Greetings, FRP Community.
I have traded currencies for quite a long time now; when I started in this business, trades were ordered via telephone or (latest high tech gadget!) fax; the Euro didn't yet exist and pairs like USD/DEM (US Dollar versus Deutsche Mark) or USD/FFR (US Dollar versus French Franc) were traded.
I used computers for technical analysis whose speed and power would make today's average eight-year-old Nintendo player laugh in contempt and disbelief.
Leverage was unheard of, so all trades had to be done 1:1.
Of course, there were no such things as automated trading systems, which you'd call Expert Advisors today.
Trades were done manually, and because technology was not yet very developed, analysis could be tedious.
Because I have traded manually all the time, I have never really been interested in automated systems.
And the many websites advertising EAs which promised instant riches with no work from only a few hundred dollars' investment weren't able to convince me of having a closer look at them.
They didn't look respectable; why would somebody who had created a software that could turn five hundred dollars into two million in a year sell that software for $250? And why would he have to bother setting up a flashy website, promising a money-back-guarantee? Surely even Bill Gates and George Soros would have begged to have a copy of that EA, and would gladly have paid millions for it?
Like with so many products on the internet, it was all about creating as much hype as possible, so that a few thousand copies of the (essentially worthless) application could be sold to gullible people who believe that all you have to do to become an overnight millionaire is to buy the software, run it, and then watch your account double every day.
The only people profiting from these 'expert' systems are the ones who sell them.
To me, the most annoying thing about those scam websites has always been that they usually only show a single account statement with a huge balance; all the rest is hype, flashy colours and fake reviews.
If the software is so powerful, why not show real evidence of its performance on the website? Surely that would make it much easier to convince prospective buyers of its merits?
So I just continued trading manually, using the expert system between my ears, and left the 'Gain-10%-Daily-with-this-incredible-new-System-click-PayPay-button-if-you-are-dumb-enough-to-really-believe-this' EAs to others.
Then, a few days ago, I've stumbled over a thread in my favourite Forex Forum.
The thread was about an Expert Advisor, so I smiled, opened it, and prepared myself for the latest hype about getting rich in six months. (I don't even know why I read these threads ... probably because not falling for them makes me feel smart or something.)
The first post in that thread contained a link to FRP's website, so I went ahead and had a look at it.
No hype.
No flashy colours.
No 'Become Rich Overnight'.
Instead, I saw many links to verified Myfxbook portfolios and realistic (even conservative) profit expectations.
Huh?
Next, I learned that the creator(s) of the EA offered a free demo of the software, so that people could test it themselves and get a feel for it.
Now, that's the way to introduce and market something that might actually be worth the money you'll have to pay for it, if you want to use it on a live account.
Not only could I have a look at past performance, real and demo, with different brokers but I could even test it myself, for free.
It is the first EA I have seen so far which is not afraid of performing publicly and which works with realistic profit expectations.
Of course I had to check this out.
So I downloaded the free demo, read the manual, and installed it on my MT4.
Edited on 2 October 2017:
The Myfxbook portfolio has been inactive for some time and has accordingly been terminated. This has nothing to do with the EA itself, however I have been so busy with my regular work lately that there is simply no time for Forex at the moment.
Edited on 17 February 2012:
Since my broker normally offers 30-day demo accounts only (which, of course, are useless to evaluate the EA's performance over an extended period of time), I had to arrange for a non-expiring demo account with them before I could commence testing the EA.
This has been done today.
VOIDED-begin I have opened a Myfxbook Portfolio for the demo account I utilize to test the ForexRealProfit EA, so that everybody interested may follow its performance.
The portfolio has a Verified Track Record and Verified Trading Privileges. VOIDED-end
You can access it via the following link: Inactive
I'm using all four strategies on all twelve recommended currency pairs (i.e. letting the EA decide which strategy to run on which pair); default values for all settings are being used, including AvoidNews=true. The only thing I've changed is the risk percentage, which was set to be 5% of the account balance.
Cheers to all, and a hearty 'well done' to the jolly good fellows (and girls) of FRP,
Paladin