Strategy builder and strategy trader software

Trading Discussion
1

I have been experimenting with the Forex Strategy Builder and Strategy trader software and really like it’s functionality. The strategy builder allows you to set the entry and exit parameters from your system and put it in the system and it will go into history taking every trade that meets your criteria and give you a P/L and will also add extra conditions that eliminate as many loosing trades while keeping the most possible winners. I am trying to fine tune some strategies and find this software highly useful as i can instantly see how well my strategy works based on historical data instead of trading on a demo account for a few months.

then with any MT4 broker the Forex Strategy Trader will take strategies designed in the strategy builder and automaticaly trade them.

These are both free programs and i highly recommend trying them out.

2

I am currently testing on a micro account with a $10 deposit with the following rules generated by Strategy builder using 3 months data from the following chart: Eur/USD 5m

Trading Strategy
Automatically generated on 6/19/2010 12:38 AM.

Generated Description
Opening (Entry Signal)
Open a new long position at the Lower Band of Starc Bands* (Weighted, Close, 176, 2.30).

Open a new short position at the Upper Band of Starc Bands* (Weighted, Close, 176, 2.30).

Closing (Exit Signal)
Close an existing long position at the end of the bar when the following logic condition is satisfied:

Moving Averages Crossover (Weighted, Exponential, Smoothed, 13, 21, 77, 83); the Fast MA crosses the Slow MA upward.
Close an existing short position at the end of the bar when the following logic condition is satisfied:

Moving Averages Crossover (Weighted, Exponential, Smoothed, 13, 21, 77, 83); the Fast MA crosses the Slow MA downward.
Handling of Additional Entry Signals
Entry signal in the direction of the present position:

No averaging is allowed. Cancel any additional orders which are in the same direction.
Entry signal in the opposite direction:

No modification of the present position is allowed. Cancel any additional orders which are in the opposite direction.
Trading Size
Always trade a constant number of lots.

Opening of a new position - 1 lot.
Permanent Protection
The Permanent Stop Loss limits the loss of a position to 15 pips plus the charged spread and rollover.

The strategy doesn’t use a Permanent Take Profit.

This is a simple system designed with strategy builder. I entered the stop loss i wanted to use and my account size and the chart i was going to trade and it generated that system. with simulation over the past 3 month my account would have trippled in size if the automated software was running. I also ran a strategy optimizer which changes the settings on the indicator to match your system and yield highest ROI.

So far it is working great only been running on my account long enough to make 1 trade and the first trade was profitable with 9 pips profit. I will post results of trades made by this automated system periodically. Would also like any comments/suggestions from some other traders.

3

The system is overoptimized. You cannot extrapolate future profitability because the strategy builder optimized itself to be profitable for past data.
Adjust the variables of the system slightly (1 point or whatever). If it becomes unprofitable, it is a fact that the system is overoptimized.