ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!!:!:
Everyone, there is no such thing as a "Set and Forget" EA. You must constantly be watchful and plan accordingly to Market conditions. I used to have a Portfolio of 5 different EA's that mostly had different strategies. Law of Averages, even with tweaking Settings, this way if one did not perform well then positive performance of others made up for loss's.
Also, we cannot predict "Black Swan" Events like when Japan was hit by that horrible Earthquake and their entire Stock/Forex Market went down. I saw it happen that day with a LIVE Account with 5 EA's running. I hit the kill switch and got out. There were Stop loss's with EA's but this helped to mitigate crazy Trades/Forex loss's.
I left Forex in the positive financially so I could take care of my Mother who was dying. Now I am back but I can tell you right now that I usually Test EA's on Demo for AT LEAST a Month and then LIVE with small investments for another Month and then slowly increase conservatively.
I also have to see which Brokers work best for which EA's. Sometimes Brokers are dishonest and give "Dirty" feeds which mess with your EA etc.
So, if this is any help for your Review and analysis here are some steps.
1. DEMO ACCT. - Set up your EA
2. Pick your Currencies and test the EA on chosen Currencies. (obviously unless otherwise specified. For instance , an EA that is designed to only Trade London Open. 1 HR time Chart)
3. Pick your TIME FRAMES. I like to Test at least two Time Frames per Currency.
4. Set up identical EA's testing on at least three different Brokers. VERY IMPORTANT. I have seen EA's perform very differently from Broker to Broker. Also, is Broker ECN? How tight are the spreads and how clean are the feeds?
5. MONEY MGT. very important. Double check lot sizes input etc.. Also, if EA is Martingale you better watch out. Keep it tight and be Conservative.
6. Set up Financial Goals and withdraw your initial investment when that Goal is reached! This way any Trading after that is the Gravy. Also, some EA's are very volatile and can make you Money as fast as they can trash your Acct.
7. KEEP A JOURNAL- Everyday I would record profit and loss's on each Broker and EA. I had a Template that would look something like this:
Date:
Broker:
EA:
Currency:
Time Frame:
Strategy:
Profit:
Loss:
Total: (for the Day)
Grand Total:
8. I almost forgot, I have not done this yet but will soon. GET A VPS!:!: Less stress on your PC. Less stress regarding internet going down. Electric going down. Getting a VPS is actually one of the MOST IMPORTANT things that you must do when running LIVE Accounts. It is suicide not to.
Your EA's will be MESSED UP if they lose Connections and so will your Pocketbook!
These are just a few tips that I hope may help others in organizing their Trading with EA's.
Cheers,
Pippa
