Look what I found!

I totally forgot about this account that I set up in August for the Surefire Trading Challenge. I opened it with $1000 and it has been running pretty much unattended since August. Just this morning as I was doing some maintenance on my VPS, I noticed that this account was still running and is up over 200% since I opened it.

Anyway, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to put it on MyFXbook.com since it goes back 4 months and looks so good. Now for some disclaimers...

• I opened that account with $1000 and used risk levels much higher than what I recommend for Forex Set and Forget (FSaF). The reason is because this account was used for a contest, which means using very aggressive settings for trading.
  
• Once I lost the contest (can you believe it? I doubled the account and still lost the contest), I put FSaF on a safer pair and used the included Preset File for that pair. Even so it was still running with only about $2000, which is $1000 LESS than the recommended minimum deposit.
• Almost as soon as I changed the settings, I completely forgot about the account and never looked at it again until I accidentally noticed it this morning.

Anyway, check it out. This is kinda like finding a bunch of coins under your sofa cushions! :-)

New forward test added to MyFXbook.com

I started a new forward test on MyFXbook.com. I took the 7 pairs that ended the month in profit from the test I started a month ago and put them on a new account. I also made sure that I had allocated $3000 for each pair (for a total of $21000) so that FSaF will run at the minimum risk level, which I failed to do in the previous test.

--> 7 Pairs on FXDD

My experiment of Forex Set and Forget running on 15 pairs ended the first month in a 9% loss on the account. I didn't expect much as far as gains but I did learn alot about the robot during that time. Version 1.10 will have improved exit logic that protects gains and minimizes losses. It should be available around Christmas. Even so, version 1.09 works very well on certain pairs and can be used for a nice cashflow.

AME Support Resistance: New video posted

I just posted a new video on youtube that shows some uses for the AME Support Resistance Custom Indicator for MT4.

--> AME Support Resistance

The video is very informative and hopefully has information that can help you with your trading. Check it out and let me know what you think. I'm hoping to have a whole bunch of these videos over the next several weeks.

I started a new forward test

The demo account I had set up for testing Forex Set and Forget expired after a few months and I lost all the trading history and data that went along with it. So I just started fresh account and running FSaF version 1.09 on a different stats site. This one seems more comprehensive...

--> http://www.myfxbook.com/members/amelabs/fsaf15pairs/4977

I don't expect much because it is running on 15 pairs on a single account. What I really need to do is set up 15 different accounts and run forward test on each pair individually.

New EA Reliability Spreadsheet

I have been using this spreadsheet to determine the best combination of parameters to use with Forex Set and Forget. So yesterday after an optimization for version 1.09, I decided to make a video of part of the process that you can use with any EA that requires optimization.

--> http://forex-set-and-forget.com/spreadsheet/

I am also giving away the EA Reliability Spreadsheet for you to use with your own EA's, or with Forex Set and Forget or AME Cross Trader. Check it out. I think you'll like it.

Now using version 1.09 on the test account

As you probably already know, I have been forward testing all versions of Forex Set and Forget since June of 2009 on the account shown below in the graph. The first few versions drew the account down almost 20%. Then when version 1.07 came out, I used it to begin rescuing the account. Then version 1.08 was applied, which fixed some problems that occurred during connection failures, reboots or other interruptions, and also some synchronization problems between charts. As you can see in the graph, the account has been recovered and is a little ways in profit.

Now I have applied version 1.09 (coming out soon) to the account and have increased the trade size so that the account will grow (or shrink) faster than it has in the past. I will be treating this account as if it were my live account. No more experiments. No more neglect. The goal is about 5% gains per week on average.



Sign up for my mailing list and be notified when the new version of Forex Set and Forget becomes available. You will also receive my cool AME Support Resistance custom indicator just for signing up! Tell anyone you know who might be interested about it as well! :-)

Click here to join my mailing list.

