Where to Sell Forex Indicators and Expert Advisors: Comparing Marketplaces and Direct Sales

Last checked: 12 October 2026. This comparison draws on the MetaTrader 5 Help seller pages, the acceptable-use pages of Paddle and Lemon Squeezy, Paystack’s published Nigerian pricing and third-party fee comparisons for Gumroad. Third-party comparison sites sometimes disagree with each other and with the provider, so check live pages before deciding.

Once your indicator or Expert Advisor is ready, you have to decide where to sell it. The wrong choice can mean a payment account closed without warning or a product page that is never seen. This article compares the main options for MT5 products, with attention to something many guides skip: whether the platform actually allows trading tools at all.

Option 1: the MQL5 Market

What it offers. Products appear on the MQL5.com website and directly in the MetaTrader platform. Purchases are delivered into the terminal’s Market folders. Buyers can download a demo, and the help pages say some products can also be rented.

What it costs. The MetaTrader 5 help gives a 20 percent commission and a 30 USD minimum price.

What it restricts. Uploaded files are validated automatically. A MetaQuotes article lists checks such as array out of range errors, zero divide, invalid trade volumes and stop levels that violate the symbol’s minimum distance. Rules reported by sellers also forbid DLL calls. MetaQuotes has also told sellers to remove links to third-party resources and to provide support through mql5.com comments and messages, not external messengers, and says broker affiliate links inside products are not allowed. Profit promises are prohibited.

Best for. Developers who want to start selling quickly without building a website or handling payments.

Option 2: a merchant-of-record platform

A merchant of record is the legal seller to your customer and handles sales tax collection on your behalf. Examples include Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy and Paddle. Their appeal is global tax handling and easy checkout. Their risk for you is policy.

• Paddle publishes a prohibited-categories list that includes trading and financial services and advice, and names exchanges and trading platforms and investment or financial advice including trading signals and strategies. A pure indicator may or may not be treated as in scope, but you should not assume it is allowed. Ask support in writing before you build on it.
• Lemon Squeezy says it generally allows digital goods such as software. Its prohibited list includes regulated products and get-rich-quick schemes, and also NFT and crypto related products. It encourages you to contact support if you are unsure. Marketing language that sounds like get-rich-quick could put you at risk even if the software is fine.
• Gumroad became a merchant of record at the start of 2025 according to comparison sites. Those same sites report a base fee of 10 percent plus a fixed amount, and a flat 30 percent when a customer finds you through Gumroad’s own marketplace, but the fixed amount differs between sources, so read Gumroad’s current page.

Lemon Squeezy is reported by comparison sites at 5 percent plus 50 cents per transaction, with native license key support. Treat these as indicative.

Option 3: your own site with a local gateway

For a Nigerian seller, a gateway such as Paystack is the obvious route for naira payments. Paystack’s pricing page lists 1.5 percent plus 100 naira for local transactions, with the 100 naira waived under 2,500 naira and the fee capped at 2,000 naira, and 3.9 percent plus 100 naira for international cards. Comparison articles say Flutterwave’s local rate is slightly different and has changed over time, so check it directly. One 2026 guide reports that registering the business with the Corporate Affairs Commission is effectively required to avoid long settlement holds on Paystack, and that Stripe does not offer Nigerian merchant accounts. A separate source reports PayPal began supporting receipts in Nigeria in January 2026 through a partnership with Paga. We could not confirm those two claims from the providers’ own pages, so verify them before relying on them.

Selling directly means you must build delivery, licensing and support yourself. The later articles in this series cover these parts.

Side-by-side summary

• Audience. Market: traders already inside MetaTrader. Merchant-of-record platforms and your own site: only the traffic you bring.
• Fees. Market: 20 percent. Merchant-of-record platforms: roughly 5 to 10 percent plus fixed fees as reported. Own site: gateway fee, often under 4 percent, plus your own costs.
• Protection. Market: encryption and activations built in. Others: you build licensing.
• Risk of being refused. Market: validation and rule compliance. Merchant-of-record platforms: policy on trading products. Own site: gateway due diligence.
• Customer ownership. Market: the marketplace owns the relationship to a large degree. Own site: you own email and customer list.

How to decide

1. If you have no audience, start on the Market so people can find you.
2. If you want more control and have an audience, test an own-site checkout with a gateway that clearly accepts your category.
3. Do not build your whole business on a platform before getting written confirmation that it allows your kind of product.
4. Keep a copy of your product, customer records and licence data so you can move if a platform changes terms.

What we could not confirm

• Whether each merchant-of-record platform currently accepts a standalone MT5 indicator. Policies are written broadly, and enforcement is decided by the provider.
• Exact current fees for Gumroad and Flutterwave. Sources conflicted.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use more than one route? Yes, but marketplace rules may restrict how you refer buyers elsewhere, especially through links in product descriptions. Read them first.

Which is cheapest? The gateway route has the lowest percentage fee, but it also needs the most work from you.

Key takeaways

The MQL5 Market gives audience and protection for a 20 percent commission, merchant-of-record platforms may restrict trading products, and a local gateway gives low fees but puts everything else on you. Get the policy in writing before you commit.

Sources checked

• MetaTrader 5 Help, “How to Become a Seller”, metatrader5.com
• MQL5.com, article on checks a trading robot must pass before publication in the Market
• FX News Group, report on MetaQuotes Market description rules (links, support channels, affiliate links)
• Paddle, “What products am I not allowed to sell on Paddle”, paddle.com
• Lemon Squeezy documentation, “Prohibited Products”, docs.lemonsqueezy.com
• Paystack, pricing page, paystack.com
• Third-party 2026 comparisons of Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy and Nigerian payment gateways (used for indicative figures only)