Robot Success

That equity line looks terrible though

Yeah he took a beating today, 32% equity right now, not sure what happened

I sure did! The market tried its best to hang me. I dropped out of a few trades I had open to ensure my margin was healthier. I was up $150 or so for the week with about 19K margin free and clear. The GBP cross and the EUR spike ate up a ton of margin. I still have a bit left but thought it would be wise to clean house a bit. Nothing drastic, I dropped out of about $100 worth of negative positions and it free’d up a good bit of margin. I’m trying to make sure my margin % is back up as well.

Looking back at my accounts and the market in general I did see there are a couple of weeks in the Spring and then the last two weeks in August as poor performance weeks. I’m just glad that my lot sizes and TP targets were small (again, a percentage relative to total account size) so that I could take the margin beating. My pain tolerance levels are pretty low, so even though I had margin left I was white knuckling it :slight_smile:

I do plan on backing down even further my lot sizes and take profit targets just to make sure no close calls occur. On a few of the message boards I follow…a few people who were using larger lots than they should have got burned yesterday.

This has been working great since last September. I’m not tossing in the towel based on a market hiccup. Moving lot sizes down a hair and will keep on cruising.

~knotthead

Eventually, yes. As the account keeps growing though, closing out some of those positions to let them trade another day isn’t that painful because the lot sizes and negative balance for those trades won’t necessarily be that large. I just did some spring cleaning yesterday (mostly to free up a bit more margin since the market decided to burp). I closed out 6 positions I believe, free’d up a ton of margin, and only took a hit for about $150. Granted my open positions are still at -$13k and my total profit is only at $7200 or so. That wasn’t the case a couple of days ago. Those numbers will re-align over the next week or two. Not worried.

But to answer your question…yeah, you may have to evaluate your positions every once in a while. It took me 8 months to get as many pairs locked up as I had. With a little loss they are back open and free to trade!

Thanks for the question(s)!

~knotthead

Great results till now, congratulations! I hope you can maintain it like that.

And I’m agree with you that the risk management is the key.

Thanks for sharing!

Did you raise the lots during thease days or was just the market responsable of the high DD?

Both. I raised my lots up to .17 and .51 with a take profit of $19. It was aggressive for the account size and then the market decided to burp. I’m pairing back to .12 and .36 and moving the TP target back as well. I also turned some EAs off at the moment and will most likely turn them back on Sunday night just to regroup.

Thanks for the post Charlangas!

Most interesting turn of events. Those that warned that the market will test this was correct. I’m pairing back my lot sizes a bit more to ensure real capital isn’t burned in order to “weather the storm”…i.e. the market turn as of late. I do have a ton of open positions and I may have to close a few out to take a small hit to free them up in order to trade another day. I knew there would come a time when I may need to do a little house cleaning. Well, that time is here. For 8 months this plan seemed to be rolling right along. Perhaps my lot sizes were a hair too large for the account. Perhaps .01 and .03 lots for every $2k in the account (running 20 pairs) was a bit too ambitious. I will close a couple of positions, take a small hit, and slowly as positions close move my lots and TPs back to less-ambitious settings. Maybe the magic number is .01 and .03 for every $5k, $10k even. I have to figure that out. Still there is something to be said about lot sizes and take profits sizes in relation to the overall account size. Hindsight for me is that I didn’t watch the Margin account % number as closely as I should have. Mine was hovering around 100-200 when it probably should have been more around the 500 range. Moving my lots back, closing a few positions, and moving lot sizes back a bit should help to get my margin account % back up to a healthier level. It may take time, but as long as I can maintain my capital (both initial deposits as well as money earned) I’ll live to trade another day.

Just an update. I’m not one to report only good news. The market turned and I’m still here…just not making the same amount I was on a daily basis (until some positions come back).

~knotthead

Salam,

Your trade journey seems to be similar to mine, My problem in trading was emotional attachment to a specific trade and its setup , i researched my strategy over years invented many strategies disposed them at-last found one which fits my needs , my trading is fully automated and supervised by me ,so far i am satisfied with results.Have a look at my results.

https://www.myfxbook.com/members/XharpScalper/elitescalper-ea-signal/1914616

@knotthead - Awesome thread. Would love to learn more about the EAs you’re using as I’d love to test them out on a demo. Tried to Google but came up empty handed.

1 Like

No worries jckbt! Bring on your questions!

I was running 21 pairs and after 8 months I had about 12 locked up. Some were smaller lots sizes and TP targets than others since some were open since September and October when my lot sizes (and acct size) was much smaller. So after about 8 months I needed to do some spring cleaning for two reasons. 1) because I had a few pairs locked up and 2) because the market turned just as I up’d my lot sizes to the next level. When that happened my margin level went way down and I had a ton of pairs open. SO I ended up taking a couple of losses in the month of May (very small compared to my previous months gains - see: MT4 System by knotthead | Myfxbook at the very bottom). I freed up those pairs to start trading again. I also shut the EA off for a few weeks to let the market finish it’s correction. Hence you can see I took a small negative total in May. Also, you can view my trade history and see just how much loss I took. I’m actively running 13 pairs right now and will continue to do so. Free margin levels are way back up (over $20k). I don’t know what the average trade amount per pair is before it gets locked up. I should look into that. The EA does the triple position automatically. So, for instance, a pair hits the 30 line on the RSI and puts in a buy. If the trade continues to go south…after a set number of candles if it is still below or hits the 30 line again, it opens a triple to A) average down, and B) so I only need a couple of pips in the right direction to trump the other position.

