Bob and Shelley Again

[fxozgirl]

Thanks Shelley for confirming it, i wasn´t aware of that post...


Something else, could be broker feed difference the explanation why your live account is currently +10% and Demo1a is in negative territory, both using same settings?

Greetings!

Not only that, but a lot of it is timing...depending on when the EA is originally loaded and the first trades taken will also have an impact on immediate comparison of results.

For example, my Live account took an EurAud trade yesterday which very quickly moved to +30, half lots closed and locked in a nice profit, later in the evening I set up a new demo, BASA very obediently took a trade for Euraud (it was still a valid trade as per rules), however the run was pretty much at it's peak and that trade is now still open and in drawdown. Will it recover? I don't know, but just show's you how timing can also affect it. Now if you expand that out and the same thing occurred with more trades, then a bigger initial drawdown would occur. Moving forward though I would expect that to be eventually overcome.

Also, my demo's are on GP and the live account I am referring to is on Cowboy Go Markets, so obviously there will be differences there and my demo's are all only 2 weeks old now, because of the update to the GP servers.

[SteveHopwood]

Out of curiosity, Steve: Cowboy Cowboy Cowboy on GMT did +140, GP on GMT+2 did -140. Is that fairly consistent, with CCC steadily outperforming GP? Or over the long haul, do the two of them perform roughly equally?

Can't say yet. I only put BASA back on my GP account this week, after the summer break.

[Nipponho]

Even under same criminal, same EA, same setting, synchronized starting, the demo and live results are still a bit different.

There’s a way out. If we see someone has good results, eg. Shelly, we can obtain from him/her the exact EA version, the exact setting and load in onto the exact same criminal and follow very closely on how she performs manual interventions. May not be 100% similar, but at least should narrow the difference, and the difference should not be like heaven and hell. Then maybe make the EA produce some noise when opening or closing trades to alert us, and we can put the trade onto our own criminal. Or perhaps use trade copy EA. Many of us are using Cowboy IBFX demo so that we can see on our own platform exactly the same as what Bob flashes.

[zTB]

Read somewhere on the Internet yesterday:

"One half of your return is determined by your investments, the other half by what kind of person you are." - John C. Bogle, interview with Jason Zweig, October 14, 1996.

The question arises how do I become Shelley, Nanningbob, and a few others all at the same time : : :

I think it will be easier to learn from others, but remain myself; and remaining aware of my limitations, use my strengths, and keep my risk measured.

Z

[trader689]

thanks for the feedback zTB. your reply also as prompted a very good response from Steve, so that is good

But just to clarify a little, I was asking about a "half close" option within the EA? it seems to be mentioned here, or is that a reference to an external trade manager? thanks people

sorry am i being majorly thick? as im running v2c and i cant find half close anywhere.

im using ma stacking off for main trades, max trades = 5 and many times i get a relatively large open floating profit only for profit not to be taken / trades turning round and hitting the atr stops

A key aspect of trading is to know your objectives. Therefore, you and only you must decide what do you expect to achieve with any system. You must also understand various market conditions for which you should trade a system and the market conditions for which you should avoid a system, or modify it to suit the prevailing conditions.

Most often money is made by cutting losses short and letting profits run. However, there are times it is best to take profits early.

From your post, it seems right now it would pay (at least in your case) to take profit early. Or put break-even stops.

I think it is not quite fair to expect Shelley, or Mr. Hopwood, or any other generous contributor to provide answers to every little wriggle of the markets.

Good luck.

Z

[milanese]

thanks for the feedback zTB. your reply also as prompted a very good response from Steve, so that is good

But just to clarify a little, I was asking about a "half close" option within the EA? it seems to be mentioned here, or is that a reference to an external trade manager? thanks people

Hi,

you have to set this to true:

Code: Select all

extern bool     HalfCloseEnabled=false;

that's it, you will find it were is the BE value to set

Cheers

Tommaso

[zTB]

thanks for the feedback zTB. your reply also as prompted a very good response from Steve, so that is good

But just to clarify a little, I was asking about a "half close" option within the EA? it seems to be mentioned here, or is that a reference to an external trade manager? thanks people

I am cognizant I am direct in speech to the point of being brusque. But trading is never easy, and the future is unknown, and it is perhaps best to pay the price of success up front.

Someone more knowledgeable than me will I am sure respond to your "half close" option query.

Thank you, Tommaso.

Z

[garyfritz]

Most often money is made by cutting losses short and letting profits run. However, there are times it is best to take profits early.

This is not an attack on zTB, just a comment on "common wisdom."

"Cut losses short and let profits run" is practically gospel in the trading community. But as zTB said, it is NOT always true.

"Let profits run" is good advice in a trending market. The classic example is long-term commodity trend-following. With those systems in those markets, the long-term results critically depend on grabbing the occasional huge win -- which you only get if you let your profits run. So for that market, "let profits run" is good advice. But real honest-to-God trending markets are actually fairly rare.

But in a **reversing** market, of which there are many, "let profits run" will just result in "give your profits back." "Let profits run" doesn't work in a market that doesn't trend well. "Grab small profits, rinse and repeat" often works better in these markets -- as Bob often demonstrates in his thread.

Even "cut your losses short" isn't a universal truth. Larry Connors' ETF strategies don't work if you put a stop on them. The trades need room to "breathe." You can argue whether it's smart to run ANY system without a stop, but for those systems to work, you can't cut the losses short.

Don't assume you can apply simple rules to all markets. Look at how your target market behaves, and trade it accordingly.

[viper77]

You´re totally right, timing also plays a very important role, moreover to come to any valid conclusion guess at least 6 months of forward testing is needed as well...

Greetings!

Not only that, but a lot of it is timing...depending on when the EA is originally loaded and the first trades taken will also have an impact on immediate comparison of results.

For example, my Live account took an EurAud trade yesterday which very quickly moved to +30, half lots closed and locked in a nice profit, later in the evening I set up a new demo, BASA very obediently took a trade for Euraud (it was still a valid trade as per rules), however the run was pretty much at it's peak and that trade is now still open and in drawdown. Will it recover? I don't know, but just show's you how timing can also affect it. Now if you expand that out and the same thing occurred with more trades, then a bigger initial drawdown would occur. Moving forward though I would expect that to be eventually overcome.

[zTB]

Quite right, garyfritz.

Cannot argue with what you have written.

Z