DislikedHi R4ME, I was wondering if you could share with the community your past history with software development and in particular with trading. I believe you have been a software developer for many years. Also, you worked for some large US companies specializing in commercial software development for portfolio management. It definitely influences what is written here and the level of respect.Ignored
I have nothing to hide and I've mentioned my background a few times. In a previous life I was a research biochemist. Around 30 years ago I went back to the university to earn a degree in Computer Science -- I was burned out on research.
At 50 years old I was laid off and after 1.5 years trying to land a full-time job I accepted the fact I was unemployable. So, I went to a community college for a couple of years and learned about networking. That eventually grew into a software company.
I got interested in forex about 3 years ago. At first I started developing indicators and EAs in C# but then later realized that was a waste of time and, so, switched to MQL4. I've developed hundreds, if not thousands of indicators and EAs over the past 3 years -- many software-generated, though a lot by hand -- like BD Strategy. I've mentioned portfolio EAs, but that is not portfolio management. Portfolio EAs refers to a single EA, attached to a single chart, that trades dozens of different strategies. It works well, but then most of your time is spent recalibrating strategies and toggling winners and losers on and off, based on current market conditions. I know a LOT about how MT4 works under the covers, data analysis, its single-threaded architecture and the implications.
As for trading I probably have several thousand live, real trades under my belt. I don't pay attention to any particular trade any more. I've learned the shotgun approach works best -- probably from the time I was trading portfolio EAs.
And I'll share something else -- suppose you asked me what surprised me the most about FF and the forex traders here. For people who are soooo desperate to succeed at something, it blows me away the number of closed minds I've encountered along the way. And that doesn't include the BS'ers like @George et al. You would think that people would realize that collectively there is much more to gain than lose. But here you have people like @George et al with a 30 pips / day EA afraid to share it because the MM is going to alter its algorithm(s) out of fear that @George et al will clean them out. The intentional lying, misinformation, and outright deceit simply boggles the mind. And because this is the Internet and we have anonymity here, then everyone feels tempted to come off as an expert. I didn't want to come off as an expert -- which is why I keep referring to myself as a "rookie".
But, you know, I stuck with it. And then, out of the blue steps-in @bishopdotun. He's my reward for sticking it out. And, of course there have been others who have helped along the way -- including @Nih98 (who seems to have disappeared), @SwingMan, @skyway, @Robot Trader, @jmn5611 and others who I apologize for not mentioning here. And everyone who has posted suggestions, bug fixes, encouragement. It is very satisfying to create something that has value for people.
A rather long answer to a simple question -- but you probably figured I'd take the overly verbose route...
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