New videos and a free MT4 Indicator

I just posted some new videos on the Forex Set and Forget web site, and am giving away a free MT4 Support Resistance Indicator on the site. Definitely worth having. Videos are informative too! :-)

http://www.Forex-Set-and-Forget.com/indicator/

FSaF Version 1.09 is in the works

Version 1.09 of Forex Set and Forget is in the works and should be available no later than 31 October, which coincides with the end of an experiment I am currently conducting. Ten or so participants have agreed to run FSaF version 1.08 from 01 September until 31 October and provide me data and feedback about the experience (install, operate, manage, etc.). This will enable me to enhance the usability, reliability and discover any bugs that need to be fixed before version 1.09 is released. So far the response has been positive and a few have already seen some very nice profits. The feedback I am getting has been priceless and has prompted this "extreme makeover" from version 1.08 to 1.09.

Version 1.09 will be priced significantly higher than 1.08. Right now I'm thinking the price will be at least $249 but that price is not carved in stone. However, you can buy version 1.08 now at $99 and then upgrade to 1.09 for free when it becomes available. You have just a few weeks to take advantage of this situation before it's too late and the price goes up.

Check out these stats

This the same FXDD account that was running Forex Set and Forget on 10 pairs simultaneously, and had a steadily declining balance. Then I put version 1.08 on it to try and recover the losses. At this time the losses were recovered and the account is at break-even. Version 1.08 is proving to be quite the steady gainer. Yes there is drawdown but over the long term the profits outweigh the drawdown.

Here are some graphs showing stats from last month.





Balance vs. Period




Pips vs. Period



Pips vs. Orders


Remember when you go to the mt4stats site and look at the summary, it's not a pretty picture. The account was down about 10% before I put version 1.08 on to rescue it. So you're not looking consistent gains from start to end. What you are looking for is the recovery over the last month.

Version 1.07 was working beautifully...

..right up until there was a connection failure or a computer failure while trades are open. I had a few trades where the trailing stop was not handled properly after a system failure (when my dedicated trading machine tried to commit suicide recently) and noticed the potential for not only huge losses, but missed opportunities for entry because some trades that were supposed to be closed actually remained open. It was very discouraging.

So now there's version 1.08, which recovers beautifully from connection failures, system failures, any kind of failure (besides operator error of course). It has much improved trailing stop logic and fixes some obscure bugs that could only be caught when one of these system failures occured. The Preset Files for version 1.07 should still work but with one exception. Change useProtectiveStop=1 to useProtectiveStop=0, or you will get alot of break-even trades that will eat up a large percentage of your gains, and may even cause your account to be losing instead of winning.

Looking for testers!

Wanna be one of my testers? Go here for details...

• http://millionaire-maker.org/special/

This thing ends on sunday so you need to act fast if you want your chance to participate in this project. Tell all your friends too! I need as much traffic to the site as possible.

Thanks!

FSaF rescue project

I have been running FSaF on 10 charts on the same demo account since mid-June. Each chart is one of my 10 pre-optimized currency pairs. I didn't expect much out of this account except to see what problems would arise as a result of running the EA on multiple currency pairs. And believe me there were lots of problems in the first versions. Mostly caused by synchronization problems between charts.

Anyway, that account started with $10000 and over the next 6 weeks had gone down below $8500. This did not concern me because I was not looking for gains on this account. I was looking for problems to show themselves for me to fix. Click the image below to view full stats and trading history...


Now that version 1.07 addresses most of the problems found during this test, I decided to use it on this same account to recover the losses that occured during the test. You can tell when I started using version 1.07 because the lot size is different on the trades. Previous versions placed 10 trades of 0.01 lots. FSaF 1.07 places 3 trades of 0.03 lots. From August 3rd until now (Aug 12) it has recovered about $500.

So hopefully, FSaF will not only recover the original losses, it will provide nice steady gains on the account from here on with (hopefully) little drawdown. Even so, I thought it would be interesting to see how it does. This is why I put that particular account on mt4stats.com.

Wish me luck!

NOTE: Since these tests I discovered another problem with the protective/trailing stop logic that only occurs in some cases when MetaTrader is closed improperly, such as during a power failure or hardware crash. This has been remedied in version 1.08, which should be available either end of August or early September.

New Preset Files are now available

I decided after a rough trading month that instead of optimizing Forex Set and Forget for a month at a time, I would go back much further and try combinations that withstand the test of time. What I ended up doing is optimizing 10 pairs from January 1 2009 to August 1 2009 and taking (mostly) the combinations that had the highest reliability factor, which is calculated using the maximum drawdown over the time period and comparing with the ending profit. The higher the profit and the lower the drawdown, the higher the "Reliability Factor". A Reliability Factor of 2.00 or higher should be sufficient for consistent long term profits. As you can see in the chart below, all but one of the pairs optimized produced adequate, and in some cases exceptional, Reliability Factor.

