ForexRobotTrader.com robot review - BUSTED! -$3,318

[Killer-B]

Hi Ken-

I'm not sure if we're saying the same things - but just different ways.... Regardless, I was just reviewing my emails and logs and even just now, Forex Peace Army posts... and most concur the DD's will blow up your average account eventually- So, as I was a month ago, I'm off this dead horse and done with this EA - $3300 lesson learned..

To address your post - I'll just use Don's words/examples....

(From his site)

LONG trend is BLUE - As you can see, it looked for a counter-trend , and entered... (Though *all* bars should be red for an order to be placed, so not sure if his T/F's are off just for the sake of this demo) -

Either way, he calls it a counter-trend , and the robot enters, because of the counter-trend ... And as we've learned, it's not smart enough to know if it's a true reversal, or just a temporary blip to act on... Hence the large killer DD's -

Just my 2 cents-



This chart is an expansion of the GBP/USD 4 hour timeframe (above) that shows you in detail what counter trends made up that longer timeframe. Again the Robot found these counter trends and entered precisely at the right time giving us a perfect opportunity to sell high and buy low.

(COUGH) Ya right LOL

[Ken Long]

DD's will blow up your account eventually?

The drawdowns from any trading system will blow up the account if they're not managed.

In the example you show the robot was instructed to start searching from the 4 hour time frame and only take short trades. It entered a short phase on the 4H, between the two vertical lines, and looked for trades within the 1H, it entered following the two blue counter trends when the first red bars resumed. The red arrows he placed on the chart are deceptive because that isnt the entry point . It did not enter on the high point , it entered on the first red bar which is well off the high.

Its not necesary for all the bars to be red. If we're trading the 1H, the weekly and monthly have little influence over the short term action. They're additional confirmation of a longer term trend , and useful if we decide to hold a position.

I still think this system is totaly workable. You just need to decide on a workable exit strategy. Such as a t/p and a stop exit on a color change. This would limit the all of the drawdowns, but might also increase the number of losses. Depending on how well confirmed the longer term trend is the stop exit can be adjusted to match.

[Killer-B]

Ken, I'm not gonna split hairs with ya anymore-

What Don advertizes (hands-off, let it run, no need to watch it, etc.) is simply BS -

Per another post on this thread, this EA needs a large DD to run properly - I've run it live, for 4 months, on cash accounts, and got MC'd every time [.01 per $1000] - It DOES trade 20-30-70+ profitable orders, but the 4 or 5 huge DD's will eventually get you called out (EUR/CHF and any JPY are the worst)-

Even now, PipCop's DEMO has -$1500 in negative float, plus the -$371 in losses already... That should tell you everything, as that matches my (negative) results perfectly-

The idea (for me and others) is to have an EA that runs with minimal interference.... Every "Ya but...." you suggest may indeed be valid, but requires extra work and programming that no one on here has access to... except Don and his rent-a-coder... So it's really pointless to talk about "what ifs"... as the program is what it is, a loser, with no refunds... It has some serious flaws... I'd gladly post my 4 months of accounts here if attachments were allowed.

Lastly, I pulled any random chart (above) b/c I could not attach/post my own screenshots and losses here... but my point wasn't about long vs. short , it was to show you that it is indeed a counter-trend trader... You can call it anything you wish... but it waits for a break in the long before entering - And BTW, it's clear you've not used this EA (demo or live) as yes, all 4 bars must change colours in order for it to place an order - unless Don has changed something since Late-OCT... But after staring at 10 pairs (screens) for 160 days with 8 rows of blue/red bars 24x6... I know how this bot works and when it "triggers" a buy/sell.

If you wanna spend $300 on it... and risk your own cash - knock yourself out bud... but I'm done with this one-

Cheers-

KB

[PipCop]

Originally Posted by Killer-B

I'd gladly post my 4 months of accounts here if attachments were allowed.

You can post PDF's of your statements, just not the raw HTML (for security reasons.)

If you need a PDF converter, I highly recommend this program which I have been using for years:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

It installs as a printer, so just open the statement, print it, and send it to PDF creator.

[lusitano]

What Killer-B said is 1000% the truth. I have said this all along in the forum. Save your money and don't be reckless using Don's EAs. I have tested it at 2 different times because I hadn't tested the 3.19 version, but both versions trade exactly the same and you will lose money. Check this link to see more of this EA. http://www.forex-robots.com/

[Ken Long]

Your right I havent bought this EA. All the EA's I have bought, I ended up returning, and I dont want to buy anouther untill I can find better evidence that it will work. From what I've seen the free EA's work almost as well, if not better, and I can attempt to decifer the code and test the different settings without any losses, other than the time spent.

I didnt mean to argue about what a counter trend trade is. Some people might consider this a counter trend trade, some might consider it continuation. It really just depends on what time frame your focused. I always considered counter trend trades to imply trading against the primary trend . Rather than just using the pullbacks as entry points into the trend .

I'm sorry to keep beating on this thing, but this style of trading works, I use it all the time. I just dont use a smoothed moving average for trading signals. Its the slowest form of moving average, and will always get in and out extremely late. They're good for spotting a confirmed trend , or holding a long term trend , not for trading quickly.

Still I dont understand why everyone is so resistant to actively managing an EA. We actively search for, initiate, and manage our own trades. If an EA can releave some of that effort then its a worthwhile addition. I really dont expect it to work well unsupervised, or without direction. After all we are the traders, its just a tool we can use to make our work easier.

[Killer-B]

Originally Posted by PipCop

You can post PDF's of your statements, just not the raw HTML (for security reasons.)

If you need a PDF converter, I highly recommend this program which I have been using for years:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

It installs as a printer, so just open the statement, print it, and send it to PDF creator.

Thanks PC.... However, how come you don't allow image (JPG etc) attachments? (not inserts)

Cheers-

KB

[PipCop]

You can upload JPGs. I will update the settings, because I bet the maximum size is too small to do what you want. Try it again in a few minutes.

[Killer-B]

Originally Posted by PipCop

You can upload JPGs. I will update the settings, because I bet the maximum size is too small to do what you want. Try it again in a few minutes.

For whatever reason, my account has that option disabled....

My settings:

You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may edit your posts

[PipCop]

Try it now.

I had set some special permissions in this sub-forum so that only I can start new threads (reviews). Unfortunately, it also disabled uploading attachments for users. I've changed that setting so now it should allow attachment uploads.