Website : Sniper Forex Website
Cost : Free trial, then $97 - $297 (see below – The Purchase)
Author : Gary Pavkovich
Review Date : August/September 2009

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE WEBSITE

Sniper Forex "uses a precision algorithm to provide precise entry and exit points" and it requires Meta Trader 4 (MT4) to accommodate the custom designed indicators.

Gary provides some back-ground on himself on the site, "a veteran trader of ten years", "learnt from the school of hard knocks" and is now "offering you the opportunity to benefit from my hard work". He has also "took all the courses, bought all the systems, traded demo then live, wiped out a few accounts and experimented ad nauseam".

The system is being sold because "it took me a long time to gain experience in the Forex market, and more importantly cost a small fortune". So, "if I can make a little profit helping others to become successful traders, then why not?"

Sniper Forex provides "an arrow telling you when to buy and when to sell - Simplicity in itself" and "over the past 5 years it has proven to be highly accurate, especially when allied to the best time frame, currency and time of day". Historically the system has more winners than losers (2:1) and the winners are almost 3 times larger than the losers ("on our chosen time frame and currency").

A video and a chart example illustrate the system in action including a view of how the indicators look. Some results and testimonials make up the remainder of the main page, in actual fact there is also a page dedicated solely to a hugely impressive list of unsolicited testimonials spanning the past 3 years or so.

The system is available as a demo for 7 days by simply filling out the on-line form, a sort of try before you buy offer. With this comes full email support (the same as those that have paid for the system) which Gary will endeavour to answer as quickly as possible. Gary is "a full time trader, working GMT, and I will be very happy to spend time mentoring you, as my trading schedule allows". The demo system (full version of the live system) will be sent within 24-28 hours.

Results are provided on the website in the form of a graph showing monthly performance for GBP/USD on a 1 hour chart since 2004. (We also asked Gary for a break-down of the underlying trades and these were provided without question).

The FAQ's page answers quite a lot of questions in relation to the system, some worthy of note are "system is for beginners as well as those with experience", "you will have my personal contact details and I will be happy to help you with any trading related query as my trading schedule allows. I generally respond within a few hours", "system is designed for the GBP/USD, specifically the 1hr chart" and "audio and email alerts have now been added".

THE PURCHASE

After the 7 day free trial, purchase is $97 for a one month license or $297 for a non-recurring license.

Please note: If you click on the Purchase page and let it fully load and then click on the ‘x’ to close your browser a pop-up will appear offering you the non-recurring license for $197 (how long this ‘quirk’ will be there we have no idea but for sure, worthy of a mention).

THE MATERIAL

Sniper Forex deliverables are, a (9 page) Set Up Guide and 5 custom indicators for Meta Trader 4 (MT4).

The first couple of pages of the Set Up Guide provide clear instructions on how to set up your MT4 platform to accommodate the custom indicators. Setup should take those with some experience of MT4 about 2 minutes and those without, less than 10 minutes. Additionally, there is instruction on how to set up the useful email alert function which is also quite a straight forward process.

The remainder of the manual goes into detail on the Entry, Stop and Exit rules as well as recommending that the system is used to trade GBP/USD on the 1 hour chart between 06:00 and 22:00 (UK local time).

Entry, Stop and Exit rules are, wholly dependent on the custom indicators which are basically:
• Two histograms
• Three Moving average type lines (on the price chart)
• An Entry (arrow) indicator
• A Stop level indicator

To summarise, the Set Up Guide is well written and leaves one quite clear on set-up (of MT4 and email alerts) and approach.

THE SYSTEM IN THEORY

Setting up this system, in Meta Trader 4 (MT4), as mentioned above is easy and should take no time at all, especially for those already familiar with the platform.

The indicators make Entry, Stops and Exit 95% mechanical. There are certain conditions to be taken into account which allow for discretion. These include; when news is due out, when one is “whipsawed” and re-entry is possible, entering in the morning after an overnight signal, entry after particularly large candles, etc.

As it was recommended that the system be used on a GBP/USD 1 hour chart and that the default custom indicators be left alone, that’s what we decided upon. There are also some trade management options, trading different lots, staggered exit, etc. We chose the straight forward let the whole position run until the Exit criteria is met option.

Our major concern going into this review was that we would have to be trading 06:00 – 22:00 (UK local time), actually we were damn sure we would not be spending that much time chart watching, no matter how good or bad the system.

We decided to apply a 2% per trade Money management approach.

THE SYSTEM IN PRACTICE

This is a system that could not and cannot really be back-tested as entry occurs when all conditions are met. It is important to note that all the indicators can turn blue (for a long), for example, intra-candle, at any time of the day.

Surprisingly, we did trade this system from 06:00 – 22:00 (UK local time), the days we were around for that time period, the days we weren’t we just traded the times we were around. The reason we were able to do this is due to the way the system works, there is very little screen time involved at all. The email and audible alerts from MT4 warn when a trade is imminent and a confirmation alert is issued when a trade has triggered.

But, it must be noted! The confirmation alert does not always mean a trade has triggered, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. There are still final checks to be made, the first being to ensure that both histograms line up and agree (sometimes this is straight away, sometimes not). Secondly, the other factors mentioned previously have to be taken into account, e.g. news, candle size, etc. So, although the alerts are very useful, there are times where you do still have to wait around for exact execution. On these occasions, it is usually not too long to wait until one of two things happen, everything lines up (and you take the trade) or, the signal is negated (and you wait for the next alert).

