Free expert advisers for forex trading can be found online if you know where to look. However, before you go ahead and grab one, take a moment to think about what you should be looking for.
Expert advisers or EAs are automated forex trading systems or robots that work on the Metatrader 4 software platform. MT4 itself is free, and as with most software, there are some people who have developed free applications that you can download. They may hope for donations, they may hope for some kind of paid work to come from becoming known for this, or they may just do it for fun. But the question that you must always ask is: what is the system that they have automated?
If you think about it, it is pretty clear that anyone with a profitable forex trading system is not very likely to spend hours of his time creating robot software to run it automatically and then give it away as a free expert advisor. Nor is he going to pay a programmer to create the software and then give it away for free. No, either he will keep his robot for himself or he will hope to make a lot of money by selling it.
This means that the free expert advisors that are available on the internet are not necessarily the best automated forex systems. You might be lucky and find one that is great, but you could spend a lot of time trying out free expert advisors that never make money or do not even work.
Then you have a problem because support is likely to be minimal. How could somebody spend hours of their time helping you to fix any problems that you have, if they are never being paid anything for it? Most people have to earn a living. Maybe they had a few spare hours or days to create the robot in the first place, but that does not mean they have spare time to devote to you and your problems when you try to use it, which could be months or years after they developed it.
Besides this, there may not be much in the way of instructions for setting up. This may not sound like a problem until you try it. Forex robots are notoriously difficult for the non technically minded among us, and if you do not even have much of a manual and nobody to answer your emails, the outlook is bleak.
In fact, free forex robots could end up costing you a lot of time and perhaps also a lot of money, if you are unwise enough to let them loose on your real money account before you have fully tested them. Free expert advisers are not necessarily an unmixed blessing.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Forex trading Best Expert Advisers and Reviews
The best expert advisers can help you to make a lot of money with forex trading, while a bad EA can simply be a drain on your cash. So how do you tell them apart? Most people do this by looking at reviews.
However, online reviews can be a mixed blessing when it comes to something as important as an expert advisor. In case you do not know, an EA is a forex robot or automated currency trading system that runs on the popular platform known as Metatrader 4. Basically, you hook up the robot to your broker's software platform, set it to trade for you at the position size etc that you want, and go enjoy your day.
The problem of course comes if things go against you and it starts to lose your money instead of making it. This is always a danger with forex systems and even more when they are trading on autopilot so you may not be aware of what is happening. For that reason it is very important to run the EA on a demo account first until you have absolutely everything clear.
Reviews can certainly help you to narrow down your search when you are looking for a forex robot that will save you tons of time analyzing the market and placing your trades. However, there are two possible problems with reviews. One is that some reviews that you will find online are simply copied from the sales page for the EA itself and the person might not have used the robot at all. In this case you will usually see a very positive review with no indication of the possible downside. On the other hand a review from somebody who has actually used the software themselves can be very valuable because it will often give you hints and tips about how to get the most from it.
The other thing that you may come across is a strongly negative review from somebody who could not make the EA work for them. There may be all kinds of reasons for this which are not the fault of the EA itself. Often, either the person could not figure out how to set it up and became frustrated with it, or they set their risk too high. A common recommendation for risk is 2% per trade. The laws of statistics mean that setting your risk too high will always lead to a busted bank sooner or later, but people who do not realize this will often blame the system that they were using. This can lead to some very vitriolic comments and forum posts and of course it is never recognized that it is the fault of the trader. It must be the system's fault!
What you should be looking for when you search through reviews for the best expert advisors is a general consensus, a balance of views. Rather than simply going by a star system or whether the person liked the EA, check for specific points such as these:
- Is it easy to set up, and how much does that matter to you?
- Is it suitable for somebody at your level? Is it aimed at beginners or experienced traders? Do you need to be taking a certain position size or using a particular broker to use this system?
- Does it suit your trading style in terms of the amount of risk (stop loss settings) and number of trades?
You may need to read between the lines a little bit to work out some of these points. For example, most EAs will claim to work for people at all levels, but a system that only makes a couple of trades a week is not going to make you much money on a micro trading account unless you take huge risks, so that's why the number of trades can be important. However, many people who buy a new forex robot are also trading using other methods and then it does not matter so much if a robot only trades a couple of times a week.
So do check out reviews when you are looking for the best expert advisors, but follow your own agenda when it comes to how seriously you take them.
However, online reviews can be a mixed blessing when it comes to something as important as an expert advisor. In case you do not know, an EA is a forex robot or automated currency trading system that runs on the popular platform known as Metatrader 4. Basically, you hook up the robot to your broker's software platform, set it to trade for you at the position size etc that you want, and go enjoy your day.
