"Awesome" auto-trading robot by SteveHopwood

SERIOUS WARNING

 

1. Most Forex traders lose all their money.
2. Using the robot posted here in trading Forex does not guarantee success.
3. Trading this robot could lead to serious financial loss.
4. Trading this robot without understanding its underlying trading strategies guarantees traders will lose their money.
5. This is not a set-and-forget ea; there is no such thing and anyone who tries to claim there is, is either stupid or lying. This ea will require manual intervention when a 'death run' against you occurs.
6. At best, a trading robot is only 90% as good as the manual strategy it trades. At best. At worst, it can be much less effective. If the strategy is rubbish, so is the robot.
7. To trade this robot, you have to understand:
   1. The lethal nature of Martingale trading.
      

Awesome
This is not a ludicrous claim by me about the power of the EA. I have named the robot to reflect the pdf that posits the system it trades. Read about the system in the pdf; once you get your head around it, it is as easy as shelling peas.



I have run this ea on demo for a couple of weeks; it takes its +30 pips several times a day. The downside is the size that trading lots can reach using the Martingale principle of doubling up the lot size of the losing trade.


Having said that, I have yet to see a scary lot size on my demo account. We shall see; it will be a long time before I risk this on a live account. It might be worthwhile bunging $100 in a penny account and seeing if it can grow. Do not run this ea on a more substantial account; the account will get killed eventually.


The bot offers a variety of options to enter the first trade in the sequence; leave these at default if you are clueless.


There is a Martingale multiplier input; leave this set to zero to go with the default posited in the pdf.


SleepMinsAfterClosure allows you to send Awesome to sleep after a successful TP. Leave this set to zero to be 'always in' the market.


Set CriminalIsECN to true if your crim is a two-stage crim; if clueless, leave the default in place.


I use Bollinger Bands as a volatility filter; +30 is much easier to achieve if the markets are moving.


Basically, if you are clueless dump the ea onto an EU demo, accept the defaults and watch what happens.


The author of the pdf has made the document freely available in the hope that people using it will visit his website and sign up for a live account through him. I would love to let him have a copy of the ea, but to do so requires registering with yet another forex website, and I simply cannot be bothered. If anybody registered there could point him to this post, that would be nice.

I decided to try this live. I have one of those strange forex4you accounts where you can trade like a prince with no cash - $40.00 appears in the display as $40000.00. If only.

I use it for trying out ridiculous ideas without having to worry about the cash, so I have bunged Awesome onto it. I gradually worked my way through the initial deposit so there is very little left, but the curious can follow Awesome's progress or otherwise at
http://www.myfxbook.com/members/Stev...1652326/138869

Have fun.






So far, so good and so easy; now to muddy the waters a little. Read this thread at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=302007 the this one at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=304770 to see how I started to develop tools for fh's method, development that sq has taken over.

Last night, sq suggested using breakout from the box to trigger Awesome's trades, so I hacked his code and added it to Awesome, to create the Awesome with fh version. There are a few things to note about this:

 

1. fh has said that he looks for a minimum cz box of 25 M15 candles. I am demoing this version on the M15 chart, so BoxLength is set to 6 as sq's indi multiplies this figure by 4 to ascertain the correct number of bars for the box
2. there is a filter in this version that will only allow it to trade if there are no other trades open, so:
   1. you can put it on as many charts as you wish; a new sequence will not start if there is already a different one in place. Only use pairs with as small a spread as possible - Awesome displays the current spread.
   2. you can not trade this ea on an account that you use to trade other systems

3. the ea does not draw historical boxes. It starts looking for the formation of a new box at startup. If you restart the bot during a box formation, that box will be lost.

Useful utilities/EA's/scripts

 

1. MaryJane has posted a fabulous utility to allow us to resize EA input windows: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=299017
2. Multi purpose trade manager: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=89371
3. Account equity analyser: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...16#post4693716 Also at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...98#post4709098, which includes a template for both USD and the Euro.

