Friday, May 17, 2013

Profitable trading using Forex Robots (2)


Due to huge interest was shown in the previous post about commercial Forex robots. I have decided to extend the list of recommended ones by two new ones.

  • WallStreet Forex Robot
    • Trading pairs:  EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, USDCHF on 1-hour time-frame
    • Average weekly gain: 2.24%
    • Min. deposit: $1000
    • Independent test results #1: Link
    • Independent test results #2: Link
    • Order website

  • Forex MegaDroid
    • Trading pairs:  EURUSD on 1-hour time-frame
    • Average weekly gain: 0.38%
    • Min. deposit: $1000
    • Independent test results #1: Link
    • Independent test results #2: Link
    • Order website
Once again, I remind you that before you start trading on a live account follow the procedure explained in the previous posts about the robots and keep in mind the rules about the testing.

  


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Profitable trading using THV strategy


THV is a legendary free manual trading strategy that was developed by Cobraforex. The strategy is originally designed for scalping (trading on smaller time-frames), although some traders successfully use it on larger time-frames. It can be applied to any trading instrument, but since it is a scalping strategy the better results are carried out on currency pairs with smaller spreads.

THV manual and indicators can be downloaded from here. Well, my intention is not to explain to you the strategy, but to point out on few additional things that can improve your trading results. Since it is a scalping strategy, I have applied it to a 5-minute time-frame.

First, I advise you to take only those trades that are in accordance with bigger time-frames. If on 5-minute time-frame buy signal is met then check out if according to THV strategy the pair is in buy zone on 15 minute and 1 on hour time-frame. If it is not, do not enter the trade. Also, if a sell signal is met, check if the pair is in sell zone on 15 minute and 1-hour time-frame.

Second, take a look at Economic calendar. Do not enter the trades half an hour before highly and moderately volatile news release for one of the currencies in the pair.

Finally, check the volume. Do not enter the trade if the volume is low. It should not be the problem if you are trading on a business day during London or New York session.

Hopefully, these remarks will help you to improve your trading results. Good luck!     

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Simple news trading strategy


News trading is a style of trading where a trader makes his trading decisions based on economic news releases. The great advantage of trading the news is that you can be very successful in a relatively short period of time. This style is perfect for those who can't dedicate themselves to trading on a full-time basis.

An economic news calendar can be found at investing.com and fxstreet.com. The impact column in the calendar shows how big volatility is expected upon the release of the news. Three other important columns are Actual, Forecast and Previous. Previous shows the indicator data for the previous period. Forecast shows the expected indicator value; Actual is the news release.

So, what is causing big price movements? Well, it is a surprise. In this context, the surprise is the difference between forecasted and actual value. We can see that actual value is sometimes shown in red, sometimes in green and sometimes in black. What does it mean? Green means that actual value is better than expected and it will cause bullish movement for the currency, on the contrary, red means that actual value is worse than expected and bearish movement is expected. Finally, black means that value is within expectation and currency should not move.

So, how to trade the news? Choose the pair that is consisted of currency for which the news will be released. Then, 30 to 45 seconds before the news release put one buy stop order 8 to 12 pips higher than the actual price and one sell stop order 8 to 12 pips lower than the actual price. When the news is released one-stop order should become active (if the actual value is not in expectations). Then cancel the other stop order and close (or leave for a few minutes or more) the active order. When you are satisfied with the gain to close the order. If the news release did not cause the price movement to cancel both stop order and wait for another news release.

I advise you to try this strategy on a demo account first, and then you can move to a live account. If you sign-up to this blog by email, I will send you a script that is automatically placing stop orders.

Happy trading!    

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

When is your Expert advisor ready for live account trading?

Whether you have developed or purchased an Expert advisor there is a certain procedure that has to be followed before the Expert advisor is ready to trade on a live account. 

The first step is called Back-testing. Back-testing can be performed with the Metatrader platform using a Strategy Tester tool. Back-testing is not reliable, however, it is the first step, it is fast and it can give you some picture of your robot. Back-testing results should not be considered at all if your modeling quality is under 90%. Modeling quality can be improved if you import the history data. That data can be found at forextester.com

Strategy tester has two very useful back-testing features: optimization and visual mode back-testing. Optimization compares the trading efficiency with different values of robot entry parameters. It can help you to choose the most profitable combination. Back-testing in visual mode is very interesting when you are developing your own Expert advisor, so you can check does the robot follows your strategy completely.
 
When your Expert advisor accomplishes satisfactory results on back-testing, it is ready for the testing on a demo account. So, put the EA using the best performing back-testing entry parameters on a demo account and leave it for 3 weeks to three months. The duration depends on the time-frame EA has been using. For EAs trading on 1-minute charts, 3-week testing is fine; those trading on 4-hour charts should be left for 3 months on the test. If your EA has achieved satisfactory results on a demo account, it is ready for live trading.
 
