Discuss FAPTurbo.com (and FAPTurbo2.com and FAPTurbo3.com)

[S7rik3R]

The profit is always very minimal while the loses is always so BIG. I would say it's kind of horrible. So in general, it don't generate profits cause it's back to square one.

 

[Ken Long]

Yes I will be soon. I have said THAT before. I thought u had abandoned this forum Ken. I learned MLQ4 and C++ at the same time beginning in Sept2008(the GreatMeltDown!) . I stopped trading and withdrew all my funds from 3 accounts. Then the world didnt end and I refunded only 1 account to continue trading(FxPro.com is my only active account at present). That was early in 2009. I learned both languages in that time frame using Internet sources (mostly MetaQuotes website) and copying code snippets from existing EA's. I assure everyone I am no genius,I just had a lot of free time w/o all those bad habits in my younger days. The problem with self programmed EA's is you are never FINISHED! I have NEVER laid eyes on any commercial EA ever.I dont know what these programs offer and I dont care. I simply programmed my manual trading method into an EA. The damm thing does OK too. Today it made over 250 pips on 3 pairs( MT4 Stats - Share your MetaTrader 4 Statements with the world ) I will sell it from my website only-no affiliates needed because I trade for a living and dont really need any sales to quench my Forex thirst. I will offer a free demo so anyone can play 1st before committing to purchase. I have had several offers to sell it already thru affiliates websites but that would double the cost of program. I want this to be a simple offer (maybe 20-30 bucks thru PayPal for program- a little more if someone wants the code) The one downside to this EA is it is Broker specific(FxPro.com so far -adding Alpari US and FXDD soon) . Ken u can do it! Its priceless watching your own creation actually making profits. Unlike my 3 other creations that only take my profits!lol. BTW I take regular trips to malibu beach whilst my EA trades . This is what I originally imagined Trading should be. 4-5 years later i have "just" arrived!

Thanks, thats quite interesting and quite helpful. Now, if I could only curtail some of my habits.. I might actualy get more done.

I've tested quite a few of these commercial EA's, most were a joke. MegaDroid is the only one I ever put on a live account, and its still working. FAPT was very interesting in the begining, mostly because I had no proir experience at all with scalping as a trading style. I came into this market last year, after bailing out of the stock market unscathed, I learned my big lesson in the bear of 99-00, to learn more about very short term trading and mechanical trading. Before that, I was mostly trend trading newsletter recomendations. And watching these EA's trade, and studying the Forex market in general has done a lot for my trading knowledge. However, one of the first things I noticed about MT4 and the mql4 language was the possibility to actually create something. And I've been studying this market, and technical and mechanical trading since then with the goal of, not only finding my place as a manual trader, but also determining the capabilities and weaknesses of these trading programs.

The potentials of the shorter time frames is obvious. As I see it, if one could keep a constant risk level as dictated by the initial stop and the position size, and could keep resonably similar risk/reward and win/loss ratios, then the actual profits per trade should be similar regardless of the time fame. The main differance being the effort involved. Its nearly impossible to day trade continuously, or to hold multiple positions, day trading manualy. Whereas there are certain aspects of the forex market, as opposed to the stock market, that make longer term manual position trading very favorable. Namely the high leverage, nothing tangible to buy, no minimum commisions, spot pricing, and rollover interest. So far at least, these seem to be the real sweet spots in this market, with various shades of gray in between, and the goal is to develop systems for both.

 

[ernest8fingers]

sounds good

Thanks, thats quite interesting and quite helpful. Now, if I could only curtail some of my habits.. I might actualy get more done.

I've tested quite a few of these commercial EA's, most were a joke. MegaDroid is the only one I ever put on a live account, and its still working. FAPT was very interesting in the begining, mostly because I had no proir experience at all with scalping as a trading style. I came into this market last year, after bailing out of the stock market unscathed, I learned my big lesson in the bear of 99-00, to learn more about very short term trading and mechanical trading. Before that, I was mostly trend trading newsletter recomendations. And watching these EA's trade, and studying the Forex market in general has done a lot for my trading knowledge. However, one of the first things I noticed about MT4 and the mql4 language was the possibility to actually create something. And I've been studying this market, and technical and mechanical trading since then with the goal of, not only finding my place as a manual trader, but also determining the capabilities and weaknesses of these trading programs.

