I have yet to see a robot that succeeds in the long run.
I've heard from friends that some of them do work, but usually semi automatic. Means it will trigger an alert, but the buying and selling is done manually.
Also, of the ones I heard works, trades based on daily charts.

So I'm curious if you have an EA that works.

Before I start, let me assure you I'm not trying to pour cold water. I'm just giving constructive feedback. I myself have done a lot of research on EAs and even coded a few myself when I was younger. But because of that experience, I have a lot of doubt on the validity of EAs because there are inherent problems which I will discuss some of them below.

There are a few questions:
1)You mention the robot is based on 1h. But clearly the data indicates trades are entered and exited based on 1min or tick charts. So which is it?
2)You said that this robot has been forward tested live. Do you have the actual statement? Or is this a robot you found on a website and just linking their pictures? If you have the excel file, just zip it up and post here on lowyat. Or provide a link.
3)You never mention what are the spreads on your broker. Live trading has slippage and spread. When your profits are counted in single digit pips, spread and slippage plays a huge role. It could probably eat up as much as 50% of your net profit. If your average pips are around 40pips, then slippage and spread is not so impactful. Also, requotes happen way more than you think which again, is not impactful to swing traders, but absolutely devastating to high frequency traders.
4)Assuming 2 pips spread on average for eurusd, it means that per entry and exit you have to eat up 2 pips (total 4 pips per trade). Meaning your average wins could be 4 pips less and your avg loss could be 4 pips more. If so, then the positive expectancy of this strategy not very high.

5)You didn't indicate the entry rules or exit rules, so a lot of guesswork is needed. Your biggest recorded drawdown is -22 pips,
-but we don't know if price moved -55pip first then came back to -22 or
-the exit strategy signaled an exit at 22 pips.
-But based on the timestamps, the strategy is an "always in" robot, which means that if it exits a trade, it will reverse the position. And since there are no "whipsaws" as indicated in your records, that means there is no hard stop loss. Again this means that it is possible that although your recorded drawdown is -22 pips, it could have went all the way to -100pips floating loss before coming back to -22. Obviously this is a problem because it becomes possible to ruin the account in a single black swan event. You can be profitable for 1 year and suddenly wipe the account in 1 brexit move.

-So if the strategy doesn't use a mechanical stoploss, then it is susceptible to black swan events - which by the way is usually what kills all robots eventually.
-If the strategy uses mechanical stop losses, you would see way more whipsaws on the statement - but it is not seen in the statement.
-Which of the above 2 is it?

And finally, the only way to accept that the robot is working well is to have it run for 2 years. Just like a manual trader.
6)Estimated calculation of your compounding rate from Aug17-jan18 (180 days), I came up with the figure 1.84% per day.
-If you compound $1000 for 2 years (730days), with a compounding rate of 1.84% a day, by the end of 2 years, you would be worth $603million.
So now you can see why I'm so critical and doubtful. There are a lot of gaps that needs explaining.

This post has been edited by Emily Ratajkowski: Mar 21 2018, 02:14 PM

Probably because you don't have enough posts or the account too new.
I pmed you. If you send to me I'll try to upload the file for you here.

As promised to EA MT4, Here is the file he is trying to upload.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with this robot. I'm only helping post this because EA MT4 cannot upload the file.


Attached File(s)
 EUR_USD_EA.zip ( 81.28k ) Number of downloads: 73

Just my opinion, that kinda risk you take with such a small account, really very hard to last long in this business.

you still need at least 1 year track record though.

actually this style of "all in" then withdraw once you hit a certain target is not a viable strategy for institutions or larger accounts. Above all people look for consistency. Then they look at how you manage risk. By virtue of sharing a fund, you can't simply just "all in" your margin. The risk department will be calling you really quickly.

Maybe for retail level ok. But even then, I feel the risk is still too big for such a small account. With that kind of lot size, his account should at least be close to 100k. Well that's just my risk tolerance.

Don't think any of these are legit prop firms. Anyone that asks you to put money in first runs a business, not a fund.

Also, the process of getting into a prop firm is infinitely harder than the rules they have mentioned.

If you want to have a chance with a legit firm you need to have at least 1 year of track record. Even better if you have 2

As long as you can convince them that you have a positive expectancy and you can manage your risk well, you can get hired.

edit: You have a higher chance with a legit firm searching in jobstreet, than from the internet. And legit prop firms sometimes pay you a small but fixed salary - like any legit employer.

This post has been edited by Emily Ratajkowski: Sep 25 2019, 08:58 AM

Basically nobody.
Not even top fund managers.

I still stand by the rule: if I have to put money in first, I am the client, not the worker.

They want to hire traders, but trader has to put in money first? Those people who really believe this deserve to lose money.

Even the most conservative of prop firms that I've seen will do a cost sharing. You put some of yours in, and they put some of theirs in.

Even if it is a small amount, tak payah ler... People nowadays so desperate to live teh wall street life meh?

Also, the reason jobstreet ones are more legit is because at the end of the day, legit firms have to deal with a lot of red tape. The finance industry is heavily regulated. And if you want to get into that line, you have to get used to some rules. Can't do this, can't do that, only can trade certain things etc. Full of rules in this industry.

I have never seen a fund that has no restrictions or restrictions that are so small like that ftmo.

That's true.

The fact remains that there are very limited slots to begin with. That's why only the really successful and proven get the job.

That's where track record comes in. If you can show a 2 year profitable track record, just walk into any bank and ask for an interview. Heck send it to blackrock or singapore firms. Guarantee will get some response one.

