Website : 1 Minute Daily Website
Publisher : Tim Trush & Julie Lavrin
Cost : $86 via Clickbank
Review Date : June 2010

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE WEBSITE

The 1 Minute Daily system designed by Tim and Julie is one which “works well in both trending and ‘wild’ markets”.

Tim started his career as a small investor and system developer for various broker companies and later turned a few thousand dollars into millions, within 3 years. Julie’s journalist and psychologist background led her into the mass psychology aspect of trading. The two met at the Traders Expo in Las Vegas where they exchanged ideas and worked together to come up with the 1 Minute Daily system.

Features of the 1 Minute Daily system include:

• “Forget sitting in front of the screen for hours”
• “Make easy money consistently”
• “Place an order in a minute and shut down your PC”
• “Repeat the process over and over again every day”
• “No emotions, no worries”

A screen shot illustrates 6 winning trades in a row. Back-testing results are provided as well as “forward tested” results, an update on how the system has performed since it was first published (2 years ago).

Highlighted points; the system “is not a blackbox”, it is not “a Holy grail working 100%”, it is a system based “on the fact that price is forming a consolidation every night because of slower movement”.

The easy to apply (MT4) indicator does all the work showing exact Entry, Target and Stop loss levels. So, a Meta Trader 4 platform is required.

The FAQ’s provide some additional detail. The system is purely mechanical and so simple it is suitable for beginners with $200 recommended as the minimum starting balance to trade mini-lots. Profit wise, the system has returned 6,119% in 2 years, that’s £30,593 for those staring with an account balance of $500. Orders are placed once a day with one or both of these being filled each day, average Stop loss is 100 pips.

Pairs that can be traded are GBPUSD at 09:00, USDJPY at 11:00 and GBPJPY at 19:00, all UK Local time.

Average return (per month) in Pips is highlighted as GBPUSD - 509 pips, USDJPY – 346 pips and GBPJPY – 721 pips, applicable to 2008/2009.

Note: The EA (MT4 indicator) provided with this system is fully customisable – So you can fully test any range breakout strategy on any currency pair.

This is a Clickbank product and therefore comes with the Clickbank 100% money back guarantee.

THE MATERIAL

Two pdf’s, The 1 Minute Daily manual and the True Money Management guide supplemented by two spreadsheets, one titled Results and the other Updates. Two MT4 indicators are also provided, the 1 Minute Daily indicator and a Wave indicator.

The two spreadsheets provide detailed results (trade by trade) for GBPUSD from 2006 to date, USDJPY from 2008 to date and GBPJPY from 2008 to date.

The 1 Minute Daily manual is quite well written, it’s only 41 pages but plenty sufficient to get the strategy across. It opens with a little bit about trading (and strategies), it then discusses breakouts before describing how to install the indicators and place orders. The installation (of the indicators) and placement of orders should be plain sailing for those with experience of MetaTrader 4, those without will obviously have a slight learning curve.

It really does seem like a minute each morning (09:00 for GBPUSD) 100% mechanical strategy, place two orders, one Long and one Short. The only requirement after this is to be around to cancel the opposing order, if/when the first order triggered hits it’s profit level. This check doesn’t need to be done any more than every few hours as the difference between the target and opposing order entry level is usually quite significant.

There is a short section on Trade filtering and management before moving onto the performance of the system which actually takes up around half the manual. Examples show the different types of days that can occur, basically, a terrible day (2 losses (rare)), a bad day (1 loss), a breakeven day (1 win and 1 loss) or a good day (1 win (most common)). There are then charts illustrating example days with a mixture of these trade types, all quite simple, straight forward and well explained.

There is a big emphasis on performance and explaining it. Illustrated are the various instruments with varying trade/risk management approaches. The headline here is, as per the website, the 6,119% return trading just GBPUSD over 2 years (more on this in the Can It Work section).

A few tips are provided on how to improve the performance of the system, most, other than the range (size) advice and day of the week would mean diverging from the Set & Forget nature of this system. So, we applied the range and day of the week rules only, more detail below.

The final chapter of the manual is an update. It provides a high level overview of the Update spreadsheet, the performance from 2008 to date. It demonstrates how the system is still performing, even better, than it was before it was first published.

THE SYSTEM

Really simple and in terms of a strategy, suits our style. It’s 100% mechanical, Set & Forget and 1 minute effort each day. Entry is clear, Stops and Targets are fixed, the typical Stop being around 100 pips.

We actually attributed 2 minutes each day to this strategy because we wanted to trade two of the instruments side by side (mainly for diversification), as follows:

• GBPUSD at 09:00 and USDJPY at 11:00.
• No trades taken on Thursday for USDJPY and no trades on a Friday for GBPUSD (as advised in the manual) – We extended USDJPY to Friday too for the following reason – It reduced the chance of us having to hold “over-weekend” positions, which we like to avoid.
• Trades where the range was twice as great as the previous day were not taken.
• The Wave indicator was not used (based on our discussion with support).