The potentials of the shorter time frames is obvious. As I see it, if one could keep a constant risk level as dictated by the initial stop and the position size, and could keep resonably similar risk/reward and win/loss ratios, then the actual profits per trade should be similar regardless of the time fame. The main differance being the effort involved. Its nearly impossible to day trade continuously, or to hold multiple positions, day trading manualy. Whereas there are certain aspects of the forex market, as opposed to the stock market, that make longer term manual position trading very favorable. Namely the high leverage, nothing tangible to buy, no minimum commisions, spot pricing, and rollover interest. So far at least, these seem to be the real sweet spots in this market, with various shades of gray in between, and the goal is to develop systems for both.

I hope u start to program, I am sure it would be very satisfying for you. I had always been interested in programming since HighSchool(Fortran) but fell into construction as my "career". The only way to program an EA that includes your personal "wish list" is to do it yourself. The programming part of my EA took about 2 weeks - the testing part (seeing if all my programmed controls work as intended) took several months. Months of demo trading different pairs has led me to offer it for sale( at some point I hope ). since I no longer "manually" trade I have the time to program. I love it so much, I am thinking of actually getting a BS in Computer science. I already posses a Associates degree (worth nothing now) from a 2 year Community College. I will admit that my EA would never have been possible w/o my Forex experience(4 solid years of manual trading). I have only had 1 year of actual success manual trading but it was enough to recoup all losses and move my family from Florida to California. This EA is only now (started really Jan 2009) just completed. EA trading is the only way I would go now since my EA contains all those controls I need anyway to manually trade. I dont trust anyone-especially those programming geniuses! Who really knows whats going on inside the guts of an EA? Ken - If you want to be sure of the performance of any EA, you have to "do it yourself". This EA has been revised about 23 quatrillion times . At one time over 6000 lines of code. Now down to about 1500 ( the actual "Brain" of this EA-the part that picks Entries- is only about 20 lines of code) Simple is ALWAYS better. I post Daily results(I use the Daily setting on my AccountsHistory page of my MT4 Terminal as this is necessary for 1 of its controls) MT4 Stats - Share your MetaTrader 4 Statements with the world . I do trade a live account as well but use mini lots there and only trade 1 pair(usually the EUR/USD because its the cheapest). I am an ultra conservative Forex trader. I always remove profit as soon as realized and refund as needed to ensure that profit is untouchable by my Broker.( We all know how crooked some of those can be?) . This means I usually keep about 1000.00 bucks in my Live account-only good for mini trading. Anyway-hope you have fun and profits and I would be happy to answer any questions if needed-God Bless.

 

[Ken Long]

Ernest,

Thanks for all the advice. I'm sure I can do this, it will just take some time. I did do a very little bit of Basic and Fortran back in the 70's. I managed to do about 1 1/2 years of electrical engineering before I ran out of money and went to work waiting tables, (25 yrs). It did buy me a house, and offer lots of great vactions, and bad habits.

But as soon as I saw this, actualy, as soon as I saw a real stock chart I knew there was something here I had an aptitude for, and when I discovered MT4 I realized the potential to take this business to anouther level. However, its a much different game day trading mechanicaly, compared to longer term position trading, and I'm not sure I would ever want to give up the manual trading. It in itself is a major skill and I'm no where near where I want to be, but this programing urge will have to be dealt with, its one of those latent skills that are screaming for attention.

But, I do think there is a place for both. It really has to do with the fact that the longer time frames offer me enough space for thorough analysis and decision making, and the ability to scale in and out of a position, whereas the shorter time frames need the speed and consistancy, and 24 hr capabilities of a computer.

Perhaps in time I will learn to program both, but I do think there is a important place for human analysis in the process.

Ken

 

[ernest8fingers]

Ernest,

Thanks for all the advice. I'm sure I can do this, it will just take some time. I did do a very little bit of Basic and Fortran back in the 70's. I managed to do about 1 1/2 years of electrical engineering before I ran out of money and went to work waiting tables, (25 yrs). It did buy me a house, and offer lots of great vactions, and bad habits.

But as soon as I saw this, actualy, as soon as I saw a real stock chart I knew there was something here I had an aptitude for, and when I discovered MT4 I realized the potential to take this business to anouther level. However, its a much different game day trading mechanicaly, compared to longer term position trading, and I'm not sure I would ever want to give up the manual trading. It in itself is a major skill and I'm no where near where I want to be, but this programing urge will have to be dealt with, its one of those latent skills that are screaming for attention.

