Are Bots any good for a Newbie trader?

@sid4spd Then of course lean on them. And update us as you go 😉

rrrfx1 posted:
Update a little so we know what you have decided.

I have decided to trade on my own first...I want to use what I know to make $$ first to establish a base case. Using what I know, if and when I Do generate steady returns, I would be willing to create a bot of my own to scour the markets for what I usually look for. Since this is my 1st year of trading with live money, let's see how far I can stretch my returns - and my knowledge!

FxMasterGuru posted:

CliveBarrett posted:
Trust yourself :)

Easier said than done... Once you trade with 10+ lots at a time manually and in a DD, well, that self-trust might just evaporate pretty fast...

Fair enough too mate. When I feel the trust evaporating I reduce my lot size or walk away. Always another day while I'm still drawing breath.

agenth posted:

CliveBarrett posted:
Trust yourself :)

That has to do with the bots?

Well, hopefully you can trust your bot too.

Depends what you mean by 'Bots'.

If you mean Expert Advisor, sure, if you know the inner workings of it and don't interfere with it (throw in manual trades that will mess up the logic of the EA). By inner workings I mean the rules it follows, under what condition it opens and closes orders, etc. Risk and money management (MM) built into the Expert Advisor is essential. You will also need to know what the parameters should be (read the documentation carefully), if you don't understand the documentation (terms, settings, etc) then you need to do research and learn trading first (like Babypips for example). Also note that 99% of commercial EA's sold are from snake oil salesmen that don't know a pip from a point and the other 1% have no guarantee of returns (past performance vs. future returns, yada yada...).

If you mean Signals, that can be good too if it's from a reliable source (check reviews), has realistic returns and you set up the risk correctly (capital to lot size for example, trade maximum of 3-5% capital, etc.). Signals are good for people who don't want to trade for whatever reason (no interest, no time, no clue what they are doing and don't want to learn, etc). Its not good if you expect a certain return and can be difficult to know if it's actually working - after three days not opening an order you may start wondering, is the signal dead?, has there just been no signal yet?, has the provider changed requirements?... this can cause frustration as some providers have settings where 1 trade over at least 3 months is not uncommon.

Manual trading and over time coding your own expert advisor (either trading for you or just providing you with signals), is still the best option in my opinion. I personally would not waste money on uncertainty, rather spend it on trading education or funding your account/s.

sid4spd posted:

rrrfx1 posted:
Update a little so we know what you have decided.

I have decided to trade on my own first...I want to use what I know to make $$ first to establish a base case. Using what I know, if and when I Do generate steady returns, I would be willing to create a bot of my own to scour the markets for what I usually look for. Since this is my 1st year of trading with live money, let's see how far I can stretch my returns - and my knowledge!

Good decision, always be advised, is a good way to arm yourself in the trade.