Many novice traders are wondering whether forex advisers, or trading robots, should be used in Forex trading. There are quite a lot of opinions on this matter. The high profitability of Forex trading attracts more and more inexperienced traders seeking to realize all their financial dreams in the shortest possible time. Most of them are dropping out by themselves - after the first draining of the deposit. Smaller part remains in the industry and begins to build their own career in trading, by trial and error finding the only true path for themselves.
Of course, only the basics of trading can be comprehended in the shortest possible time. And novice traders most often use additional tools to minimize trading risks. In particular, they use trading automated systems or forex advisers, as they are also called. And at this stage, the question of the appropriateness of the usage of the "trading robot" is solved quite clearly. Indeed, risk reduction allows at least to reduce the loss of the trader’s deposit at the stage of obtaining the necessary trading experience.
Forex Advisers
Forex advisers, or trading robots, are special programs that automate the trading process. The basic part of such an “assistant” is a successful trading system that has already proven its own viability in practice. Advisor can independently analyze the state of the market, open and close positions in automatic or semi-automatic (with the participation of a human being) mode. There are highly narrow specialized programs focused on working with a specific currency pair on the most common Meta Trader 4 terminal. But there are also universal robots that allow you to work simultaneously with several trading assets. Such advisers are used to reduce the riskiness of trading in general and in certain areas in particular, gaining the opportunity to increase the percentage of transactions that are closed in profit or without loss at least.
Of course, trading advisors are not a completely universal option. In any case, they are set up by the trader to solve the tasks he has chosen, which makes it possible to bring automatic trading closer to real trading - based on the use of "manual" analysis methods. Also, such a robot can be configured to limit losses on transactions, set stop signals and price corridor frames. Depending on the settings, the manner of placing orders will also be chosen - it will be rather risky, but with the prospect of making significant profits, or the trade “for sure” will be chosen, with minimal risks for the deposit. As a matter of fact, a correctly selected expert advisor usually shows a rather high profitability - on average, from 10 to 100% of profit monthly with relatively risk-free trading.
Forex Trading Advisor Classification
Depending on the applied trading strategy Forex advisors can be divided into:
- Scalping. Their work is based on the principles of scalping strategies and is focused on the short-term transactions. In this case, during the day, the robot can open and close hundreds of transactions, forming an account balance based on the ratio between the ratio of profitable and loss-making transactions. Very often, such a trade does not bring the desired result due to the small size of profitability - most often the price manages to grow by only a few points, and the size of the spread on transactions can almost completely cover the profit received from them.
- Ilan. The robots are based on the principles of the Martingale strategy, which implies a consistent increase in the number of open positions in one direction of the market. To get maximum profitability when automating this type of strategy, it is important to correctly calculate the lot size and the total amount of funds on deposit.
- Effective ones are those that have been successfully applied, tested over the years and tested by hundreds and thousands of successful traders. Such systems are always distributed on a commercial basis, as they are a product of the intellectual work of their author.
Paid and free trading advisors
Of course, in most cases, the conventional wisdom about free cheese and a mousetrap is not far from the truth. Free Forex advisors are distributed free of charge by brokers or by the traders themselves. And nobody can guarantee their performance. That is, you again run the risk of getting a "blind game" at random, instead of a trading strategy based on proven analytics methods.
Paid trading advisers are partially deprived of this drawback - they are distributed on a commercial basis, often for a lot of money. And most importantly, such "robots" have a distinct origin, a strategic base, substantiated by practice, and full support, which allows you to regularly receive relevant updates in addition to an already purchased product.
Settings for working with trading robots
What you need to know when starting automated trading? There are a number of points that should be taken into consideration in the settings of the adviser you have choosen:
- The choice of a currency pair - usually advisers are created specifically for a specific financial asset, so you should decide on this parameter before making a purchase of a certain forex advider.
- Time interval - set the one that is optimal for your strategy.
- Trading period / time factor - some types of advisers are designed to trade at certain hours, or trading sessions, e.g. European or Asian, at other times they may be ineffective or even unprofitable.
- Lot size. As a rule, the default value in all advisers is 0.1, but it is better to check and, if necessary, set the required size manually.
- Risk sizes are set manually. The parameters that are best for you are best determined in practice - by trading at a demo version of a trading account.
- Levels of restrictions. It is better to set take profit and stop loss indicators manually, without waiting for a deposit to drain or loss of a profitable moment for profit taking.
Forex Advisers: Pros and Cons
- Trading advisers, as a rule, are used by novice traders who do not have their own trading strategy, without which conducting trading activities, alas, is not more profitable than a lottery or playing at random in a casino.
- Automation of the trading process allows to remove the burden of worries associated with the need to make market analysis from the trader.
- It makes it possible not to spend hours at the trading terminal while monitoring the trading situation to select the best moment to enter the market.
- It relieves the main thing - nervous tension, the most dangerous for inexperienced traders who, due to excessive emotionality, often commit rash acts.
But the main insidiousness of forex advisors lies in this: they do not have the necessary flexibility and act according to the algorithm laid down in them. The robot will not close the deal before the price reaches the set stop loss point, minimizing losses. It will not close the order in profit if the price stops one step from the closing point. It will act according to a clear scheme, which can bring huge profits or drain the deposit in no time. And this risk cannot be ignored when deciding on automated trading.
So do you need to use advisers in trading in the Forex market?
Let's just say that trading robots can be used if you are sure that you understand the mechanisms of their work. Better yet, if the trading robot works on the basis of your own trading strategy, the effectiveness of which has been proven in practice and is beyond doubt. This is how experienced traders work, giving to automated trading only part of their time and using it as an auxiliary, and not at as the main style of trading.