I have been intrigued with Forex (short for Foreign Exchange, or foreign currency trading) for sometime. I've heard many times from many different sources that a good forex trader can average one-half percent on his invested capital per day. That doesn't sound like much until you realize it works out to about 250% per year.
Whenever I've run into anyone who trades forex, I've asked them about that figure, and each one has confirmed it. But none of them are living like they have the kind of money that return would generate. (Starting with $1,000, that return achieved consistently would yield over half a million dollars in 5 years).
But I wanted to see if I could learn to do it, so I started a few months ago "playing" with demo accounts from several brokers, trying to be disciplined and to learn the process. And I've had varying degrees of success.
As I began reading and studying forex trading, I ran into ads for numerous "Forex Robots". These are automated computer programs that monitor the market and apply their own trading strategy, then automatically place trades when they determine the conditions are right. The nice thing about them is that you can start them up, leave your computer running, go to work or go to sleep and they just make money for you. At least that's what the marketers would have you believe. And they all make outlandish promises. One promised to more than double your money in a month. Another promised not to make any losing trades (it was called the "No Loss Robot"). The promises are outlandish because, again, if you apply the math and the magic of compound returns, you would be a millionaire virtually overnight.
Nevertheless, they were intriguing, the price was relatively low, and they mostly come with a 60-day money back guarantee. I bought one, installed it, and it did nothing, and I emailed and did, in deed, get my money back. I bought another one, and, while it has not lived up to anywhere close to its hype, it has a pretty impressive record - no losing trades in January, and about a 6 1/2 % gain. (Again, if that were achieved consistently, it would double your money in a year. Unfortunately, it had it's first losing trade the other day, and wiped out a big chunk of that gain.)
Several months ago, I started getting spam about the "Forex Robot World Cup" - a supposedly completely open, transparent, real-world competition of forex robots. It initially seemed to be a serious competition among independent robot developers.
The competition had 329 entries of robot programs developed by independent developers. These first had to go through a rigorous qualification round of "back-testing" (running the trading algorithm against historical market data to determine the trades and results that it "would have" made). Only 24 of the 329 made it through that. Then the 24 were each set up with a $1,000 live money trading account, and left to run for 2 months.
Now it starts to get interesting, because these are the circumstances in which you would actually be using these programs. It also became interesting because the promoters started sending out teaser messages about the progress of the competition, and, as it neared the end, indicated that they were going to be making the winners available for sale. The leading program returned 145% over the 2 months.
But then, in the last few weeks, they cranked it up a notch. They (the promoters) claim to have taken the strategies and algorithms embodied in the top five performers, and created a "super-robot" that combines them all. They started this program trading along side the others with 19 days left in the competition, and, in that 19 days, it returned 354%. And they're offering it for sale. (See Forex Robot World Cup for details.)
Now, for the less mathematically adept, achieving that kind of return is absolutely ludicrous. If it were true and consistent, you would be a millionaire in less than 5 months, starting with $1,000.
Nevertheless, it's like a tar baby I just can't get out of my head. What if it were true? Or even remotely close to true? I mean what are the possibilities? Either the claims made by the promoters have at least some basis in fact, or this whole campaign is one massive lie. If the latter were the case, then it's an extremely well-orchestrated lie. This competition had the sponsorship of one of the biggest brokers in the Forex world who has built a massive business - it's unlikely that they would lend their name and support to something that was a complete fabrication. It also has truly been fairly transparent, which was one of their stated goals. They are even offering the passwords to the trading accounts so that you can log in and verify the results for yourself. There is the possibility that the accounts have been manipulated, but if that were true, that would probably make some very prominent people in jeopardy of criminal fraud charges.
So let's say, just for the sake of argument, that the robot really works, but it just got lucky, and it performs, but not quite as well as claimed. Let's say it does half as good. That's still 170% return in less than a month. Hmm. How about a quarter as good? That's still nearly doubling your money in a month. How about a tenth as good? 35% return in a month?
There's only one way to find out. And that's what this blog is about. I've decided to give it a try, and report my results here, day by day. They are selling a package for $999 - a hefty pricetag, but if it does even a 35% return, easily worth it. And, they're offering a 60-day no questions asked money back guarantee. It's obvious that I'll know in a matter of days whether there's any validity to it or not, so I'm really not putting much at actual risk.
