Website : FTSE 100 Club Website
Publisher : None specified
Cost : £40 per month - 1st month £20 with 30 day Money Back Guarantee (See Below For Special Offer Only Available via Systems For Traders)
Review Date : April - May 2011

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE WEBSITE

Although titled the FTSE 100 Club this service actually promotes itself as “A truly unique concept in trading the FTSE 100 & Forex Currency Markets”.

The team behind the service have “over 124 years worth of experience trading (the) FTSE 100 & Forex” and their “analysts are among the finest traders in the world”. Founded in June 2005 by father and son to offer “an honest and genuine service” the club is now made up of “4 chosen analysts who continuously monitor market activity both from a fundamental and technical viewpoint”. Each year since inception the club has shown a profit and claims to have delivered a return of 5,896 PIPs/points in the past 2 years.

When you receive an alert “all you need to do is place this bet on your trading account”. An additional alert is sent to advise when to close a trade. If you use, for example IG Index (preferred broker), “you can place the trades on your phone no matter where you are”.

No experience is necessary - When you join you will “have your very own dedicated FTSE 100 Club Rep to help you every step of the way” and “24/7 experienced email support”, making the service “available for everyone regardless of trading knowledge and experience”.

A license for the “Automated Forex trading software FPD Project 1” is also provided which “has yielded in excess of 21,000 PIPs since January 2007”. We have not had access to this offering and thus we have not reviewed it,

THE SERVICE

We had access to the FTSE 100 Club during April and May this year. There are indeed two different services, one for the FTSE and one for Forex.

FTSE

The FTSE service is delivered via SMS to UK mobile numbers only - No Email option is provided.

Signals are delivered between 08:30 and 19:30 (in our experience). The Entry signal simply instructs Buy or Sell the FTSE at 9999 Stop Loss 9999. This is an instruction to Buy/Sell at the current market price, the price in the signal being the price the FTSE 100 Club entered at. Targets are left “open”. Exits are also simple, Close FTSE at 9999, again this is an instruction to close the open trade at the current market price and, again, the price is the price the FTSE 100 Club exited at. As with most services we sometimes got a better Entry/Exit, sometimes worse, more so the latter. This affected our performance versus the reported performance but not significantly.

Forex

The Forex service was quite different to the FTSE service in that it used to be delivered via Email only and no SMS option was provided. Towards the end of May this was changed to be in line with the FTSE service – Both are now delivered to UK mobile numbers only, no Email delivery.

Signals are delivered between 08:00 and 21:00 (in our experience). Similar to the FTSE service the Entry signal simply instructs Buy or Sell Currency pair at 9999 - Stop Loss 9999, see example.

FTSE 100 Club Example Signal.PNG

Again, this is an instruction to Buy/Sell at the current market price, the price in the signal being the price the FTSE 100 Club entered at. Again, Targets are “open” and Exits are similar to the FTSE service - An instruction to close at the current market price is issued and the price in the signal is simply the price the FTSE 100 Club exited at. Suffice to say, we experienced slightly different prices on occasion and again performance was little affected, compared to the reported performance.

CAN IT WORK

During April and May we experienced the following results:

FTSE

• Signal Timing = 08:30 - 19:30 UK Time
• Risk Per Trade = 2.00%
• Number Of Trades / Winners / Losers = 13 / +9 / -4
• Percentage Of Profitable Trades = 69%
• Average Winning / Losing Trade = +1.67% / -2.00%
• Profit Factor (Gross Profit / Gross Loss) = 1.87
• Largest Drawdown = -4.00%
• Average Per Month Return = +3.34% versus a reported +3.50%

Forex

• Signal Timing = 08:00 - 21:00 UK Time
• Risk Per Trade = 2.00%
• Number Of Trades / Winners / Losers = 26 / +17 / -9
• Percentage Of Profitable Trades = 65%
• Average Winning / Losing Trade = +1.86% / -2.00%
• Profit Factor (Gross Profit / Gross Loss) = 1.75
• Largest Drawdown = -6.00%
• Average Per Month Return = +6.47% versus a reported +6.80%

The above means we experienced a combined average monthly return of +9.81% during the 2 months we have had access to the FTSE 100 Club (based on 2% risk per trade on each service). This is versus a reported (on the website) combined +10.30% average monthly return over the same period.

This is an impressive performance indeed albeit over a short period of time and our results were pretty much in-line with those reported on the website. With this in mind we extended our sums to cover the most recent 24 months applying the same criteria. Applying the average Stop loss we experienced the average return for the FTSE service has been 4%+ per month and for the Forex service, 6%+ per month (in line with the combined 10%+ per month we experienced). Of course we have to bear in mind the assumptions here; the average Stop loss we experienced is a reasonable measurement and that all of the historic performance as reported, was achievable.

It is also prudent at this point that we examine the drawdown periods reported on the website. It is obvious that February – May 2010 was the worst performing period for the FTSE service, -613 Points (-182, -231, -101 & -99). The worst period for the Forex service being around the same period, March – April 2010, -967 PIPs (-130 & -837). Applying the same maths as previously it means a drawdown of -16% and -18% for the FTSE and the Forex service respectively. Average returns would require a 4 month recovery period for the FTSE service and 3 months for the Forex service.

So, the FTSE 100 Club does seem like it may be a reasonably consistent performer over the long term if historic data is in-line with the past couple of months - By this we mean accurate and achievable. The main consideration to be borne in mind of course has to be the draw-down periods which both services are obviously susceptible to.