Note: We didn’t apply any of the “intra-day” strategies that are suggested, Quick reversal, Smart Stop loss, Candle “Spike” patterns, etc. The main reason being that we wished to retain and trade the Set & Forget approach.

Using and applying this system was really straight forward, the indicator provides all the information. Simply place orders according to the indicator and the rules and that’s it, 1 minute per day. Executed orders from the previous day are left to run and un-executed orders are deleted before the two new orders for the day are entered. This means that if you have a Long trade running, you will still be entering a new Long and Short order the next day, thus you may end up with both a Long and Short trade running at the same time.

IMPORTANT: To trade this system you will need a broker that allows you to be both Long and Short at the same time. We do not know of any MetaTrader 4 brokers (our MT4 broker AvaFX does not) that allow this and there is only one Spread bet company, IG Index, that we are aware of who accommodate this requirement. Any others that know of any other brokers accommodating this functionality, please let us all know by posting below.

Note: The authors say this situation can be alleviated (worked round) by only placing a Buy order if you already have a Long position open and only placing a Sell order if you have a Short position open.

CAN IT WORK

To best determine if this system can work we decided to look into the maths and delve into the underlying trading results. This we have done, not to the nth degree but to a degree to enable us to produce some of our own analysis.

We analysed the data for GBPUSD 2006 to date and USDJPY 2008 to date. The data we looked at assumed a 5% of available account balance risk per trade. We made the following observations:

• GBPUSD 2006 to 2007 – There were 3 periods with a potential drawdown of 40% – 50%.
• GBPUSD 2008 to date – There were 2 periods with a potential drawdown of 30%+.
• USDJPY 2008 to date – There were 2 periods with a potential drawdown of 30%+

Now with this figures to hand we will firstly and most importantly pay some attention to one of the headlines for this system, the 6,119% return in 2 years. The spreadsheet figures support this statement, which is based on trading GBPUSD during 2006 and 2007 (at 09:00). However, this assumes a risk of 10% (yes 10%, not 5%) of available account balance per trade. This is very High risk (in our opinion) and this is verified when we look closer at one of the draw-down periods mentioned above. According to the spreadsheet one of these drawdown periods (trading at 10% risk per trade) seen the account shrink from £18,000 to around £5,000 in a little under 2 months. This means that if this bad patch occurred at the beginning of 2006 (when the spreadsheet starts), some time shortly after Valentine’s day the starting balance would have shrunk from £1,000 to less than £300.

So, it is fair to say we would not welcome that drawdown on our account, the 5% figures are hard enough to stomach but the 10% is just too much for us.

However, we were not put off entirely. This is, based on the historic results, a profitable system, in the long run. Our back-tested results for April and May matched those reported and we also had a positive June, which we traded on a real account, see below:

GBPUSD
• April 2010 – 14 trades, 9 (+40.5%) winners and 5 (-25%) losers = +15.5%
• May 2010 – 18 trades, 9 (+40.5%) winners and 9 losers (-45%) = -4.5%
• June 2010 – 22 trades, 13 (+58.5%) winners and 9 losers (-45%) = +13.5%
Net gain of 24.5%.

USDJPY
• April 2010 – 13 trades, 7 (31.5%) winners and 6 losers (-30%) = +1.5%
• May 2010 – 13 trades, 5 (22.5%) winners and 8 losers (-40) = -17.5%
• June 2010 – 14 trades, 9 (40.5%) winners and 5 losers (-25%) = +15.5%
Net loss of 0.5%.

Note: Figures assume a 5% risk of account balance per trade - A winning trade has been calculated as a 4.5% return to allow for the fact that a losing trade is a slightly higher loss than a winning trade is profit and also to allow for some rollover costs.

On this basis we have made, what is for us, a revolutionary decision.

We, like most traders we know, usually trade for income. But, in this case, we are going to continue with this system for another month, on a different basis. If our results hold up we will look to trade, for the first time ever, for growth. This means those drawdown periods as and when they come (and they will if history holds true) will not affect us day to day, week to week, etc. It will hardly affect us at all actually as we will be trading with at least a 2 year view.

So, a novelty factor here for us. A trading system we do not see as one we can use in the traditional sense (for income) but one, we may be willing, to use as a “growth” fund. Interesting concept (we think!) - Back next month with an update on our progress.

IMPORTANT: Stop levels can vary significantly (anything from 40 – 160 pips in our experience) so correct trade sizing is a must. This is a subject covered and well explained in the True Money Management guide that is provided with the system. Ensure it is read, understood and applied.

