Forex MegaDroid review - 12 brokerages

[hotsawce]

Originally Posted by Ken Long

What is it your disagreeing with? And what problems are you talking about?

MegadDroid, like any scalper is sensitive to wide spreads, but that isnt much of a problem on the EURUSD, and as far as bad brokers, c'mon, its the EURUSD, not some illiquid penny stock, whats a broker really going to do to affect MegaDroid very much? I would be more concerned about the FOMC meeting on interest rates tommorrow at 4:15 ET. As far as your specific type of special broker ?? ECN's and other straight through brokers claim to be better, but their spreads vary a lot during MD's trading hours, however, any broker with a spread less than 2 pips would be a benefit, the lower the better, unless it requires an added commision. You have to figure those commisions are added on seperately, win or lose, all those little 1 pip breakeven trades suddenly become losses. The advantage is the EA can pick up a few more trades, simply because the trading costs are being tacked on afterward and not factored into the trade. The actual spread has a lot to do with the EA's ability to open trades when the range is tight, but how many pips does the EA have to give up to cover those commisions?

Ken, I understand your status, but rather than writing off the importance of straight through brokers and their spreads, have you ever actually taken the time to compare? There are pages here of us discussing different brokers, comparing statements and trades, and ultimately coming to the conclusion that even small differences in spread affect how the robot works.

The evidence conclusively shows Megadroid will behave better (execute more trades) with a straight through broker with a low spread . Please, go back a few pages and look at some of the statements. Nearly everyone who has used an ECN broker has been making a killing. Why do you think Megadroid consistently makes a killing on www.forex-robots.com? It's on Alpari UK, which doesnt have a dealing desk and is STP .

Honestly, though, I really don't care if you refuse to believe this little differences are significant. My setup slays, and I've got Blackdog to toy with when I want a little more.

[gross77777]

Originally Posted by hotsawce

My setup slays, and I've got Blackdog to toy with when I want a little more.

Hotsawce,

Would you mind sharing what your set up for trading Megadroid is and also which broker do you use ?

Thanks

[Ken Long]

Originally Posted by hotsawce

Ken, I understand your status, but rather than writing off the importance of straight through brokers and their spreads, have you ever actually taken the time to compare? There are pages here of us discussing different brokers, comparing statements and trades, and ultimately coming to the conclusion that even small differences in spread affect how the robot works.

The evidence conclusively shows Megadroid will behave better (execute more trades) with a straight through broker with a low spread . Please, go back a few pages and look at some of the statements. Nearly everyone who has used an ECN broker has been making a killing. Why do you think Megadroid consistently makes a killing on www.forex-robots.com? It's on Alpari UK, which doesnt have a dealing desk and is STP .

Honestly, though, I really don't care if you refuse to believe this little differences are significant. My setup slays, and I've got Blackdog to toy with when I want a little more.

hotsawce, The constant attitude is quite annoying. I feel like I made the mistake of questioning the proverbial sacred cow.

I have read all of these postings, and I never said there was anything wrong with straight through proccessing. I currently have accounts at FXCM (straight through, no dealing desk, 5 decimal pricing, and very variable spreads), and FXDD (4 decimal pricing, stable spreads, I'm not really sure about their dealing desk, but its really of little concern to me). Last night, 3/16, MegaDroid took the same trade on both accounts. It was a set 2 Aggressive trade. On the FXDD accounts it closed with 6 pips profit. On the FXCM account it closed with 3.8 pips profit. The only real difference being that on FXCM the spread fluxuates constantly, whereas FXDD's spread is almost constant at 2 pips.

There is no doubt that MegaDroid can and will take more trades with a tighter spread . It uses a range calculation to determine trading potential, and wont take a trade if the combined profit target plus spread cant be easily captured. On the other hand it seems to have much better results with a stable spread that doesnt fluxuate wildly during its entry and exit proccesses. The problem being, a lot of people use MegaDroid, if they all take a similar trade, at a similar time, this will be reflected directly in the spread , if you are using straight through proccessing. All those little orders coming through at once will be detected, and the spread will automaticaly widen before they can all be proccessed. However, the advantage of a few more trades will generally outweigh this.

There was never much question about this, so I dont know what your case is. The real question was: If this is done through a commision based broker , (I believe ATC is commision based, but I could be wrong), what are you paying in commisions? Its usually a pip, or more. And how is this affecting the end results, not just the number of trades, but the overall profits? My concern is that commisions are not factored into the trade ahead of time, but are deducted after the fact, thereby reducing the actual profits. In MegaDroids case a lot of its claimed profits are really breakeven trades with just 1 pip profit, in all cases these would get wiped out and probably go negative after commisions. MegaDroid does have enough 10 and 15 pip winners to make up for this, (megadroid.com has a posting of what I believe is PipBusters 50K account, with after trade commisions, and it shows great profits, but I also believe its a demo account which is not quite accurate to slippage and spread changes), on a robot with smaller profit targets and more frequent losses (FAP-T), this could really be a problem.

