% | 66.54% | 66.46% |
| Margin stop-outs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kill switch triggered | Never | Never | Never |
| With a 500 ms order delay | +273% | +986% | +1,922% |
| Last six months, a fresh start with $1,000 on 1 May 2026 | |||
| Final balance | $2,450.25 | $2,605.68 | $3,984.53 |
| Return on $1,000 | +145% | +161% | +298% |
| Worst fall, floating P&L included | 19.70% | 32.09% | 45.02% |
| Kill switch triggered | Never | Never | Never |
| With a 500 ms order delay | +107% | +170% | +327% |
| Settings | |||
| Position size | 1× | 1× | 1.5× |
| Trailing exit | No | Yes | Yes |
| Stop on each grid | 10% | 10% | 15% |
| Daily loss limit and profit lock | 8% | 8% | 12% |
| Half size after a fall of | 10% | 10% | 15% |
| Kill switch | 35% | 45% | 50% |
| MT5 reports | |||
| One year | Report | Report | Report |
| Six months | Report | Report | Report |
Floating loss is measured against the balance when that grid started, worst days against the balance at the start of the day. The floating loss and the kill switch are read from each bot’s own log of the same run. Run on 4 Nov 2026 with the broker’s overnight swap rates of that day.
How they were tested
The same conditions for all three, printed at the top of each MT5 report, so anyone with MetaTrader 5 can see exactly what ran.
- Tester
- MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester, every tick based on real ticks
- Broker server
- STARTRADERFinancial-Live (Build 6230)
- Symbol
- XAUUSD.c (gold) on the 1-minute chart
- Period
- 31 Oct 2025 to 31 Oct 2026, and separately 1 May to 31 Oct 2026
- Price data
- 87,821,455 ticks for the year, 100% real ticks
- Spread
- The broker’s own, as recorded on every tick
- Order delay
- 150 ms on every order, and again at 500 ms
- Starting balance
- $1,000, leverage 1:500
Every number, bot by bot
Each bot’s page has its balance chart, the full results from its MT5 report and its month-by-month returns.
Let the robot take the night shift.
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