Symbol	Profit	Drawdown	#Trades	Reliability Factor
USDJPY	117.10%	9.67%	54	12.11
EURGBP	108.40%	13.00%	99	8.34
EURJPY	145.70%	18.06%	219	8.07
USDCHF	68.60%	10.81%	51	6.35
GBPCHF	86.50%	13.72%	132	6.30
GBPUSD	98.60%	18.91%	228	5.21
GBPJPY	99.90%	29.40%	201	3.40
CHFJPY	55.30%	19.43%	213	2.85
EURUSD	58.40%	25.73%	114	2.27
EURCHF	11.30%	18.67%	30	0.61

Backtest results from January 1 to August 1 2009

Full backtest reports are available now on the Forex Set and Forget site. A new minor version has been released with all of the new Preset Files, and a slightly enhanced AME Support Resistance indicator. Grab your updates now by opening up the "Check for Updates" icon in your FSaF installation directory (or ZIP file if you deleted the directory).

Version 1.07 is now available!

If you haven't noticed, Forex Set and Forget version 1.06 has been performing very poorly during the month of July. July was a strong ranging month for just about all pairs, which means support and resistance were relatively close to each other and price, for the most part, was bouncing back and forth between support and resistance.

Forex Set and Forget 1.06 suffers when this phenomenon occurs because it tends to place buy orders right at resistance and sell orders right at support, which are almost guaranteed to be losing trades. Because of this, July was not a good month for Forex Set and Forget (FSaF).

Version 1.07 introduces a new custom indicator called "AME Support Resistance", which tells FSaF what the support/resistance levels are. This new information is then used to decide if it is wise to place buy/sell orders at the current price levels. The new indicator can also be plotted on your charts and is very handy for manual trading, even day trading on the 5 and 15 minute charts.

However, as a result of the new indicator, FSaF tends to place alot less trades now. Sometimes going weeks without trading. This is especially true when the support and resistance levels form a narrow channel that does not give FSaF enough room to capture the minimum profits in a trading round. Because of this, I have greatly improved FSaF's ability to run on multiple charts simultaneously. I know how you traders think. If your EA is not in a trade then you get nervous. :-)

Forex Set and Forget - First endorsement!

Check it out! My first endorsement for FSaF. It comes from Cynthia's Forex Support Trading Web Site. If you don't know about Cynthia, I recommend you get acquainted with her because she evaluates alot of trading robots and brokers. She will save you so much time and money with all of her research. Cynthia will only promote products that she has personally tested and had success with. If you are not on her mailing list, I recommend you get on it.

--> www.cynthia-recommends.info/robotsupport.php

To see her endorsement for Forex Set and Forget, go to the above site and look on the right for "From the Forex Millionaire Maker" [that's me :-) ]

New FSaF video posted on YouTube

If you are a user of Forex Set and Forget you have probably noticed that it tends to experience more losses than usual during ranging markets. I have created a new video to show you how you can virtually eliminate risk during these times. Click to watch the latest video...

Forex Set and Forget: Protection from Losses

Current version of Forex Set and Forget is 1.06. Version 1.07 will likely have this "protection mode" automated.

Clearing up some confusion about FSaF

I received the following message this morning about someone having problems with Forex Set and Forget. It seems I overlooked an important detail in my documentation. Here is the message, followed by the response.

Tony

Have been running FSAF with your recommended settings on all pairs. Already has blown up four $10000 demo accounts in 1 week. The settings you are recommending do not make money.
Also, ran the optimization backtest and start using the best settings from the optimization on forward test, but it also blew up the account.

Do not know what else to do.

Unless maybe you have any other settings that might work or recommend the days and times to use FSAF ea?

Too bad, really wanted this ea to work.

Here is my response...

The recommended settings are to be used on a SINGLE PAIR. If you run on multiple pairs at the same time you will get a margin call very quickly. If you do want to run on multiple pairs, you will need to change "scaleDivisor" for all pairs. At the minimum, you want to multiply the number of pairs you will be running on by 1000 and use that number for scaleDivisor. For example, if you are running on 6 pairs at once then set scaleDivisor=6000. This is the lowest value you should have in this case. Higher values are even safer.

