Boldtrader thanks for sharing your experience again with specific mention of how you used truefx data. I agree that your broker is a very good broker and considering a move there is foremost in my mind. However at this time it is not possible for me to move.

Cheers

Doug

Doug, If I can help you with that, I will be happy to do so.  Something you may want to consider, is to use their demo for testing and market info, and execute on the price levels of the demo, but doing so on your broker, assuming the spreads and fees are comparable.. it will at least give you a very good comparison of pricing.  For most traders, ATCBroker's minimum account balance is the challenge, but I do understand.

Cheers.

If I may offer the following views:

I use MT4 because of the ease of use for coding and execution provided by the broker and my comfort and trust level in its use and broker dealings.

Over many year of being in the industry, I have tried many other platforms including Tradestation, Bloomberg, CQG, CTrader and others similar. The main issue with these other platforms that I have found is the provider / broker is not a true ECN and does not offer the services I need or recommend for trading. Programs such as these can also be cost prohibitive relative to 1) learning curve, 2) backtesting capabilities, 3) manipulated feed, 4) A/B booking, 5) manipulated spreads, 6) poor customer service, 7) slow execution and a whole barrel full of other issues.

I personally learned to code MQL4 because frankly I felt I could not trust any developer or coder with my trading strategies. So once I was committed to MT4, that gave me the direction to follow. I do have a certain size limit on positions (500 lots), but can increase with a phone call if needed. Since the systems are automated but manually monitored,  my limitations are confined to 1) liquidity, 2) speed of execution, 3)data pipe line size, 4)slippage (if any) 5) computer hardware, 6) backup capabilities 7) virtual environment.  Its interesting that some brokers (criminals) will market / advertise narrow spreads but in reality, the cost of the trade makes up for the narrow spread thus the feed is manipulated.  Example.. I know of several large big name FX providers were caught having MT4 modules on the clearing server that would slow down the feed at the moment of execution to create just enough slippage to pad the trade in favor of the broker.  I have personally recorded and reported a large FX broker stalling a feed at various intervals.  This stalling is just enough to create slippage or missed trade opportunities.    If you do not keep your MT4 "alive" or connected to the server, that few milliseconds to reconnect can cost you a trade or gains.  Thus I use a script that maintains an "Alive" condition on MT4 to the broker.  This will help offset the lack of API feed connection for a true tic updated price quotation of the data feed, versus the burstable quotes which all MT4 brokers provide.   I am aware of a new platform being developed which will provide the feed as an API data and not the burstable update.

Other situations, example:  I have had one of my Registered CTA's make huge profits on trades only to be told that he was cheating. The broker (big name FX broker) confiscated the profits and closed the account. Other brokers keep profits because you violated minimum trade time in a position, or manipulated feed to increase or float stops forcing you out of a position. Many lessons learned.

When it comes to a broker, I have no mercy.  I have reviewed most every mainstream platform and broker available. I choose to be where I am for many reasons. I choose not to use other platforms because I have spent many years learning MT4 and FSB. It may not be a combination suited for all, but it does work for me.

I am in the middle of working on several large projects which I believe can incorporate FSB and Big Data Analytics with the potential to connect to several analytic software (R, IBM) which is predictive in nature and could be used by the industry to predict how a market will react to certain economic events and data. I don't want to go into a lot of details here, but the issue will always be developing and assembling a trustworthy team for coding. I created an algo for the market condition identification, which is what we trade daily. Now I am working on the process of "marrying" that data to "event data" for real time streaming market analysis. Of notable interest, I do not limit this to FOREX only.. example: over the past 2 months, have accurately identified moves on AAPL stock movement that resulted in +$213 in total moves, all announced in Advance with commentary, Charts, specific price points and entry/exit levels and even combined with Options for greater gains.

What FSB has allowed me to do is refine that algo based on the ability to quickly scan market data.  It is the fastest I have seen and that I am willing to adopt for my uses.