But, I do think there is a place for both. It really has to do with the fact that the longer time frames offer me enough space for thorough analysis and decision making, and the ability to scale in and out of a position, whereas the shorter time frames need the speed and consistancy, and 24 hr capabilities of a computer.

Perhaps in time I will learn to program both, but I do think there is a important place for human analysis in the process.

Ken

I agree wholeheartedly ! A Forex trader still needs to educate themselves 1st or they wont know what to do with the MT4(or MT5). I do admire honesty and to be honest-I am in the red today(like 50 pips or so at the moment).My EA did this and thats just the way it goes sometimes. I will still end this week better than 500 pips in the Black though. It has all to do with Money management(or the lack there of). Anyone can trade but not everyone can be successful.( I dont think I am successful yet because I do not have a self sustaining trading account due to the overwhelming distrust of ALL Forex Brokers.) I always remove profits Daily if possible and this is why my account will never grow. I call it "Harvesting Profits". Not much but enough to keep me involved. I just cant commit to opening a "Standard" Trading account until I am convinced that my Broker isnt a "DepositOnly" Brokerage. I have been with
FXPro.com for over 1 year and I still need more time to make up my mind. (They havn't done anything wrong so far but they are based in Cypress and that in itself is cause for pause.) This forum is full of traders who cant withdrawal their money and I dont want to end up filing a scam report.
BTW I also love charts/maps/and squiggly lines. Happy trading.

 

[GMH nz]

if i could interupt

Ernest , Ken

I was introduced to the aussie share market 3 years ago by my friend, a self taught and extremely successful day trader. Since then i've steadily developed a hunger for trading and absorbing all he has to tell. He thinks he's waffling, i think the opposite, it's all gold.

I began papertrading in may this year with a defined strategy that above all, i would stick to. So far I think that must be one of the most important things i've learned so far So far i'm 18 from 18 trades. 100k now sits at 195k.

Now 6 weeks ago a good friend of mine told me of an EA that he's been writing?! Robot what?
i hadn't yet explored Forex , I was quite enjoying learning to trade options on the ASX, He opened up the metatrader platform, installed his 6 Ea's and said 'set and forget, now just watch it'.....

In the last six weeks i've spent 12-15hrs per day exploring the metatrader platform, EA's and Brokers. Independent review sites, Fapturbo and Megadroid etc have just been fuel to the fire. I'm finding the curency market a very alluring creature indeed.


Graphs, charts indicators, signals, RSI's and MA's, goalposts, I can't get enough. Patterns within the chaos, I've always been a fractal fan.
Last week I attended the Fapturbo Evolution webinar, both of them i'll have to admit! Among other things i was alerted to the problems of Brokers with dealing desk vs ECN brokers.
2 computers running 6 brokers and 8 robots, I've just added two ECN brokers who have good reviews. Running only Megadroid and Fapturbo on these so i can cleanly guage these seemingly set and forgets.

I am however beginning to paper trade on the 4H Eur/Usd. MA's and Stoccastic, RSI indicators. It's a bit raw but effective. And i've been tweaking and backtest each of my friends homemade EA's with great enthusiasm. I've got pages screeds of notes and parameters and what each EA needs as definable option etc. I'm thinkin its nearly time to learn to write my own EA's.

I found this forum and began to read the conversation you two have been having, hope you don't mind if i listen in and maybe ask a question from time to time.


cheers
G

 

[ernest8fingers]

Of course not

Ernest , Ken

I was introduced to the aussie share market 3 years ago by my friend, a self taught and extremely successful day trader. Since then i've steadily developed a hunger for trading and absorbing all he has to tell. He thinks he's waffling, i think the opposite, it's all gold.

I began papertrading in may this year with a defined strategy that above all, i would stick to. So far I think that must be one of the most important things i've learned so far So far i'm 18 from 18 trades. 100k now sits at 195k.

Now 6 weeks ago a good friend of mine told me of an EA that he's been writing?! Robot what?
i hadn't yet explored Forex , I was quite enjoying learning to trade options on the ASX, He opened up the metatrader platform, installed his 6 Ea's and said 'set and forget, now just watch it'.....