Now a little info about scaleDivisor. But first a little tutorial about "trading rounds" and "virtual trades"...

Forex Set and Forget (FSaF), using the included preset files, places trades 10 at a time and waits for all 10 trades to be closed before even looking for another opportunity. A trading "round" represents those 10 trades from open until close of the last trade. All of the trades are the same size and represent a single "virtual" trade. So for example, FSaF places 10 trades of 0.01 lots. That set of 10 trades is considered a single "virtual trade" of 0.1 lots.

So now back to scaleDivisor...

The scaleDivisor parameter determines when to increase trade size. It is critical that it is set correctly. The way it works is this; Divide your Account Equity by scaleDivisor. That becomes the scaling factor for your trade size. For example, if your account equity is $3000 and your scaleDivisor=1000 then 3000 / 1000 = 3. Multiply minTradeSize by 3 and that becomes the size of your next set of trades. If your minTradeSize=0.01 then your trade size will be 0.03 next time a trade is placed.

With that in mind, 10 trades of 0.03 lots represents a virtual trade of 0.3 lots. If your account equity is 3000 then that represents about 10:1 leverage, which is high but should be safe to run Forex Set and Forget. So now, let 's see what our friend did in the above message...

• Starting balance: $10000
• minTradeSize=0.01
• scaleDivisor=1000 <--- UH OH!
  
• Number of currency pairs: 10

This means each chart running the EA was placing virtual trades of 1 full lot. That's ok with just one chart running. However, if you get 5 charts with trades open at the same time then (unless you get very lucky) it's just a matter of minutes before you get a margin call. Either way, your account will be drained very quickly with these settings. So how do we fix this? I'll show you...

• Starting balance: $10000 (unchanged)
• minTradeSize=0.01 (unchanged)
• scaleDivisor=10000 (factor of 10 difference)
• Number of currency pairs: 10 (unchanged)

So now what happens? Here's the calculation.

• Starting balance (10000) / scaleDivisor (10000) * minTradeSize (0.01) = 0.01

That means each virtual trade will be 0.1 lots instead of 1.0 lots. BIG difference. Now your account can withstand at least 100 consecutive losing rounds and still survive.

Here is a shortcut to help you determine how to set scaleDivisor.

• scaleDivisor = (number_of_charts * 1000)

In other words, if you are going to have FSaF running on 3 charts, then EACH chart must have scaleDivisor=3000 at least! Larger numbers will make it even safer to trade.

New videos posted on YouTube

Here is the one that shows you how to apply Forex Set and Forget to your chart and configure it to run.

Trading Log is back

I had to get rid of the old trading logs that I had on my links because I pretty much destroyed that account with all the experiments I was doing while developing Forex Set and Forget. So now there's a new trading log that I put on EAResults.com. I am running on an FXDD standard demo account with $1000, on GBPUSD, using the parameters as they are set in the "gbpusd.set" file that comes with Forex Set and Forget. GBPUSD is ranging something terrible right now so I don't expect any winning trades right away. But hopefully a trend will pick up and the EA will make up any losses and be in profit soon.

Forex Set and Forget is live!

I'm actually very excited about this particular launch. Forex Set and Forget represents the next generation of Automated Trading Robots. It's not neural networks or anything fancy like that. It is a simple trend follower that has a peculiar trade management scheme. At the most conservative settings it can generate profits between 20% and 70% per month depending on the pair. But if you "crank up the heat" it can produce 1000% or more gains in a single month.

So what makes this one different from the AME Cross Trader? Like the AME Cross Trader, Forex Set and Forget is a trend follower that uses Moving Average Crosses to determine trend, but that's where the similarities end. The new EA places and manages multiple trades. It uses pending orders instead of market orders to virtually eliminate slippage. It has much lower drawdown and can run unattended for months. However, to get the most value from it you should monitor trades after they are placed, especially if a trade is placed near a support or resistance level.

Anyway, the Forex Set and Forget site will tell you everything you need to know. Go check it out. If you have a ClickBank account then get your Affiliate Link and start sending visitors to the site, and you'll pick up a nice commission for each sale you refer.