I really dont understand what complaints or problems you might have with my posting. It was mostly for the benefit of a new trader who had asked me specificaly about this EA, and all I recomended was staying objective, comparing the comments on a few different forums, and studying the backtesting results, which do show that the current great run we have been having is not the norm. In past years, the backtests show more losses, larger losses, and consecutive losses. This has to be figured in to your overall plan if you intend to survive this game long term.

[Ken Long]

FOMC Interest Rate Decisions today at 4:15 eastern time

Right durring MegaDroids trading hours

This may not be the best, or safest day for trading

[Ken Long]

Originally Posted by gross77777

Hotsawce,

Would you mind sharing what your set up for trading Megadroid is and also which broker do you use ?

Thanks

There are no really special settings for MegaDroid, its a very simple robot and runs well on its default settings. All you have to do is choose a position size/risk setting. The only other adjustable settings are: Aggressive Mode, which allows it to open a second more aggressive trade with a 15 pip profit target, it can do this simultaneously which will double your position size and risk, and Recovery Mode, which allows it to double the position size if it takes a loss. Recovery Mode is a very questionable Martingale strategy, and only works because this EA has an extremelly high win rate and rarely takes a consecutive loss. However, if, or when, it does, it could pose a major problem. Aggressive Mode on the other hand is great. Sometimes it takes it, and sometimes it doesnt, depending on the overall range during its trading hours.

[Ken Long]

Originally Posted by pipdetector

I did not try with fixed lot size, but I think that the EA will calculate the SL basing on the position size traded. It seems that risk level is simply used for setting the position size. You do not have control on the SLs only on how big your position is.

Check it out on a demo account :-)

The Risk setting is just a position size based on a percentage of the free margin , not the actual risk. The actual Stop Loss is determined by the current trading range and varries from under 50 pips to over 100 pips.

We have not yet seen a large stop out since this EA came out, but they are possible, and do show in backtesting. We have been in a great run so far, but it will eventually show its ability to take a larger loss, and possibly consecutive loss, and the more people overleveraged and blindly trusting and putting their faith in something they dont truely understand, the more cataclysmic it will be.

[Ken Long]

Originally Posted by pipdetector

Yes, this was one of the days that one must remember when setting risk level.

Unfortunately, Feds decided to announce the change of discount rate in the nontrading hours. MD did not stand a chance...

This anouncment was sceduled, just the result was unexpected.

Once again


FOMC Interest Rate Decisions today at 4:15 eastern time

Right durring MegaDroids trading hours

This may not be the best, or safest day for trading

[hotsawce]

Originally Posted by Ken Long

hotsawce, The constant attitude is quite annoying. I feel like I made the mistake of questioning the proverbial sacred cow.

I have read all of these postings, and I never said there was anything wrong with straight through proccessing. I currently have accounts at FXCM (straight through, no dealing desk, 5 decimal pricing, and very variable spreads), and FXDD (4 decimal pricing, stable spreads, I'm not really sure about their dealing desk, but its really of little concern to me). Last night, 3/16, MegaDroid took the same trade on both accounts. It was a set 2 Aggressive trade. On the FXDD accounts it closed with 6 pips profit. On the FXCM account it closed with 3.8 pips profit. The only real difference being that on FXCM the spread fluxuates constantly, whereas FXDD's spread is almost constant at 2 pips.

There is no doubt that MegaDroid can and will take more trades with a tighter spread . It uses a range calculation to determine trading potential, and wont take a trade if the combined profit target plus spread cant be easily captured. On the other hand it seems to have much better results with a stable spread that doesnt fluxuate wildly during its entry and exit proccesses. The problem being, a lot of people use MegaDroid, if they all take a similar trade, at a similar time, this will be reflected directly in the spread , if you are using straight through proccessing. All those little orders coming through at once will be detected, and the spread will automaticaly widen before they can all be proccessed. However, the advantage of a few more trades will generally outweigh this.

There was never much question about this, so I dont know what your case is. The real question was: If this is done through a commision based broker , (I believe ATC is commision based, but I could be wrong), what are you paying in commisions? Its usually a pip, or more. And how is this affecting the end results, not just the number of trades, but the overall profits? My concern is that commisions are not factored into the trade ahead of time, but are deducted after the fact, thereby reducing the actual profits. In MegaDroids case a lot of its claimed profits are really breakeven trades with just 1 pip profit, in all cases these would get wiped out and probably go negative after commisions. MegaDroid does have enough 10 and 15 pip winners to make up for this, (megadroid.com has a posting of what I believe is PipBusters 50K account, with after trade commisions, and it shows great profits, but I also believe its a demo account which is not quite accurate to slippage and spread changes), on a robot with smaller profit targets and more frequent losses (FAP-T), this could really be a problem.

I really dont understand what complaints or problems you might have with my posting. It was mostly for the benefit of a new trader who had asked me specificaly about this EA, and all I recomended was staying objective, comparing the comments on a few different forums, and studying the backtesting results, which do show that the current great run we have been having is not the norm. In past years, the backtests show more losses, larger losses, and consecutive losses. This has to be figured in to your overall plan if you intend to survive this game long term.