In the last six weeks i've spent 12-15hrs per day exploring the metatrader platform, EA's and Brokers. Independent review sites, Fapturbo and Megadroid etc have just been fuel to the fire. I'm finding the curency market a very alluring creature indeed.


Graphs, charts indicators, signals, RSI's and MA's, goalposts, I can't get enough. Patterns within the chaos, I've always been a fractal fan.
Last week I attended the Fapturbo Evolution webinar, both of them i'll have to admit! Among other things i was alerted to the problems of Brokers with dealing desk vs ECN brokers.
2 computers running 6 brokers and 8 robots, I've just added two ECN brokers who have good reviews. Running only Megadroid and Fapturbo on these so i can cleanly guage these seemingly set and forgets.

I am however beginning to paper trade on the 4H Eur/Usd. MA's and Stoccastic, RSI indicators. It's a bit raw but effective. And i've been tweaking and backtest each of my friends homemade EA's with great enthusiasm. I've got pages screeds of notes and parameters and what each EA needs as definable option etc. I'm thinkin its nearly time to learn to write my own EA's.

I found this forum and began to read the conversation you two have been having, hope you don't mind if i listen in and maybe ask a question from time to time.


cheers
G

Of course not bro-not that we could prevent it anyway-lol. I do not consider myself a Forex expert by any means but always learning and looking for that "edge". EA trading is that edge(for me). Just be freaking carefull on Broker choice with all that trading. I cant stand the thought of parking big money with any Forex Broker(yet) but this is EXACTLY what must be done eventually. You can contact me anytime ernest8fingers@gmail.com or PM me thru this site. BTW - I am seriously considering trading some other form of Instrument just to get the hell away from these shady forex butchers brokers. After actually learning to trade the Forex Market, the biggest obstacle to success will be your Brokers. Usually ECN Brokers are more reliable than the rest,unfortuneatly, you can count them on one hand missing 2 fingers-lol-there just isnt that many,yet.

 

[ernest8fingers]

wanted to add

Ernest,

Thanks for all the advice. I'm sure I can do this, it will just take some time. I did do a very little bit of Basic and Fortran back in the 70's. I managed to do about 1 1/2 years of electrical engineering before I ran out of money and went to work waiting tables, (25 yrs). It did buy me a house, and offer lots of great vactions, and bad habits.

But as soon as I saw this, actualy, as soon as I saw a real stock chart I knew there was something here I had an aptitude for, and when I discovered MT4 I realized the potential to take this business to anouther level. However, its a much different game day trading mechanicaly, compared to longer term position trading, and I'm not sure I would ever want to give up the manual trading. It in itself is a major skill and I'm no where near where I want to be, but this programing urge will have to be dealt with, its one of those latent skills that are screaming for attention.

But, I do think there is a place for both. It really has to do with the fact that the longer time frames offer me enough space for thorough analysis and decision making, and the ability to scale in and out of a position, whereas the shorter time frames need the speed and consistancy, and 24 hr capabilities of a computer.

Perhaps in time I will learn to program both, but I do think there is a important place for human analysis in the process.

Ken

Ken , I just wanted to add that I rarely have this EA on when I am away from my computer unless I am already in a trade. I "live" trade the European session and the start of the N.American only. (1:00 AM to 9:00 Am PST) and thats it. The EA turns itself on and off automatically. I do manually close trades all the time when I am there to effect this. (re-tracement can be a real *****). And your right about incorperating both manual and autoEA trading-this is probably what most EA traders do anyway.

 

[amundsen]

Hello again, I read this today and was wondering if this not good news is about robots in general or more about presumed advertising lies from Dukascopy. This interesting as they have this new Swiss FAP Turbo.

FT Alphaville » Blog Archive » We’re all Mrs Watanabes now

We’re all Mrs Watanabes now
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Jul 28 09:25.

Professional investors would immediately be suspicious of anyone claiming even the lower-end of the monthly returns being promised by sellers of the various off-the-peg algorithmic FX trading systems now being banded about the web.

But this post earlier on FT Alphaville reminded us of a potent factor here: the gullibility potential associated with currency markets.

As a global marketplace that doesn’t exclude anyone due to the small values that can be traded, FX is awash with retail investors eager to make supposedly guaranteed returns. This is especially so in an investment environment where standard cash deposit returns have been cut to the bone.

