How to Spot an EA Scam: 8 Red Flags
Most EA marketing sells a narrative, not a track record. These 8 red flags filter out the majority of scams before you pay.
Plenty of people sell EAs; very few show you a live account. Before paying for any EA, run it through these 8 signals — the more it hits, the faster you should walk away.
1. Backtest only, no live account
A backtest curve can be shaped into anything. If they can't show a third-party-verified live account (why: Myfxbook verification guide), that pretty curve is just a picture.
2. No Verified badge on the live account
A hand-typed Myfxbook account is no better than a screenshot. It must say Verified by Myfxbook.
3. Hiding the drawdown
Be wary of anyone who shows only the gain and dodges max drawdown. A seller who publishes drawdown is an honest one — drawdown is how you judge the risk.
4. Promises of fixed returns / "guaranteed profit"
Any "X% per month, capital-protected, risk-free" pitch is a red flag. Real trading has no sure thing; a compliant seller gives you history plus a risk warning, never a promise.
5. Manufactured scarcity and urgency
"Only 3 slots left," "price goes up tonight" — artificial urgency exists to stop you doing due diligence. A good product isn't afraid of you taking your time.
6. Heavy martingale/grid with no mention of blow-up risk
Martingale and infinite-averaging EAs show gorgeous backtests but can go to zero in one trend. The strategy isn't necessarily a scam — hiding its tail risk is.
7. No real identity or support channel
No traceable author, no reachable support (e.g. a Telegram bot), silence after payment — these precede a disappearing act.
8. Calling it a "holy grail" after less than a month live
+50% in a week means nothing. Only a record that survives different regimes for 6+ months is worth referencing.
How we do it (check us the same way)
Our live portfolio is Myfxbook-verified end to end, with a 31.7% max drawdown shown openly; every product page links the live signal, and EAs are priced as a discount to the MQL5 list price with the original author credited. Don't just take our word — run the 8 checks. Browse from here, or see managed accounts.
Risk note: margin trading in FX and derivatives is high risk; past performance does not guarantee future results. Only trade with money you can afford to lose.
Keep reading
Once you can spot fakes on Myfxbook, the next step is understanding what each metric means: why Gain differs from absolute gain, the types of drawdown, what Profit Factor is good, and why a high win rate can be a trap.
The biggest trap when buying an EA is faked backtests and Photoshopped P&L. Here's how to verify a real track record with Myfxbook in four steps.
“30% a month”, “10× in three months” — almost always a trap. Using monthly return, drawdown, compounding and real live ranges, this explains what an EA can realistically be expected to make at sane risk, and how to spot the ‘high-yield’ setups destined to blow up.