I don't really understand your question. But if you're asking if prop houses accept a 10-12% drawdown, the answer is yes. Depending on whether your prop house is conservative or not, anywhere from 20-30% drawdown is usualy allowed before you'll start getting a phone call.

And again, if I have to put money in first, I'm the customer, not the employee. For the life of me, I cannot understand why people think that it is ok to pay money for your own employment. Same thing with mlm.

And also, you're right, there is no way to fix a profit target. But usually industry standard is to expect higher returns than the index. So for example this year snp is up by almost 14%. So your results should at least be 14% or better.

You are right. Many very successful traders tend to trade for themselves. They don't want to be tied to regulations. Saying you're a "fund manager" is not really as glam as it sounds.

The unfortunate part is, you will trigger income tax no matter what happens. Unless you park all your money outside the country and don't buy any assets in malaysia. The moment you purchase assests above your declared income, you will trigger a flag.
All those things about not taxable if overseas capital gain etc will not work. I'm willing to wager that they don't remit profits back to malaysia often. Because if they do, income tax will tax you based on adventure and nature of trade argument.
Bottomline is, you cannot escape. The best case scenario is to open up a foreign company in a low tax country like singapore or switzerland. Then pay lower tax in that country. Then bring your money back. But of course, in the first place, most people cannot even open up a company in a foreign country. So don't bother unless you have at least 5mil USD.

Edit: To be honest, malaysia tax is quite ok liao. Max bracket is 27% only. Make $1, give 27c to gov for peace of mind. Ok la.

You'll shit brix if you kena tax in aus, uk or us.

This post has been edited by Emily Ratajkowski: Sep 25 2019, 07:01 PM

Yes. Coz you're already taxed in sg.

Assuming you declare only 2k usd per month as income, then no problem. LHDN will just assess and see if you need to kena tax or not. 2kusd is around 8k rm, so probably just tax a bit only.

But if you want to secretly bring in 2k usd as extra income, you're setting yourself up to be audited by doing that.

You can get away at first. But then eventually you will need to buy assets in malaysia. And if you suddenly buy something that you shouldn't be able to afford based on your declared tax, then you will kena flag. Then they will dig out all your bank transactions and find funny things.

Even if you somehow managed to escape tax for a long time. Do you want to be stuck at 2kusd forever? So you trade until become milliionaire but have to live with 2k a month?

Don't bother evading tax la. Good night sleep is better. It's not worth playing these games unless you have way too much money.

Rather than asking me how I know - which btw I don't know...
It is better for you to ask how are you sure they are legit? After all I'm not the one who wants to get employed by them.

Again, ask yourself, "why should I pay money to be employed"? Imagine you go apply for job at 7-11. Then the manager say, before I can hire you, you need to pay me RM2000.

Their requirements are basically too easy which leads me to think that they are not really planning to "hire" anyone, but rather trying to get easy money.

Also, there's a reason why requirements are high for fund managers. Statistically only the top 5-10% of traders make money. And only the top 2% make huge money. Why would anyone throw away good money on an unproven hopeful?

Just imagine if you had 1mil$. Would you simply give your money away to a random hopeful trader who claims he's good? Even if you gave 10k per person, you'd feel the pain after a few of them bust within 6 months. Real funds are very selective.

It's simply too dodgy. But don't let me stop you, go for it and then tell us if you're successful. I'd like to know too.

This post has been edited by Emily Ratajkowski: Sep 25 2019, 09:54 PM

better check with your tax agent also
and yes

Industry standard is 20:80
Some better ones will give you up to 30:70
Only those billionaire mangers can get 40% or higher

What happened to withdraw and restart at 20k?

Dont throw away good money man...

Last time did say you are a bit overleveraged. Your 5k won't even last you 20 pips with that kind of position size.

I Dono about his strategy but I know for sure his lot size too big for his account.

Originally his plan was to hit 40 or 50k. Then will withdraw out and restart at 20k. Basically saying he is putting a stop loss of 20k. That's fine actually. But I don't know why he didn't stick to the plan.

People with 1mil account also trade 20-30 lots only.

I think you need to rethink your trading goals...

It's ok to add more when you're making money. But never ok to add more when you're losing money. In forex, once markets start to break out, they tend to go on for a while. That's why nobody should add to losers after a breakout. In fact as a general good trading rule, simply do not add to losers. Opposite is also true. If you manage to catch a breakout, just start scaling in. Market tends to trend for a while.

If your plan was originally to max out at 20 lots, you shouldn't suddenly say "lets switch to swap collecting until things get better". The game you're playing is still tolerable for someone with a 1mil account. But you only have about 100 pips of lifeline. And in forex 100 pips can be gone in 1 hour.

Anyway, hopefully you will be able to exit at a lower price. I think breaking even at this point will be hard because your break even price is below a support. But price may still get close enough to let you exit with a small loss.

Most big boys will start looking for a long once price drops below 1.1025. And they will take bigger and bigger long positions as it gets closer to 1.1000. Hopefully you will be able to get out by then.

Edit: You can guess from this response that I don't believe in grid or martingales. Most big traders have a maximum lot size that they will load up. They usually start with a small position and sometimes keep adding even if price goes against them, but they never exceed their maximum lot size. In other words, they don't martingale. Sometimes they get into a position and immediately market goes into profit. They will also add positions as price goes higher and higher. But they never exceed their maximum size.

This post has been edited by Emily Ratajkowski: Oct 13 2019, 03:36 PM