Forex Growth Bot (FGB) Expert Advisor REVIEW and Performance for 2011

[raa]

Actually what I did is I integrated a code from my own trade manager into the FGB code (you have a source code with the Power Edition) so not only it works from the same chart but you also can back test it. I tried many options, but looks like we might need only few to control risk:
1. Hard SL to control some weird moves that can go very far back before FGB gets it's candle close and closes, in my testing 40 pips SL makes sense as if it goes as far there are more chances it won't recover and FGB will close it anyway but at some bigger loss
2. Break even for something like 30-35 pips, to avoid situation when profit becomes loss
3. Control maximum position size opened and have a routine to cut it to max level, this is due to the fact even though you set your lot size and max positions in FGB it routinely violates settings and can go much more than you allowed, seen it quite a few times

I experimented with dynamic trail stops, time-based decays of TP and SL, but seems that they don't offer any higher profitability.

I do regard FGB as one of the best bots out there, but in my opinion it needs some work and optimization, probably the best is to re-optimize it once a month to adjust to the current market regime. While I am happy with it's profitability I am less happy about it's drawdowns.

[pharoh777]

Hey Raa!! I commend you on your research into FGB improvements. I like your approach very much.

1. The hard SL is a fantastic idea because I had one single trade close last year for -115 pips which is not what we want to happen from an EA that should stop out around -30-50 pips. The only downside is a bigger retrace candle that stretches low and hits a major s/r and then comes back, as I have seen this happen very often lately. FGB will not close that if it happens within the same 15-minute candle. I am just not a skilled enough analyst to know what happens more, that retrace situation or a simple move against the pair in the same 15-minute candle that goes way too far and causes a larger loss. You are much better at analysis than me so maybe you could check that if you had any spare time although I'm not sure if that's even reasonably possible to test.
2. The breakeven idea is fantastic and I did that manually many times last year. I love getting to breakeven when I manually trade. It's what I really go for, then the rest becomes money in the bank when I can move my stop again. I love getting out of a potential loss, BUT my manual intervention last year caused poorer returns than just letting it run and this was one of the major things I did (but I didn't catch all trades because I have to sleep sometimes), so maybe an auto-move would work. Again, you can answer this question much better than I but I wanted to share my perspective.
3. Yes, I cannot stand when FGB randomly does weird things like change lot size (currently I CANNOT get my lot size to trade at anything larger than minimum order size for my broker). I think a "lock" on lot size and orders is AWESOME!!

Thanks for the ideas, as I would love to get this EA to survive the downtimes much better. I'm pretty sure you can probably cook up some better features and I look forward to your test results. I also have the power source version and if you get to a place where you find you have built a better mouse trap, I can merge that into the live test here. Just let me know and DEFINITELY keep me posted!

The current settings I am using now handled NFP pretty well today actually. On default, FGB would trade up and down, up and down. Today, it got in really late on the NFP move and if there had been a continuation, it would have won pretty well. It didn't get into the market until after volatility had settled and after all the spikes. I remember last year the reason I stopped trading NFP was because it would keep opening trades after every big 15-min candle, lose, then open opposite direction and lose. Rinse and repeat. I saw none of that today.

BUT, I did close orders before I went to work today. That's just part of my Friday routine. I try NEVER to leave orders in the market over the weekend, from my experience, it just never seems to end well. Start a new week fresh. I guess this counts as intervention but it's something I have to do as a prudent trader. So I apologize to all the purists who just want me to roll orders over the weekend. That requires me to keep my MT4 open until market open Sunday and I just don't trade or have my MT4 open when the market opens. I open it when there is more volume and begin my week then. I will post results from this week tomorrow because I have to go to work at 5 am and it's already 11pm here. I will get all the unfinished results posted by tomorrow including the cumulative multi-EA results.

[patsid13]

Hi Omar

I sent you some private messages and personal emails but no reply, no problem!
Can you explain to me in more detail the lot size and risk factor on FGB as I did not understand the explanation, sorry to appear dim on this one but my mathematical acumen is not great. If you do find my messages I made a more detailed explanation there as I did not want it to get tangled in this thread which is magnificent
Thanks

Patrick

I have the power version

[pharoh777]

Hi Patrick!!

