Robot Success

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 :slight_smile: 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 :slight_smile:

Good luck out there!

~knotthead

Hey Mary!

The bots aren’t that cheap, I agree. However…I made that money back in less than a week trading with it/them. I think you get 9 or 10 of them. The thing is though, I think you can use pretty much any bot that does what it says it is supposed to do…the lot size/TP ratio to account size is the major piece of this. What I would do if I were you…set up a demo account, find an EA that uses the martingale, is very simple, and runs off of one (maybe two) indicators only, run a handful of pairs and follow the lot size/TP schedule above. Watch the demo account for 2 months and see what it does. Demo settings:

$2k
Run 8 pairs - try these: GBP/CAD, GBP/JPY, GBP/AUD, EUR/JPY, EUR/NZD, AUD/JPY, AUD/CAD, USD/CAD
Set your lot sizes: .01 for first position, .03 for second position.
TP target: $0.50

Note, the draw down will follow the profit for a while. Eventually the profit will exceed the draw down. When you get the account to $4k, move your lot sizes to .02 and .06 with a TP of $1. Lather, rinse, repeat. After two months if you are making money in your demo account, set up a live account and do the same :slight_smile:

There are a ton of free EAs out there. Grab one that makes sense and start demoing!

~knotthead

Thanks, Knotthead. I got your email a few minutes ago. I saw a Martingale EA yesterday somewhere–have always shied away from Martingale but if you say it’s okay I’ll give it a go.

Mary.

Make sure you know just how the EA works. For instance, the ones I use open a small sized position first, then if the same actin signal happens again it opens a triple position…but then that is it, no more martingales. Just make sure you know how the EA works and what the correct settings are…and demo demo DEMO before tossing it on a live account!

~knotthead

1 Like

Hi,

As a long time reader of this forum and BabyPips in general I decided to join now because I stumbled over this thread and there is this question I wanted to ask you: How can a system be seen as profitable if the equity is negative? You put in some 39k, you spent 800 on interest (as per July 19) and your equity is now around 35k? Which for me looks like a loss, realized or not.

I am basically doing / testing a very similar system - small TPs, no SL and no Martingale but with some 50 profitable (in backtesting) EAs. I make a string of small wins every day but my equity becomes smaller and smaller since some pairs do not come back and probably never will (actually they will but by then the rollover fees will have bankrupted me).

But maybe I am seeing things wrongly so please explain - maybe I am profitable after all.

Thanks
Alp

Thanks for you post Alp!

Yes, I am trying to grow my TP levels…so when I get to the next key level, I up my lot sizes and TP targets. At some point in the not so distant future, I won’t up my lot sizes when I get to the next key level…thus my open position deficit should remain the same but the profits will continue to roll in. I normally see a positive equity just as I am hitting the next level. I up the lot sizes and, like clockwork, my equity goes lower. I’ve been pushing the system over the last 9 months to try and grow the monthly profit (not counting the open positions draw down). Again, when I get to the next level where I am “supposed to” up my lots, if I don’t, I’ll be making more than my open positions. I’m not going to move lots or TPs for the next 4-5 months just so the account gets back into black.

~knotthead

Thanks for your posts too and thanks for accepting the fact that if we lose opportunities because of the fear of losing, than we cannot earn enough and you talk like an expert trader, so I will consider you to be one. Thanks for your valuable suggestions which you are sharing here.

Hi Knothead,
Your system sounds interesting. I have been involved with forex for about 5 years during which time I’ve lost mostly.
About two years ago I decided to not trade but run a demo until I found something to work. Now 88 weeks later I have found success having turned $5000 into $50000. I use Blessing 3_v3.9.6.09 (free), with a set file that I use on any pairing.
I use 4 hr charts with Bolinger Band entry, .01 starting lot, 2.3 multiplier, have 8 lot max for any trade, and use hedge trades from lots 6-8. TP’s vary from 50 pip on single trade down to 20 pips for a full 8 lot trade(if it gets that far, which has only happened once so far) Drawdown for an 8 lot trade is $9000 - $10000 (depending on pair) for 1000 pips including margin.
So far the ave. no. trades per week is 26 averaging $14.50. A trade to me is one that closes with a profit that may have 1 to 8 lots.
Be interested to hear back from you.
Froggy60

Hey knotthead! Do you use a vps?

