The FX-Kits website is up and I'm not impressed. It is full of unattributed quotations - you know the sort of thing: "The Most Consistently Profitable Forex Trading Machine Ever" and "The Ultimate Game Changer For Automated Forex Trading". But no references, no authority, no credibility.
Worse still, it is being sold on a monthly subscription basis. And worst of all, it requires you to set up a trading account with a specific broker through a link that FX-Kits gives you. So by the time we discover that the thing doesn't work and we demand our money back, they've already made tens of thousands as a broker affiliate.
This one touches too many danger buttons for me. I'll pass and take the risk that I am missing out on the Albert Einstein of forex robots. Gut feeling tells me that I'm probably not.
Back to FapTurbo for me...
Showing posts with label fapturbo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fapturbo. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Truths, Half Truths and Forex Robots
By Shaun Welford
In principle, automated trading is great. Simply install a Robot - or Expert Advisor as it is commonly called - activate the settings, and wait for the cash to flow in.
That's the explicit promise made by pretty much every Robot vendor I've ever come across. But I am a sceptic, and not just by nature but by harsh experience. The idea of forex robots is exciting, but the reality is that they typically work only half the time. And the half when they don't work is where you will sit back in horror and watch your trading capital disappear before your eyes.
Why should this be? Simple. Forex Robots - like all software products - are designed using key criteria and assumptions. In this case, those criteria and assumptions relate to the programmer's understanding of how the forex market works. As a result, forex robots tend to be written to work only when the market is moving in a certain way.
The problem is that that Mr Market is a bit of an unpredictable swine. As seasoned traders have always discovered to their cost, the market just doesn't do what's expected of it - at least, not with any consistency that you should be willing to bet your house on. So when the market changes, the robot will often start to lose on the trades and you run the very real risk of being bumped out of the game.
So there are robots that work well when the market is in a channel, others that offer stellar performance in a market that's trending, and others that come into their own when the market breaks quickly to the upside or the downside. The problem is that I have yet to find one robot capable of adapting to these different scenarios - and that really raises a question about whether you should ever rely on a fully automated trading system. I would suggest not.
Which isn't to say that I don't use robots. I do - and with some success. But that's only because I tend to use those robots that require some input and judgement from the user. As I've said elsewhere, the real secret of forex robots is in the settings: how you configure them, tweak them and selectively override them will ultimately determine how much money they make you. Or lose you.
And there, dear Reader, is the real issue. In order to make those judgements, you need some understanding of forex trading and, yes, the courage to make your own assumptions based on practical engagement with the trading process. Trading isn't about pushing a button and waiting for results. It's about thinking for yourself, learning from your mistakes and developing strategies that fit your trading style and your appetite for risk. A forex robot such a FabTurbo can make a huge difference to your success - but only if you are prepared to be its master rather than its slave.
In principle, automated trading is great. Simply install a Robot - or Expert Advisor as it is commonly called - activate the settings, and wait for the cash to flow in.
That's the explicit promise made by pretty much every Robot vendor I've ever come across. But I am a sceptic, and not just by nature but by harsh experience. The idea of forex robots is exciting, but the reality is that they typically work only half the time. And the half when they don't work is where you will sit back in horror and watch your trading capital disappear before your eyes.
Why should this be? Simple. Forex Robots - like all software products - are designed using key criteria and assumptions. In this case, those criteria and assumptions relate to the programmer's understanding of how the forex market works. As a result, forex robots tend to be written to work only when the market is moving in a certain way.
The problem is that that Mr Market is a bit of an unpredictable swine. As seasoned traders have always discovered to their cost, the market just doesn't do what's expected of it - at least, not with any consistency that you should be willing to bet your house on. So when the market changes, the robot will often start to lose on the trades and you run the very real risk of being bumped out of the game.
So there are robots that work well when the market is in a channel, others that offer stellar performance in a market that's trending, and others that come into their own when the market breaks quickly to the upside or the downside. The problem is that I have yet to find one robot capable of adapting to these different scenarios - and that really raises a question about whether you should ever rely on a fully automated trading system. I would suggest not.
Which isn't to say that I don't use robots. I do - and with some success. But that's only because I tend to use those robots that require some input and judgement from the user. As I've said elsewhere, the real secret of forex robots is in the settings: how you configure them, tweak them and selectively override them will ultimately determine how much money they make you. Or lose you.
