Our experience:
- Opened first two accounts €10k each may 2011
- account 1 traded down to €500 in 3 major waves. First wave was up €2,500 in two days. We were extrapolating the rate of return to a year and planning to buy Monaco. Two days later - boom! Trade went south €2,700. 1st account in negative territory. Modified strategy and slowed the rate of losses. By august, halted strategy.
- on account 1 then started trading off fib levels on CFD for asx200. No SL but predetermined entry point for short hedging trade. Made 100% return in one month. 75% win rate. All intraday, trading off M30 and H1 with other levels as trend confirmation. Stopped trading since it took too much time but will restart this strategy in EA form later now it is proven
- account 2 went from €10k to €10,160 (whoo-hoo!) in two months. This was long only, no leverage, equities. During this period the market was down 5-10%, so not bad. About 75% win rate again. Parked this since plan to return with leverage, EA and more time
- Second life: discovered FX and MT4
- started with 8k (spent some money on ea’s, indicators. Waste of time! Should have self-built. So had €10k less our costs)
- lost money from August to October on some dumb EAs produced by others
- October to present: every month made money
Conclusion:
- three months tells you nothing
- never trust a backtest
- it appears our new strategy works, but no one is popping champagne here until we have had a profitable year AND doubled the account in size twice
- our prior strategies which worked on CFD and equities still intriguing and will get around to coding them later too
Watch this space. Will post further updates on the journey.