ForexMorningTrade System

[Magicpip]

I couldn't agree more....

I return to the thought that the best thing to do is decide on a decent setting and stick with it. I think if I were to analyse each month's best set and use it for the next month the end result would be worse than any other!

Here are a few facts to support the 'leave it alone' theory:

191 trades for the last exactly 12 months:

FMT1 40/40 +1880
by putting in BE @ 20 you'd have 1800

FMT2 35/40 with BE @ 20 +1685
if you ignored break even resets, +1665 (Hey where's the big difference?)

10/40 +1260, with 93% winning trades

28/40 +1812

20/40 +1180 (quite a useless setting really!)

so at the end of 12 months is there really a meaningful difference between a set that gets you 1665 and one that gets you 1880? I say not. It's only the difference between 2 or 3 trades going to TP instead of SL

I tested this theory and added one more setting: Based upon Hammy's settings of 45 SL, and 25 BE and the optimal trading time of 6:15 and 6:30, I backtested 45SL, 25 TP with no BE. Used TMT to trade between 6:15 - 6:30 so only 1 SL would be risked. Changed the ADR filter to False so that basically it trades the same as FMT, except you have a variable trading time of 6:15 or 6:30, and only 1 SL risk.

The 45 SL/25 TP beat all of the above trading times by over $1000 with less drawdown. I tested between Jan. 16 - March 26, and then March 26 - today, changing the time for DST on March 26th.

I tested with 6% risk:
40/40 w/20BE +5 $2594
35/40 w/20 BE +5 $2448
10/40 $1221
28/40 $2424
25/45 $3623
20/40 $2050

Trading has changed significantly between January and today.
40/40 (the lowest earnings from March 26 to today) only earned $375 (if you traded everyday).

Compared 25/45 (the highest earnings from March 26 to today) with $1207.

If you had started out with 40/40 in January and switched to 25/45 March 26th, you would have earned close ($3426) but not more than 45/25.

The way I see it is to change your strategy when the market changes rather than sticking with the same old strategy. That's why EA's are updated periodically and they are the ones that work, compared to EA's that aren't updated and end up as losers. Mark's settings were updated because the market has changed.

Anyway, my 2 cents worth.

 

[RobM.]

EDIT: FMT EA does an MQL4 OrderSend() request which is exactly what happens under the covers when you trade manually.


I am a software engineer working on client/server applications - "no connection to trade server" means that the client (your MT4 client) tried to open a socket with the trade server but the trade server was not available over the internet.

This means either your connection to the internet is not working, their connection to the internet is not working, or speciacally their trade server is not listening on its port for new client connections (perhaps because it is already serving too many clients). Since we all had the same issue - its 100% clear - its their trade server refusing connections.

It has nothing to do with your connection, nothing to do with you EA, nothing to do with metaquotes MT4 client. SLM know this very well - why they want to take us all for fools is beyond me - I for one would really like to hear that they have got some problems and what they are doing about it.

I am not an IT tech... *I agree with you though. All signal returns are of the no or slow connection type. Error 138, Error 128, No Connection.*

I have had some cordial discussion with Paul at SLM today, but the one thing about which they remain adamant is that it is not their servers:

"The issue is not in any way caused by overcapacity.
All MT4 servers can handle literally hundreds of simultaneous trades, and if by some chance that was to be breached then they are all dealt with in a couple of seconds at worse, not a minute later. So it is not that."

How does that response sit with you, Magicdogsbrain?

On a slightly different tac, I suggested that they might like to contact Mark Fric to analyse the EA and give it an official approval. To my surprise, it was stated that they had already contacted Mark on this very subject and were looking for a list of about 10 EAs to give 'approval'.

"It may be jumping the gun but... have you, as a company, considered a process of ‘EA approval’...? I know Mark Fric who designed FMT is a very approachable man and there must be many others who would like an SLM stamp of approval for their EA, or such like. That sort of thing would bring a great deal of business your way and a seal of satisfaction to customers."

(SLM) "I spoke to Mark Fric the other day about that exact thing, and we are hoping to do that (although the present issue is a concern).
*
So if you or anyone you know has any EAs you can recommend then we will have a look at them.
I would like to have a list of 10 or so EAs that we have ‘ratified’."