I just sent you an email covering what you asked about. I am also going to paste a portion of that email to answer anyone else who may have been confused about the risk settings

FGB settings

Low Risk is .01 PER $1000 of account value. So if your account value is $2000 your lot size would be 0.02. Since our Max trades is 10, the most you would ever have open on a $2000 account is 0.20 total lot size X usual max stop loss of 50 pips makes it $100 risked MAX. It will be a VERY VERY rare day IF ever that all 10 orders would hit full stop but you ALWAYS plan for the worst case

Medium Risk is 0.01 lot PER $500 traded. So if that was a $2000 account, then 2000/500=4 or 0.04 Lot size OR Double Low Risk. and you are now risking $200 MAX on the same account or 10%

High Risk: Doubles again. 0.08 or at total of 0.80 max lots or a $400 risk MAX or 20% MAX risk.


Hope that helps. If anyone needs further clarification, please don't hesitate to ask!!

[bthebeginner]

Hi,

I am just now starting to investigate using expert advisors for trading Forex, so sorry for a totally noob question: do you recommend using the basic Forex Growth Bot, without tweaking default settings by yourself? Or would that be a recipe for disaster?

[pharoh777]

Hi there Bthebeginner!!! Thanks for your question!!! NEVER apologize for any question because in my experience for every question someone thinks is silly to ask, there are 100 people out there thinking the same thing but too afraid to ask. I personally think that Forex Growth Bot is the best commercially available EA on the planet and the basic version will make you money in the long term. Out of the box FGB makes money with default settings. The reason you see me recommend to everyone that they buy at least the advanced version is that I have spent many hours working with people MUCH smarter and better at forex than myself to come up with the custom settings that I have listed in our forum here. My settings are supposed to reduce drawdown while still maintaining the monster profitability that FGB is known for when the market really moves. The custom settings I use trade a bit less, but you tend to see so many consecutive losses like I experienced with default settings last year.

I hope this helps my friend. If there is ANYTHING else I can help you with on FGB or EAs in general, DO NOT HESITATE to ask!!!

Kindest Regards,
Omar

[bthebeginner]

Thank you very much for the answer Omar! I guess it will be fine to start with the basic version first then, and start following the more advanced settings down the road. By the way, is it possible to upgrade to Growth Both advanced at a later date, or is it only available through their upselling process?

Also, does broker selection make a big difference for this EA? Would for example FinFX work well?

[pharoh777]

Thank you very much!! I'm glad if I can be any help in any way. EXCELLENT questions!! Yes, you can start with the basic version, get comfortable how it trades, AND we would love to hear from someone who is using it out of the box so we can compare the custom setting results with the standard ones. So I would request that you share your results here if you are so inclined.

And yes, you can totally upgrade at any time later. Now that you have purchased the initial copy of FGB, you will always be able to access the member site and buy discounted basic versions OR upgrades. No problem!!

On to broker selection. Although occasionally FGB will fire single trades differently at different brokers due to the fluctuation from one liquidity provider to another in volume, FGB is not very broker dependent. All bigger moves (the ones we're really after) will be caught on practically every major broker including FinFX. Although I personally had a few issues with FinFX for EAs like MDP and Thor II (I don't recommend using those type of EAs there), I had a nice profitable 2012 there before I moved our live accounts to LMAX. You will have no problem trading FGB there!! I very much look forward to hearing about your results in the other thread we have set up to track live results. Of course if you have ANY other questions or need help with FGB, I am happy to assist in any way I can.

[bthebeginner]

Actually I have yet to purchase FGB, but will certainly do so sometime in the next few days. Obviously I will try it out on a demo account first, and switch to a live account in a bit.

Thanks for being so enthusiastic about this topic. I'm sure I will have many more questions once I get going with FGB.

[pharoh777]

Thanks!! I LOVE trading!! And on top of it, it is a HUGELY satisfying feeling when I can save someone hassle and money that I had to waste learning how to make money from EAs. I will always be happy to help you out in any way I can. All I request, is that if you do decide to purchase FGB, please do so through our links on this site. It helps keep the lights on here and keeps the site going so we can all have a great place to share our knowledge in the forex world!! I have learned so much from everyone here!!