The Manual

The manual for Forex Trade Alarms is very comprehensive, with screenshots for each step. The developers also send preset files for the EA to cut on installation time. Th FAQ section in the manual is also very thorough, which helps a lot with people new to the system.

Support

Support was quick, polite, and efficient; a request sent was answered within 12 hours.

Analysis

ForexTrade Alarms trades an avergae of 3-5 trades per week (according to its developers and our one week on demo). It has closed 10 trades since I began demo; one EURAUD loss (very small, just 7 pips loss) was my fault because I opened the trade in the wrong direction. Several trades hit BreakEven SL when changing direction. Overall, though, the account is up a little over +26% since demo began. The SL are approximately 50% of the Take Profit levels, which allows for better possibility for profit. It is very early days in my testing but i’m impressed so far.

I have been asked to provide third party results for Forex Trade Alarms, which i am doing. My results can be seen on their homepage as well as by clicking the equity curve/results below.

Overall

It is going to take some time for these signals to absolutely prove themselves, despite their amazing start. I treat signal services the same way as i would most other systems and trading robots – they need to prove themselves consistently profitable over quite some time before i would be fully confident in them.

Visit Forex Trade Alarms Site

The system itself is very straightforward and the vendor pulls no punches in his instructions, all the information needed to trade with is provided in a clear, concise way with no “fluff” or unnecessary filler at all. I would think that most traders could be up and running with this system within 15 minutes, and for very new traders i wouldn’t expect it to take you any longer than 30 minutes to understand the system. In my opinion this is a good thing in a world where it is all too easy for vendors to “dress up” what is a simple system to make it look fancy and worth asking $599 or more for.

Sure Forex Breakout can be traded with any broker you like and is not reliant on MT4 indicators, etc. as it is based solely on price action. The instructions teach you how to draw the setups on your chart manually, in a way that even the newest traders should understand and be able to implement. For those who are trading on MT4,  there is an optional indicator which can make the trading process quicker and easier by drawing the lines for you on the chart and generally making it look simpler – and indeed even printing the  basic instructions on the chart for you.

Sure Forex Breakout System trades only once per day (most days, there is a filter which stops trading on some days) and only takes a few minutes a day to check if there is a signal if using the MT4 indicator (maybe around 10 minutes max if not using the indicator). The main problem with it that i see is that it trades the breakout of the morning European trading session, a trading time which is not suitable for most people based in the USA/Canada or similar timezones and that is definitely worth bearing in mind before buying.

At only 15 pips, this system has the lowest stoploss i have seen anywhere online on any manual system that is not a scalper. Part of me thinks that this is a little bit ambitious and that we would be better off adding just 5 pips more or so on to the stoploss to allow a little more breathing space in a trade, or to account for normal fluctuations in spreads with some brokers. It is definitely something that would need to be watched carefully if trading this live to check if your broker is spiking out the spreads to take out your stoploss. It shouldn’t be a problem as contrary to popular belief i don’t honestly think most legitimate brokers are working directly against us-  but it is something to bear in mind and be aware of if you find that all your trades start closing when they really shouldn’t have. If this does happen to you there are ways around it of course, such as adding an extra 5 pips to the stoploss to bump it up to 20 pips, or keeping the stoploss as a “mental stoploss” rather than a physical one placed with the broker and then just closing the trade when you see it hit -15 pips, which will help you avoid any potential spread spikes.

I wouldn’t suggest buying this system if you like to trade frequently and at lots of different times throughout the day or like lots of ‘action’. The system itself is very structured with exact entry and exit criteria which occurs at a set time (european morning trading session). You need to be prepared to just sit out of the market at times, and on other times to be exiting trades at break even and i believe it takes a certain amount of patience to be able to trade this system with the required discipline. The system in my opinion is very much more suited to newer traders than it is to more experienced traders – many of whom may already be trading a breakout system of some kind which is perhaps much more involved/complex than the one offered here.

