Only losses...

 

Hello, I'm new here.

My background is programming, not trading. Maybe some here can explain to me how it is that the graphs shown with the various EA's here all go up (promising heaven), but when I test them, I only see the graphs tumbling down and consuming all my virtual money. The one more than the other.

I use:

  • marketdata over a period of a year (april 2, 2012 untill today)
  • at M1, M5, M15 and H1
  • with EURUSD, AUDNZD and GBPJPY

The traders are:

  • FXCM
  • IC Markets


Some of the EA's were:

  • Blessing 3
  • RSI Range Trader
  • DailyFX_RSI
  • B-Bands Range Trader (one off the best here on M15)
  • LotScalp
  • DoubleUp2
  • ArtificialIntelligence
  • Fracture-7.4.0
  • Godbot
  • EarlyTopProrate
  • Robot Danu
  • ...
Thanks.
 

The settings are everything. You can' just load an EA and let it go.

If an EA was designed for an monthly chart and you use it on a one minute chart, of course it will not work expected.

Do not use an EA that you do not understand. Read the trading logic and understand when and why it will trade. If you couldn't be able to do the same trades manually (if speed of calculation isn't an issue), then you shouldn't be putting your trust in that EA.

Personally, I have never tested other people's EAs, I practice my own manual trading and try to make my EA use the same strategies if successful

 

I agree with alladir. Slight changes in settings can have a huge impact.

However, did you ever think that if people had successful EA's, why would they bother putting them up for sale? I have tested commercial EA's in the past and found them to be a waste. Its better to code your own one from scratch, that way you understand them fundamentally and can build on them with time.

 

I have juggled with the settings, and although I'm not a trader, I am a math-dude so the settings are no mystery for me.

That's my point cool_dude: who would share tools that actually make money? I wouldn't. I wouldn't even sell tools that make money. You don't need to sell tools, if they make money. You just sit back and relax, while truckloads of free profits are unloaded in your bank account...

I just hoped to find proof that one can build a tool that - under the right conditions - can work.

 
Any one can make an EA fit the curve.
 

You cannot simply just download an EA, load it into your MT4 platform, and then expect it to be profitable.

I've downloaded hundreds (thousands?? probably...) of different ea for mt4, some free, some not. However, If you want to get any kind of results similar to what the original posters are getting, you have to optimize your settings and back test extensively with the EA.

You have to understand though, just because someone posted up an ea, doesn't mean its worth actually trying to use it to make money. I've written several EA that when optimized, will give you MILLIONS of dollars in a very short period of time when you run them in the tester, but they don't produce those kinds of results when you put them on a live account.

It's not very hard to produce good results in the back tester. But there is a BIG difference between real world live results, and back testing results.

If you want to even hope of making any kind of money, or at least not bankrupt your trading account, you will need to learn to properly trade.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with using an EA, custom indicators, scripts, and things like that. But you cannot rely on those alone to make money for you. There are systems that work, and work very well. But you have to put some effort into your trades, learn the forex market, and learn how to properly analyze things.

 
CodeMonkey:

You cannot simply just download an EA, load it into your MT4 platform, and then expect it to be profitable.

I've downloaded hundreds (thousands?? probably...) of different ea for mt4, some free, some not. However, If you want to get any kind of results similar to what the original posters are getting, you have to optimize your settings and back test extensively with the EA.

You have to understand though, just because someone posted up an ea, doesn't mean its worth actually trying to use it to make money. I've written several EA that when optimized, will give you MILLIONS of dollars in a very short period of time when you run them in the tester, but they don't produce those kinds of results when you put them on a live account.

It's not very hard to produce good results in the back tester. But there is a BIG difference between real world live results, and back testing results.

If you want to even hope of making any kind of money, or at least not bankrupt your trading account, you will need to learn to properly trade.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with using an EA, custom indicators, scripts, and things like that. But you cannot rely on those alone to make money for you. There are systems that work, and work very well. But you have to put some effort into your trades, learn the forex market, and learn how to properly analyze things.

Agree. There is another thread that is running with similar comments to yours. Not all knowledge can be transferred to code. And instinct or intuition is something that can't be taught.

 
patrick007:

Agree. There is another thread that is running with similar comments to yours. Not all knowledge can be transferred to code. And instinct or intuition is something that can't be taught.


yet..? :)

To the point of selling a successful EA.. they might have a good reason to do that. If enough people do the same thing (whether logical or not), it might be profitable for everyone doing it, or at least the first ones doing it. I think that's why bloggers write up their market analysis.. if anyone copies them, it can only help their trades.

I'm not saying trust free or commercial EAs, I'm saying if you make a profitable one, consider sharing it with me ^_^

"I just hoped to find proof that one can build a tool that - under the right conditions - can work."

I think the fact that market maker brokers ban scalping EAs is proof enough that it's possible to make a healthy profit from automated trading.