Although some of the correspondence reproduced here has shown an unacceptable attitude from SLM, I do believe they realise it is in their interest to get to the bottom of this.*

They truly seem to believe it is not their servers. Having offered my help, to them today, in any capacity I can, to help them, I found Paul willing to listen.*

Perhaps someone like you, Magicdogsbrain, could call or email them and speak to their technical people to express your views...?

 

[Magicpip]

I would just change brokers.

 

[RobM.]

Rob,

I think we can all relate to this! but the discipline is to stick with a trading set that you're happy with and let it run, but be flexible enough to take on board potential changes that are identified through Marc and those on the forum that post results on other sets. I think as Wise as identified on more than one occasion, it is consistency that pays in the long term, and that readily changing settings, timings, stopping and starting will only frustrate you and add to poor results and drawdown. I for one think we would be all the poorer for not engaging with this brilliant forum, for whilst at times it might frustrate and confuse, but for the most part it is educational, inspiring, uplifting, serious, light-hearted and honest! - I feel our trading success can only benefit from the excellent range of views and information it provides:smart:

Indeed! It is an excellent forum, with folks pulling together in every way.

I am actually very disciplined and never alter my trades and growth has been good; in particular my current toying with high risk 10/40... Sitting back and letting it happen without emotion is the hard part. I think when another six months has passed it will be much easier!

Thanks for your comments.

 

[RobM.]

I would just change brokers.

That's always an option, of course! If we can help them to help us it might get resolved more quickly. The prospect of reliable, automated, MT4, tax-free 'trading' is very appealing.

 

[coral]

Earlier I said I was looking for a plan for a smaller account. As I have checked all the trades since Jan 2010 under the current default setting, I decided to display it in chart form using the Turbo with a small twist.

This shows a $2000 account compounded at 10%. The test started on 29 March 10 and ended on 29 Apr 2011. The lighter vertical lines show the time changes on 30 Nov 10, then the Xmas break from 18 Dec 10 to 9 Jan 11, then the time change on 27 March 11.

The test uses TMT and looks for a trade at 06:15 UK. If there is no trade, it then looks for a signal at 06:30. Data sources: Dukas ticks @ 99% accuracy, with fixed 2.5 pip spread to reflect my current broker (conservatively). I also used the Alpari platform with 90% accuracy download as a double check, along with my own platform (Go Markets).

Settings:
40SL- 35TP - 25BE - 5 BE pips trading at 06:15 or 06:30 UK
Indicator boundaries - off
ADR filter - off
Long Candle filter - true
Money Management true @ 10%
No partial profits or trailing stops

It's nice to dream, and this is just an indicator of the past, though a pretty good one. However, the power of compounding is obvious.

The losers on Good Friday and the two losers from last week are in the chart. In the first test segment from Apr to Oct 2010, there was 27% drawdown near the start.
Before the Xmas break, there was a 23.8% drawdown. In the Jan/Feb 2011 period there was a 31.2% drawdown. In April there was a 27.4% dd.

As an aside, the performance of this setting from Jan to end of Apr 2010 is about the same as Jan - Apr 2011. May was not great on some settings last year because of the election silliness in the UK and other stuff (I remember this vividly from my trading) so I would expect a better May this year barring more surprises.

This will be one of my options for the riskier and smaller account. My aim would be to grow this account to an appropriate level and then switch to fixed lots and more moderate risk, for income, at some point along the curve. I would never trust a broker with 255 lots at the end of this particular curve or even 75 in the middle, let alone the funds to trade them.

Good weekend all.

 

[coral]

My results (I'm trading only 06:15 on live acct) this month and ytd.

 

[uberpips]

I am trying to run strategy tester during markets closed and the spread is locked at 100 on mt4. Really bad results from an awesome strategy.

Can this be modified? No wonder I get different results at different times!

 

[deserteagle]

I am trying to run strategy tester during markets closed and the spread is locked at 100 on mt4. Really bad results from an awesome strategy.

Can this be modified? No wonder I get different results at different times!

