Remotely controlling EA

 

Hello developers,

I recently bought an EA from a developer and he sent me the .exe file with the password to activate it after I shared with him my account number and broker's server. The EA is working now, but how can I guarantee that is will not be disabled out of the blue? I mean, how can I guarantee he will not be able to deactivate it remotely without informing me for any reason?

Thank you all

 
6018777:

Hello developers,

I recently bought an EA from a developer and he sent me the .exe file with the password to activate it after I shared with him my account number and broker's server. The EA is working now, but how can I guarantee that is will not be disabled out of the blue? I mean, how can I guarantee he will not be able to deactivate it remotely without informing me for any reason?

Thank you all

Without having access to the source code, is not possible to tell what protection mechanisms it has. 

It may have hard coded an expiration date. 

If the ea requires enable dll to work or to allow some website urls (if you haven't done these already it means it doesn't) then is likely the developer can control access in an online database also. 
 
6018777:

Hello developers,

I recently bought an EA from a developer and he sent me the .exe file with the password to activate it after I shared with him my account number and broker's server. The EA is working now, but how can I guarantee that is will not be disabled out of the blue? I mean, how can I guarantee he will not be able to deactivate it remotely without informing me for any reason?

Thank you all

if he asked you for account number and broker server , 2 fields that can be attained programmatically via the terminal anyway ,it indicates the lock is for the specified account # and the specified broker . 

But as Michalis said :

If the EA has a dll  ,then these fields are taken from the terminal and checked against a database .

If the EA has no dll and the dev did not ask you to add a website address in the mt5 options then its an internal lock and it will work for as long you use that broker with that account number.

 
Lorentzos Roussos #:

if he asked you for account number and broker server , 2 fields that can be attained programmatically via the terminal anyway ,it indicates the lock is for the specified account # and the specified broker . 

But as Michalis said :

If the EA has a dll  ,then these fields are taken from the terminal and checked against a database .

If the EA has no dll and the dev did not ask you to add a website address in the mt5 options then its an internal lock and it will work for as long you use that broker with that account number.

Thank you Lorentzos and Michalis.

Yes you are right, the developer advised me that the EA will only work on this account with this broker. If I want to change to a different broker/account then I need to inform him so he can reactivate it on the new account. Yet, he did not ask me to add a website address in the mt5 options (it is actually mt4). He only asked me to tick the tick box that says: Allow DLL imports. Does this mean he could be able to remotely deactivate it or force stop it for example, assuming there is not expiration date

Regards,

 
6018777 #:

Thank you Lorentzos and Michalis.

Yes you are right, the developer advised me that the EA will only work on this account with this broker. If I want to change to a different broker/account then I need to inform him so he can reactivate it on the new account. Yet, he did not ask me to add a website address in the mt5 options (it is actually mt4). He only asked me to tick the tick box that says: Allow DLL imports. Does this mean he could be able to remotely deactivate it or force stop it for example, assuming there is not expiration date

Regards,

It could be various scenarios 

1) he created the EA After you provided him the account number and broker and he hard coded it to only work with these. 
The fact that it requires a password thought could mean that the password required could change every month, year

2) he has an EA file he sends to everyone and has an online database where he grants and revokes access.
In such a case he can terminate the access. 

If you provided the account number after he gave you the ex4 then he can definitely revoke the access 
 
Michalis Phylactou #:
It could be various scenarios 

1) he created the EA After you provided him the account number and broker and he hard coded it to only work with these. 
The fact that it requires a password thought could mean that the password required could change every month, year

2) he has an EA file he sends to everyone and has an online database where he grants and revokes access.
In such a case he can terminate the access. 

If you provided the account number after he gave you the ex4 then he can definitely revoke the access 
6018777 #:

Thank you Lorentzos and Michalis.

Yes you are right, the developer advised me that the EA will only work on this account with this broker. If I want to change to a different broker/account then I need to inform him so he can reactivate it on the new account. Yet, he did not ask me to add a website address in the mt5 options (it is actually mt4). He only asked me to tick the tick box that says: Allow DLL imports. Does this mean he could be able to remotely deactivate it or force stop it for example, assuming there is not expiration date

Regards,

Yeah 2 is more likely if it requires a DLL , unless the DLL is for going directly to his/hers social media via a button . So yeah he can cull it at anytime probably , or if the server goes down , poof.

Unless he/she is using a blogspot with a domain name and the license is the existence of a url on the site then it will collapse when google collapses.
 
Lorentzos Roussos #:

Yeah 2 is more likely if it requires a DLL , unless the DLL is for going directly to his/hers social media via a button . So yeah he can cull it at anytime probably , or if the server goes down , poof.

Unless he/she is using a blogspot with a domain name and the license is the existence of a url on the site then it will collapse when google collapses.

Thank you both. This is really useful and I am learning a lot from you. 

Yes, most likely it is scenario 2 because he is selling the EA to many people, not only me so it is ready with him. He sells a free version that only works with demo accounts for you to try it first. Then if you decide to buy the real version, he will send you the .exe file and password once you send him the account number and server.

Is there ANY way to prevent him from revoking the EA at all?

 
6018777 #:

Thank you both. This is really useful and I am learning a lot from you. 

Yes, most likely it is scenario 2 because he is selling the EA to many people, not only me so it is ready with him. He sells a free version that only works with demo accounts for you to try it first. Then if you decide to buy the real version, he will send you the .exe file and password once you send him the account number and server.

Is there ANY way to prevent him from revoking the EA at all?

No , you'll have to trust him .