I'll be publishing some youtube videos soon on things like "how to install", "how to configure", "how to optimize" and maybe even "how to crank up the heat" :-) and will keep you posted when the videos are available.

Interbank FX switching to fractional pips

I got this email a little while ago. It seems IBFX is switching to fractional pips (5 decimals instead of 4). If you are running the AME Cross Trader on InterbankFX, you will now have to change your "limitPips" value. Simply multiply the current value by 10 to get the correct value. Example: If currently you have limitPips=40, you will have to change it to limitPips=400.

Here is the email message I received.

Interbank FX is introducing 5th decimal pricing!

As part of our continuing commitment to delivering the optimal customer experience we are introducing 5th decimal pricing on our currency pairs. The 5th decimal prices will be available on our demo servers on Sunday afternoon at 6pm EST on April 12th, 2009 and will be available on the live trading servers on Sunday afternoon at 6pm EST on May 17, 2009.

Why 5th decimal pricing?
Adding the 5th decimal point can reduce the spread, or difference between the buy and sell prices of a currency pair. You may notice tighter spreads as we enable the 5th decimal pricing on our trading platforms.

How will this effect Expert Advisors (EAs)?
Most EAs will be affected by the introduction of the 5th decimal point. Please make sure that you have adjusted all pip value related parameters, such as take profits or stop losses, to allow for the additional decimal point. For instance, if you are currently using a stop loss level of 20 on a four decimal pair, you would have to change the value to 200 to get the same execution on a pair with a 5th decimal. Please be aware that some EAs will need fundamental changes to ensure that they will work as you expect. We would suggest that you use your EAs on our demo accounts before using them on your live account to ensure they are working properly.

How does this effect Stop Losses, Take Profits and Maximum Deviation?
All take profit, stop loss and maximum deviation values that are expressed in points should be multiplied by 10. For example, if you would like to enter a Maximum Deviation of 5 pips, you would enter 50 into the Maximum Deviation field.

How does this effect the profit / loss values expressed in the Trade tab in the Terminal?
All profit & loss values already incorporate the 5th decimal place adjustment when they are expressed as Points in the Profit column under the Trade tab in the Terminal window in MetaTrader.

Does this effect Trailing Stops?
Yes. When you are setting a trailing stop value you will multiply it by 10.

A new version of the AME Cross Trader is coming

I am experimenting with a new version of the AME Cross Trader that will (hopefully) drastically reduce the number of times it will have to endure drawdown. Version 2.03 will also have a bug fix where I am using the bid price instead of the ask price for take-profit on sell orders. This should improve the number of times take-profit is reached. Of course there will be free upgrades for existing customers. Anyway, I am hoping to have the new version available in a week or so.

I may have to switch parameters soon

If GBPJPY closes below 132.7 on the H4 chart, I will switch the parameters on the AME Cross Trader as follows...

shortMaBars=6
longMaBars=12
stopBars=6

When this happens, it will have moved below the 200 moving average, and dropped below the nearest support point, which usually indicates a freefall to the next support level, which in this case is around 127. That's a 500 pip freefall and I'm gonna capture as many of those pips as possible.

GBPJPY seems back to normal again

If you had been running the AME Cross Trader with shortMa=6 and longMa=12 for the last few days, you'd very likely have some nice profits right now. I have been running it with longMa=200, so I'm watching all these opportunities come and go. Also, you should close trades manually when the price touches the MA6, if you suspect yourself to be at the top of a peak or bottom of a dip.

I started forward testing a new EA

This is an interesting one. It can hold multiple trades open at a time and it's kinda scary to watch because the drawdown can be high. But it's nice because you tell it how much profit you want to make and you leave it alone. When it reaches that amount of profit it will close all trades then email you so you can make a withdrawal and restart the EA. I am considering publishing the results of my forward test, but that won't be for a while yet. I'm not sure I have the optimization technique perfected, so this test might fail horribly. And I'm getting kinda tired of publishing horrible results :-)

I created a twitter account

I just created a twitter account and added the link in the "My Other Sites" section of this blog. I am experimenting with using twitter as sort of a signal service for people who are interested in my opinion of the markets. Feel free to sign up and receive tweets of my observations, trades, etc.