Hi, before running the strategy tester you should set the spread. There are some scripts to do that like Spread Generator, or you can do a simple trick which I have detailed in this forum page 1132. Good luck.

 

[uberpips]

Hi, before running the strategy tester you should set the spread. There are some scripts to do that like Spread Generator, or you can do a simple trick which I have detailed in this forum page 1132. Good luck.

Thanks. How do I jump to post 1132? This is my first forum.

And how do I show an avatar pic?

 

[deserteagle]

Thanks. How do I jump to post 1132? This is my first forum.

And how do I show an avatar pic?

To jump page 1132 you can navigate in the page numbers showed above the posts.
About the avatar, look at the User Control Panel.

 

[entoure]

I am new to FMT . Just wondering. If i have the FMT EA running on my computer at home. And i also have the EA open on my laptop at work ( same Login, same bank balance etc etc ) ....will the FMT EA place 2 trades instead of 1 trade ?

Also is it possible to have 2 x GBP/USD charts running on the one MT4 . One with say 3% risk. and another with 2% risk ??? Do you just alter the Magic number ? on the 2nd chart ?


Paul

 

[podberry]

I am new to FMT . Just wondering. If i have the FMT EA running on my computer at home. And i also have the EA open on my laptop at work ( same Login, same bank balance etc etc ) ....will the FMT EA place 2 trades instead of 1 trade ?

Also is it possible to have 2 x GBP/USD charts running on the one MT4 . One with say 3% risk. and another with 2% risk ??? Do you just alter the Magic number ? on the 2nd chart ?


Paul

Hi Paul

Welcome aboard

Yes the EA will place 2 trades if loaded on both computers, and of course if both pc's are turned on. You can enable/disable the "expert adviser" tab between the 2 pc's to avoid double trades. Yeah, just change the magic numbers and it will place separate trades

 

[entoure]

thanks podberry, will try it out tomorrow !

 

[shoot2scoot]

The SLM saga goes on. I came across another forum, like us looking to spreadbet MT4 in the UK and found all sorts of complaints including this which is a warning to us all:

"Originally Posted by stimpy
i keep getting slipped through my stop on SLM so beware - a lot of others are too.
Once you start making money, they switch you to what they call their interbank feed. That adversely affects your profitability with slippage and bad fills"

I fear that there is more to this outfit to surface yet. Oh for an honorable MT4 Spreadbetter!

 

[meshgh]

I find that I can relate to this. I started trading FMT mid january, I just did enough demo to satisfy myself on what I was doing was working, yes I knew it wins and looses but as an ex horse race lay betting trader am used to taking a structured gamble.

I didn't even look at this forum till a couple of weeks ago, mainly because I didn't have the time and now if I read it I start to think about settings far too much for my liking and I get very confused with what some people are talking about.

I trade by taking the signal from Alpari and trade it as spread betting on Short Spreads (I have an IG index account too but I only use for stock trading) I get almost identical EP and the spread is only 2 pips. I enter my trade, my SL and TP and just leave it to do whatever it will do. I started in Feb using 40/40 and changed it to 30/30 in April when I missed a couple of TP by a few pips but I increased my trading amount so I was risking/making the same.

I even managed to trade in March using a laptop and internet dongle when I spent a week in Dubai and 2 weeks in the Maldives, out of the 3 weeks I was away I only missed 3 trading days (1 was a no trade and 2 were losses)

I am very new to forex and hoping to use FMT to learn more and I learnt this April not to trade bank holidays, even though my reply from Marc when I asked him was that he does as he doesn't know when the UK holidays are. I keep a journal every day and I learn and change my strategy from that. I had began to realise that we were missing profitable pips by trading at 6:30 quite often whilst on holiday I traded earlier as the internet connection was a bit dodgy so I did it when I could.

My results are:
Feb +320 pips (trading 40/40)
March +400 pips (trading 40/40)
April = 0 (including trading holidays) trading 30/30
May To date +30 trading 30/30

Many thanks for this. Do you know what your results would have been for Feb & March if you had traded 30/30?

