What is a Forex Trading Robot?
A forex trading robot is a computer program based on a set of forex trading signals that helps determine whether to buy or sell a currency pair at a given point in time. Forex robots are designed to remove the psychological element of trading, which can be detrimental. While trading systems can be purchased online, traders should exercise caution when buying them this way.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Automated forex trading robots are automated software programs used to generate trading signals.
While they advertise the prospect of profits, it is important to remember that forex trading robots are limited in their capabilities and are not foolproof.
Understanding Forex Trading Robots
Forex trading robots are automated software programs that generate trading signals. Most of these robots are built with MetaTrader, using the MQL scripting language, which lets traders generate trading signals or place orders and manage trades.
Automated forex trading robots are available for purchase over the Internet, but traders should exercise caution when buying any such trading system. Often times, companies will spring up overnight to sell trading systems with a money-back guarantee before disappearing a few weeks later.
The companies are not legitimate systems for assessing risk and opportunity. They may cherry-pick successful trades as the most likely outcome for a trade or use curve-fitting to generate great results when backtesting a system, but are not legitimate systems for assessing risk and opportunity. Another criticism against forex trading robots is that they generate profits over the short term but their performance over the long term is mixed. This is primarily because they are automated to move within a certain range and follow trends. As a result, a sudden price movement can wipe out profits made in the short term.
There is no such thing as a “holy grail” for trading systems, because if someone did develop a money making system that was fail proof, they would not want to share it with the general public. This is why institutional investors and hedge funds keep their “black box” trading programs under lock and key.
Developing Your Own Forex Trading Robot
Forex traders may want to consider developing their own automated trading systems rather than taking a risk on third-party forex trading robots.
The best way to get started is to open a demo account with a forex trading broker that supports MetaTrader and then start experimenting with developing MQL scripts. After developing a system that performs well when backtesting, traders should apply the program to paper trading to test the effectiveness of the system in live environments. Unsuccessful programs can be tweaked, while successful programs can be ramped up with increasingly larger amounts of real capital.
In general, many traders try to develop automated trading systems based on their existing technical trading rules. Some such systems are more successful than others. An example might be a trader who watches for breakouts and has a specific strategy for determining a stop-loss and take-profit point. These rules could be easily modified to operate in an automated fashion rather than being manually executed. Traders should keep an eye on these systems to ensure that they’re working as expected and make adjustments when necessary.
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