This approach does mean you have to be near your MT4 session or your email most of the day but it does not mean you are tied to your screen (chart watching). Our typical approach was just to leave it running in the background during the day. So, after checking the overnight position (was there a trade and thus a potential entry) each morning, screen time was minimal.

The indicators are clear and the alerts (on the MT4 screen and by email) make Entry quite straight forward. Stop levels are also defined by one of the indicators (on rare occasions previous High/Low is used) and Exit is mainly dependent on the Stop being taken out or a reversal signal, so again, quite straight forward and mechanical.

When in a trade, as a trailing stop is employed, one does have to be around to adjust this on an hourly basis. So, although no great hardship, it does mean the system is still best suited to those that are around (and near a screen) most of the day.

We did have to overcome the issue of what to do with trades that were open going into overnight (the time when we need to sleep). We decided to apply a trailing stop based on the current Stop level and it worked quite well. Thus, if we were short and the current price was 15435 and the stop was 15496, we would employ a 61 pip trailing stop.

During August we had 13 trades with a profit of 131 pips and in September, 17 trades with a profit of 685 pips. Details of these trades can be found on this website in our Sniper Forex journal.

These are not the same results as published on the Sniper Forex website. In fact we made quite a lot less than the published results in August and a few more than the published results in September.

In terms of win ratio etc. we did a few quick sums. Instead of the “advertised” 2:1 winners to losers ratio we were actually more around the 1:1 mark. Rather than our winners being “3 times larger than losers” we were more in the 90:60 area, so 1.5 times larger. Perhaps these statistics will improve as we progress, time will tell, however, even if we maintain these levels we will be happy enough, at present.

CAN IT WORK

Having used the system in real-time over 2 months we like it. It is a little more time consuming than systems we usually choose to trade but for those that are at or around a screen most of the day its not such an issue. We ran it as a kind of background process and simply reacted to the alerts and had no problems at all.

It’s a profitable (so far), quite relaxed way of trading and management takes little time and effort. And, although our exposure has been minimal (only 2 months) we have enough confidence, for now, to add it to our “Systems We Use” list and we will continue to trade it going forward. We will of course provide updates along the way by ensuring we keep our journal up to date.

SUPPORT

Support was OK. Generally, Gary responded to most correspondence within 24 hours and more often than not within 48. When the answers came they were typically to the point and helpful.

CONCLUSION

PRO's
• Profitable and 95% mechanical.
• Relaxed, no where near as time consuming as we expected and can almost be run as a background process.
• Added to our “Systems We Use”, but only really suitable for those that are around most of the day.
CON's
• Confirmation alerts still, at times, require some additional effort before Entry.
• Some trades that trigger overnight are missed (but there are very few of these as it’s usually a quiet period for GBP/USD).
• Overnight trades have to be trusted with a trailing stop.
• Does require a lot of presence, not necessarily a lot of screen time, but you do have to be around to hear/receive the alerts and act on them.


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

One of the VERY few intraday Forex systems that worked for me, a lot of screen time though.

Marlintrdg,

Be interested in hearing how you got on in October with Sniper, it was our first negative month, not complaining, just wondering how others got on.

Appreciate your feedback (and by the way, we are not finding screen time to be too bad - especially when using the email alert facility).

Look forward to hearing from you.


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

Originally Posted by Reviewteam

Marlintrdg,

Be interested in hearing how you got on in October with Sniper, it was our first negative month, not complaining, just wondering how others got on.

Appreciate your feedback (and by the way, we are not finding screen time to be too bad - especially when using the email alert facility).

Look forward to hearing from you.


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

After 3 back to back loses I stopped for the month. I'll be picking it back up this week.

All systems have bad runs, I try and wait them out, no great rules, just put the shovel down and stop digging.

I still find the best trade times are during the UK time so I'm testing GBPJPY 30min during the US session, day one is today.

Thanks for that, we too had 3 losers in a row (12-Oct - 13-Oct), then a winner and another 2 losers in a row. But, as you say, system cannot and will not perform all the time. For us it's a case of sticking to the rules (and the system), so looking forward to a new month (we are already in trade 1 this morning but it's not looking like a good start!).

Deviating from the recommended GBP/USD and 1 hour time frame eh! Best of luck and look forward to hearing a progress report at some time.


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

Originally Posted by Reviewteam

Thanks for that, we too had 3 losers in a row (12-Oct - 13-Oct), then a winner and another 2 losers in a row. But, as you say, system cannot and will not perform all the time. For us it's a case of sticking to the rules (and the system), so looking forward to a new month (we are already in trade 1 this morning but it's not looking like a good start!).

Deviating from the recommended GBP/USD and 1 hour time frame eh! Best of luck and look forward to hearing a progress report at some time.


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

Has anyone noticed the picture of Gray lately on his website, you know the man that looked like we was in his late 50's with gray hair, its now been replaced with some totally new looking guy. Hmmm?

And that the pip gains here by members never seen to match the Review Teams?

Anyone remember the actor for FAP that was passed off as the actual trader until later when they got busted?

Sniper Forex has been removed from our Systems We Use list - Our last post can be read in the journal forum - here is the link.

Thus, this Live Trading Room is now closed.


ReviewTeam - www.systemsfortraders.com