 

[magicdogsbrain]

I am not an IT tech... *I agree with you though. All signal returns are of the no or slow connection type. Error 138, Error 128, No Connection.*

I have had some cordial discussion with Paul at SLM today, but the one thing about which they remain adamant is that it is not their servers:

"The issue is not in any way caused by overcapacity.
All MT4 servers can handle literally hundreds of simultaneous trades, and if by some chance that was to be breached then they are all dealt with in a couple of seconds at worse, not a minute later. So it is not that."

How does that response sit with you, Magicdogsbrain?

On a slightly different tac, I suggested that they might like to contact Mark Fric to analyse the EA and give it an official approval. To my surprise, it was stated that they had already contacted Mark on this very subject and were looking for a list of about 10 EAs to give 'approval'.

"It may be jumping the gun but... have you, as a company, considered a process of ‘EA approval’...? I know Mark Fric who designed FMT is a very approachable man and there must be many others who would like an SLM stamp of approval for their EA, or such like. That sort of thing would bring a great deal of business your way and a seal of satisfaction to customers."

(SLM) "I spoke to Mark Fric the other day about that exact thing, and we are hoping to do that (although the present issue is a concern).
*
So if you or anyone you know has any EAs you can recommend then we will have a look at them.
I would like to have a list of 10 or so EAs that we have ‘ratified’."

Although some of the correspondence reproduced here has shown an unacceptable attitude from SLM, I do believe they realise it is in their interest to get to the bottom of this.*

They truly seem to believe it is not their servers. Having offered my help, to them today, in any capacity I can, to help them, I found Paul willing to listen.*

Perhaps someone like you, Magicdogsbrain, could call or email them and speak to their technical people to express your views...?

My interruption was only a few seconds (exactly at 6:15 - on three consecutive days).

It is either overcapacity or SLM playing dirty tricks. I am willing to accept that it is not overcapacity.

In my mind it is not the incidents in themselves that infuriates me it is the way they try to blame everything else. If they admitted - "yes we have to delay some of your entries for a few seconds because we have a lot of folks wishing to trade at 6:15" or "yes we have a capacity issue and we will be increasing our capacity in September" then fair enough - we can make a choice. Blaming everything else (Metaquotes, clients internet connection, client EA) is just dishonest IMHO. I am 100% sure they know exactly why it is happening.

I am undecided if it is a genuine issue that they are trying to cover up (so that they can fix it) or if they are actually doing it on purpose to make more money. If this stops happening then I guess it was the former.

 

[magicdogsbrain]

The SLM saga goes on. I came across another forum, like us looking to spreadbet MT4 in the UK and found all sorts of complaints including this which is a warning to us all:

"Originally Posted by stimpy
i keep getting slipped through my stop on SLM so beware - a lot of others are too.
Once you start making money, they switch you to what they call their interbank feed. That adversely affects your profitability with slippage and bad fills"

I fear that there is more to this outfit to surface yet. Oh for an honorable MT4 Spreadbetter!

The biggest issue for me was a few weeks ago when they stopped streaming prices when a FTM trade was still active. the price (on other brokers) moved into profit more than 20 pips ( FMT would have set SL to BE) then went negative. On SLM the price stream came back on line when the price was negative (so FMT did not get chance to set SL to BE) so I got full SL.

I think I am right in saying that this price feed freeze happened to everyone with a SLM account. (only on GU).

The stupid thing about this is that I would love to trade a LOT more with SLM. I traded something like 20 lots on my ECN broker last week - if they would sort these issues out and start treating customers with a bit more respect (and stop treating us like idiots) then they would certainly make a lot more money out of me.

Who knows - maybe I am wrong about them. Maybe Paul actually thinks it is FMT that is causing this issue and genuinely has no idea how his platform works. I am not sure that is a better situation!

 

[magicdogsbrain]

I will say that all the problems I have had with SLM have mostly occurred at around 6AM (+/- 2 hours). I think that is why FMT/TMT users are getting hit.

Other times seem ok, I even get quite good results scalping with them at 11pm UK time.

 

[tmng]

I just bought FMT system, First time trade was loss -42.6 pips in my live account, Anyone knows that the best setting for the manual and EA?