[B]Last week I downloaded and upgraded my Ivybot from version 4.9 to 5.0.
It made no trades last week, one winning one on Monday, and a trade that is currently losing.
I noticed that the MNumber (Magic Number) variable is now included.
Should you now always change the Ivybot’s magic number on a daily or a weekly basis on all four currency pairs?
Should the magic number be the same for all four of the currency pairs or be different for each currency pair?
It seems logical that the magic number should be different on each currency pair, and be changed on a daily basis because if 1,000 or 10,000, etc. people all downloaded the Ivybot and most of them are running with the default settings then there will be too many trades going on with the exact same variables allowing the Forex Brokers to counteract that with their own resources and tools.
FAQ for another EA suggests changing the Magic Number weekly, saying that should be enough. Since the same mn on orders for 2 or more pairs would give the impression of an EA to a broker if they caught it, making them different for each pair makes sense.
That sounds like a bunch of bull to me. Brokers do not care if you use an EA, and they certainly don’t have some kind of system in place to monitor magic numbers, detect EAs, and somehow cause them to lose trades.
If that were the case then everyone’s charts would be different, and they are not… It’s more likely the EA sellers are using that as an excuse for the EAs poor performance.
In another part of this forum and in other forums. The MT4 platform has many spying properties the broker can use. They can put accounts in different catagories that affect the trading and the feed. If they decide to do it, and depending on the broker, they just might.
One person that had worked for a broker said if we knew all the things biased toward the broker in the MT4 platform we would run and hide from it. I do believe it is the best interface for robots anyway. Just be careful about the broker you use. I had a long talk with Forex.com today and the rep flatly admitted they take our trades and many don’t even hit the liquidity providers. The brokers are busy trading their accounts, but they are in business for a profit and they are not immune to fudging or hedging against their smaller customers.
These are not my thoughts, just a repeat of what I have read in very heated discussions in other threads and forums.
Those heated discussions, in my opinion, are nothing more than bad traders looking to blame someone else for their losses.
Brokers not passing your trades to liquidity providers is nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing to be concerned about. It’s a well known fact that most retail forex brokers are market makers. Forex.com isn’t being shady… That’s the standard business model of a retail forex broker.
If brokers are fudging against smaller traders then a simple screenshot will prove it, but I’ve yet to a screenshot showing more than the normal 5 or so pip difference between brokers.
you can change the magic number whenever you want, its just a random number… doesnt mean nuttin, just needs to be different than any other on the chart. Its just a controller for each order so the bot knows when to close your order when the timer rings ot take profit happens whichever happens first
Should you change the magic numbers on Ivybot?!?
Here’s a better idea:- STOP USING IT!
It’s already shown itself in decompilation to be a disaster waiting to happen!
As for other bots, changing the magic number prevents brokers from finding a slew of profitable trades, and trying to determine what magic EA is causing all their clients to make a killing! The thing is, I doubt that this has even happened yet, as there is only maybe one or two commercial EAs that are worth anyone’s time, and they will only get you about 10% on your account per month at best — hardly a “holy grail”, but still a viable strategy. Again, if your strategy is going to work long term, you should NEVER need to invest much to start with ($1000-$2000 is best), and your risk will be low to begin with. Given a number of years, you should have a sizable account should all go well.
As for brokers messing with your trades… I don’t doubt for a minute that there are certain periods where the brokers will bump spreads up at certain times when they expect EAs to “come out to play”… but in my experience, the scalping EAs (which are the only ones seriously affected by spreads), if they are smart enough, typically trade with a fair bit of prejudice and can still slip profitable trades past the broker should a gap in the variable spread present itself