I have a 2K account. I am running 9 pairs using .01 and .03 lot sizes with a TP of $0.50. I am averaging about 500 trades in there a month. Check it out here: 1M-EA System by sbknott | Myfxbook

I have been running this 2k account since April 1. I have 3 pairs locked up at this point but they are getting closer to becoming TP winners. Meanwhile, the other 6 pairs are trading like crazy. If they all become locked then you can do a 3-4 pair spring cleaning and keep rolling.

Good luck and let me know if you have any additional Qs. Glad to answer as best I can!

~knotthead

Its ups and downs as always, I’ve been almost killed myself when I lost so much of money.
But after some consultation , I’m still here back stronger and earning living out of it.
See u at the other side ! Good Luck

Thanks for the reply/comment H2T!

Yeah, thankfully I only took a small hit when the market burped. Some others took a pretty good beating. I think that stems from the fact that my numbers and lot sizes were much more conservative than others. Even still, I have backed my numbers back even further. It is working and, given another market test, it should continue to keep chugging along. I am quickly approaching 100% gain in my big account and am over 30% now in the small one I started April 1. Pretty happy with the results. No more “white-knuckling” it if I can help it…hence the even more conservative (less greedy) lot sizes and TP targets.

Good luck with your trading and thanks again for your post!

~knotthead

For those interested in my lot size and TP targets… it’s quite simple. With this ratio your risk is minimal…not saying there isn’t risk mind you. Obviously, the smaller the lot size the less risk.

I’m running 12 pairs (either on 1M or 5M - mostly 1M for me). Here are my current settings.

Acct size: $2k
Lot sizes are .01 for the initial position, .03 for the martingale.
Take profit target is $0.50 - this averages out (depending on the pair) to be about 5-7 pips needed for a TP on the initial position. If a martingale fires off I usually only need about 2 pips in the positive to TP and close both.
Averaging 150 trades a week (currently) that equals about $75 per week, roughly $300 per month

Acct size: $4k
Lot sizes are .01 for the initial position, .03 for the martingale.
Take profit target is $0.50
Averaging 150 trades a week (currently) that equals about $75 per week, roughly $300 per month

Acct size: $8k
Lot sizes are .02 for the initial position, .06 for the martingale.
Take profit target is $1.00
Averaging 150 trades a week (currently) that equals about $150 per week, roughly $600 per month

Acct size: $12k
Lot sizes are .03 for the initial position, .09 for the martingale.
Take profit target is $1.50
Averaging 150 trades a week (currently) that equals about $225 per week, roughly $900 per month

Acct size: $16k
Lot sizes are .04 for the initial position, .12 for the martingale.
Take profit target is $2.00
Averaging 150 trades a week (currently) that equals about $300 per week, roughly $1200 per month

Acct size: $24k
Lot sizes are .05 for the initial position, .15 for the martingale.
Take profit target is $2.50
Averaging 150 trades a week (currently) that equals about $375 per week, roughly $1500 per month

You get the idea. As the account increases to the next “level” you raise your lot sizes and TP targets. That way you risk ratio remains about the same as the account grows. Note: These are my numbers and this results in meeting my comfort level. Prior to these numbers I was running .01 and .03 for every $2K in the account…and though it was churning and burning making me over 10% per month, when the market decided to get testy I white-knuckled it for a month. I have moved my numbers back to a more comfortable level. If I only make 5-7% in a month…I’m perfectly happy with that.

Anyways, just thought I’d share since several folks have asked about the lot size/TP “schedule”.

As always, happy trading and good luck out there!

~knotthead

Robots may be successful in Forex Trading, but I prefer to trade manually. As like that you cannot have control over your trades. Thus I like to have the control on our trades and thus I like to trade manually.

Me too. Trade manually is the best

@Whack_Attack, Alanlim3.

I sure can respect that. I too like trading manually but the elusive thing called time escapes me. I do trade manually in a small account (price action only). It still gives me the thrill of trading whilst my other two bot accounts keep churning :slight_smile:

Good luck out there!

~knotthead

Hi Knotthead,

I am still learning and trying to get the hang of the EA’s. I saw that you said you have a spreadsheet being used for lot calculations. Could you share that with me? Also, any tips on configuring an EA best for this trading plan? I have multiple EA’s but have not been able to setup the configurations quite as you described. My closest attempt resulted in a run away Martingale.
I really appreciate all of the information that you are sharing with everyone.

Thanks,
Pacificscorpion

Pacificscorpion.

Thanks for you post! See post above for lot sizes and TP targets based on account size. I’d like to take the credit for building the EAs I use but I can’t. I purchased mine. Hit me up on a PM and I’ll let you know where I got them.

~knotthead

Hi, Knott. I haven’t posted on BabyPips before (that I can recall). How do I PM you? I’d like to find out where you got the EAs. Thanks.

PacificScorp, do you know how to PM Knott?

Mary4x