Most promising trading EA's

 

1. Rip: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...98#post4777998
2. The Beast: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...=1#post4135863
3. Pippo: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...96#post4675196
4. Reversi: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=294255
5. Ibuks: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...88#post4656888
6. FTLR: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...85#post3831885

_________________________________________________________________________________
Posting restrictions
I have restricted the ability to post in this thread to: traders with at least 1 voucher; and traders on my 'buddy' list. I have done this because I do not want the thread cluttered with 'newbie' questions about the basics. New/inexperienced traders, this is not intended as a direct insult. What I want here is discussion with traders who fully understand what it is they are doing; when you newbs have been around a while, you will come to understand what a difference experience makes to the posts a member writes and shudder at the recollection of some of the questions you asked. I do. http://cdn.forexfactory.com/images/s..._the_floor.gif Go to your profile page; there is a link to the FF page that describes the voucher process.

Do not attempt to get around this by sending me pm's asking for help with your basic problems. Doing so will earn you an automatic ban from all of my threads.

I have set up a partner to my restricted threads at http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...66#post3948666
There, you can post the questions that you cannot post here, about anything you need to know. Someone with the knowledge and experience you need will answer.

Traders/coders with experience who have not yet been vouched for, can get around this restriction be being added to my 'buddy' list; all you have to do is pm me to ask me to do this.

Martingale? Is that you?

I know. I know. It is good fun on demo though. And maybe on a tiny, tiny account with funds we genuinely don't care about................

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the principle. It's just another form of risk. As risk goes, I'd much rather Martingale than use too-high leverage or too-high lot sizes across multiple trades. But why is it we don't hear the same criticisms for those, as we do for Martingaling? It gets a bum rap in my opinion. It's just another form of risk, and one that can be controlled, but seldom is, and that's the real problem with Martingaling -- the fact that is is never correctly controlled.

Steve, an easy way to do this is to add a 'Martingale Limiter' in the line immediately following Martingale Multiplier. So that what ever this number is set for (e.g., 5) that is the limit as to how many times the trades will Martingale. Note: The opening trade is not part of this number. So think of it as 1+5, and apply the filter only to the second number.

FxH

Sorry forexhard, but this is nonsense. If you limit the sequence, then it is not too long before an adverse move wipes out all your previously accumulated profits. All these trades have a stop loss.

If you do not limit the sequence, then it is not long before a killer sequence wipes the account.

Unless you trade an initial lot size so tiny that the daily profits appear ridiculous. Mind, these inconsiderable sums will add up over a period of time,which is why I make the suggestions I do in post 1 regarding live trading.

What I will not tolerate is anyone suggesting that Martingale is anything other than lethal in the hands of the inexperienced and naive. Suggest this again, forexhard, and I will prevent you from posting in my threads again.

Steve, we are in agreement as to what I just wrote, so how can what I say be nonsense?

I understand perfectly well that a limiter will cause that particular grid to close in a negative. We agree on this. But it won't happen to every grid. And it will only happen to the grids that reach that limit. The key is to limiting your entries so as to reduce your exposure to ranging markets. You have all the filters already in place that do just that -- the EMA filters, the BB filter, the Time filters, and so on. The only filter you are missing is the one that will prevent an account from exploding due to over-trading (e.g., over Martingaling). Why you would threaten to ban me for making the robot as safe as possible is beyond me. I'm trying to help here, and what I'm saying is not wrong.

FxH

On the grounds that I am not perfect and am a dimwit, I have adopted your suggestion and added a MaxLots input to the bot - post 1 for the update guys (whilst playing on demo/backtester with this baby, I suggest not bothering with the update. It will always be there and I am not going to add anything more to Awesome for now).

Not that I have to be a dimwit to adopt your suggestion, you understand, just that I am one. These are separate issues.

Sorry to come over so aggressive, but M is so seductive, and yet so lethal.

No argument from me there!

FxH

Here is the difference: in the first case, you control the max number of whipsaws; in the second, it is your broker, through a margin call - but you won't easily know in advance exactly when. So overall, it is probably better to control it yourself (or at least have that option). Of course, "control" here is merely control of your own demise...

I see a degree of interest here. Have fun on demo everyone.

Controlling the number of doublings you go through gives the illusion of control with Martingale systems. By the time you decide to stop, you're so far under water you may as well keep doubling.

hi stevehopwood, thanks for add me into the list.
i think, the martingale system is relatively risky, if traders unable to track the trending market.
what if we change the trading lot size.
eg. initial trade buy 0.1 lot at 1.9830 & place sell stop 0.2 lot at 1.9800.
if reach to sell stop at 1.9800 then place buy stop 0.2 lot at 1.9830.
thereafter keep on placing 0.2lots buy/sell stop consequently.

will this help in other market condition? and this definitely help reducing the drawdown.