Hey Froggy! Thanks for the post.

I like the sound of your system! 4H charts and you are still getting 26 trades a week. Love it! If you keep the lot sizes the same but make your TP smaller…do you think you would get more trades that way (i.e. more trades at a lower risk and quicker TP vs. fewer trades - not that 26 per week is bad - with a larger TP)? Then again, a 4H timeframe should definitely see 20-50 pip movement. I used to trade stocks using the dual Bollinger Bands (20-1, and 20-2). It’s a good system. Demo is a bit different than live. In my findings with the current system, live did better than demo.

The big thing with these sorts of system is the draw down…and many people can’t get passed that. I think of draw down as inventory. Sure, that position is pulling my equity down at the moment…but so would inventory in a store. Just like shoes on the shelf, the money to put those shoes on the shelf will eventually work for you. Same goes for open positions. and, on occasion, just like shoes, you have to let them go and take a small hit in order to free up room on the shelf. $10k in draw down would be a bit hard for me to manage at this point…but as long as you have margin to cover then you’re rockin and rollin! :slight_smile:

So, with your system, do you base lot sizes off of you account total? How do you ensure risk is the same as the account grows? How does the draw down amount compare to your profit? For me, I see black when I get to the next level for me to raise lots again. Soon enough… I’ll stop raising lots and let the profit continue to roll while the open position draw down levels off.

Thanks for sharing the EA info! I’ll definitely download it and play with it on a shorter time frame.

Good luck and keep me/us posted on how it goes!

~knotthead

Hey Chineseguy!

I used to run a virtual box through Amazon Web Services. The cost wasn’t bad and it was pretty reliable. I moved all of my stuff to a local machine though. There were a couple of instances where I couldn’t get in and/or the VPS rebooted…so my EAs weren’t taking profit. So I moved everything to a local box. I have three MT4 instances running;…So far so good!

~knotthead

I’m not sure if you have used Blessing EA from your comments, but it has an automatic Money Management feature(LAF) that increased the starting lot size according to account size. I have LAF set @1 which even with a pair apportioned $25000 it still starts with .01. If the LAF were say 5 the starting lot would be .03 or so. I reasoned by keeping the LAF low I can run more pairs. The pairs that have produced the best are- Gbp/Aud, Eur/Aud, Eur/Nzd, Eur/Cad, Gbp/Chf, Gbp/Jpy for me anyway. I used only 16 pairs for 80% of the time, with each currency involved in 4 pairings only. I figured that spread the risk because usually only 1 or maybe 2 will produce a big run because of a major decision or event. Brexit was a good test for my set files. I only had Gbp/Usd and Gbp/Aud running at the time. Gbp/Usd had 2 700 pip drawdowns that day with 23 trades resulting in $850 profit. The 1000 pip drawdown I had was Eur/Cad about a month ago. To hit my TP (which was 20pip) it had to retrace 150 pips and has since dropped another 400, so if your account and or system can stand the drawdown the profit will come your way, in this case $690 for 4 weeks wait. If you want more detail on my settings let me know. Cheers
Froggy60

Thanks Whack Attack!

What I am doing (or trying to do) may not be for everyone. I’m just trying to be upfront and transparent in what I am doing. If something is working (or at least has the potential to) then I’m all for sharing experiences. If a system or a refocus on lot sizes based on account size works and I make money, then why wouldn’t I share that? If you look back at one of my original posts, I think I said something along the lines of “Why do people feel the need to charge for system info if their system works? Wouldn’t they make enough money with the system? Why would they need to charge traders for that info if their system is working so well?” I’m not saying my trading process is worthy of that status but I do think that sharing your experiences can help others…whether they are good or bad.

