Here are some of my thoughts about Martingale Systems and I would be more than happy to be proven wrong
And for the Martingale Systems Expert please don't take it personaly, it is just the opinion of a Trend Follower...

I am always very surprised that there is so much energy spend in Martingale Systems that in my opinion will never work. The reasons why they will never work are the following:

1) on the theoretical point of view a martingale system applied on financial instruments is already not working (see van Tharp book for instance about that). What is recommended is anti-martingale. So, why to start anyway with a system that has strong theoretical weaknesses.

2) in case 1) is wrong...
We have in this forum many Martingale systems with a lot of different variations (hedge, fibo...) for some of them. Many talented people have been working a long time on these EAs but still every time there is a strong trend the accounts are wipped out. If it should work wouldn't we have got some better results already?

3) in case 1) and 2) are wrong and that you succeded to get the perfect Martingale EA.
Even if you get a perfect Martingale system, no broker will let you run it live like that. Very quickly they will figure out what is happening on your account considering the frequence of trades and the profits and you can be sure that at best your account will be closed because you are scalping or you have some "unethical behaviour" (they like this expression I think).
So why work so much to get something that nobody will allow you to trade?

In my opinion such an amount of energy would be better directed to "Trend Following" techniques even if they are less "sexy" and is less a get quick riches scheme.

The reason there are so popular is that a lot of the people on forums are looking for that quick profits and these are the systems that turn a quick profit and a way to riches till the day comes that they are out of the market and wonder why .

jlpi - a couple of questions for you:

1) What is the definition of an anti-martingale strategy? Where do enter/exit and with how many lots.

2) I quite agree that martingale will blow-out when the trend is against you. So what methodology do you use for detecting the trend at an earlier-enough point so that you stop entering the market/take the loss and trade the other way?

3) MM is the key or the failing - imagine a simple situation of doubling position size every 10 pips and you are working on a risk reward of 2:1 - you only need a "recovery" of 20 pips to make the profit. trouble is at 10pip gap you will blow a $10,000 account on cable after 80 pips move against. So what do you do - widen the gap - to survive a drop of 500pips (and it happens!) you need a pip gap of about 70 so your target should be 140.

To trade a 500 pipsmove and then retrace 140 to make your profit could take days/weeks - have you as a trader got the stomach to see you account sitting at minus 90% while the rocovery takes place. I know I haven't! Has anyone ever tried running these systems on a big pip gap? No - the reason being that if you happen to catch the trend and you only have 1 lot open you make $140pips on an account and feel cheated 'cos you have only 1 position on. But its still 1.4% account profit which is very healthy if you can achieve it every day.

I have tried many combinations but they have all blown up - currently testing one with a different approach - vary/widen the pip gaps and target values the more the market moves against the position - you can certainly survive longer but I am not sure that it will prove to be profitable.

Anyway, back to your trend theory - what do you use to detect? How do you trade?

There are safety measures that can be built into a Martingale based trading system that make it virtually bulletproof.

Bluto - interested in your safety measures. Are you talking about a s/l (either based on price or negative $ value of your account) or something more complex?

i totally agree with bluto, its just a matter of thinking outside the box and pushing your creativity to the limit....phreak

http://phorex-phreak.blogspot.com/

You're supposed to take some of that absurd Martingale profit and buy the Ferrari and the Alps vista chalet in St. Moritz BEFORE you wake up one morning and discover you were wiped out overnight.

I love that word 'virtually'.

I think that the best system by martingale is in this page:

Goblin "BiPolar" Edition

it includes SL.

Lawyers love that word too. Stuff a guy can use. Gives you a little wiggle room out the backdoor just in case......