No attitude, Ken, but you're saying things that simply aren't true.

First and foremost, your speculation as to how "megadroid" would perform is purely that. You don't know if "everyone will open the same trade at the same time."

Secondly, FXCM has monster spreads. Even during high volume days my spread usually doesn't go above 0.8.

As for your speculation about commission being an issue, let me say this. Often times, my cost per trade is LESS with commission than your typical spread because my spread is always so low.

Finally, you can believe whatever you want about MD not being profitable or just waiting to explode, but nearly everyone here has had amazing accounts. Look at pietpatat and the links he's posted of his own live account and of others. Also, look at how megadroid HAS taken losing trades and fully recovered.

It's like you refuse to look at the statements of a properly configured account.

[gross77777]

Is anyone trading Megadroid with Forex.com ? Are you happy with perfomance with this broker ?

Thanks

[Ken Long]

Originally Posted by hotsawce

No attitude, Ken, but you're saying things that simply aren't true.

First and foremost, your speculation as to how "megadroid" would perform is purely that. You don't know if "everyone will open the same trade at the same time."

Secondly, FXCM has monster spreads. Even during high volume days my spread usually doesn't go above 0.8.

As for your speculation about commission being an issue, let me say this. Often times, my cost per trade is LESS with commission than your typical spread because my spread is always so low.

Finally, you can believe whatever you want about MD not being profitable or just waiting to explode, but nearly everyone here has had amazing accounts. Look at pietpatat and the links he's posted of his own live account and of others. Also, look at how megadroid HAS taken losing trades and fully recovered.

It's like you refuse to look at the statements of a properly configured account.

Once again, you seem to want to make lots of acusations, but you dont offer any pertinant information.

From the top:
Nothing I said is untrue. Yes, it is based on speculation. We can not truely predict the future, all we can do is to speculate on the current and historical facts. In this sense I feel its best to look at all the information thats available, both sides, not just what we want to see.

You don't know if "everyone will open the same trade at the same time." ...Of course not, but we're not talking about individual traders, we're discussing an automated trading robot. I've mentioned many times that MD does not always open the same trades at the same time, even double instances of it running on the same account. But, sometimes it does. You can prove or disprove this easily enough by comparing results from one account to anouther. And if a lot of individual trades do come in at the same time, especially during the off hours, the spread naturally widens.

FXCM has monster spreads. Even during high volume days my spread usually doesn't go above 0.8. ...Monster spreads is a pretty big statement. What do you base this on? I only have a very recent demo account at FXCM and their spread on the eurusd is wider than I'd like, generally being over 2 pips. Although they claim that the eurusd spread on a live account is often below 1 pip, I havent seen it. The spreads on the rest of their pairs are quite good compared to my FXDD account. Although I have seen very good spreads on some other brokers, such as FxPro or PGFBest, I chose to go with the larger US regulated brokers that dont seem to have any problems with the NFA regulations, but I consider these choices entirely changable.

Often times, my cost per trade is LESS with commission than your typical spread because my spread is always so low. ...What is your cost per trade? What are your commisions? And what is your special secret broker thats so great? If all your going to offer is hype and misleading statements with no real information, what do you expect? If your paying a 0.8 pip spread , thats factored into the trade, and a 1 pip commision, thats taken from the profits after the trade closes, thats really not that good, is it?

you can believe whatever you want about MD not being profitable or just waiting to explode. ...Who ever said MD was not profitable? I've been running MD live since a week after it came out, and have only seen 2 or 3 losses in that time, all under 50 pips. MegaDroid has been extremely profitable, reliable, and consistant. As far as waiting for it to implode, thats total BS. All I've done is caution people to be aware of the possibilities. They are real possibilities, you can see the different stop losses on your own account, you can see the past results on Megadroids own web site. You know it is just as capable of taking a 100+ pips loss as a smaller loss. The fact that we havent caught one in the past 8 months is just luck, the system does, and has, placed 100 pip stops. MegaDroids own reporting shows 100 pip stop outs, and consecutive losses. As well, any backtesting will show you the historical possibilities and the great run we've been on.

Look at pietpatat and the links he's posted of his own live account and of others. Also, look at how megadroid HAS taken losing trades and fully recovered. ...Why do I need to look at his account to see how MD trades? Is it somehow different from anyone elses? I've been running and testing MD since the day it came out. I'm familiar with the way it trades.

It's like you refuse to look at the statements of a properly configured account. ...What is a PROPERLY configured account? And how could someone configure one improperly? This robot is about the easiest thing to set up. There are next to no choices, and it runs extremelly well on its default settings. So what are you talking about..?

If you wish to be taken seriously, please post real information and real facts. Preferably something we can see and prove for ourselves. Everything I have posted is factual, repeatable, and provable. You can look at the posted results on MegaDroids own web site, or run your own tests.

Compare historical results to current results. Are the results we've been seeing for the past 6 months the norm, or are they exceptional? Should we be prepared for larger losses, and perhaps consecutive losses? Or should we ignore the possibilities?