SUPPORT

Not too bad, usually within 24-48 hours and typically helpful and to the point.

CONCLUSION

PRO's
• Ticks our boxes, 100% mechanical, Set & Forget, little time effort and historically profitable.
• We matched reported trades over a 3 month period (2 on back-test and 1 on a real account)
CON's
• Significant draw-downs.
• Not comfortable relying on this system for income.

Do remember, your comments are important, if you decide to purchase this system, please support us by using our link and by reporting back your findings, both are valuable to us and the service.


ReviewTeam - www.systemsfortraders.com

Great review, we've been waiting for this one. Also I appreciate the effort you've put into checking the historical results.

Cam you explain the difference between income and growth as regards system performance? I gather it's to do with drawdown but I'm not certain beyond that.

Thanks!

I read back in a post you made in May that G-Code was your number one priority for late June release. Can you advise as to how this review is coming along?

Thanks...

Income v Growth - What we mean here is that all of our other trading we treat the profits as income - we live off the returns. Most of us have other investments (wrapped up in tax free ISA's) which we use for long term growth. So, for example, if the stock market loses 50% of its value, we don't worry too much as these are long term growth investments. We do not feel that we can add the 1 Minute Daily to our "income" pot as it just does not contribute regular profits like other systems/services we use. However, we do feel that long term it can deliver, albeit with sizeable draw-downs. But, with a long term view this, like our investments, will not bother or affect us. Hope this makes sense.

Re: G-Code - It will be published soon, we had an outstanding request to support (which has now been answered) and we were also enjoying some fantastic weather this weekend. Sorry our number one priority slipped slightly.


ReviewTeam - www.systemsfortraders.com

Hi Review Team

I bought this last week and went live as of 30th June. I shall just be trading GBP/USD but applying a couple of different factors to you. It mentions about a "quick reversal" and in the Q&A section about using a trailing stop once close to target which I shall do. Also, judging by Friday's, the peformance is above average! Since the start of 2010 till the end of June, Friday's produced 69% Class A's. The only filter I will use on a Friday is if like last week, its was non farm payroll figures then as per the system I would view this as a non trading day.

I too am looking to trade this system for capital growth and to compound all winnings. Will be interested to compare results at the end of July and I would be delighted if the performance of this system in the 2nd half of 2010 is close to the 1st half. One feature of this system which I prefer over say LFO is the stop loss. With 1 minute daily the stop loss reflects the overnight volatility whereas LFO has the fixed stop loss which results in some trades getting stopped out quickly....

Hi Alex,

We are actually doing similar analysis to you at present - e.g. re: Thursdays and Fridays and if we come to any other conclusion we will post.

We do believe "growth" as opposed to "income" is the way forward here, glad you seem to agree. More than happy to report back results and compare. Agreed re: the Stop loss, a more sensible Stop in this instance in our opinion too because as you say, it has fundamental value rather than being fixed.

Thanks for the input.


ReviewTeam - www.systemsfortraders.com

Well a nice start to the week! I was worried that with the US being on holiday the market would be slow but as the Asian market was in a tight band it gave us a fairly low profit target.

Hi Alex,

Yep we took this mornings trade too and also have orders in for USDJPY.

We were actually just discussing this system and we agreed to change the performance stats. So, now we have a losing trade at 5% and a winning one at 4.5%. We felt this apt because of the slight difference (due to spreads) between the Stop and Targets, agreeing that a flat 0.5% was acceptable, especially as we also have roll-over costs on occasion too.

Do you feel it appropriate, would you (or any others out there) want to partake, in a Live Trading Room for this system? We could certainly chip in with GBPUSD and USDJPY.


ReviewTeam - www.systemsfortraders.com

Originally Posted by Reviewteam

Hi Alex,

Yep we took this mornings trade too and also have orders in for USDJPY.

We were actually just discussing this system and we agreed to change the performance stats. So, now we have a losing trade at 5% and a winning one at 4.5%. We felt this apt because of the slight difference (due to spreads) between the Stop and Targets, agreeing that a flat 0.5% was acceptable, especially as we also have roll-over costs on occasion too.

Do you feel it appropriate, would you (or any others out there) want to partake, in a Live Trading Room for this system? We could certainly chip in with GBPUSD and USDJPY.


ReviewTeam - www.systemsfortraders.com

Yes I would be keen on a live trading room to share ideas etc. I have been looking at the winning percentages too as it does mention in the manual about aiming slightly beyond the intended target price to ensure you cover the relevant spread. My winning trades equate to 4.55% so a touch higher than yours and on average this should ensure if I have a "Class B" trading day the net difference works out at -4 pips.

Make sense.

Trading room created here.


ReviewTeam - www.systemsfortraders.com