And there, dear Reader, is the real issue. In order to make those judgements, you need some understanding of forex trading and, yes, the courage to make your own assumptions based on practical engagement with the trading process. Trading isn't about pushing a button and waiting for results. It's about thinking for yourself, learning from your mistakes and developing strategies that fit your trading style and your appetite for risk. A forex robot such a FabTurbo can make a huge difference to your success - but only if you are prepared to be its master rather than its slave.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Do Trading Robots Actually Work?
By Shaun Welford
It's a fair question - and one that deserves a fair and objective answer. Which is exactly what most marketing materials promoting these products fail to give us.
But for what it's worth, here's my take.
Forex robots can and do work, but not quite as 'automatically' as you might think. The most successful robots - FapTurbo springs to mind - allow you enormous scope to configure the settings in ways that support your personal risk profile and the relative volatility of the different forex pairs you choose to trade. That's good and bad. It gives you a greater degree of control over your performance but it also demands a level of skill that most of us gain only through trial and error. And that can be expensive.
So Forex Robots are not so much 'plug-and-play' as 'constantly-monitor-and-tweak-or-you-could-lose-your-shirt-very-quickly'.
Yes, most of us are aware that we need to set stop losses and profit levels. But these levels have to be based on current market conditions. Is the market trending or is it ranging? Should you allow for key Governmental and institutional announcements, or ignore them? Are there particular times when you should be out of the market altogether? Or at least when you should adopt tighter stop loss and profit level settings?
Ignore these questions at your peril. While some champions of Trading Robots argue that the designers have already factored the answers into their software, and that the robots are completely prepared for perfect trading, my own hard-won experience tells me otherwise. If these robots really were perfect, those of us who use them would be living as multi-millionaires in tropical splendour (somewhere next door to where many of the robot developer already live, I suspect!)
So, the basic rule echoes the fine old English legal dictum 'Let The Buyer Beware'. Forex robots can and do produce results if used carefully and with constant monitoring. Indeed, some robots have shown tremendous success in both short-term and long-term trading. But you need to understand that these results depend crucially on having the right settings - and that's where experience comes in.
I love FabTurbo, for instance, but what are the precise system settings used to produce the extraordinary live results they show on their website? They don't tell us. Not surprisingly, there are some people out there who make a good living just from selling their own FabTurbo settings formulas.
But ultimately, you need to treat forex robots like any other tool. With caution. With respect. And with the frank admission that they can only ever be as good as the individuals using them.
It's a fair question - and one that deserves a fair and objective answer. Which is exactly what most marketing materials promoting these products fail to give us.
But for what it's worth, here's my take.
Forex robots can and do work, but not quite as 'automatically' as you might think. The most successful robots - FapTurbo springs to mind - allow you enormous scope to configure the settings in ways that support your personal risk profile and the relative volatility of the different forex pairs you choose to trade. That's good and bad. It gives you a greater degree of control over your performance but it also demands a level of skill that most of us gain only through trial and error. And that can be expensive.
So Forex Robots are not so much 'plug-and-play' as 'constantly-monitor-and-tweak-or-you-could-lose-your-shirt-very-quickly'.
Yes, most of us are aware that we need to set stop losses and profit levels. But these levels have to be based on current market conditions. Is the market trending or is it ranging? Should you allow for key Governmental and institutional announcements, or ignore them? Are there particular times when you should be out of the market altogether? Or at least when you should adopt tighter stop loss and profit level settings?
Ignore these questions at your peril. While some champions of Trading Robots argue that the designers have already factored the answers into their software, and that the robots are completely prepared for perfect trading, my own hard-won experience tells me otherwise. If these robots really were perfect, those of us who use them would be living as multi-millionaires in tropical splendour (somewhere next door to where many of the robot developer already live, I suspect!)
So, the basic rule echoes the fine old English legal dictum 'Let The Buyer Beware'. Forex robots can and do produce results if used carefully and with constant monitoring. Indeed, some robots have shown tremendous success in both short-term and long-term trading. But you need to understand that these results depend crucially on having the right settings - and that's where experience comes in.
I love FabTurbo, for instance, but what are the precise system settings used to produce the extraordinary live results they show on their website? They don't tell us. Not surprisingly, there are some people out there who make a good living just from selling their own FabTurbo settings formulas.
But ultimately, you need to treat forex robots like any other tool. With caution. With respect. And with the frank admission that they can only ever be as good as the individuals using them.
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