@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.
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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 
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
I googled how to send PMs on BabyPips and I can’t send one until I’m made 50 posts…
There are many ways of trading with Forex Trading, one of them is the Robot, but I prefer to trade manually as it can allow us to make as much money as we want, while Robots create a barrier of earning as the money not earned is the money lost.
Thanks for the post Whack_Attack!
An old friend of mine once said “I’d rather lose opportunity than money”. While there is some truth to the fact that if I held on to positions much longer (in many cases) I would have been able to “earn” more. However there are two major points at play here. 1) That is a double-edged sword. You can also end up losing on a trade if you don’t take profit at the right time…holding on to it too long and 2) that requires using the human emotion to dictate when to hold and when to take profit. Sure you can set rules to trade by…but eventually emotion takes over. There is a sense of thrill when manually trading…I admit it. I love it. And…EA trading does take the thrill away to some degree. In eliminating the human emotion from my trading I have become much more profitable, less stressed, and I sleep at night not having to worry about whether I should close a trade. The bot takes all of that out of the equation and the system takes the worry of margina calls out of the equation as well. So if you set your bot to open, close, lather, rinse, repeat…and you put your trading strategy into a bot that does all of the work for you…where is the downside here? It’s still your strategy, you’re just not having to watch charts all day and physically pull the trigger each time. Take for instance this morning (or most mornings for me). I wake up, check my Myfxbook and see that I have had roughly 30-40 trades overnight during the Asia-Europe sessions and I’m already up $100+ for the day. The bot made money for me while I was sleeping. I didn’t have to stay up all night watching 16 charts and pulling the trigger in order to achieve that.
Again, to each their own. I too enjoy trading manually and I do it in a smaller account, only trading price action reversal patterns. It’s fun and more of a hobby. My bot accounts just keep churning for me and is my bread winner.
Trade what works for you. This is working for me and I’m ecstatic each morning. Let me know if you have any additional questions…always happy to share my experience. Good luck out there!
~knotthead
Hi, Knotthead. Just got your email but BabyPips won’t let me reply… Or something. Says I “don’t have permission…”
How about if I post my email here and then immediately edit or delete it? (I know we’re cautioned about posting emails, or other personal info) Oh, wait, you’ve already go my email, correct? Then I guess you’d have to not use babypips for me to reply.
Mary
Hey Mary4x.
Don’t put your personal stuff up here. You might start getting tons of spam (since this is a public site) or worse, may get some phishing attempts tossed your way. I sent you a second message. Let me know if you received it.
Also, I’m trying to be as transparent as possible with this “strategy”…if you want to call it that. To reiterate, my main focus for this thread was that in order for any trading strategy to work (whether automated or not) is to be conscious of your lot sizes and take profit targets…and base them conservatively off of your account balance. That way you are risking the same percentage (roughly) on each trade whether you have a $1K account or a $1M account. Somehow this has shifted to a bot vs. manual trading ping pong match
Good luck to all out there!
~knotthead
Hello Knothead
It seems that you are an expert trader and for you it would be easy to lose opportunity than money as you will be knowing when the next one will arise, I was talking about the newbies like me, we should not give away opportunity, instead if we lose while taking it, we will have the most valuable thing of Forex and that is experience. While if we don’t take opportunities because of the fear of losing, we ain’t earning anything.
Hi, Knotthead. I just now tried to send you another message the way the last one was sent. BabyPips stopped it. Just wanted to say that I’d love to try the robot but I don’t have the $$$. Thanks, though. Maybe sometime in the future.
Hi Knotthead - Did you receive my inbox message I sent per your request?
Thanks,
Pacificscorpion
Thanks for the post Whack_Attack.
I’m no expert. When I start living off of my trades I might consider being good at it…but I’ll never be an expert Definitely trade a system that you are comfortable trading. If trading manually and holding on for the big winners is something that is working for you then by all means do that! I was trading purely price action signals at support and resistance lines on the daily charts and really enjoyed it. With the daily charts it meant that I only really needed to watch it once or twice a day for about 20 minutes. Prior to that I felt like I was watching charts all day. To minimize the need to look at and analyze chart patterns, I switched over to mainly trading with EAs. For me it is less stressful and frees me up to do other stuff…plus it takes all of the emotional parts of trading out of it.
I agree that if you don’t take opportunities for the fear of losing then you aren’t learning. Just don’t go chasing waterfalls
Good luck out there!
~knotthead