Robot Targeting GBP/USD

[rttrader11]

In May this year I placed a “Robot FX Trading Strategy” on Ebay only to find that you cannot sell to the International market unless you have previously sold items on ebay.
The advert sat on ebay for 1 month but I had no enquires from within the UK and so let the advert expire.
I was still surprised that no one here in the UK enquired about the Robot and a WebMate suggested I join this forum and ask its members what their assessment of the Robot was as this would help me gauge demand for such things. The Robot is not up for sale anywhere on the web these days but I am interested to know how many people are interested in such things and if people are interested in long term strategies or only interested in fast (get rich quick) strategies. This will help me determine how to move forward with this.

My webmate is a day trader, where the Robots approach is long term and he thinks there is no interest in Long term strategies as people want things today that are Fast like their food he says. He also thinks that few even know how to read these back test reports and that Tradestation is not that popular in the UK and is mainly used by traders in the states and Canada (is that true?).


So I have attached the full back test for you all to view and those with experience of Tradestation reports will need to know the following:
Stop=$400
BreakEven=$400
£30 commissions factor in.
No Profit Target
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For those with no experience of reading back tests I offer the quick guide below:
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Any Automated Trading Strategy can be Back Tested but if the Test is not run over the Entire Data Set (Market History) then it is not worth as much. You could easy make a Robot that looked Brilliant over the last 2 or 3 years but then if somebody started using it for real, they could get a very quick and nasty shock (wipeout). So the minimum you should look for is the FULL Complete Performance Report. (This was at the time of making it in April this year)
Then before you look at the report you should look at a chart (rt1.jpg) of the Market on which it was run so as to get an idea of the Market conditions the Robot had to deal with. If the Market went straight UP or Straight Down over the testing period then it would not be hard to Trade that Market well, but what happens when the Market Turns or goes Sideways in the future.

First you should look at the settings page to see what the Testing Period was "Start Date/End Date". Note that TradeStation allows for back testing from October 2002, Other platforms will be different.
Then look for "Commissions", on this report you will see it is $15 (Thats $15 in and $15 out = $30 per Trade {The Spread})
If NO Commissions are factored in then be careful especially if the Robot makes a lot of trades. Remember, Lots of Trades = Lots of Risk.
"MaxBars Back" means how many Bars of DATA the Robot needs to make its first calculation. Here you see it set to 50 which is the default setting and tells you that 50 Bars of
the Highest Data Stream (Day) are needed before the Robot will START looking for a Trade. Note, normally many data streams are used, this Robot uses 5 Data Streams {3min/15/30/60/Day}.
Robots run at the end of the BAR on a BAR Chart so look to confirm "Look Inside Bar Back Testing" is Disabled other wise the Back Test may be Flawed as the Back Test will assume it got in and out at the price it wanted too but in reality the Robot would not execute the trade until the bar closes and 180 seconds (3mins) can be a very long time in the FX markets.

"Initial Capital" is set to $100,000 which is the default setting for TradeStation and in the Trade list you will see this in the "Shares/Ctrts" column 100000 but the Robot is only Trading 1 Contract and this can be seen by the profit and loss shown for each Trade ( 1 pip = $10) so (100000 = 1 Contract).
Trades 1 contract GBP/USD Spot (1 Contract = Price X 1000 {$1600}, using TS 100/1 margin)
1 pip =$10
I would trade this Strategy with $10,000 Compounding at 10 so when the Robot had made $10k profit (Trade 52) I would start trading 2 Contracts.

Now you are ready to read the report. Go to the TRADE LIST page ( The Most Important page) Start at Trade 1 and work your way through the trades, this way you will get a feel for the Robot and will be able to see all the details of every trade.

1 Buy 11/07/02 10:33 Buy $1.56540 $0.00 100000 $1,270.00 0.83% $3,110.00 94.53% $15.00000 $0.00000
Sell 11/15/02 04:33 SellShort $1.57840 $1,300.00 $1,270.00 ($180.00) 44.98% 39.51% $15.00000 $0.00000


So Trade 1 was a BUY @ $1.56540 and the Trade was $180 Underwater at its worst point and $3110 UP at its best point and in the end it took $1300, minus Commissions $30 = $1270 profit and the trade lasted a week.

Note that this Robot has a Stop Loss setting of $400 and a BreakEven setting of $400 so Losing Trades cost $400 + $30 and a Break Even trades actually lose $30 (Commission).


On the Performance Summery page there are 3 key things to look for. First the Profit Factor {top right}
Next look for Largest Losing Trade.
Then Max. Drawdown (Trade Close to Trade Close) this tells you the worst losing run of Trades.


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I hope that helps newcomers to Tradestation performance reports and remember to let me know what you think of the Robot. It was emailed to some Uk funds that had lost nearly all their Investors money but they showed no interest, I Have my conclusions on why but what’s yours ?

RTTrader11

 

[jimioddy]

Hi rttrader11

I am very interested in automated trading and have looked for people with a similar interest. My findings so far are that no-one is interested. My latest attempt was today’s entry in ‘Anyone scalping the FTSE Futures?’ page 309.

I’ve read various statistics, like 80% of FTSE UK100 trading is done automatically. But what that actually means and whether there is any truth in it is another thing. The people on these forums appear not to use automatic systems.

I tried a couple of commercially available ‘robots’ and had one written for me, but I would never trust something which I didn’t understand 100%. That’s not quite true: tell me what you’re trading live on a daily basis so I can follow and if you are consistently right I would subscribe to your service or buy your product.

Also, you may have put most people off by giving them too much information. You are expecting an awful lot of people to study your results. I suspect that ‘short term strategies’ would get much better attention.

Jimi

 

[pboyles]

Hi rttrader11

I am very interested in automated trading and have looked for people with a similar interest. My findings so far are that no-one is interested. My latest attempt was today’s entry in ‘Anyone scalping the FTSE Futures?’ page 309.

I’ve read various statistics, like 80% of FTSE UK100 trading is done automatically. But what that actually means and whether there is any truth in it is another thing. The people on these forums appear not to use automatic systems.

I tried a couple of commercially available ‘robots’ and had one written for me, but I would never trust something which I didn’t understand 100%. That’s not quite true: tell me what you’re trading live on a daily basis so I can follow and if you are consistently right I would subscribe to your service or buy your product.

Also, you may have put most people off by giving them too much information. You are expecting an awful lot of people to study your results. I suspect that ‘short term strategies’ would get much better attention.

Jimi

Nobody is interested because they know none of this rubbish actually works.

 

[jimioddy]

If the system is based on your research and built around your particular trading style, who are you calling rubbish?

 

[pboyles]

If the system is based on your research and built around your particular trading style, who are you calling rubbish?

Every forex robot is a rip off, if it worked you'd be rich by trading it rather than trying to sell it. So yes it's rubbish.

 

[jimioddy]

Let’s imagine: You trade Forex with your own money and after a while you find some things work better than others. Your habit, let’s call it a ‘system’ works very well provided you apply it consistently and correctly. It may be simple, it might be sophisticated, but it’s yours and it works. You’re not a rich man, nor an institution. Some guys who contribute to this forum seem to make money, why not you? Your uncle, nephew, brother, friend (maybe not you) programs your system for you – it still works, in fact you’re able to improve it! You don’t win every time, but the accuracy with which your system is now applied means that you make more money. You’re cautious, you don’t take out a massive loan and gamble, you start telling other people about your system, only now you refer to it as your “Forex Robot”. People say “You make money?” You reply honestly “Yes”. They say “Yeah Right” and smile. You say “Ok I’ll prove it! Every trade I make I will post on the internet, in real time, as it happens. Would that be proof enough?” After a while they concede and say “You were right!” and you say “Ok, end of experiment”. They yell “No, not likely, I’ve been making good money”. You say “Ok, but it’ll cost you. Pay me x dollars every month and I’ll continue telling you”. Then you start to do the math and think “If I had a thousand friends like this, they would make money (if they were careful), I’d continue to make money, and hey I could make more money from subscriptions than I do from trading. I wouldn’t need to take a loan and gamble, I could up my stake using the cash coming in". Or, "I’d have enough money coming in so I could become rich and could continue with my trading just for fun” – if that’s what you want. But perhaps you don’t trade, perhaps your (currently manual) system doesn’t work after all, perhaps you couldn’t be consistent if you tried, perhaps you don’t have the imagination to play this scenario in your head? Alternatively, maybe you’re right and that scenario just could't happen could it? and "Every forex robot is a rip off, if it worked you'd be rich by trading it rather than trying to sell it. So yes it's rubbish". Yeah, Right.

 

[pboyles]

Ok so post the signals here in real time, just like you suggest.

 

[jimioddy]

Now you're interested?
You concede the scenario is possible?
Yes or No?
Is the question unfair?

 

[pboyles]

Now you're interested?
You concede the scenario is possible?
Yes or No?
Is the question unfair?