What you described won't work. Statistically your entry is a coin toss and you're placing equal bets with an equal SL/TP. It has negative expectancy due to spread losses.

For this to work at all you have to keep doubling on each loss. The risk with Martingaling is "risk of ruin", the statistical chance that you'll be wiped out after a string of consecutive losses.

Think of Martingale systems as a whore. You can put expensive clothing and jewelry on her, but it doesn't alter her core characteristic.

Dont use Martingale cause it sucks, it will only make small profit on the first trade, if in loss it will add more lots to breakeven.

So Martingale type of trading means less porfit, big risk.
This will lead to failure but nothing.

A golden rule in FX trading says :"never add lot to a losing position"

This looks kinda like the "Avenger FIBO" that someone here recently, same principle, just keep martingaling until you win.

Honestly I think someone needs to post a link to Renko charts every single time someone posts a martingale system, as IMO they are the best representation of how this kind of insane grid trading will eventually bite you in the ass.

Speaking of which, if you feel like making an EA for insane yet profitable system using a Martingale strategy just for shits and giggles.

Using Renko Bars - Any size doesn't matter (2,3,5,10, 100, whatever though it IS helpful to make the bar size large enough to account for spread loss)
Using MA 1 Open
Using MA 1 Close
When MA 1 Close > MA 1 Open then place a BUY
TP = Size of Renko Bar
SL = Size of Renko Bar
Martinagale on a loss.
Only place BUY orders do not place ANY sell orders (or do the opposite, only place sells and never any buys, doesn't matter really, just dont attempt to trade both directions).
Dont attempt to "find a trend" or "improve its accuracy" in any way using any other indicator and or tool.

Sit back and watch as martingale pours profits into your account. lol.

Seriously, this system is actually profitable using martingale as retarded as it sounds.

Basically all you need is a very strong movement, it doesn't matter in which direction. How about letting the user put on a trade - either buy or sell, doesn't matter here - 1 or 2 minutes before a big news event, and let the ea take over? Big news events will ensure movement and thereby avoid the consolidation area's which will kill the trades.

Just a thought..

I have one of those strange forex4you accounts where you can trade like a prince with no cash - $40.00 appears in the display as $40000.00. If only.

I use it for trying out ridiculous ideas without having to worry about the cash, so I have bunged Awesome onto it. I gradually worked my way through the initial deposit so there is very little left, but the curious can follow Awesome's progress or otherwise at https://www.myfxbook.com/portfolio/mt4-1652326/138869

Mart's don't like ranging conditions ?
All right, let's martingale only when ranging is over, then!

How about combining this with Forexhard's CZ ?...

When a breakout of the CZ appears, kick in Awesome...

That could really be awesome.

Or maybe not.

Crazy idea ?

I'm off to bed now

Steve, the myfxbook link won't work.

Sq

What makes Awesome basically unworkable is the amount of capital that needs to be tied up to allow sufficient margin for M to do its thingy without blowing the account. This idea could allow traders to start with a decent lot size in the knowledge that a decent move has already started. I might try this out over the weekend. Cheers.

No idea why not. Sorry.

Well... on a second thought (can't sleep yet ) the latest CZ EA i posted already has martingaling options in it .
It's just not "jumping high enough" on the second trade to produce the mart sequence described in the pdf.
The sequence is 1,2,4,8,etc with a factor of 2, instead of 1,3,6,12,24,etc as in the pdf.
Should not be a big deal to change that.

Then we need to find the "good" CZ settings.

I played a bit with the DynamicBreakout indi tonight and came up with possibly better settings than the defaults:

BoxLength=25
BoxTimeFrame=15
AutoBoxRange=true
AutoBoxRangeDailyATRperiod=30
AutoBoxRangeDailyATRfactor=0.20 (default was 0.25)
BoxBufferPips=5

=> 6.25 hours of CZ instead of 4(default), and 0.20*ADR instead of 0.25.

Gives less CZ boxes, but much better outcome (much less SL hit).

Then the TP needs to be adjusted to the box_size+2*buffer.

Sq