Expert Advisor Competition

[Dave90210]

If a developer decides to sell his or her expert advisor and allot of people start buying it does it become less effective? 

[Stuart Browne]

Dave90210:
If a developer decides to sell his or her expert advisor and allot of people start buying it does it become less effective? 

You mean due to too many people using the same strategy? Not a chance. Forex market is waaaay to large for a humble EA to have any effect. If Central Banks with billions of $$ can't control it..... ;-)

[Dave90210]

Filter:
You mean due to too many people using the same strategy? Not a chance. Forex market is waaaay to large for a humble EA to have any effect. If Central Banks with billions of $$ can't control it..... ;-)

That's what I figured. I wonder what makes some EA's like the Wallstreet and the Diamond do very well for the first year or few months and then after that the strategy becomes not as profitable.  

Would it be a good strategy to backtest and optimize your EA once a month let's say if it primarily uses MACD and one other filter to open trades?           

[Stuart Browne]

Dave90210:

That's what I figured. I wonder what makes some EA's like the Wallstreet and the Diamond do very well for the first year or few months and then after that the strategy becomes not as profitable.  

Would it be a good strategy to backtest and optimize your EA once a month let's say if it primarily uses MACD and one other filter to open trades?           

Yeah, the market is constantly changing and evolving so what worked last month, last week or even yesterday won't necessarily work tomorrow. So constant tweaking is always a good idea. 

I can't remember the firm (hedge fund) but it was only a few years ago. They built up into a massive company with billions under investment. They were quant geniuses and had a brilliant strategy that was mathematically proven to be almost impossible to fail. Till one day, it did! Turned out that what happened in the market was a once in a billion event. Totally wiped them out. There's a great documentary on it, will see if I can dig it up.

[Stuart Browne]

I think this is the one I was thinking about: The Midas Formula. Well worth a watch