The vendor publishes his results on the website detailing how much he has made each month. Further down the main page there is a table which shows you what compounding at 5% risk over a year would have produced- i would urge you to take this table with “a pinch of salt” as the saying goes because it is of course purely hypothetical and anyone who has tried to compound their accounts in this manner will soon realise the problems/limitations in doing so. For a system such as this i would go so far as to say a mere 1% risk would be much more preferable and protect you against any consecutive losses which are likely to occur at some point due to the low stoploss.

On a final note, regarding support for Sure Forex, we have found the vendor to be helpful, friendly and very approachable with questions or concerns and feel that they really care about their product.  Being a less polished, less hyped site has its advantages when you get to deal directly with the vendor (or colleague) and get the answers you need to your questions rather than trying to negotiate with underpaid, under-resourced support teams which we see sometimes.

Note that no refunds are offered with the purchase of this system so you need to check carefully if this system is going to be suitable for you before buying. At less than $50 however i cannot see this being an issue to too many people and the system itself is based on solid trading methodology.

Visit Sure Forex Breakout Site

ProFX comes from ForexEASystems who have a professional business like web site that seems to give the perception that they produce quality products.   We have had many good reports from members both experienced traders and newbie’s. 

We have done a duel test on this system with Mommy Forex using it for her first attempt at manual trading and myself looking more in depth.

ProFX is easy to install with a self installing programme that puts it into Metatrader 4 and with a couple of mouse clicks on an open chart you are away.  There are four colour schemes from a very classic blue/grey through gold, green and hot pink.  This was a little too pink even for Mommy forex!  The indicators can all be adjusted to a colour scheme to suite your requirements this is especially useful if you have dyslexia or difficulty reading computer screens as it customises it to your requirements.  Each colour variation has a choice of adding resistance and support level lines if you us these.

The screen looks crowded with lots of information however as you read through the manual and begin your demo trades the whole thing becomes very clear and extremely user friendly.  There is a whole host of useful information in the 23 page manual that takes the beginner through from setting up MT4 to developing a sensible trading strategy with many examples given on when to trade.  Mommy Forex has made a healthy profit over the last few weeks in a flat market trading EURGBP and GBPUSD.

There are eight indicators 01 & 02 are trend based indicators on the main chart.

Indicators 03&04 measure market trend and strength in a window below the main chart.

Indicators 05&06 measures market strength and overbought and oversold levels in the window below.

Indicator 07 measures market pressure up or down and finally 08 shows trading on the main chart displayed according to the broker server time.

The manual concludes with a list of general trading rules followed by a set of rules for trading Profx recognising when to put a trade on and when to exit a trade.

ProFX is available for $110. Their website shows their own trading history/results over an extended period of time (their results range from just under 400 up to 1400 pips per month).

Visit ProFx Site

ProFX Trading Diary

All the trades were placed as per the instructions in the ProFx manual using the 50/100 pip rule.  The following diary entries show the reasons why trades were placed buy or sell, pips gained or lost and why they were closed, all the times are in GMT at 0.01 lots.

Day 1 I made four trades two buy trades and two sell trades with a net gain of  18 pips.

Day 2 one but and one sell trade making 46 pips.

“MommyForex”‘ Test trading results:-

Further to my previous updates I have refined my trading strategy.  I have found a stop loss of around 30 plus pips allows the trade to breath it is tempting to reduce the stop loss under flat conditions but this seems to produce more losing trades.  The strategy I am using seems to be working producing 70% winning trades average.   I have found increased profit by doubling my lot size and making less pips per trade. 

The flat market has not been ideal for Rebellion as it is not designed for these conditions.  However by using the indicators with the addition of the Fibonacci Retracement to assist with determining the take profit the using the 1 to 1.5 rule discussed in my earlier update seems to work.  