Optionally, to be more certain you can start live account trading on a smaller account or using a smaller amount of lots (if is it available) as an entry parameter. Then after one month, you can switch to live to trade on the normal account. 

Well, if you have followed the testing process completely and if your EA has successfully passed all steps. You will certainly enjoy live account trading.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Profitable trading using Forex Robots


Forex robots or Expert Advisors (EA) are the applications that automatically open and close the trades on the Forex market. The trading using forex robots is called automated trading and it can be very profitable.

Automated trading is very suitable for those who want to participate in the Forex market, but do not have the time to dedicate themselves fully to the trading. It useful for those traders who have the problem with emotions, concentration and with the ability to follow a previously set strategy. Also, the traders who can't achieve better result manually would consider the Expert Advisors.

For automated trading, you need a computer with a good Internet connection and MetaTrader 4 platform installed. You will need a Forex broker that is providing Metatrader 4 as a trading platform and that is allowing trading with EAs. Finally, you need an Expert Advisor installed.

So, which EA to chose? The offer on the Internet is huge. Unfortunately, lots of them are scams. Either they are not profitable or they ask for an unlimited amount of money. Well, I have selected two that are profitable and guarantee a quick return of investment.

  • Forex Growth Bot
    • Trading pairs:  EURUSD on 15-minute time-frame
    • Average weekly gain: 2.63%
    • Min. deposit: $250
    • Independent test results #1: Link
    • Independent test results #2: Link
    • Order website

  • Million Dollar Pips
    • Trading pairs:  EURUSD on 1-minute time-frame
    • Average weekly gain: 4.62%
    • Min. deposit: $1000
    • Independent test results #1: Link
    • Independent test results #2: Link
    • Order website
Finally, when you get the Expert Advisor, firstly I strongly advise reading the manual first and get familiar with the entry parameters. Secondly, test your EA on a demo account for 1 to 3 months before you start using it on a live account.

Happy trading!

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Manual Trading vs Automated Trading

There is a constant debate on which type of trading is better: manual trading or automated one (using EA robots)? Well, while surfing on the Internet you will find different opinions about this subject. Some would opt for manual, while others will say automated one and both sides will have good arguments to support their stance.

After being an active participant in the Forex market for several years and having tried both techniques I would say that both are good. Actually, the right question should be: Which style suits you better as a trader? The fact is that EA robots cannot replace human thinking, but also robots are not affected by greed and emotions, two big human weaknesses that affect the traders. The robots can work on the market for a longer period of time and they won't miss a trade due to lack of concentration. Also, the truth is that the experienced human trader will earn more than a robot.

So, which style to choose? Well, it depends on you. If you can overcome greed and emotions, if you can trade in full discipline following the rules set previously and if you can fully dedicate yourself to the trading than chose manual one. But if you see trading as a second job, if you are vulnerable to greed and to emotions, automated trading will be the one for you.

For those that chose automated trading, there are two options left: you can create your own EA robot using MQL or any other programming language, or you can buy one. But be careful, if you decide to buy a robot because there are very few commercial ones that can trade profitably. Lots of scams are offered on the Internet. So, I advise you to find an independent review before you decide to buy a robot.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Safe Scalping with EURCHF – A trading strategy


In September 2011 when SNB introduced 1.2 floor, the pair EURCHF has been trading in relatively tight range reaching the highest value at 1.264. Since September 2012, I have been using a simple scalping strategy for that pair and it helped me to earn 20% per month on average.

The strategy is based on the assumption that 1.2 floor will remain. Well, in the past year and a half SNB has been very successful in defending that floor and it states that will continue to defend it with utmost determination. It is realistic to believe that in the long term the pair will not only remain above the floor, but also will return to the values that are much higher than the current one, as Europe and USA are slowly coming out of the recession.

The prerequisite for the scalping strategy is that your broker has a small spread on EURCHF pair (not higher than 2.5 pips) and a positive swap on long entry. If your broker does not meet these demands, try the strategy with a different one. If you have a problem with finding such broker I warmly recommend Exness, I have been trading with them for the past six months and I am very satisfied. Another prerequisite is that the price of the pair is lower than 1.24.

The strategy itself is very simple, enter the long trade following the rules for any other scalping strategy. I was very successful using a 5min blue trend rider and THV3. Just in case, when I enter the trade, I always put stop loss at 1.1980 level. Next, wait till exit rule for your scalping strategy is met (by scalping strategy I meant here 5min blue trend rider or THV3), and if your trade is in gain exit the trade. If your trade is not in gain leave it and wait till it will become profitable. Swap is working in your way now! In the meantime, you can enter another trade on a new long entry signal. In a period while I was using the strategy I never had more than four trades opened.

Money management I was using is 0.1 lots for every $400 on my account balance and I am careful that I have enough money for 4 trades. So, if I have $1600 on my account, it will be enough for four 0.1 long trades.