Thanks a lot for clarification.

Hello Bernard,
Since you are trading the ea on a live account, I would like to ask a question if I may.I first want to thank you for allowing us to test the ea, and all the hard work you are doing.
I like the idea that eventually I can use IBFX since you are testing and using IBFX live.I also like that you can eventually trade with $250.00 and micro lots.
My question is this.In reading many threads on Forex TSD, they sometimes stress this statement.The results in live account were totally different in a negative way. Believe it must be the dealer spreads put on live account.
Do you find this statement true with your live account on IBFX? If this is a true statement, then I can not see how people can honestly judge an ea on a demo account before going to a live account?

Have a nice day!

Vince

I know that you did not ask this question to me but to the develloper of this EA.
But listen to the little voice in the back of your head and try to use just common sence.
Read over this WHOLE topic and with an open mind. You will find as much results that are very good as postings with results that proof you can burn your account in a couple of days.
What does that proof to you ?....That the people who burn their accounts are stupid... OR... that this EA is not very stable at this moment.

Remember 1 very important thing in trading: The forex market will be here tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and even longer then you will be here.
So start trading a system or EA when it is clearly proven that it is a solid system and that everybody is making money with it.
As long as not everybody is making money with it is shows unstability and not any robustness what so ever.

You will not die if you need to wait an other couple of months till this EA can proof the contrary. The only thing that can happen is that you miss out on profits. But that is far less important then stacking up unnescessary losses if you would have waited a little bit longer.
Making 400% profit over an 5 day period is automaticly connected to a risk of having a drawdown of the same kind over the same amount of period. And the develloper of this system should know this and warn you for this.

WAIT WAIT WAIT. You can't do any harm by waiting. But you can loos money by not beeing patient. Wait for consistent results over a longer period of time without the develloper will change something to his EA.
Not a week passed by that he changed something to his EA. Everytime he changes something you need to start all over again from the very beginning on the testing period.
Don't say that you were not warned by an objective party.

regards....iGoR

__________________
Success comes with knowledge. Knowledge comes with experience. Experience comes with time and hard work... (iGoR)
MT Intelligence - Stats for fxigor1

Hello iGoR,
Thanks for posting.I guess I worded the post wrong.I did not mean this ea, but all of them in general.Bernard is doing a great job and I am glad to be part of the test.I am in no great rush.Patiance is a virture.

What I am saying, and I am asking for confirmation from not just Bernard but from those that have first used an EA on a demo account and then have used it on a live account.
Reading a lot of posts from different threads I have seen the statement several times.That the feed and spread on demo accounts sometimes are different when you go on a live account.
Since I have never used a live MT4 account, I have no idea if this is a true statment or not?
I am asking those on here that are veteran to using EA's if this is a true or false statement?

Maybe I should not of asked the question, but I keep seeing it come up from time to time and wanted input.

Have a nice day!

Vince

Vince
I can only give my own experience here on this question and I also have questioned this many times.

I find, remembering I use IBFX all the time, find that the execution is faster on the demo, and especially at news release times, slower on the live account.

I have seen a real difference in point spreads , less on a demo and more on a live account which of course will make a major difference in performance and as mentioned server timing and yes timing, getting the order posted when you want it posted, means everything.

My live account is doing fine, although I have to mention that as a seasoned trader I do not let the EA run "wild" or in other words run unattended on a live account, whereas I do allow it to run wide open on a demo, so trying to actually compare the two, gets more difficult, in the real world.

No Automated EA should ever be let to run unattended and I actually prefer to turn it off when I call it a day. It is nice to walk up to a profit but just as frustrating to wake up to loss also when you could have grabbed a profit if you were watching the trade .

I believe that any EA should relieve us from deciding when to enter and not so much when to exit. Exiting is a matter of choice and yes "greed" of which I am guilty of at times also, and end up losing more profit I would have gained if I closed out earlier.

I believe that Excalibur can get the right entry position, but a trader should not really walk away from any trade, it is your money and although I have a stoploss coded into Excalibur, my version enters with a 300 pip stoploss to avoid any unreal point spread and then adjust it to 100 pips once the trade is established and I can see the point spread is a fair one. Have seen point spreads as much as 100 pips at times and have lost a good entry due to a poor stoploss, say 50 pips or less.

Once a trade is in, I choose to decide when to close the trade out and not the EA.

In answer to your question, a demo account and a real account will never test out the same, but if the entry was right to begin with, then the trade is a good trade. I think the real difference is in the point spread form the demo and a live account, so if your stoploss is wide enough to get in and stay in for the entry and adjusted later then the difference from the two account is not as noticeable.

I believe that the difference, I have seen in demo testing and live testing is more in that the user is lead to believe that the EA will do everything for him.

Most good EA's make the entry good, but can not handle the other decisions that are happening after the trade is opened.

Point spreads change on the fly, the rules that the EA look at to determine the entry point are then abandoned and the EA deals only with hardcoded stoplosses and take profits, something that I believe that only a real person looking at what is actually happening can really decide.