I am a big student of GANN Octaves, MurreyMath, Fibonnacci and Linear Regression. I am probably one of the few (maybe the only) that teaches and trades a unique combination of these four combined. As such and regarding your question of system / strategy duration, based on the principles I work with and my self learned market principles, the markets are dynamic to the extent that they are predictable with a high % while at the same time, are cyclic in nature with each currency pair yielding it's own characteristics of maturation of cycles. These cycles, which are based on natural vibrations in the market place are as uniquely and timely conjoined to the pair as say... a certain aspect declination of Mercury to the Moon as to the EURUSD.  My opinion and experience of the markets is that the 4 seasons are the overall large key, with smaller "events" occurring during each of the 4 periods. All of my strategies begin with a look back period not to exceed the Harvest Moon of the previous year. This sets up the master cycle moving forward. I then proceed on a quarterly walk-forward basis.  Within the quarterly, that period is also broken down to smaller periods, eventually moving down to H1 or H4 depending on the pair and cycle quarter.   I try to work in harmony with the markets trading both in unison and counter to market reactions.  A search on these 4 aspects, will yield you much production write-ups and whitepapers I have created on the subject.

One of my biggest eye openers of my early career was to watch a chief dealer monitor his software, A/B book, and learn where the mass market had a majority of their stops located, and could target those price levels, thereby easily identifying where to offset risk, and where to plan the gains. If the market was trending, the dealer would lay of the markets passing risk on to counter parties. If the market was range bound, the dealer would nail the unsuspecting traders.  They could see the aggregated stop levels and modify or adjust their risk as needed. In the beginning I battled the dealer and lost.  In the end, I learned - becoming the best I could be with a great deal of knowledge.. the dealer lost. In the end, the dealer was forced to close the department.  True Story.

And in the words of the famous Paul Harvey, "Now You Know The Rest Of The Story".

Hope this helps..

Cheers

Doug

A simple sentence "I know where you live" can make for huge improvement

Can I ask what is the average lifespan of your strategies? Any sort of periodical optimization to keep up with the market? And finally, I would put you in the big players category, so to speak, therefore why trade with MT4? Is it because of the broker?

Thank you!

Great post, thanks for your insights.

I found it was most important to use tic data when performing testing, as opposed to end of bar data, as end of bar data could be misleading.  An example could be a 20 pip spike in a bar, only for the bar to close negative and the trade to be closed at a loss. Having the tic data for analysis, at least for me, has been most valuable.  My strategies are developed with signals (action) issued at the beginning of a bar which allows for the potential use of the full bar data . This allowed me to further develop a strategy which provides me with at least 1 period advance notice of pending changes in price direction.

If I am going to make proper choices for data, it is also most important to select proper broker services, and fees, as well as data feed. For consideration, I needed to monitor speed of fills, any concerns of MT4 modules on server to slow fills, is network ECN data or a modified "A" / "B" book where your trades are handed off based on your profitability or lack of?;  Customer service actions / speed to address issues; Where are funds held? Any issues with withdrawals? Is scalping allowed?  If so, any minimum requirements for time in position?  Technical support of MT4 issues, what Hardware and Server backup capabilities are in place?; with regards to international routing - where are the servers located?; and other issues; How close is the clearing server to the clearing house?  Is the data from the demo server the same data as the clearing server ( there is a difference with some brokers); Are the spreads on demo the same as spreads on live feed? If the phone system goes down, what, if any, alternatives for contact?  These and many other questions.

So assuming the broker passes these questions, then I begin collecting the tic data from the broker. That tic data is collected and then converted to meet FSB format, which then is used for strategy testing.   On each Sunday, before start of session, I analyze prior week of data for any changes in volatility, conditions etc. with reference to my strategies. If markets have unusual output changes, I will then modify data for use on a time period that will allow me to adjust to market changes. By being able to select my broker based on the above criteria, this gives me great confidence in the data, and should any issues arise, my ability to solve those issues quickly. (Note: I do not work for ATCBrokers and have accounts with them for 6 years. I know the owner personally and have additional support on skype and personal mobile).