It is easy to get carried away with the flood of notifications recommending trades these need to be treated with a little caution as they can change from long to short with each candle.  The notifications need to be checked out with all the other indicators to give a holistic view of the potential trade.  I have found that three trades at a time is medium risk more that 3 increases the risks drastically.

Rebellion Test Results

~DaddyForex

Visit Forex Rebellion Site

~DaddyForex

Visit Forex Rebellion Site

Russ Horn gives us a really comprehensive account of his background and how he got into trading. He takes a responsible approach to introducing trading emphasizing the pitfalls as instead of the ‘Never Never Land’ approach that many vendors seem to employ.

The package comes with a 96 page eBook that is reinforced with a series of 5 minute video’s that back up and provide further examples of setup and how to use the system. It was an interesting and relatively painless process for the beginner.

I decided to go through the whole system from scratch with lessons on how to setup MT4 and set up the various indicators. This meant that the raw recruit could see how the indicators and signals fit into the system giving a greater understanding to how they work both individually and together. There is an automatic set up file that instantly installs everything by following this you can miss out on a lot of information to the workings of Metatrader.

Forex Rebellion uses the daily, 4hour, 1hour and 15minute charts on 10 different currency pairs: EURGBP, EURUSD, EURJPY, GBPUSD, GBPJPY, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF AND USDJPY.

The system is described in detail in identifying entries and putting on trades to placing your stops and exiting trades. The eBook finally ends with a series of bonus tactics that maximize the use of the indicators.

I have been trading Rebellion for the last 3 weeks. Beside some hiccups I am getting more winning trades. By following Russ’s advice you can minimize losses by adjusting your stop loss as the trade gain pips. I am using the H4 time frame and run Rebellion in the background every so often it will provide an audio signal notifying me that it has identified a suitable trade and suggested entry point. Rebellion has proved it can live alongside my everyday activities without constant attention (attention required only once every new candle). If you have the time you can trade on the M15 time frame which is a lot more demanding.

Visit Forex Rebellion Site

Many pro traders spend a lifetime learning about their profession and putting in great time and effort to acheive their success. I have yet to meet a successful trader who truely has a “secret” strategy for success other than hard work, discipline, determination and commitment. It would be a lie for me to suggest otherwise. Trading, even if you have a brilliant strategy, is hard work and as much a journey of personal discovery as it is one of academia/work.

The Biggest Failing…

One of the biggest mistake traders make is to not be disciplined. If you don’t have any kind of plan it is even harder to be disciplined since you have absolutely no boundaries for your trading and are subject to acting on your emotions at any moment.

Have you ever been trading and had these thoughts….?

• “I’ll just hang on for a couple of extra pips”
• “I know the market is coming back eventually i’m going to hang onto this trade even though my trading guide/rules/common sense tells me not to”
• “I don’t know what i’m meant to do. Should i close this trade or leave it open?”
• “If i keep on adding extra trades it will all work out”
• “i’m soooo excited! (or scared)”

Firstly, you shouldn’t be hanging on for extra pips. Why would you do that if your studying and training tells you to exit now? Likewise with the second thought, why would you spend a long time studying and developing a plan if you are only going to flout your own rules? Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for breaking the rules as with all things (take a look at the structure of the English language for an example) BUT first you have to learn the rules themselves before you can learn how to break them correctly.

The third thought on the list indicates someone who has no real plan and didn’t know what the plan was before they entered the trade. If they did have a plan before they entered the trade then they should be sticking to it. There are times when it may be wise to deviate from your plan, but you should have planned for a plan B, plan C, plan D etc BEFORE you enter the trade, not during it when it is hard to distinguish if you are making sound judgements due to money being on the line.

The fourth thought on the list- now, this is a valid strategy for some methods of trading. But when you don’t know what you are doing and you are just adding trades here and there to make up for losses this is a bad sign. Generally speaking you should be adding to winning positions to take full advantage of markets moving in your favour, not adding to losing trades. 

