Flex EA - HalfGrid - Real - FXOpen Discussion

ForexFlex cannot be back tested because of the virtual trade function which doesn't work on back tests. All back test results would produce inaccurate results pro/con for the EA. Forward testing is okay if you don't change strategies during the test. But if you change your settings you pretty much invalidate your forward test. I recommend any forward testing to run a week. Short term doesn't really give you a good picture of how your strategy is working out, because market conditions can greatly influence profit results over a period of time. Check out the trade calendar to see how the settings are effected by high impact news releases.

I always forward test new settings or strategies for one week prior to implementing them on live account.

Settings with a high draw down are risky. Only take as much risk as you can comfortably lose. If you set your account for a 50% draw down, you have to be prepared to burn half your account balance if a trade or trade bucket hits that mark. High risk can cause you to make emotional trade decisions, which is one reason many traders lose money. If fact, most Forex traders do lose money trading.

Successful traders have a plan, removed from emotion, and based on logical educated trade decisions. Loss is part of trading, but you can control risk. One of the benefits of algorithmic trading (EAs) is that you can take emotion trading out the equation.

steve keeps deleting his account whenever they fail. At the end of the day no EA can survive for very long in this market is my feeling from last 5 years of trying various EAs and countless hours spent on bt and ft

Okay guys, if you every talk to Steve, he explains his trading method. HE, not US, has many live accounts. HE sets them for 100% DD. This is not how WE will use this EA, unless WE as individuals want to open 5-7 live accounts with 100% DD, with the trade strategy that Steve does, where the winning accounts wins, far exceed the loss of any one or two accounts going bust.

Since WE have the ability to set the risk levels, as this EA is very customizable. Since WE as individuals set our variables, if WE lose significant portions of OUR accounts due to high risk levels WE have the option to choose. Then WE, not Steve are responsible for those losses.

So, DON'T use Steve's live account settings. Modify the default settings to risk levels, take profit, stop loss, pip step, lot size, and drawdowns to levels you are comfortable with.

You CANNOT do back test on this EA because the virtual trades are based on live data. This EA has paid for itself for me and I am happy that I can set up my variables to my preferences, and that it has a lot of functionality. I take responsibility for any losses I take, and adjust my settings to fine tune my trade preferences.

NO I don't work for or get anything from Steve. I'm a customer who bought the EA just like many of you. There are no get rich quick EAs in reality. High risk = great gains / great losses. If you cannot take the heat of high risk, don't do it.

This EA does set up to take some Martingalish retracements, but limits the number of times new trades are opened when market moves against you. This is a setting YOU have control over. Martingales go bust, because people keep doubling up against losses until their accounts go bust. If YOU do this, YOU did it to yourself. YOU the trader with this EA, have full control over this, and even can set the multiplier for each trade for, or against a trade.

I hope this clears it up for those who are new to this EA. Feel free to ask Steve details. He doesn't waste time responding to BS. If you ask him in a clear, concise, and detailed manner, he replies very soon to your questions. Keep in mind, he's not some big business, he's just one guy with no staff. I have had all of my questions answered by him within 3 days. He clearly explained his trade strategy, which I have outlined above. Knowing what he does, and that having multiple live accounts set for 100% DD risk, doesn't work for me, I set MY OWN strategy, with modification of the built-in defauts. I only have one live account. I use the EA both automated and manual depending on my own preferences. When manually trading, I leave the EA up with the live trading turned off. I look for technical candlestick patterns and indicators, with the EA as an additional source of confluence to make a trade. When I'm asleep or at work, I usually just let it trade automated with my personalized settings.

The EA actually seems to be able to be backtested on 99.9% (tickdata) with real spreads. Ran my settings on those (just the past few months), and the trades taken here match the actual trades the EA opened very well. Regular builtin MT4 backtest with fixed spreads and all however, not so much.