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The Golden Pickaxe EA is an automated forex strategy that has been programmed to run in the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms. This forex robot can automatically scan currency pair charts for trading signals based on its built-on trading algorithm. When the Golden Pickaxe expert advisor finds a valid setup according to the implemented trading logic, it can place and manage trades on behalf of the user. Whilst this may sound appealing for those of you who don’t have the time or skills required to trade manually, there are some important pros and cons to be aware of before using the Golden Pickaxe EA or any other automated trading system for that matter.

Golden Pickaxe EA Trading Strategy

The Golden Pickaxe EA uses a mean-reversion grid trading system that the developer claims incorporates machine learning technology to place trades on the XAU/USD pair (Gold). The expert advisor attempts to use real market inefficiencies to its advantage in order to gain an edge over the market. Mean reversion trading assumes that over time the price of a currency pair will revert back to the mean or average price. In other words, reversion to the mean trading comes down to the old saying: “What goes up must come down.”

The developer of the Golden Pickaxe EA is “Valeriia Mishchenko” who also developed other forex expert advisors that I have previously reviewed, including the interestingly named Waka Waka EA, News Catcher Pro EA, Night Hunter Pro EA and the Evening Scalper Pro EA. It is refreshing to see a developer that is open to who they are and what they do, although that of course does not guarantee good results, more on that later. As this is a grid trading strategy, it does require a broker that allows hedging.

Set Files

The EA includes 5 pre-set files which have already been optimised by the developer. Each of the set files has a different strategy, therefore you can choose from a total of 5 automated gold trading systems. You may choose the default option (XAU Risky) or have your own preference. I would certainly make sure to check the risk size being used and adjust according to your risk tolerance as every trader is different in that respect. Whatever your risk preference, even low risk grid trading can run into high drawdowns if the market conditions are not suitable. The set files are as follows:

XAU Risky Vol
XAU Balanced Vol
XAU Risky
XAU Balanced
XAU Classic

Charts

The Golden Pickaxe EA trades on the 1-minute charts which means you will need a broker with tight spreads and rapid trade execution speeds. Any delay in pricing or high spreads, could have a significant impact on results. XAU/USD tends to have a higher spread when compared to some of the major currency pairs such as the EUR/USD. However, IC Markets are my top choice for running forex robots as they have some of the lowest spreads and commission fees you will find. This is backed up by excellent 24/7 support from my experience.

Settings

The Golden Pickaxe expert advisor settings are fully customisable so those of you with experience are free to experiment on other currency pairs and timeframes with your own bespoke settings. It also has some other interesting and innovative features including news filters and statistic panel with self-diagnostic system and neural network forecast indicator. Keep in mind that you need to give the Golden Pickaxe EA access to the news list website and time server for news filter and time detection functionality to work correctly.

Golden Pickaxe EA Indicators

The Golden Pickaxe expert advisor uses a combination of technical indicators for analysing the XAU/USD 1-minute chart to determine when it will take its entry. In general, additional filters can help to remove some false signals but can also lead to over optimisation and curve fitting. Let’s take a look at some of the indicators that it uses.

Donchian Channels

Donchian channels have three bands show the current market momentum. The upper band represents the highest high of the previous period, the lower band represents the lowest low of the previous period, and the middle band represents an average of the current high and the current low for that trading period.

Exponential Moving Average

Exponential Moving Average (EMA) is similar to Simple Moving Average (SMA), measuring trend direction over a period of time. However, whereas SMA simply calculates an average of price data, EMA applies more weight to data that is more current.

Volatility Filter

In forex trading, volatility measures how large the upswings and downswings are for a particular currency pair. When a currency’s price fluctuates wildly up and down, it is said to have high volatility. When a currency pair that does not fluctuate as much, it is said to have low volatility.

Golden Pickaxe EA Features

Fully automated gold trading robot
5 predefined set files with different gold trading strategies
Back tests and verified account are available to check performance
Allows you to retrain Neural Network on your broker’s data
Advanced News and Stock Market Crash Filter
Flexible customization with a lot of filters and options
10 MetaTrader 4 or 5 Accounts

Golden Pickaxe EA Back Testing

The Golden Pickaxe EA has been back tested across almost 20 years of XAU/USD data. Whilst the back tests may have used tick data, it is not clear whether commission, real variable spreads and slippage were accounted for. These are all major factors that can have a significant impact on performance. That being said, I would always take grid trading robot back tests with a pinch of salt simply because they could be optimised to a particular data set. If the market is not kind to a grid trading strategy, things can get ugly quick.

Golden Pickaxe EA Results

I am very pleased to see the developer has shared a few different Golden Pickaxe EA accounts that have been verified by Myfxbook. This enables us to get an idea of how it has been performing through recent market conditions. We have results showing all 5 of the different settings that the expert advisor uses which is great. However, the tests have only been running a few months and the drawdown is already north of 30% across the board. For me personally, that is quite high after just a few months. I would like to check back later and see how the Golden Pickaxe EA has held up.

Golden Pickaxe EA Summary

The problem I have with the Golden Pickaxe forex robot is that the money management being used is quite dangerous in my opinion. Whilst this is something that is quite typical of grid trading robots, more often than not I have seen the drawdown become unsustainable. This can lead to a margin call and blown account if you are not careful. Granted, they can go on good winning streaks as evident by the back tests and verified accounts provided by the developer. Just make sure that you are happy and understand the risks involved with such strategies.

Alternatively, you can take a look at my best forex robots for some other options. If you do decide to try the Golden Pickaxe EA, you might want to do so on a demo account to begin with so you can get a feel for how it works without taking any unnecessary risks. You can get a free forex demo account from most forex brokers which comes preloaded with virtual funds and leverage of your choice.

There is a Golden Pickaxe 14-day free trial which is probably not enough time to draw an accurate conclusion to its performance. It does come with detailed setup instructions and some handy “how-to” videos. You also get exclusive access to Valeriia’s Telegram group, free updates and full support.

Golden Pickaxe EA

$1080

8.7

Strategy

8.0/10

Backtesting

9.0/10

Results