Finally, being excited or scared is extremely detrimental to trading. It is hard enough to make decisions as it is without trading at levels of risk where you get rushes of adrenalin continously and are then forced to make further decisions. Adrenalin-fueled decisions are rarely good in trading. It is exciting when you first start out trading, and for this reason it is wise to keep risk very very low, trading at the minimum possible lot size (0.01 lots) particularly if you do find yourself prone to these ‘rushes’.  I have an excitement about trading too, it is only natural, but you MUST learn how to control these emotions in relation to your trading.  This is something which becomes easier with time.

Where You Can Go From Here

If you don’t have a trading plan and you are trading live with real money now- STOP.  Don’t even consider trading not even on demo unless you have a plan. It is impossible to know how to improve upon a strategy unless you actually stick to it and trade it for at least a few weeks first. 

Form a plan. Even a very basic one and even if you have no knowledge of forex at all and don’t even know what an indicator is. It can be as simple as “i watch for 3 bars rising in a row then i enter a trade in the same (or opposite maybe?) direction. I hold on to that trade for exactly 5 minutes and i exit after 5 minutes no matter what my profit or loss is. I always trade using 0.1 lots for every $500 in my account” Whatever you decide to try first, make your plan explicit. It MUST cover all eventualities, tell you when to exit, when to enter, and exactly what size your trades should be, etc.

Once you have your plan. ACT on it. Follow it to the letter. Keep doing this without changing anything for the first week. After one week site down and evaluate your trades. What is working? What isn’t working? What ideas do you have for avoiding some of the losses that occurred? Can these ideas be incorporated into your plan? If so go ahead and add them in. Evaluate again after another week. Did your new idea prevent some of those losses? Did it limit the chances you had to profit?

After the initial stages, when you feel you have a strategy which is starting to get somewhere, you will want to run the SAME strategy with no alterations for a period of around a month, preferably longer. Now we are starting to see how it performs over a longer period of time.  At this point you might consider adding the strategy to a SMALL live account. 

Going Live

Going live with a new strategy is never easy. If you have tested your strategy on demo for a period of a few months then you should be reasonably confident of success however. To ease the transition it is a good idea to trade at the lowest possible risk you have available to you with your broker, preferably 0.01 lots. At this time you need to focus on examining your attitude and emotions around trading. It is important to get very critical of yourself and the “inner voice” which could be telling you “go on, put on a few more lots, you could double your money today!”. IGNORE IT!! If you have a great strategy you don’t need to start off trading at very high risk, even very low risk will reap you huge rewards, and in such a way that you never have to be sitting on the edge of your seat biting your nails wondering when the next margin call will come. 

Have A Limit

Sometimes market conditions will not favour a particular strategy you are trading. In this case it is important that you do not keep “beating a dead horse” but stop for a moment, and either make an alteration to your strategy or wait for a while to see if conditions improve.

One good way of doing this is by setting yourself a limit for the amount of loss you will withstand in any one month. If you hit that limit, then STOP. Instead of trading live, for the rest of the month continue trading on your demo account and monitoring the situation. Now might be a good time to take stock of the situation and examine where the problem lies, whether it be in the markets or in yourself. This also ensures that you survive to trade another day- and survival is what you need if you intend to be in this for the long haul. If you for instance set yourself a loss limit of 10% a month, then it is going to be a lot of months of continous losing before you wipe out your account. By the end of that time you will almost be certain to have learnt a lot about trading and know how to improve your strategy! 

Enjoy Yourself

From reading this article you may get the impression that manual trading is joyless and boring. This is most certainly not true. You need to pick and work with a strategy that you not only understand but also enjoy. We become good at the things we enjoy, therefore if you find a strategy which is fun for you to apply you will be more enthusiastic about it and pick up all the nuances of that strategy much more quickly. 

Finally,  join in with some trading forums, such as my forum, where you can meet other likeminded people and also get help and advice with your strategies should you need it.