GOW Advanced

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GOW stands for Goodbye Order Window. It is a custom software developed for MetaTrader, and helps traders simplify their trading tasks. The entire system consists of an expert advisor and specialized scripts specially designed to provide a better alternative to the MetaTrader order window.

Using the order window of the platform requires a lot of micromanagement and can even be time-consuming for the trader. Moreover, it can be quite troublesome during trading, especially when the market is volatile and faster time frames are being used. GOW eliminates these potential problems by offering a quick and easy-to-use system for active trading.

GOW comes in three versions: GOW Lite, GOW Basic, and GOW Advance. GOW Lite is a free and simplified version of the premium version. GOW Advance contains all the features of the free version. GOW Basic is a hybrid version between the two.

This article describes the features of GOW Advanced

How to get the software?

The software can be purchased here: [1]

The software will be sent to your mailbox in a zip file immediately after purchasing.

Installation

The installation of the software is explained in the Software_Installation_Manual.pdf.

There is also an online version available for the Installation Manual

Installing Predefined Hotkeys

GOW also comes with an optional configuration file that can be used to generate hotkeys for the components of GOW. The configuration file can be found under the _profiles_optional folder. Just copy the configuration file and paste it under the profiles folder of your MetaTrader root directory.

Running GOW For the First Time

Once GOW is already installed on a MetaTrader directory, the MetaTrader application located on that root directory will now be able to load and use GOW. Follow these simple instructions.

  1. Launch MetaTrader.
  2. Locate the Navigator Window (CTRL + N).
  3. On the Navigator Window, click on a section named Expert Advisors. Under that section, you will find an expert advisor named gow_l. Load the EA onto the chart either by double clicking or dragging its icon onto the chart window.
  4. After doing Step 3, the chart will then display the status of loaded expert advisor. A smiling emoticon indicates that the loading was successful. Otherwise, proceed to troubleshooting.
  5. Apply the desired trade settings by opening the Expert Properties window (Figure 4). To access Expert Properties, just right-click on the chart, go to Expert Advisors->Properties (or simply press F7). Click on the inputs tab. You will then see a list of parameters that GOW uses. You will also see this window upon loading an expert advisor onto the chart. We will discuss on how to work with these parameters in the next section.
  6. After successfully loading the expert advisor onto the chart, we can then use the scripts. Without the expert on the chart, the scripts will not work, so it is important to make sure that the GOW EA is already active before using the GOW scripts. The GOW scripts can be found on the Navigator window, under the Scripts section. Later on this guide, the details for using these scripts will be discussed.

Parameters

The parameters that can be found on GOW Advanced are described in the following link: http://metatraderprogrammer.com/docs/Expert_Advisor_Parameters

Note that some parameters may be missing, depending on the needs of a particular expert advisor.

Using GOW Scripts

Aside from the GOW Expert Advisor, GOW also comes with scripts that are designed to interact with GOW. These scripts do not have any external parameters. Rather, they use the settings as configured in the GOW EA.

Script Name Purpose Default Hotkey
gow3_order_buy opens a buy order Alt + W
gow3_order_sell opens a sell order Alt + S
gow3_order_buystop opens a buystop order Alt + R
gow3_order_sellstop opens a sellstop order Alt + F
gow3_order_buylimit opens a buylimit order Alt + E
gow3_order_selllimit opens a selllimit order Alt + D
gow3_order_close_all closes all orders Alt + M
gow3_order_close_last closes the order with the least holding time Alt + X
gow3_order_close_first closes the order with the greatest holding time Alt + Z
gow3_mm_lot_inc increases the lot size amount Alt + A
gow3_mm_lot_dec decreases the lot size amount Alt + Q
gow3_put_stoplines draws stoplines on the chart Alt + P
gow3_reverses reverses the position -
gow3_ts_inc increments the trailingstop value -
gow3_ts_inc decrements the trailingstop value -


To enable the default hotkeys, you will need to copy the hotkeys.ini file found on the package, and then paste it under the “profiles” folder of your Metatrader folder.

GOW, as an expert advisor, also has a default hotkey (ALT+L). This would also work if the hotkeys.ini file is installed on Metatrader.

gow3_mm_lot_inc & gow3_mm_lot_dec increase or decrease the value of a given money management parameter. The parameter to change depends on the chosen money management setting. For the default setting (money_management = 0), the parameter value being changed is the lotsize.

gow3_reverse reverses the position on the chart. For example, if there is an existing buy order, executing the script would prompt GOW to close the buy order and open a single sell order. All active orders are closed prior to the entry of the opposite order.

Assigning Hotkeys to Scripts

Assigning hotkeys to scripts results to an even faster and easier execution of trades using GOW. Here are the instructions on setting hotkeys.

1. Go to the Navigator Window 2. Right-click on the script you want to assign a hotkey to 3. Select Set Hotkey 4. The Navigator Hot Keys window would appear. Assign the desired control and key to the script.

Controlling Orders Opened by Other Expert Advisors

There are cases where traders only wanted to use GOW for closing or modifying orders, while the opening of orders are handled by another EA. GOW can be configured to sync with the other EA, by letting them share the same magic number.

Extended Version

GOW Extended provides more complex scripts that could assist the trader in manual trading. Please see GOW Extended