So, I'm going to purchase it tomorrow night (Sunday - at the start of the trading week), and report the results day by day. We'll just see.
Stay tuned.
Whenever I've run into anyone who trades forex, I've asked them about that figure, and each one has confirmed it. But none of them are living like they have the kind of money that return would generate. (Starting with $1,000, that return achieved consistently would yield over half a million dollars in 5 years).
But I wanted to see if I could learn to do it, so I started a few months ago "playing" with demo accounts from several brokers, trying to be disciplined and to learn the process. And I've had varying degrees of success.
As I began reading and studying forex trading, I ran into ads for numerous "Forex Robots". These are automated computer programs that monitor the market and apply their own trading strategy, then automatically place trades when they determine the conditions are right. The nice thing about them is that you can start them up, leave your computer running, go to work or go to sleep and they just make money for you. At least that's what the marketers would have you believe. And they all make outlandish promises. One promised to more than double your money in a month. Another promised not to make any losing trades (it was called the "No Loss Robot"). The promises are outlandish because, again, if you apply the math and the magic of compound returns, you would be a millionaire virtually overnight.
Nevertheless, they were intriguing, the price was relatively low, and they mostly come with a 60-day money back guarantee. I bought one, installed it, and it did nothing, and I emailed and did, in deed, get my money back. I bought another one, and, while it has not lived up to anywhere close to its hype, it has a pretty impressive record - no losing trades in January, and about a 6 1/2 % gain. (Again, if that were achieved consistently, it would double your money in a year. Unfortunately, it had it's first losing trade the other day, and wiped out a big chunk of that gain.)
Several months ago, I started getting spam about the "Forex Robot World Cup" - a supposedly completely open, transparent, real-world competition of forex robots. It initially seemed to be a serious competition among independent robot developers.
The competition had 329 entries of robot programs developed by independent developers. These first had to go through a rigorous qualification round of "back-testing" (running the trading algorithm against historical market data to determine the trades and results that it "would have" made). Only 24 of the 329 made it through that. Then the 24 were each set up with a $1,000 live money trading account, and left to run for 2 months.
Now it starts to get interesting, because these are the circumstances in which you would actually be using these programs. It also became interesting because the promoters started sending out teaser messages about the progress of the competition, and, as it neared the end, indicated that they were going to be making the winners available for sale. The leading program returned 145% over the 2 months.
But then, in the last few weeks, they cranked it up a notch. They (the promoters) claim to have taken the strategies and algorithms embodied in the top five performers, and created a "super-robot" that combines them all. They started this program trading along side the others with 19 days left in the competition, and, in that 19 days, it returned 354%. And they're offering it for sale. (See Forex Robot World Cup for details.)
Now, for the less mathematically adept, achieving that kind of return is absolutely ludicrous. If it were true and consistent, you would be a millionaire in less than 5 months, starting with $1,000.
Nevertheless, it's like a tar baby I just can't get out of my head. What if it were true? Or even remotely close to true? I mean what are the possibilities? Either the claims made by the promoters have at least some basis in fact, or this whole campaign is one massive lie. If the latter were the case, then it's an extremely well-orchestrated lie. This competition had the sponsorship of one of the biggest brokers in the Forex world who has built a massive business - it's unlikely that they would lend their name and support to something that was a complete fabrication. It also has truly been fairly transparent, which was one of their stated goals. They are even offering the passwords to the trading accounts so that you can log in and verify the results for yourself. There is the possibility that the accounts have been manipulated, but if that were true, that would probably make some very prominent people in jeopardy of criminal fraud charges.
So let's say, just for the sake of argument, that the robot really works, but it just got lucky, and it performs, but not quite as well as claimed. Let's say it does half as good. That's still 170% return in less than a month. Hmm. How about a quarter as good? That's still nearly doubling your money in a month. How about a tenth as good? 35% return in a month?
There's only one way to find out. And that's what this blog is about. I've decided to give it a try, and report my results here, day by day. They are selling a package for $999 - a hefty pricetag, but if it does even a 35% return, easily worth it. And, they're offering a 60-day no questions asked money back guarantee. It's obvious that I'll know in a matter of days whether there's any validity to it or not, so I'm really not putting much at actual risk.
So, I'm going to purchase it tomorrow night (Sunday - at the start of the trading week), and report the results day by day. We'll just see.
Stay tuned.
Walking with God: Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really., by John Eldredge
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