In other words if an EA can make a good entry, based on many complicated decisions, then it is up to the user to make the rest of the important and I think easier decisions.

Excalibur V3 has continued to open great trades, and most of the losing ones were from allowing Excalibur to think it is a real person.

I do not believe or intend to program Excalibur to be a "walk" away program but rather one that can make the proper decision as to when to enter the trade.

Exiting take profits and break evens although hardcoded into the EA, more because users expect it to be, are decisions that the user should be making as a trader. The stoploss is there to simply protect the trade from more losses than you are willing to take.

If I close out a trade with 100 dollars in profit and then see that if I had stayed in longer I would have made a hell of a lot more, it does not bother me. The next trade is a whole new decision to make. All I know is that I made a profit not a loss and that is what any trader should be looking for.

Hope this is not too long winded and answers your question somewhat here.

To Success
Bernard

PS.

iGoR,
Thanks for dropping in here and as always your input is more than valued. as for the changes over the past month, I have only added a stoploss and a verification process to the EA. The account with the 400% profit, looking at the posted statement, has a hardcoded 100 pip stoploss so there was no severe drawdown on any of the trades there, so we are getting closer to getting somewhere. The only other changes was ensuring that the EA was on the proper timeframe and not on every time frame as in the beginning here.

Note:
Everyone has been warned not to trade Excalibur "live"

That is the whole purpose of a beta test. When it is finished it will be released for further "live testing" on accounts with no more than $250.00 in them to avoid any huge losses during any live tests. If you can not afford to lose $250.00 at that time, then when we get there, do not take the risk.

When released for "live testing" we will open a new thread and close out this beta thread.

__________________
" Those that say it can not be done should leave those that are doing it alone "

Thank you Bernard for your sound advice.I am one of those that have a problem with greed, but I am learning as you stated a win is a win and take profits off the table while you can.
One reason I want to turn to an EA is that it offers you the ability of not having to stay in front of your computer 24/7.
Not sure if this might make any sense but was curious to see if this might work? Instead of having a set take profit and set stop loss coded into the ea, have the ea have an entry point and a trailing stop loss and let the TSL exit for you. For example, on the EUR/USD pair: Open at 1.4775 Stop loss 1.4700 and TSL of 50.As you stated before (I believe that Excalibur can get the right entry position),therefore the tsl can help take the emotions out of trading by taking profits by using the TSL.Also another point I have a concern about is open trades over the weekend.I know that some that do carry trade for the interest earned keep positions on all the time, but I have noticed that there can be a large gap between the closing price of a pair on Friday and the price of the opening pair on Sunday?
Not sure what is the best way to deal with this? IF you close all positions of Friday you might have some trades that are negative, but could turn positive on open?

As always, thanks to all for the feedback!
Have a great day!
Vince

Vince

You are right and if a user keeps a proper perspective on profits then Excalibur can do it for you. We have to remember that when finally released the end user will be able to change all the settings in the EA. Stoploss, Take Profit, Break Even and Trailing stop so not a real problem there if the settings are done to the users trading style then they can walk away.


We all trade differently.

As to trades keep open over the weekend.

If they are in profit then either close them out and take a sure thing or set a stoploss that will at least ensure a breakeven.
If the trade is in a loss then again set a stoploss and let it ride. If it goes against you it closes out where your risk is, if it goes to the good then no real complaints either.

If I have a profit in the hundreds of pips, it happens then I simply set a stoploss at 100 pips and let it ride over the weekend if the profit is a lot less then I set a stoploss at a breakeven. If I am only 50 pips in the good I simply take the profit and close out the trade and turn on the servers come Sunday night and see what trouble I can get into on my own...lol

Hope this helps here
Bernard

__________________
" Those that say it can not be done should leave those that are doing it alone "

Thank again for the sound advice Bernard!

Vince

Hi Bernard,

I know you started this in Oct 08 but I just found it. I'm currently testing 4 other EAs and would like to test yours with 2 different brokers, AlpariUS and Tradeview. Both have 5 digit (3 for yen) prices and I've had some good results with Tradeview.

I'll send you my account info and email shortly.

Just for fun I'd like to see what a micro account would do with a $250 account but you mentioned that the finished Excalibur V3 will run on a Micro. Will the demo also?

If so I'll set up 3 accounts.

Thanks,
Lee

Bernard,

Every day after work I will monitor my trade..

But what I find is... On our Beta testing account. Bad Registration Number keep popping up. Hey, I get the right reg number in, switch the Timeframe back and fro awhile and make sure that it switch back to Good Registration Number. Ok, i done it on 1st day.

Then 2nd day again... then 3rd day again...

Is this ok?

No new trade so far.

Heard from a close friend, that this period till after New Year (15 Jan) is not advisable to trade LIVE, as market will be quiet and brokers tends to manupulate trades. Careful! Just go and enjoy your Christmas Break!

Many Cheers
Spot