Originally Posted by Andy Campbell

Hi Zorba, I am a potentail Newbie & have seee you posted everywhere. Like you have done I am currently working throgh babypip school & have 2 systems I am currently conssidering :

1. John Wheatland's - AutoFocus Fx (currently not available as on a reprint) -Price £347
2. Forex Megadroid - cheaper & at varying prices depending where you get it.

If I do purchase I will deffo demo account (paper trade) - but for how long ?

Any comments on the above & any suggestions on what to do BEFORE commiting to any package ?

Andy (Jasper)

Andy-

Taking these two in reverse order

Megadroid - I would largely agree with the comments already made by AutoFX. It has a terrible r:r but it survives on a very high strike rate. However, it's not going to make anyone rich unless they already rich. I leave it puttering along at night and am pleased to find that it has made the odd 10 pips here and there. That's about twice a month tops though. Most importantly, it really doesn't teach you a thing about forex. Not a sausage. Well, maybe how to open an MT4 account and install an EA, but that info is out there for free.

Autofocus FX - I agree with John (AutoFX) that it has nothing to do with Megadroid. I would say though that you need to have the time to invest in Autofocus and I'm inclined to think that that time should be in the daytime/UK morning to US open. There is a lot of support and the service is evolving nicely but it does need time. I would still finish Babypips school first. After that, I think you will draw more benefit from Autofocus instead of going in green. Just my opinion of course

Hi guys, thx for all the advice - I will continue to learn, work permitting - as I see fx trading for the long term , especially when I hope to become semi retired in a couple of years !! What both Zorba & John say both makes sense.

Andy

Andy - you could still run Megadroid on a demo account, or use some free EAs/systems on demo whilst you're learning. See if you get a taste for it

great thread and good learning also

my own position is this. i have never traded and until this week never seriously considered it but came across it almost by accident thru a combination of joining a horse betting site and having too much time on my hands at present.

due to my occupation being up and down so much i have often considered something that i could do via the net and earn an income.

the reason being i want to live in Thailand (having done so previously for a few years a few years ago ).Not in the fleshpots or touristy places either just a quiet northern city, with good internet connections

so what i need is an income of @ £1,000 per month ( with a 6 month reserve )

thats the aim but as to how to get there with trading?

well i have a plan- dont we all i suppose

paper trade/ demo accounts , read as much as i can inc babypips etc till i understand it- at present half way thru it but a lot of it has gone over my head tho things do keep dropping into place.Without putting what i have learnt/ learning into practice tho means my current learning curve is shallow at present.
Anyway papertrade and reading for the rest of this year

next year 2012 start trading with a bank of say £4-5,000 and trade the whole year.

then in 2013 move to Thailand with

trading bank of at least £6,000 more hopefully £10,000 tho if 2012 has gone ok
living expenses of £6,000 (6 moths living )

well thats the plan and a rough outline of how to get there

so breaking it down a touch i need to make £250 a week or 50 pips a day at £1.
i reckon the time difference will help me- being 6-7 hours in front so the morning UK trading starts at lunchtime there.

from what i have read so far (and this might change- after all i am on the start of the journey here ) this short term betting rather than letting things run for a day or so seems less of a risk- i am sure i will stand to be corrected on this tho.

anyway thats me- thats the plan- for me its more about giving me a lifestyle than making millions and will use forex trading alongside a few other money making ideas eg bonusbagging etc ,

thats my first post here- hopefully of many - hope i havnt threadflucked zorbas thread too much

regards

Sparky

Hi Sparky,

An interesting post, thanks for the background, look forward to following your journey.

There are so many comments we could add and we are sure others will follow, to be selective we have added a few words on your plan and on risk

Lets say you have a £5,000 bank - If you are looking to make £1,000 a month, that's 20% each month or 240% a year. If you consider that most funds would be happy with a consistent 20% return each year it means that although your monetary target is modest, your percentage is somewhat ambitious, in our opinion.

You may also wish to consider not what PIPs you need to make but, more importantly, focus on risk/reward. For example, imaginary trading system makes 10 PIPs a day if you allow yourself a Stop of say 100 PIPs. At the end of the week you will have 50 PIPs assuming you win every trade. With a sensible risk profile this will equate to a return of 1% - 2.5% of your bank.

Simply put:

Account balance = £5,000 - A modest 2% risk per trade = £100 or an aggressive 5% is £250 risk per trade (so £1 a PIP or £2.50 a PIP)

End of the week = +50 PIPs, £50 or £125 depending on risk approach which equates to 1% or 2.5% of your bank.

