There was discussion in the trading room recently about the availability of free trading systems and someone asked “Where do I find them”? I thought this amusing, as it looks to me as though there is a free trading system for every way that a sequence of ticks can unfold on a chart. However the problem for any new (or more experienced) traders will be finding a reliable free system. Internet forums like T2W and Forex Factory may be good places to look, but with a word of caution. There are just too many (unverified) free systems. For the beginner trader those forums while being educational can be a minefield. One can definitely lose focus and suffer from total information overload.

Systems for Traders makes many of the commercial systems as “free” as they can be because the objective reviews mean that a trader can choose a commercial system based upon independently verified results. That way they don’t have to buy 10 other systems before they find the one that fits and works for them. Based on the above statement that can give you 90% off the price paid for a decent system!

I subscribe to a couple of free online magazines that regularly publish free systems. These publications are “Traders Magazine” and “Currency Trader Magazine”. There is a very good article in the April 2011 issue of Traders Magazine (a “Forex” special) about “Getting an Edge on the FX Market”. Although some of the indicators used contradict my own “Keep It Simple” approach that particular article has some very sound trading advice. The strategy discussion in the article and the conclusion both contain excellent time tested advice regarding how to trade a trend based system.

For someone looking for a free trading system there is certainly enough in there to build upon. I am not making any recommendation as I have no idea how the strategy performs for real. If anyone does decide to use any of those freebies then a long period of use in a demo account (1-2 months) to familiarise oneself with the workings of the system and its performance would be the way to go. The most powerful part of the article is the conclusion as this contains the best advice one could give to any new traders about “systems trading”. I thought adherence to the principles outlined in the conclusion may be a good start on the road for anyone looking to find a reliable free trading system.

M_C

Hi

Thanks for this post. I would be interested in reading about the trend system. Can you give a link to it? (I havent found it on google).

Thanks

Forex Factory is an absolute mine of free systems, the biggest problem is sorting the wheat from the chaff.
It's so incredibly time consuming to go through the various threads to find something that you might like.
Then when you do find something you think you like, you spend ages researching it and then find it doesn't work/it doesn't suit you and you start again.

What it might be worth doing is setting up a section for free systems where users can pick out systems from the web and where we as a collective can work on it to see if it does work or transform it into something that does.

This is something that I would be up for doing, well if it was something based on daily timeframes anyway.

Something we have been asked to do and considered a number of times in the past.

Previous times we have just not had the time and we also thought it would detract from one of the purposes of the site. Independent views of paid for systems/services by experienced traders to provide others with "food for thought" when deciding whether to dedicate both their own time and money to such system/service.

There is enough of a difference when looking into Free Trading system reviews to mean the approach requires some careful thought. If the answer is to set up a section "Free Trading systems" this is easy - This is not the issue, the issue is ensuring the section is managed properly and serves a purpose. If not, we are simply replicating what is already out there (which we agree is annoyingly time consuming and more often annoying than it is helpful).

However, we can used this thread to now openly discuss this subject and we welcome thoughts etc.

If we get to the stage where we have clear objectives of what we want (as a community) from a "Free Trading systems" thread and we can set things up so it can meet those objectives we will consider it.

Hope this doesn't sound too off putting, just trying to ensure the site retains it's usefulness and that if it is expanded that it is done so with the purpose of adding value.

We now welcome your input.

I think this would be really useful.

Anyone want to start with any freebies? I think the grandaddy of all freebie systems would be 3 ducks of course, which you can see elsewhere. I see a lot in the 'What Really Profits' newsletter but I've never really tested any of them out, and it's not really free. I plan to look at Nanningbob at some point too.

I get a lot of offers in my inbox for free systems. Unfortunately, they require your email address before they will send it to you. That just gets you on yet another email spam list and soon you will get so much spam in your inbox, it becomes unmanageable,
I would advise anyone who wants to try some of these free systems to create another email address just for this so that it can be abandoned when the spam gets to be too much.

Latest freebie I've had is called the Trend Shadow System from John Chen and Russell Maxwell. Another indicator where you buy/sell on arrows. I have never seen an indicator repaint so excessively. It is absolute C**p.
It may be free, but is still not value for money.
The fact that they say that this is a fantastic indicator when it is actually worse than useless would certainly put me off entertaining any thought of buying a system from them.
Steer clear and don't waste your time and effort

Forexample,

Appreciate that post, thank you.

Agreed with Forexample - just another aspect of the infuriating lies and spam culture that soaks the forex industry. Crazy. They always advertise the freebie as 'the ultimate indicator' or something.

Anyone had a play around with the free Lindencourt Daily System? Looks like another simple system (and I believe the simpler the better!) - may have a play around myself soon but would welcome any feedback if anyone else has experience of it.