I do run multiple strategies on multiple MT4 instances on systems which are separate from the development systems. I work with a large global group of traders as the Chief Market Technician, Strategy Developer and Trade Manager. I have been serving in the industry since 1998 and have experience as a top FX Account Manager  / Market Analyst for a major Chicago based brokerage firm; acted as a advisory service to large fund, held workshops and webinars on TraderKingdom, and many other noted sites.

If I can be of service, please let me know.

slowkey wrote:

Just another question about adjusting data to another broker.  Let say I down load Truefx tick data and import it. Than I use the technique in your tutorial to adjust it to IBFX swaps and spread. It would seem to me that having perfectly reliable data would win out over having less than perect hst data from IBFX with holes and other issues if it is adjusted right like you show in your tutorial. Is there any breakdown in my logic related to this concept. I am going to try it any way since it is hard to pass up free high quality tick data.
Doug

In terms of trading actual strats, it's better to use the same broker's data you intend to trade with. Little discrepancies in data between brokers add up and alter strategy performance to s**t. That's my experience.

On the other hand a conclusion can be drawn that a strategy, which works only on one broker, is genuinely a bad one, suffering from somekind of curve fitting, for instance.

Thanks Footon for your advice. I will use hst data for now with my brokers data.

Doug

Just another question about adjusting data to another broker.  Let say I down load Truefx tick data and import it. Than I use the technique in your tutorial to adjust it to IBFX swaps and spread. It would seem to me that having perfectly reliable data would win out over having less than perect hst data from IBFX with holes and other issues if it is adjusted right like you show in your tutorial. Is there any breakdown in my logic related to this concept. I am going to try it any way since it is hard to pass up free high quality tick data.
Doug

In terms of trading actual strats, it's better to use the same broker's data you intend to trade with. Little discrepancies in data between brokers add up and alter strategy performance to s**t. That's my experience.

On the other hand a conclusion can be drawn that a strategy, which works only on one broker, is genuinely a bad one, suffering from somekind of curve fitting, for instance.

Hello Doug,

I make a short tutorial about proper setting of FSB by using the real broker's params vie MT4 and FST.
The tutorial is here: Set FSB by Using Information from FST

You can use it in your tutorial videos.

Just another question about adjusting data to another broker.  Let say I down load Truefx tick data and import it. Than I use the technique in your tutorial to adjust it to IBFX swaps and spread. It would seem to me that having perfectly reliable data would win out over having less than perect hst data from IBFX with holes and other issues if it is adjusted right like you show in your tutorial. Is there any breakdown in my logic related to this concept. I am going to try it any way since it is hard to pass up free high quality tick data.

Oh as I do this I realize that this data is updated every month. So lets say I get all of eurusd data up until this month imported. Can I just import the month of May when it becomes available or do I have to add it to all of the previous data and import the whole data set all over with the new data added to it.
Doug

Doug, I posted the videos, but really think that you have to repost them. You are the author and the hero here
Also all likes must go to you

To post a video, copy the youtube video URL, and post it in 'video' tags. You can use the youtube button over the post form.

Done Popov,

The next thing you will have me doing is learning C#, Oh I guess I have already started to that. Everything is available on Itunes U. lol

Doug

To post a video, copy the youtube video URL, and post it in 'video' tags. You can use the youtube button over the post form.

I think how to link your current videos.
We can make a separate thread where to put them. The forum can integrate and play YouTube video.
Other option is to make a wiki page for the videos and to leave the comments here in the forum.

For now I'll make a new thread "Doug's Video Project" in this category where will put your current videos. Later will see what will be the best presentation.

You probably know how to do this but just follow the links to my videos and under share you can get the code to embed them on your site or just to link them. Up to you depending on what your forum supports. If it allows embedding than people can just watch them on the site here. I am easy going person. What ever works best for you all as far as the wiki page. You know what has worked best here.
Cheers
Doug

How often have you found this data needing updated. Every time you develop new strategies only or is there other reasons to keep it current.

I think it has to be done once, when we start working with a broker. What can be changed are Spread and Long / Short swaps. If we set a little bit higher spread and 10-20 points slippage, we'll can expect reasonably reliable backtest.

For now I'll make a new thread "Doug's Video Project" in this category where will put your current videos. Later will see what will be the best presentation.