For us, there is enough here to make us commit to continuing with this service for the time being - We will of course, as always, be reporting back.

SUPPORT

A little slow but usually within 24 hours.

CONCLUSION

PROs
• Clear signals.
• Consistent and more than reasonable long term performance across both services – See assumptions above.

CONs
• Need to have access to a trading platform (e.g. IG Index) most of the day 08:00 – 21:00 to react to Enter/Exit at market alerts - Negated to some extent by having access via a mobile device.
• Draw-downs as identified will take some recovery time.

FTSE 100 Club For £10 Offer – Valid Til The End Of June Only

The FTSE 100 Club has kindly provided a special offer which is only available via Systems For Traders. Instead of £20 for the first 30 Days, if you use our link below and the FTSE 100 Club Voucher Code “SFT100” when signing up, the price will be just £10 for the first 30 days. The no questions asked Money Back Guarantee during this period is still valid. FTSE 100 Club – We thank you for providing this offer.


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

Another detailed review. Thank you. This is enough for me to subscribe and manage a pot in the 'saving/growth' manner to which SFT run 1 min trader. For me, an actively manged account like this is potentially far better than a buy and hold isa. Thanks again SFT.

You are welcome and we look forward to comparing, hopefully positive, results at the end of the month.

I will definitely keep this one in mind,but for my present style of trading the stop losses are much too large.

Not just applicable to this service - But really the size of a Stop is irrelevant in our opinion. What matters is the return based on risk per trade (%age wise) and draw-down experience based on that application.

I've been a subscriber to the F100 club for about 6 months now. I mostly follow their forex alerts (ironically), mainly because they had a bad run on the FTSE ones for a few weeks. Recently the FTSE trades have been much better, so I'm back following those now.

I've recorded all the trade alerts they sent through and the results shown on their website correspond to the pip.

I've also recorded all my own results based on their alerts, in order to see what kind of slippage there is. One of the good things about this service is that the prices in the alert are usually close to the current price (although recently they have been 5-10 pips away).

Since late November 2010, ignoring their FTSE trades, my records show a profit of 2014 pips using their entry/exit numbers. Using my own actually traded numbers, I made 1511 pips. This includes funding costs and I did miss one or two trades.

These figures give a slippage of about 27%. If you ignore the trades I missed, it drops to about 20% slippage, which doesnt seem too bad to me.

The profit take did used to be similar to the stop loss risked, but recently they have begun to take profits a bit earlier, meaning you are risking more than you might earn, but you obviously don't know that at the time.

Liam

Hi Liam,

Much appreciate that feedback from someone who has used the service longer than us. We look forward to monitoring and comparing our actuals versus the reported figures and indeed other members.

Here's the results from FTSE100 Club for June.

Their results are available on their website and the numbers they quote do correspond with the signals they have sent.

FTSE100 Club Results My Results
No. FX Trades 9 9
No. FTSE trades 4 4
No. FX Winners 8 8
No. FX Losers 1 1
No. FTSE Winners 3 3
No. FTSE Losers 1 1
FX pippage 614 569
FTSE pippage 72 56.6
TOTAL pippage 686 625.6
(anyone know how to insert an excel table?)

I use IG and paid about 30 pips in overnight funding which reduces my total to 595 pips. Still, not bad for 1 month.

I receive all the signals by text message and can access IG using the mobile, so I'm usually logged on and placing the trade within a minute. Most trades are placed within a few pips of the signal. The 60 point slippage averages out at 2.5 pips per signal (13 trades, 24 signals, 2 closed on stops) which isnt bad as I often put my stop loss a pip or two lower, as there is nothing worse than having my stop loss hunted out and their trade carries on running.

I still rate them very highly. There is 1 open trade at the moment, which is currently -60 pips. It was -100 a day ago. The stop loss is -129, so it nearly got closed out but is recovering a bit - still, they must be due a loser.

Liam

Thanks for sharing, very similar to ours and the vendors, we will be posting in a few minutes.

Your 30 PIPs seems expensive with IG!

During June we experienced the following results:

FTSE

• Signal Timing = 08:30 - 19:30 UK Time
• Risk Per Trade = 2.00%
• Number Of Trades / Winners / Losers = 4 / +3 / -1
• Percentage Of Profitable Trades = 75%
• Average Winning / Losing Trade = +1.44% / -2.00%
• Profit Factor (Gross Profit / Gross Loss) = 2.16
• Largest Drawdown = -2.00%
• Monthly Return = +2.33% versus a reported +2.36%

Forex

• Signal Timing = 08:00 - 21:00 UK Time
• Risk Per Trade = 2.00%
• Number Of Trades / Winners / Losers = 10 / +8 / -2
• Percentage Of Profitable Trades = 80%
• Average Winning / Losing Trade = +1.45% / -2.00%
• Profit Factor (Gross Profit / Gross Loss) = 2.91
• Largest Drawdown = -2.00%
• Monthly Return = +7.62% versus a reported +8.08%

This means we are still, give or take a small percentage, averaging a combined +10% a month across both of these services based on 2% risk per trade.

Once again, we have committed to monitoring this service. Although we do not trade in July in August we will continue to monitor and report back.

NOTE: The guys at the FTSE 100 Club have extended their special offer to the end of July and we thank them once again. Their service is available for 30 days, via Systems For Traders only, for £10 a month, standard Money Back Guarantee (as per the website) inclusive, here is the link – Remember to also use voucher code SFT100.