https://twitter.com/forexmilmaker

Meanwhile, GBPJPY looks like it's heading down towards the 200MA. If you look at the 4-hour chart you'll notice a peak around february 13 that tops out around 133.80. This peak has acted as support for several bars near the end of the month and I believe the price will test this level again as a support, and if it breaks this then my guess is a smooth ride down to the 200MA. If not then I'm hoping for a bounce off support and a cross above the 6MA so that the AME Cross Trader can start making money again. We can see this happen as soon as the next two days, so let's see if I'm any good at predicting market moves. :-)

My eBook is available for download

As you probably know, I have been working on my book, "The Forex Millionaire Maker". Well, I have finally got it completed. The book is available for download here. I would appreciate any feedback that you might have, or any input that I might be able to use in future editions of the book. Future editions will most likely be in print format.

Work has begun on the next EA

First of all, I must apologize for waiting so long in between posts. I have had alot going on these days. Mostly finishing up my eBook, "The Forex Millionaire Maker". I have also been working pretty hard on a new EA. I won't reveal the name yet because it's very catchy and I don't want anyone stealing the name from me :-)

Anyway, it is nothing like the AME Cross Trader. It uses some of the same entry logic but overall it is a completely different beast. It does not have to be watched so heavily, and for the most part it can be turned on and left unattended. When it's done, this will be the EA that has the cheezy web site with all the backtest results and hype about how you don't need to know anything to use it, blah blah blah. However (and oddly enough), it will all be true. And more importantly, it works!

This new EA is one that you turn on and ignore it, and it will send you an email when it is time to withdraw money from the account. When you get the email, you turn off the EA, withdraw money, wait for your account balance to reflect the withdrawal, then turn the EA back on and do it again. It is a thing of beauty.

Meanwhile, my trading this month has been horrible! I must apologize for that as well. My account balance went from over $1000 in january to less than $300 today. My target for the next withdrawal is $3000, so I have alot of ground to cover before I get there. But if you bear with me, you will witness the account grow over time at a fairly rapid rate. Say a little prayer for me just in case. :-)

I changed the format of my account statement

Click the "Recent Account Statement" link on the right and you'll notice that the format has changed dramatically. I am now breaking the statements down by month and including a total gain/loss for each month. It starts from 1/1/2009 so there's only one full month there right now, but over time I will add data for each coming month. Also, a quick glance will show you that I'm not doing so well these days, but I am hoping it will pick up soon. :-)

Anyway, take a look at the new format and let me know what you think.

OK I'm back in the market now.

I dropped GBPCHF for now, although it looks like it is in a good position for trading now, after it took half of my account balance from me. :-(

Anyway, GBPJPY has moved clear above the 200MA and looks like there's room for upward movement. I have had the EA running on a demo account for the last few days and it has been doing quite well, so I decided to try it on my live account with these parameters. Remember this is for InterbankFX. For FXDD you want scaleDivisor=1000, and you want at least $1000 in your account.

• minTradeSize = 0.1
• scaleDivisor = 100
• stopDollars = 1000
• shortMaBars = 12
• longMaBars = 54
• stopBars = 6
• useLimit = 1
• limitPips = 30
• useMM = 1
• aggressiveMode = 1
• slippage = 10
• panicMode = 0
• maxTotalLots = 1000

I am still not confident in the market right now, but this really looks like a good opportunity to capture some nice profits. Please proceed with extreme caution if you are considering trading along with me.

Looks like I may have started a new trend

It seems that since I started selling the AME Cross Trader, some of the other ATC2008 contestants have started doing the same...

• PrizmaL - 2nd place winner
• abeiks - 3rd place winner

Even the first place winner, Liliput, chose to auction a single copy of his EA and donate the money to charity!

Also, it turns out that some scumbag has taken advantage of this fact and has put up a scam site, offering to sell illegal copies of my EA, other ATC2008 contestants EA, and about 200 other products. I suspect the site has been up for quite a while and the ATC2008 products were added recently.

• www.bookdepartment.info/ea-champhionship-winner/cat_17.html

Either way, be careful when looking for trading robots because you might run into a site like the one above.

Can you say "OUCH!"?

