MQL Defender

Protect your Metatrader indicators and expert advisors
from decompilation, and sell them with secure licensing

Technology by
  • Home
  • How it works
  • FAQ
  • Contact us
  • Bespoke service
  • Admin area

    • MQL Defender is a simple service which protects Metatrader expert advisors and indicators against decompilation, and licenses them securely. It caters for subscriptions and trials, and allows licences to be moved between computers.

    1. Sign up

    • You sign up with MQL Defender
    • We give you an account with our web-based admin console, and a copy of our MQL Protect tool
    • You use MQL Protect to create encrypted versions of your expert advisers and indicators

    2. Setting up clients

    • You use the web-based console (or our API) to create a licence for each of your clients
    • You send each client their unique licence code and the encrypted version of your EX4 file

    3. What your client does

    • The client installs our MQL Defender software (which takes less than a minute)
    • They install your encrypted EX4 file in the usual way (by copying it to Metatrader's Experts directory)
    • The first time your client uses the expert advisor/indicator, they have to type in the unique licence code that you allocated in the web-based console
    • The licence code can only be used on one computer - the client can't give your EX4 file away to friends

    4. Subscriptions and trials

    • The licences you create in the web-based console can have expiry dates
    • Or you can leave licences open-ended, but use the web-based console to terminate them if a client stops paying their subscription
    • Either way, the copy of your EX4 file on the client's computer stops working
    • So, you can cater for both subscriptions and limited-term trials

    In more detail

    Locking licences against computers

    A licence which you issue to a client can only be used on one computer. Once the licence has been tied to a computer, the same licence code cannot then be used on another computer.

    Therefore, the client needs a new licence if their old computer breaks and they buy a new one, or even if they upgrade their existing computer substantially (because, to MQL Defender, this appears to be a new computer). Under these circumstances you issue the client with a new licence, and terminate the old one. Even if the client is telling fibs about the change of hardware (i.e. they're trying to get a second licence for free) the original licence stops working after at most a week - in effect, it has "moved" to the new computer.

    Windows Terminal Services

    Windows Terminal Services presents a challenge because a single computer can be used to host a large number of different people. Potentially, a client could pay you for a single licence and then use WTS to make your indicator/EA available to hundreds of associates.

    The solution to this is simple: when you set up a licence in the web-based console, you can choose whether the licence is allowed to work on WTS. You will normally want to charge a substantial premium for such licences.

    Protecting multiple EX4 files

    You can have multiple EX4 files which share a single licence code. Your client will only be prompted to enter the licence code once, and will then be able to use any/all of the protected indicators/EAs.

    Alternatively, if you have multiple EX4 files which you want to be able to sell separately, we can create a separate record for each one in the web-based console. You encrypt each EX4 file with a different code, and your clients need a separate licence code for each file.

    The licensing API

    In addition to the web-based admin console, we provide a SOAP-based API for administering licences. Any action which can be carried out manually through the console - creating licences, editing licences, terminating licences etc - can be automated by using the API.

    Customer billing and support

    We do not process payments from your customers on your behalf. MQL Defender is purely a technology solution: you update your clients' licences in the web-based console depending on whether or not they have paid you. We also do not provide support to your customers on licensing matters: your customers must contact you directly with any licensing queries they have.

    In even more detail

    For an absolutely comprehensive technical description of the MQL Defender service, you can download and read the documentation which we supply as part of the developer kit: