Am I wasting my time?

stickerman

Recruit
Messages
3
As a newbie to Forex I was hoping to find an EA which would create some kind of regular income. I'm not looking to be mega-rich, just try and beat the losses I've suffered in other (more traditional) forms of investment (now well down!).
Where do you look for a good EA? I have tried various 'independant' review sites and found them very mixed (and perhaps biased). When I 'googled' Forex Funnel I found a site called forexcritic.com. This stated that out of 14 programs tested, only 3 were any good, and Funnel was the best. By accident I found the same site when 'googling' Forex Beater. The site then said Beater was the best one tested. At one point I had 5 sites of forexcritic open at once, all recommending a different program, all being the best of the 3 that worked! Who's kidding who?
So, how do you know where to look (and who can you trust) before risking hard earned cash. FPA has excellent reviews, but it seems all the products have deeply held views, both for and against virtually every product!
Take Forex Funnel as an example. FPA reviews are mixed so I tried Funnel. Having checked very carefully that it was set up correctly, it worked well for a few days (from 5000.00 in a demo account to 5600.00). However, last night it made a losing trade of over 2000.00, with my equity balance down to just over 3000.00. Think it's time for a refund.
Am I looking for the impossible, or just wasting my time? I have a full time job which means I don't have time to monitor a screen. Is it time to go back to busking by the train station at weekends to make ends meet, or can anyone suggest a program that is likely to work over a period of time?
Regrads to all.
 
You are right - a lot of "review" sites out there are nothing other than advertising sites for some of the robots, often owned by the creators of the robots. Others are "wow this is SOOO great, now click on my affiliate link" sites.

I've been tempted to try out some robots, but have held back so far. The reviews are wildly mixed. One reason for extra 5 star reviews is that affiliates want the robot to be rated as highly as possible. There have also been cases of one company trying to wreck another companies reviews.

I recommend reading the reviews carefully. Someone going on and on about a robot being nothing but a license to print money and saying other things that sound like advertising is probably just an affiliate trying to pad the ratings. Someone saying scam with no solid details could be trying to wreck a competitor's ratings or could be so inexperienced that they never got the software installed correctly. Look for reviewers that give good and bad details and who have used the software over an extended period of time.
 
this question strikes a chord with me as i often thought the same and actually did give up several times thinking I am only fooling myself.

As for the bots ect. To my mind before you do anything i would continue to educated myself about Forex and it's workings on a daily basis. I use Babypips and Forex4noobs as well as looking through this site for all the info I might need.

The only way to see if a bot is any good is to write to a vendor and ask as many questions as you can think of (ones that you can't answer for yourself) and see if they are quick in answering you back. If they seem genuine then you may have to spend a little cash to buy the system/platform ect and consider this as a business expense and then read the manual to get started and trade on a DEMO account only for a few monthes to see if it is indeed profitable and you are comfortable using the rules outlined.

I would look at Forex-killer. forex-sniper and forexrobot trader but be careful of this last one as apparently his site and software was hijacked and copied.

basically if you can learn a much as you can and have a go yourself you may be surprised. The best analytical/techical tool you have is inside your head,don't be frightened to learn how to use it
 
I agree with Trenton,
Use your head, but i feel your pain. I too have been hit even though most of my trades were good. One of the problems was that as soon as i place a stop loss ,unless it is wide ,in Eur/usd 150 pisp for example, that my stop loss gets hit. Also placing stop losses over the weekend, at least with my account, can be fatal, if the price goes against you, even temporarily, if the price stays above your stop loss when trading opens, you will take a hit beyond your stop loss. It almost seems that my stop loss orders are being run up. The only way i have been able to make money consistently was when i did not use stop losses or placed them so wide that a hit would hurt me unless my gains are on average 70%. However, i also was playing the odds, so my SL most of the time did get hit. Then i decided to change strategy and always place a stop loss. When i placed a 50 and 30 stop loss in the above mentioned currencies, my stop losses were eaten up in less than half an hour. That troubled me immensely, because it told me that you have to be extremely astute when placing your stop losses. Now, i decided to stop and figure out a more safe way to play this game as a business.
 
nutshell

The only way i have been able to make money consistently was when i did not use stop losses or placed them so wide that a hit would hurt me unless my gains are on average 70%. However, i also was playing the odds, so my SL most of the time did get hit. Then i decided to change strategy and always place a stop loss. When i placed a 50 and 30 stop loss in the above mentioned currencies, my stop losses were eaten up in less than half an hour.

This is EXACTLY it. The point. The failure of technical analysis as it exists and the EA's just follow orders.

If you read Bob Prechter's articles about the troubles that plague investors and how he spells out exactly what happens when you follow either of the great addages,

1 )"Cut your losses short."

2) "Let your winners run."

then you will be reading a lot of words to get the same idea joao has said in a few words (and parsed the annals of trading history).

Because Forex is especially strong trending this is amplified.


2 Fatal Mistakes To Avoid


Fatal Fx #1

Getting in too late! - Volatility on the Chase gets you Stopped Out.

Fatal Fx #2

Getting out too early! - Whether you got stopped out from Fatal Fx #1 or whether you thought the move was over now you're chasing again. Yep - Go directly to Fatal Fx #1 - Do not Pass GO...

[Indicators and EA's have both built in]

Seen the Dennis Hopper ads?

You can't start this journey without knowin' where you're goin'. You my friend, you need a plan. ...

8- )

Cheers,
Cyclon
 
This is EXACTLY it. The point. The failure of technical analysis as it exists and the EA's just follow orders.

If you read Bob Prechter's articles about the troubles that plague investors and how he spells out exactly what happens when you follow either of the great addages,

1 )"Cut your losses short."

2) "Let your winners run."

then you will be reading a lot of words to get the same idea joao has said in a few words (and parsed the annals of trading history).

Because Forex is especially strong trending this is amplified.


2 Fatal Mistakes To Avoid


Fatal Fx #1

Getting in too late! - Volatility on the Chase gets you Stopped Out.

Fatal Fx #2

Getting out too early! - Whether you got stopped out from Fatal Fx #1 or whether you thought the move was over now you're chasing again. Yep - Go directly to Fatal Fx #1 - Do not Pass GO...

[Indicators and EA's have both built in]

Seen the Dennis Hopper ads?

You can't start this journey without knowin' where you're goin'. You my friend, you need a plan. ...

8- )

Cheers,
Cyclon
And that's what i am trying to do now. I have just been trying to come with one.
Are there any decent ones that a person can follow? I have been working on developing my own, but as i said, if i do not place wide stop losses or just do not place them and i trade with the trend the i will be okay, but if i place smaller stop losses of 50 or even 60 pips (eur/usd) and there is enough volatility my stop loss appears to get hit faster than my take profilt. I heard of ratios such as 1:2 but if i place a sl of 50 then i need to aim for a 100 pip gain, and it looks like logically, that going 50 pips one way or another, will certainly be hit before 100 pips; unless i am trading with a strong trend.
 
Back
Top