Remember the damage Mrs Watanabe did with her carry-trade? Well, watch out for Mrs Robo-Jones.

But, while Mrs Watanabe was investing on a clean bet — borrowing cheaply to invest in higher-yielding currencies — Mrs Robo-Jones is dependent on internet-purchased algorithms to generate profits.

What currency trends this sort of behaviour might produce on a mass-scale, we have yet to see. What is certain — irrespective of how profitable the strategies actually are for Mrs RB — the trend is very profitable for FX platform providers. Accordingly, it’s unsurprising these companies are more than happy to encourage compatibility with their software, as the automated robots pump increasingly more trade through their systems.

But it’s not just the more obscure outfits that are peddling automated offers to retail investors. A number of more established foreign-exchange providers advertise either managed accounts based around returns garnered from automated-tools or their own automated algos for use on their platforms.

What, for example, can we possibly make of this - a piece of marketing guff from Switzerland’s Dukascopy, reputed to be one of the top “liquidity providers” around?

The Dukascopy (Suisse) SA trading strategy is based on an extensive knowledge of the Forex market, a privileged access to all market information along with a unique in-house built technology. This automated trading system has been developed by professional traders with experience drawn from institutional foreign exchange trading in close collaboration with some of the best financial IT specialists. The Dukascopy team has been able to design an automated strategy, capitalizing on its privileged access to the market information and on its leading technology. Dukascopy offers the DMA clients an opportunity to benefit from its ability to analyze and act a few milliseconds faster than other market participants.

“Privileged access to market information.” What???

The same firm push this graph under the noses of potential clients:

Image of graph best seen on actual link above

And here’s the performance from their now ‘closed to investors’ managed Dynamic strategy:

2nd graph showing no real difference

What we do know is that in the FX market, due to its over-the-counter status, many of the usual checks and balances we expect in - say - the equity markets just do not exist. Europe’s Mifid directive, for example, does not apply to the spot FX market at all, although in the US FINRA has clearly begun to poke around. As a recent report explains:

Most retail trading occurs online through electronic platforms provided by the dealer, who acts as counterparty to the retail customer’s trades and sets the execution price and the spread. The retail customer typically does not have pricing information and cannot determine whether the price quoted by the dealer is fair. Moreover, the dealer acts as counterparty and establishes the price, which means that the dealer has a conflict of interest in the transaction. Price comparisons are also complicated by different compensation structures: Some firms charge per-trade commissions, others impose wider spreads, and some do both. Other transaction costs can include account maintenance charges, software licensing fees and commissions paid to introducing brokers or other third-party service providers.

In the US, Congress last year passed an amendment to the Commodity Exchange Act to give the CFTC some oversight over the retail off-exchange foreign-currency market. Similarly, in Switzerland new rules require all foreign-exchange providers to be licensed financial institutions, with minimum liquidity holdings of CHF100m. Before that, providers operated under a self-regulated system via membership of the industry body ARIF (Association Romande des Intermediaries Financiers). But critics have argued that the body was focused more on money laundering than client protection.

Guaranteed returns…privileged access…conflicts of interest. Does anyone else sense that regulators might just be a little behind the curve here?

I would like to hear the wisdom of my now 2 favorite members, ernest and Pharaoh please. The above seems to make sense, or does it?

 

[ernest8fingers]

lol-my wisdom is free

Maybe I am still asleep-lol-but I am not exactly sure what this article is saying. If it is saying Forex Robots may cripple the market-I DONT THINK SO! They(the Broker) would "pull the plug" on EA trading 1st-and then confiscate profits 2nd to ensure their survival. I do know that I am not the same Forex trader I was in 2005 when I 1st started. I learned to trade by doing EVERYTHING wrong at 1st.This method worked for me but-OMG-what a hard road to travel! My personality dictates that I do everything myself(very stupid I will admit). Now that I have some experience in this market-I can weed out the scammers -usually. I personally would never buy anothers EA(who knows whats inside the code?). I built one myself instead-based on my 4 years of trading experience. That is not saying all EAs are crap-check this forums Performance page-I just dont trust anyones code except my own.I am sure that no brokerage would give away ANY secret that would allow their demise. If there exists an EA that could "clean em out" , i havn't heard of it yet. Never will either as that would end the Forex Market in a New York second(my opinion). BTW-thank you for the kind word Amundsen.