Robominer & Leverage

[greengrocer]

Hi There,
I have been demo testing Robominer with excellent results on a demo account with 200:1 leverage . I would like to go live but notice on the settings page that 'leverage of 100:1 is never recommended.' As my live account is leveraged at 100:1, can you tell me why it is not recommended to run Robominer with this level of leverage . Hopefully, this has not already been explained elsewhere... I couldn't find anything. Many Thanks.

[PipCop]

The leverage recommendation has to do with the fact that a certain dollar amount is held against each trade as a margin requirement, and the lower the leverage , the more the dollar amount that is required to be held as margin . For example, if the margin requirement for a given trade is $1.00 at 400:1, then that means it is $2.00 at 200:1 and $4.00 at 100:1 . All that extra margin is like baggage when you have lots of RoboMiner trades hanging, and it causes you to need more of a balance in your account to sustain the extra margin . The RoboMiner can work with 100:1 margin , but it is marginal, and it would be better to work with at least 200:1.

[Samson]

Hi Chief,
I'm running a demo of Robominer on a 100:1 Standard account. Keep in mind I'm quite new with Forex... with that said, what if I bypass the "Balance Factor" and set a fixed Lot Size?

Right now I'm using Lots = 0.1, but I was wondering if I could run Lots = 1.0 like I do in another EA?

My Live account is identical to this Demo account. I hope I'm understanding the use of Fixed Lot Sizes in this Robot.

Thank you very much,
Samson

[PipCop]

Samson,

Sure you can override the settings, but you should do it knowing the appropriate settings. Check the products page here:

http://www.pipcop.com/forums/products_robominer.php

and click the "Settings" tab.

A few things you should note:

1. Depending on your account balance, the optimal lot size is suggested.
2. 100:1 leverage is not recommended, as it's not as profitable as other leverage settings.
3. If you set your lot size larger, and do not have the available equity in your account to carry drawdown on multiple open positions at once, consider either setting doTrade to False, or allow RM to handle the lot size for you.

While you can make the lot size larger, it requires you to be more involved and watch the charts a lot to be sure you don't get a margin call . If you go with the recommended settings, you should not have to worry nearly as much.

[Samson]

Hi Chief,
Thanks for responding. I went to the Settings page but I didn't see anything for a Standard 10,000 balance for my broker ... IBFX. Thanks for bearing with me on this, like I said I'm very new.

If you don't mind me asking you... can i have IBFX take my deposit and transfer it to an account with 200:1 leverage ?

If I had a 10,000 balance on a Standard account with 200:1 leverage , would I be able to achieve the same profit/pip as I'm getting now with Lots = 1.0 and leverage of 100:1? Also, I would need the settings for this configuration, if I'm understanding this right?

One last thing, the 'DoTrades = False', I just read in the manual that it won't take new trades... does that mean only open one, and not allow multiple trades? I'll be running both pairs also. (Will all the multiple trades be null and void with the new rulings with NFA?)

Thanks,
Samson

[PipCop]

Ah, well first off you cannot use IBFX with RoboMiner due to the FIFO rule. Check the link on the home page for more info.

Once you put RM onto a different broker , they can change your leverage , just email or call them to find out how.

If you go to 200:1 you will profit about the same, if not more. However, drawdown will be more as well. With a $10k balance and 100:1 leverage you can use 1.0 lot size, but it's not recommended.

The point of turning the trades off is if you get too much drawdown . If you are running both pairs, $10k, 1.0 lots and 100:1 leverage , you are asking for trouble. Slow down and read the manual until it makes sense.