The problem of course comes if things go against you and it starts to lose your money instead of making it. This is always a danger with forex systems and even more when they are trading on autopilot so you may not be aware of what is happening. For that reason it is very important to run the EA on a demo account first until you have absolutely everything clear.
Reviews can certainly help you to narrow down your search when you are looking for a forex robot that will save you tons of time analyzing the market and placing your trades. However, there are two possible problems with reviews. One is that some reviews that you will find online are simply copied from the sales page for the EA itself and the person might not have used the robot at all. In this case you will usually see a very positive review with no indication of the possible downside. On the other hand a review from somebody who has actually used the software themselves can be very valuable because it will often give you hints and tips about how to get the most from it.
The other thing that you may come across is a strongly negative review from somebody who could not make the EA work for them. There may be all kinds of reasons for this which are not the fault of the EA itself. Often, either the person could not figure out how to set it up and became frustrated with it, or they set their risk too high. A common recommendation for risk is 2% per trade. The laws of statistics mean that setting your risk too high will always lead to a busted bank sooner or later, but people who do not realize this will often blame the system that they were using. This can lead to some very vitriolic comments and forum posts and of course it is never recognized that it is the fault of the trader. It must be the system's fault!
What you should be looking for when you search through reviews for the best expert advisors is a general consensus, a balance of views. Rather than simply going by a star system or whether the person liked the EA, check for specific points such as these:
- Is it easy to set up, and how much does that matter to you?
- Is it suitable for somebody at your level? Is it aimed at beginners or experienced traders? Do you need to be taking a certain position size or using a particular broker to use this system?
- Does it suit your trading style in terms of the amount of risk (stop loss settings) and number of trades?
You may need to read between the lines a little bit to work out some of these points. For example, most EAs will claim to work for people at all levels, but a system that only makes a couple of trades a week is not going to make you much money on a micro trading account unless you take huge risks, so that's why the number of trades can be important. However, many people who buy a new forex robot are also trading using other methods and then it does not matter so much if a robot only trades a couple of times a week.
So do check out reviews when you are looking for the best expert advisors, but follow your own agenda when it comes to how seriously you take them.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Forex Trading tips
All financial transactions on the market are conducted through a system of institutions, central banks, commercial banks, dealers, brokers. Each Forex participant has a certain trade volume on the currency market i.e. central banks have the largest turnover, their trading volume exceeds hundreds of millions of US dollars a day. Commercial banks and dealers have a much smaller daily turnover. For brokers it is estimated at 25-50 million US dollars, which is only 2% of the total Forex trading volume.
Central banks of the countries of the world
Central banks manage the flow of money and credit using certain instruments, as defined by law. Central banks key functions are money emission, monetary and foreign exchange policy, etc. For instance, the central banks' exchange market intervention may reduce or increase the rate of the national currency.
Commercial banks
Commercial banks are financial institutions, which have the right to take deposits from individuals and entities, to place money in their interests with an obligation to pay the owner back, and to open and maintain bank accounts. In every country there are several large commercial banks that can influence exchange rates. In 2006, Deutsche Bank turnover was 19.26% of the Forex turnover.
Brokers
A broker is a legalentity or an individual who works as a mediator and facilitates foreign currency transactions, linking the seller of goods, securities or currencies with the buyer. A broker works on behalf of a customer and at his expense and can provide additional customer services. A broker receives a commission for executing customer orders.
Dealers
Dealers are companies or individuals operating in the market at their own expense and on their own behalf, which are engaged in the sale of currency and other assets.
Central banks of the countries of the world
Central banks manage the flow of money and credit using certain instruments, as defined by law. Central banks key functions are money emission, monetary and foreign exchange policy, etc. For instance, the central banks' exchange market intervention may reduce or increase the rate of the national currency.
Commercial banks
Commercial banks are financial institutions, which have the right to take deposits from individuals and entities, to place money in their interests with an obligation to pay the owner back, and to open and maintain bank accounts. In every country there are several large commercial banks that can influence exchange rates. In 2006, Deutsche Bank turnover was 19.26% of the Forex turnover.
Brokers
A broker is a legalentity or an individual who works as a mediator and facilitates foreign currency transactions, linking the seller of goods, securities or currencies with the buyer. A broker works on behalf of a customer and at his expense and can provide additional customer services. A broker receives a commission for executing customer orders.
Dealers
Dealers are companies or individuals operating in the market at their own expense and on their own behalf, which are engaged in the sale of currency and other assets.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)