Good luck out there!

~knotthead

Hey Froggy!

I haven’t played with the Blessing EA yet…but I will find it this weekend and set it up on a demo account / check out the settings. I’ll definitely load up those pairs and see what happens! Thanks so much for sharing this! If I can get this to work then it will just be another small account churning away! :slight_smile:
~knotthead

Good morning Knothead:

Wow, thanks much for this intriguing info! A few questions, as follows, if you remain tolerant:

1: What proportion of your trades are eventual losers that you will clean house and exit and realize the loss?
2: Since you do not trade losers, what EA trigger is used to execute the Martingale trade? In one point it in the thread it seemed that if a .01 trade was open at the time the RSI found another trade meeting the RSI conditions, it would automatically take a .03 position (vs .01).
3: Forgive my newb status, but what specifically causes a “lock up.”
4: What are the exact conditions that the EA trades the Martingale? You mention after some set number of candles a position has not closed at the TP, or is it simply when the system finds another RSI trigger while a new position remains open?

Thanks
RCloud

Hey rcloud! Thanks for your post.

1: What proportion of your trades are eventual losers that you will clean house and exit and realize the loss?

I only took two loses (manually) which were in May. That was to free up two pairs for trading and to minimize draw down. I did this because my margin was really getting chewed up and my lot sizes vs. account size was a bit ambitious at the time. I have since scaled way back to allow for market fluctuation. - always learning.

2: Since you do not trade losers, what EA trigger is used to execute the Martingale trade? In one point it in the thread it seemed that if a .01 trade was open at the time the RSI found another trade meeting the RSI conditions, it would automatically take a .03 position (vs .01).

Correct, the EA will fire off a trade when the conditions are right (in this case the condition is that the RSI has either hit 70 or 30). If that condition hits again and a position has already been opened by the EA, it then opens a triple-sized position to average up or down - requiring less pips to break even. This is coded into the EA.

3: Forgive my newb status, but what specifically causes a “lock up.”

Locked up refers to the fact that a double position (a .01 and a .03 lot) has opened on a particular pair. This means no new positions will open on that pair until the current open positions close. Locked up means they are not generating money…i.e. they are not trading…just eating up valuable margin :slight_smile:

4: What are the exact conditions that the EA trades the Martingale? You mention after some set number of candles a position has not closed at the TP, or is it simply when the system finds another RSI trigger while a new position remains open?

When the system sees another buy pattern. In the case of the EA I use that would be another RSI trigger. It is the same trigger that fired off the original smaller lot. For instance, GBP/USD goes down to 29 on the RSI…it is way over sold. The EA opens a small long position. The pair goes sideways for a few candles, goes up some but not enough to trigger a TP, goes back down and hits that RSI at 29 again. The EA sees that, sees that there is already a smaller position open at .01 lot size and then fires off the triple position. Now I have two trades open on GBP/USD. No new GBP/USD trades will fire off even if the conditions say it should. Nor will it fire off a counter trade in the opposite direction. After two trades, the pair is locked up until A) the EA closes it for profit or B) I manually close it. There is no stop loss. If the RSI goes down again for a third time, the EA does nothing. There is a two trade limit for the pair…a small lot size and a triple.

I hope these answers help. If you need more clarification let me know. Good luck out there in Forex world!

~knotthead

1 Like

Hi knotthead? How many Ea are you using?

Hey Chineseguy!

I am currently running two EAs (one based on RSI and one based on divergence) but I may pick up a third if the one Froggy mentioned works out :slight_smile:

~knotthead

Does that mean you have 24 pairs running? Eg 2k account using 12 pairs.but with 2 eas that will be 24 pairs?

Hello again Knotthead:
Do you run the EAs from your own desktop, or does it require a separate offsite type of server?
Thanks
RCloud