How to Sell an Expert Advisor in 2026 (and Keep It Yours)
Short answer: you can sell an Expert Advisor on the MQL5 Market (MetaQuotes keeps 20%), from your own website with a licensing system you maintain, as custom work for clients, or as an editable strategy on a marketplace such as TradeSmithy's (5–15% commission by plan). The right channel depends on whether you want to sell a sealed product, a service, or the strategy itself.
Where can you sell an Expert Advisor?
| Channel | What you sell | Platform cut | You handle |
|---|---|---|---|
| MQL5 Market | A compiled, protected product | 20% of each sale | Passing automatic validation, support, updates |
| Your own website | Compiled files plus a licence | Payment processor fees | Licensing, piracy, payments, marketing |
| Freelance (MQL5 Freelance, Upwork, Fiverr) | Your time, per job | Platform commission | Scoping, revisions, client management |
| TradeSmithy marketplace | An editable strategy graph | 15% on Pro, 5% on Premium | Building and describing the strategy |
MQL5 Market
The largest audience of MetaTrader buyers, built into every terminal. You upload a product, it must pass MetaQuotes' automatic validation (it is run in the tester on several symbols and must not error), and buyers receive a protected file tied to their account. MetaQuotes takes a 20% commission and holds each payment for a week before it can be withdrawn. Competition is intense, and buyers there have seen a lot of over-fitted products.
Your own website
The most margin and the most work. You need account-locking or licence-key code in the EA itself, a way to issue and revoke licences, and a plan for cracked copies. It suits sellers who already have an audience.
Freelance development
Not selling an EA so much as selling the ability to build one. Converting TradingView strategies and manual systems into MT4/MT5 EAs is a steady category of jobs. A visual builder is a legitimate way to deliver them faster — the client receives normal MQL source.
A strategy marketplace
Here the product is the strategy itself, delivered as something the buyer can open, read, edit and export. On TradeSmithy, a buyer receives their own copy of the node graph — what transfers is described here.
What makes an EA sell?
Across every channel, the listings that sell share a few traits:
- Clear logic. "Trades pullbacks to the 50 EMA in the direction of the daily trend, one position at a time" beats "AI-powered smart algorithm".
- Honest evidence. A backtest with realistic costs and its drawdown shown, ideally one the buyer can trust was not doctored.
- Stated risk. Maximum positions, stop logic, whether it grids or averages down.
- Requirements up front. Symbol, timeframe, minimum balance, and any custom indicators it depends on.
How do you stop a strategy being resold?
A compiled EA can be shared; an editable one even more easily. The defences differ by channel:
- MQL5 Market ties each copy to the buyer's MQL5 account and limits activations.
- Your own site relies on account-number locks and licence checks you write.
- TradeSmithy records where every purchased strategy came from. A buyer's copy carries its origin, and the platform refuses to publish any project that was bought — so a buyer cannot relist your strategy as their own. The purchase licence says so in plain words: a buyer gets their own copy to use, edit and export, but not the right to resell or republish it.
How does selling on TradeSmithy work?
- Publish from a project. A finished graph becomes a listing with a price up to $1,000. Publishing is included on Pro and Premium.
- Attach proof. You can attach a backtest our own runner executed on that exact graph. Change a period or a wire and the proof no longer matches, so it cannot be recycled onto a different strategy. Buyers see it before paying.
- Nothing leaks before payment. The listing shows which indicators and actions the strategy uses, never its periods, thresholds or wiring.
- Buyers get backtest runs. Each purchase includes 3 backtest runs, so a buyer on any plan can test what they bought.
- Getting paid. A sale credits your wallet immediately, minus commission — 15% on Pro, 5% on Premium. Sale earnings become withdrawable to a crypto address 14 days after the sale, with a $50 minimum; payouts are reviewed and sent by hand within 5 business days.
Start selling what you build
If you already trade a strategy that works for you, the listing is most of the work done. Start free on TradeSmithy to build and export it; upgrade to Pro at $19 per 30 days when you are ready to backtest it on our servers and publish it.
Frequently asked questions
How much commission does the MQL5 Market take?
20% of each sale, according to the MQL5 Market rules, and each payment is held for a week before it can be withdrawn.
Can I sell an EA I built with a no-code builder?
Yes, as long as you have the rights to the strategy. TradeSmithy exports normal MQL source that you own; on its marketplace you can sell the graph directly.
Do I need backtest results to sell an EA?
Not always, but listings without evidence sell poorly. A backtest the platform itself ran is more persuasive than a screenshot.
Can a buyer resell a strategy they bought on TradeSmithy?
No. Purchased projects carry their origin and cannot be published to the marketplace.
Keep reading
Selling a strategy in the marketplace — what the buyer actually receives
An editable graph, not a locked binary. Here is what transfers on a sale, what a listing can never leak before payment, and how the commission works.
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