I'm not interested, I'm just saying that if you can post live signals then just do it, what excuse do you have for not doing it? Until you do you will be regarded as just another forex robot scammer, like all the rest.

 

[jimioddy]

I have not offered my system to anyone including relatives - it is my risk (my enjoyment), which means I am not "just another forex robot scam". I have posted live signals on this forum and maybe I will again. Did you read look at the charts I posted yesterday in reply to the post you lambasted? Today my system went short on the UK100 at 8:30, price 5449. Whether or not the trade will be successful I don't know. What I do know is it's no pressure on me (it's automatic) and it's more consistent and correct than I could ever be (even though it's following my rules). What is your method of trading?

 

[pboyles]

Your system went short at 8.30 but you tell us at 10. Let me guess that was a winning trade.

 

[jimioddy]

It's been fun sparring with you. My final words are: see the chart, keep an open mind and be nice.

 

[pboyles]

It's been fun sparring with you. My final words are: see the chart, keep an open mind and be nice.

2 losers one winner, what's so great about that?

 

[jimioddy]

This is definitely my final comment to you.

You implied that I lied about the first trade I sent you -
You said: “Your system went short at 8.30 but you tell us at 10. Let me guess that was a winning trade”.

I did not lie. It made 35 points.

If you’d taken the second trade I sent you (well in advance of the success it had), you would have made 75 points. So what? I care no more than you.

My very first trade of the day lost 13 points. Again, so what?

If you'd listened, you'd be at least 90 points up on the day. But you're so smart and the rest are just ignorant - right?

The whole world is not against you. It may seem that way, but look within. Try being nice for once, you may benefit from it. Maybe you have a reputation to preserve on this website, but you’re not Simon Cowell – get used to it.

Maybe I just had a lucky day - guess what I have plenty.

I don't need an apology. I hope this helped you.

Goodbye

Jimi

 

[pboyles]

Just trade your robot, you'll be very rich soon.

 

[jimioddy]

Thanks. Good luck also.

 

[rttrader11]

Hi Jimi,

Thank you for kindly replying to my first post and helping me identify one of the forums members and his 4000 posts to ignore.

I am very interested in automated trading and have looked for people with a similar interest. My findings so far are that no-one is interested. My latest attempt was today’s entry in ‘Anyone scalping the FTSE Futures?’ page 309.

Many are interested jimi otherwise we would not see all these Con men coming out of the woodwork. I know many that are interested in ATS but they are all over seas and my post is my first attempt to gauge the interest here in the UK and Bingo I now know of You, that’s 1. (please send me a link to your post as I can not see it)

I’ve read various statistics, like 80% of FTSE UK100 trading is done automatically. But what that actually means and whether there is any truth in it is another thing. The people on these forums appear not to use automatic systems.

I think the 80% refers to Money not people.
If people had a good ATS They would be using it.

I tried a couple of commercially available ‘robots’ and had one written for me, but I would never trust something which I didn’t understand 100%. That’s not quite true: tell me what you’re trading live on a daily basis so I can follow and if you are consistently right I would subscribe to your service or buy your product.

Were you able to obtain a complete backtest report for the robots you tried? What platform were they run on?
I do not offer any subscription services nor do I have any products for sale and posting my Trades to this forum would distract me from my trading.
But as you are the first to reply to me I will identify the Trend for you and give you an entry price target (just once mind you) let me know which market you want it on and I will send you a private msg (risk will be 20 and target will be 100{minimum} or until you think the Trend has ended when you have your BEven in place) you can trade it or just watch it for fun.

Also, you may have put most people off by giving them too much information. You are expecting an awful lot of people to study your results. I suspect that ‘short term strategies’ would get much better attention.

I was thinking of the beginners and the information was detailed for those who wanted to learn too read Tradestation reports. I have never been able to obtain a full back test report from any of those conmen and I thought some in this forum would like to see one.
Barclays sold their ATS for 10,000,000,000 (Billion) and that was a fast trading short term strategy robot where my long term robot was available for a while at only 100k.
So I too think the demand out there favors the short term robots and that’s what the conmen are praying on. But did you get your calculator out and compound the report I uploaded, I think quite a few pensioners would be interested in the results and when in the near future they realize their pension funds are gone they will wish they had taken care of their own finances and not entrusted it to others.

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Thanks again jimi, if you have any Q regarding ATS or trading in general send me a private msg and I will try and answer if I can.
Do you use TS, have you used TS?
I see you use etrade for spread betting how is their execution? I have tried Capital Spreads and GFT, CS was a nightmare and I have just about given up on GFT too.