January turned out to be a horrible trading month for me. My account went from $1000 to just over $500 in January. My target is $3000 before I make my next withdrawal, and I am determined to reach that target. I will not diverge from my trading style to get there. Some loss is expected. I know my strategy works, but sometimes knowing *when* to stay out of the market is the most important part of a strategy. This is where I failed in January. I even recommended to a few of my customers that they stay out of the market until February. I wish I had taken my own advice.

Also, getting very familiar and comfortable with the currency pair you are trading is of utmost importance. I have been experimenting with EURCHF and GBPCHF, because GBPJPY had started behaving differently at the end of 2008, but I have not had enough time and experience with them to say that I know them well. This may have been part of my problem also. There's a good chance I will be trading GBPJPY again soon, so maybe that will help me reach my next goal of growing the account to $3000.

GBPCHF approaching 200MA on H4 chart

A quick look at the GBPCHF 4-hour chart reveals that the price is about to touch the 200 period moving average. The previous two times this happened, over the last two weeks or so, provided opportunity to capture some serious pips. Nearly 400 pips on the first touch and over 700 pips on the second. The AME Cross Trader would have easily captured most of those during this time period.

Now it looks like another bounce can happen again. Look at the chart below and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you turn on the EA right now in anticipation of either a bounce or a break through the 200MA, there is a good chance you'll make a few bucks over the next few days or even weeks. Note that the AME Cross Trader will not place any trades until that 12MA is between the 200MA and price, which should be happening in the next few days. So now would be a good time to turn it on and let it wait for the opportunity to come.



Here are the parameters I am using on my chart.

minTradeSize = 0.1 (0.01 for standard account)
scaleDivisor = 100 (1000 for FXDD)
stopDollars = 1000
shortMaBars = 12
longMaBars = 200
stopBars = 6
useLimit = 1
limitPips = 10
useMM = 1
aggressiveMode = 1
slippage = 10
panicMode = 0
maxTotalLots = 1000

Also, note on that chart the short consolidation period that happened right before the price started moving towards the 200MA. Unfortunately, I took some pretty bad losses during this time. Part of it was a manual trade that I placed which went against me. But overall it was a confusing period for the AME Cross Trader. If you look at the 12MA, you'll notice that it is nearly horizontal and the price crosses back and forth over it. This is the worst time to trade, but I ignored my better instincts and let it go anyway, and it cost me all of my profits and a little more.

Now I have some catching up to do. Oh well.

Look what I found!

I found this blog (in japanese?) where someone took the AME Cross Trader and optimized it for every currency pair on FXDD live server. The site includes backtest reports AND .set files for every currency pair, optimized from 01/01/2008 to 12/31/2008!!!

This was clearly alot of work and I am most grateful to the person who has done this. Unfortunately, I cannot read the language of the blog (is it japanese?) so I have no way of knowing who to credit for this work. If you can read the language of the blog, please see if you can find a contact person and leave a comment here with their info. I really would like to thank this person for this great work.

Check out my trading log

I have been keeping a log of all of my 2009 trading activity in a myspace group that I am an active member of. It's a great group for beginning traders, with a wide variety of people with a vast range of experience in trading. Click here to check it out. Or click the "2009 trading log" link on the right.

Note that this same information can be found in the "Recent Account Statement", but the trading log has commentary with each post. Also, there is feedback from other group members in there as well.

I think I like the 200MA

I decided that since the 200MA has been kicking me in the crotch lately, I should get on its good side. So I tried optimizing for InterbankFX, using the "ame-cross-trader-h4-mini-full.set", but instead of optimizing the "longMaBars" I simply set longMaBars=200 and left it out of the optimization. I got some interesting results. Not necessarily great results, but one thing that I found is that those combinations were rarely hurt by the 200MA. In fact, I also found that using shortMaBars=12 produced some nice results in a few currency pairs.

If you're feeling experimental, try optimizing some currency pairs but leaving shortMaBars=12 and longMaBars=200. Optimize all the other parameters that are already checked in the preset file and see what you come up with. Also, run backtest in visual mode so you can see exactly how the MAs affect the trading. I think I might be on to something good here.

Anyone experiencing this with FXDD?

I have set up a demo account on FXDD and have been running the AME Cross Trader on GBPCHF for a few days now. It seems like I lose my connection repeatedly throughout the day. I have other accounts on InterbankFX and Metaquotes. These accounts rarely lose connection, but FXDD loses connection all the time. Have you experienced this? Are the live accounts this unstable? Please leave a comment and let me know. I am very curious about this.

