The best Forex Expert Advisors can be programmed to work in multiple ways (e.g. by utilising a selection of technical indicators, such as the moving average indicator, or the MACD indicator) or by searching for necessary trends and breakouts. By applying those diverse indicators, the Forex expert advisor can analyse the market, as well as the behaviour of individual financial instruments, and can generate a signal about trading opportunities.

As we mentioned above, EAs are similar to Forex robots, which are another type of automated trading software. When using strict definitions, the difference between a Forex expert advisor and a Forex robot is that an EA will generate signals while a robot will perform trades without any manual sign-off required. However, the terms are often used interchangeably, which means that many so-called Forex EAs are capable of far more than just generating signals.

Some Forex expert advisors are designed to take full control of your account. The idea here is that it will look at your current account balance, before deciding how much of your balance can be put at risk. The general rule of thumb is to only risk 1 - 2% of your account balance.

Furthermore, it may review the trades and decide whether there should be a trailing stop, take-profit or stop-loss. As soon as Forex Expert Advisors have the necessary information, they also take into account the current market conditions. Consequently, you will be notified when to open a particular position.