To scalp or not to scalp…
Well, that really is the question on my mind right now. I enjoy some aspects of the scalpers I employ (FAP Turbo, MegaDroid and Forex Shocker), but I hate others. I really enjoy checking the nights’ progress in the morning. I live in Sweden and most of the trading is done after my bedtime, so the first glance at the accounts in the morning is quite exciting. Since the scalpers actually make money most days it is something that motivates me to spring out of bed, I need that. It is great to see that your EAs have successfully scalped away pips throughout the night. I especially like when they’ve made successful scalps in both directions, from the top and the bottom of the range they’ve established. It really can be a beauty to see (perhaps a twisted preference).
Well, the backside to the scalpers cannot be news to anyone. They blow up now and then. Like last Thursday when several of my traded pairs broke out of their ranges and made my scalpers positions go into deep drawdown only to hit stoplosses during the Friday. It really can make you sick to see. The whole point of scalping is to grab quick pips, not to go into deep drawdown and keep the positions during the day.
So what to do? I don’t know. But reality is that RoboMiner, by far, is my most profitable strategy (not a scalper, rather a long term grid trader). The scalpers used on my JadeFX account can really make magic for a while, like it nearly doubled in the first six weeks from $500 to $929. But after that it totally broke down to $217 in just a few weeks. Since then the account have been going upwards quickly only to get beaten down again. It’s exciting, but probably not the best investment… 
My JadeFX account to date.
I’ll have to think some more, I’ll be back when I have made a decision. For now I keep running the scalpers.
Just a suggestion for you:
Try to break up the stats for the different accounts with scalpers (not forex.com obviously). This way you can show (and see) which scalpers have been contributing the most positive to your account. And vice-versa show the ones that contribute mostly negative.
Tools for this task are for instance: http://www.easy-ea.com/analyser.htm (unlimited use - 20 gbp) and this one (free for one account): http://www.forexcontrolcenter.com/download.php
It would be interesting to see an analysis;-)
Hansen
Thanks, I’ll check the free one out, haven’t tested it before. I use MyFXBooks magicnumber analysis capabilities to track each of my EAs, works quite good. I’ve made money with MD and FS, not FAPT. FAPT really trashed my Alpari UK account in my early days and it probably never will make it back the way things are going on that account (it is doing better at JadeFX thou).
In the post I judge all scalpers quite hard, when it really is mostly FAP Turbo that have burned me (and some non-default charts with MegaDroid). Right now for example USDCHF is working great with FAPT, but I can bet that it is just a matter of time before it gets itself into trouble with that pair also. That’s just the nature of scalpers, and it is that very nature that I’m becoming quite tired of.
What I’m probably going to try is to limit the number of days I deploy the scalpers. I’ll try to do a day analysis, if my memory serves me correctly most of my disaster days have been Thursdays (but I haven’t made the analysis yet, so I can be wrong). Also I’m considering to deploy them manually each day I choose to use them, only after watching the movements of the traded pairs during the day. It is not a big deal to miss out on a few winners if we can avoid just one stoploss. But that of course requires a lot more “work” each day.