Caution! You will not of course win every week - You will have weeks like this, +10, +10, -100, -100, +10 (-170 PIPs) which equates to -3.4% or -8.5% of your bank.

Yes, this is an imaginary system but it helps demonstrate our point - Do be careful out there and do please keep us posted - Perhaps you may wish to start your own thread !

Hope it helps.

Originally Posted by Reviewteam

Hi Sparky,

An interesting post, thanks for the background, look forward to following your journey.

There are so many comments we could add and we are sure others will follow, to be selective we have added a few words on your plan and on risk

Lets say you have a £5,000 bank - If you are looking to make £1,000 a month, that's 20% each month or 240% a year. If you consider that most funds would be happy with a consistent 20% return each year it means that although your monetary target is modest, your percentage is somewhat ambitious, in our opinion.

You may also wish to consider not what PIPs you need to make but, more importantly, focus on risk/reward. For example, imaginary trading system makes 10 PIPs a day if you allow yourself a Stop of say 100 PIPs. At the end of the week you will have 50 PIPs assuming you win every trade. With a sensible risk profile this will equate to a return of 1% - 2.5% of your bank.

Simply put:

Account balance = £5,000 - A modest 2% risk per trade = £100 or an aggressive 5% is £250 risk per trade (so £1 a PIP or £2.50 a PIP)

End of the week = +50 PIPs, £50 or £125 depending on risk approach which equates to 1% or 2.5% of your bank.

Caution! You will not of course win every week - You will have weeks like this, +10, +10, -100, -100, +10 (-170 PIPs) which equates to -3.4% or -8.5% of your bank.

Yes, this is an imaginary system but it helps demonstrate our point - Do be careful out there and do please keep us posted - Perhaps you may wish to start your own thread !

Hope it helps.

Hi Sparky
The review team gave you excellent advice.
Try starting small and hopefully as your confidence and ablility grow so will your BANK so that 1% of £5000
becomes 1% of 8,000 and thereby increasing your stake
good luck Michael

Time for an update I think. Systems and more systems have been the order of the day so far this year; got onto Autofocus FX early in the year and it was proving to me that meddling is worthless - I was cherry-picking trades (no idea how! just feelings) and picked more than the statistically likely share of losers. I was also meddling with open trades. I signed up to the FTSE signals that are no longer around, no more shall be said. In May I went back to a 'normal' job for a while, so only EAs have been working for me. Forex Morning Trade has rumbled along for me with Megadroid, ups and downs for both of them but I've left them mostly to it on autopilot. The account is still in profit so I'm happy. I've learned that I shouldn't interfere with them - more than twice I dropped the risk on Forex Morning Trade after a losing run just to miss some good profits on a winning run, and vice versa.

I was also running Kangaroo EA but I had trouble with Paypal subscriptions and there were shenannigans over at Donna's with the developers, so I've parked this one for now. I stopped Newsnight and Forex Trade Alert in May too as I was losing track a little. And did I mention I took an absolute hammering from Henry Liu's 10kto1mm system? That was criminal. I would have almost doubled my pot now without that cost and loss.
My job is winding up soon (short term contract) so I think i will be going back to day trading - AutoFX is the first stop and I'm going to get my snout into 3 ducks too.

But what have I learned for this time (let's call it "Round Two")? I can't buy a magic bullet. I have a few systems to choose from and I should 'immerse' myself in them totally until I either prove that they're not worth using, or I can do them with my eyes shut without messing. Also, I'm going to work out my own risk management regardless of system - 10kto1mm risked 10% on each trade!

I'm looking forward to the solitude again, not least because there are couple of good games I've missed recently (LA Noir and Heavy Rain, anyone?). Straight back into MT4 coding too; you know where to send your requests. I think I'll be hanging out in the New! Chat Room quite a lot, as well as the AutoFX chat room which used to be absolutely heaving full.

See you there?

Thanks for the update Zorba and welcome back to the world of trading, we look forward to your contributions as always - Perhaps we can set up a specific window for us all to be in the Chat room at a specific time for half an hour each morning or something !

Fenestral specificity would be a good thing, if only for me to make excuses why I can't be there. You know how it is, school run etc.

I have noticed that my update basically says what I said in my very first post, in a different way. I wish I'd learn. The best bit is that I somehow managed to make profit on the year, mistakes included. Not a living wage yet though, but promising.