The AME Cross Trader ONLY places trades, sets take-profit and moves trailing stop within the first 60 seconds of a new bar forming. On the H4 this means if I lose connection, say, for 2 minutes, causing me to miss my window of opportunity, then I have to wait FOUR HOURS for the next opportunity. On the D1 that time increases to TWENTY FOUR HOURS. This makes me never want to open a live account on FXDD. Someone please tell me I'm wrong.

Are you using FXDD to run the AME Cross Trader?

I just created standard AND mini demo accounts on FXDD (because some customers were having difficulty running back tests) and learned some disturbing things...

• From what I can tell, the only difference between FXDD standard and mini accounts is the minimum deposit amount.
• The smallest trade you can place is 0.1 standard lots. On xxxUSD pairs that means 1pip=$1. To use the AME Cross Trader with $500 starting amount, you need 1pip=$0.10 minimum trade size. A factor of 10 difference!

My advice to anyone running the AME Cross Trader on FXDD is this...

• Start with at least $1000
  
• Set minTradeSize=0.1
• Set scaleDivisor=1000

Doing these things will let the EA run with the same level of effectiveness as a *true* mini account. There are just 2 main differences...

• Your initial risk is $1000 instead of $500
• The EA cannot scale trade sizes as effectively. For example, with $500 on InterbankFX, your trade size will grow from 0.05 to 0.06, 0.07, 0.08 standard lots, etc. each time your balance increases by $100. But on FXDD it will grow from 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 standard lots, etc. each time your account balance increases by $1000.

Anyway, I'm just putting this info on here so that you know what you are in for.

GBPCHF is looking very promising now

I was running the optimizer on all different pairs and one that stuck out for this last month is GBPCHF. Here are the optimized parameters for InterbankFX mini account with $500...

• minTradeSize=0.1 (0.01 for standard account)
• scaleDivisor=100
• stopDollars=1000 (or set to 1 to disable panic mode)
• shortMaBars=18
• longMaBars=90
• stopBars=6
• useLimit=1
• limitPips=20
• useMM=1
• aggressiveMode=1
• slippage=10
• panicMode=0
• maxTotalLots=1000

This combination produced 300% gains in a single month. Here is a graph from a backtest...


Anyway, it looks promising and I might try it in place of EURCHF, which I have been experimenting with but I'm not too happy with so far.

Preparing the AME Cross Trader for live trading

Apparently, it is not obvious how to optimize and prepare the AME Cross Trader for use on a live chart. So I made a video as an answer to one of the most commonly asked questions.



The original video was over 13 minutes long and had to be edited down to 9 minutes in order to comply with YouTube restrictions, so the ending is kind of abrupt. Sorry. Also, at the end I forgot to set the chart to H4 instead of the default H1.

Also, it might be easier to watch in full screen. :-)

GBPJPY looks like it's ready to rock!

Click on the chart below and you'll notice that GBPJPY has the longer of the two moving averages going through the last bar. This is the ideal time to turn on the AME Cross Trader on this chart.


It doesn't matter if the price goes up or down. If it goes above both moving averages, eventually the EA will start placing buy orders. If it continues the downtrend and goes below both moving averages, then it will start placing sell orders. Either way, the outcome will likely be some serious profits. This is not 100% guaranteed, but the likelihood is very high.

First testimonial: AME Cross Trader

One of my customers, Jeremy from USA, has sent me this awesome testimonial...

"What a week, I followed your directions down to the letter, and my first time around it worked!!! I started the EA on EUR/USD on monday... the long term average was crossing the bar. This morning when I checked, my account had went from 507$ to 1527$!!! I closed all positions because i was following strategy #2 (triple and withdraw)."

Please note that "this morning" in the note above represents Friday, not even a week later. These results are not typical by any means but it does happen once in a while. However, tripling your account in a month is not uncommon at all.

So, here's my response to Jeremy...

"Congratulations! Remember, as soon as your withdrawal is processed then you are trading risk-free. Not only that, but it looks like you made enough profit to cover the cost of the EA as well!. So now you have a free account and free EA, and a good working knowledge of how to continue the momentum. Good job, my friend!"