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  • How to pick reliable signals?

    I am surprised that there is no thread about this. I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on how to pick a good signal provider. So can you share how you pick a good one out of dozens of signals on the site or thousands of signals on subsequent sites like myfxbooks/ mql5 etc...

    - Which criteria do you use, what are you looking for as a subscriber?
    - If you has been burnt in the past, what did you learn. What did the signal provider do wrong? A case study would be really helpful.
    - If you are successful in picking a good signal, can you say what you did right?

    Please be specific. Something like: "I would like the signal has a stop loss because no stop loss signal burnt me in the past as EURUSD went down 2,000 pip more" would be great.

    Let's make this thread a really good place to learn from subscribers' mistakes/ successes. I think traders' evaluation is the bottom line of trading/investing, a skill just as valuable as trading skill, or picking the right stock, or picking the right hedge fund to invest into.
    P/S: I am just thinking of offering my own signal, but just curious of subscribers' process of choosing signals.

  • #2
    Mooniekool, the first thing I look at is of course the % increase and then the amount of time it took to accomplish this. Then I want to see how much risk has been taken right from the start of the account.
    If I see someone who started with 1k and was trading say 0.10 at the start of the account but now having built the account up to 3k and is now trading with 0.01, I say Hmmm.
    Also traders who for reasons unknown trade with inconsistent lot sizes or in an inconsistent manner, I think that the numbers will probably crunch up badly in the long run.
    When it comes to draw down have a very close look at when was the largest draw down made, How many lots were open at the time, how often has this close to happened, etc.
    In summary, if you can't figure out if there is a method in the madness, wait for there to be more data.
    Beware of signals with a short history and big profits the makers generally have a number of accounts on the boil and then promote the one with the best profit profile.

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi Jester,

      Thanks for your informative answer. Indeed I agree it's important to see a traders' consistent behaviours, especially with the risk side; and be extra careful about the reason of lot size manipulation. Hmmm. Do you have anyway to assess the strategy's robustness?

      Comment


      • #4
        You need to have at least 1 year performance to assess the signals. The reason for that is simple. Any trader can have a lucky month or several months. When the signals are not working see if the signal provider changed its trading style, this is very important. You can only see this after 1 year of trading. Following any signal provider that doesn't have at least one year performance can be very risky. I think this was already mentioned but the size of the stop in proportion to take profit is important. There is a famous strategy of using 1,000 pips stop and a 20 pips take profit. Your success rate will be very high until one day you get stopped out. If the stop is equal or greater than the take profit that means the signal provider must have a really high success rate in order to profit. When the losses come in a row it will cost you a lot of money. It's called risk reward ratio simple words. Good risk ratio means the signal provider has a better chance recovering from losses. Hope this helps.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by pipsignals
          It's all too easy to get sucked in by a company's past results and start dreaming of how you're going to spend the profits you are going to make by following their signals. It's important to remember that the past results of a company's signals do not always tell the whole story. Very often the figures will be exaggerated or hypothetical in nature.
          For example, you will often find that a signal provider will boast about their past results by using the best result possible from their signals. In other words if they make a profitable sell signal and it goes down 50 points before retracing back to it's original value, they will claim that this signal resulted in a profit of 50 points. The reality however is that no trader, however skilled he or she is, can consistently get out at the top or the bottom of a move.

          So these types of signal providers are not the best ones to join in my opinion simply because they distort their figures and probably don't even trade them themselves. If you find that the signal provider doesn't actually trade the signals themselves you have to wonder why not if they are as profitable as they claim.

          Instead you should look for companies run by a professional trader or team of traders who do trade their own signals. This not only gives you added confidence in their signals but also ensures that they don't massage their figures when it comes to past performance. FreshForex Brokers is one such broker that has a team of professional traders who trade their own signals. I have traded with their signals for the past 7 years, and I have no complains
          I don't know what signal providers you have been using but a signal provider will often give an entry, stop and take profit. So if the signal was in a profit of 50 pips and that was not the take profit and them it hits the stop they will mark it down as loss. I personally am not dreaming of anything. The past shows how the signals were managed and whether the signal provider was able to recover from losses, which is important to me as I know you can't profit all the time.

          The worst place to get signals is from a broker. The broker has no interest of assisting its traders to profit, that's not their task. FreshForex does not provide any form of signals performance because like I said this not their job. To make it even worse, they are unregulated. Stay away from any unregulated brokers if you value your money and do not use any signals the brokers gives you. If their signals were that good (FreshForex) they would have had a performance chart like any respected signal provider.
          Last edited by Timothy24; 09-10-2015, 06:46 AM. Reason: spelling

          Comment


          • #6
            Hello Everbody, just wanted to get some of your opinions if you don't mind chiming in? I have 14.5k that I would like to invest with on simpletrader.net. I have narrowed it down to 3 particular signals that I am interested in below (no particular order).

            1) GoldStar
            2) Trading Social Club
            3) Blackwave Monaco

            I am already with FX Viper Mam & Smart2 Mam as well.

            Just curious to know what some of you guys here in the forum would choose with a 14.5k balance out of one of those three signals?

            Any input would be greatly appreciated!


            Regards,
            nvenr32

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by nvenr32 View Post
              Hello Everbody, just wanted to get some of your opinions if you don't mind chiming in? I have 14.5k that I would like to invest with on simpletrader.net. I have narrowed it down to 3 particular signals that I am interested in below (no particular order).

              1) GoldStar
              2) Trading Social Club
              3) Blackwave Monaco

              I am already with FX Viper Mam & Smart2 Mam as well.

              Just curious to know what some of you guys here in the forum would choose with a 14.5k balance out of one of those three signals?

              Any input would be greatly appreciated!


              Regards,
              nvenr32
              i suggest adding BetaTrader to your list

              Comment


              • #8
                I like smart trader signal alone at higher risk and bettatrader nice performance)

                Comment


                • #9
                  Goldstar2x and beya trader 2x

                  Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Hi Sherif,

                    Do you think GoldStar 2x risk would be to risky? Just wondering......

                    I was thinking I may do that if I choose that signal.


                    Regards,

                    nvenr32

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by nvenr32 View Post
                      Hi Sherif,

                      Do you think GoldStar 2x risk would be to risky? Just wondering......

                      I was thinking I may do that if I choose that signal.


                      Regards,

                      nvenr32
                      Too risky.

                      Also #2 social club is shit. Just read the forum.
                      #3 blackwave Monaco. You must ask the provider questions. Best bet do free trial on LOW RISK then see if you like it. It's the only way to tell if there is no thread on it. Stay away from social club just read it's thread

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Big River Man View Post
                        Too risky.

                        Also #2 social club is shit. Just read the forum.
                        #3 blackwave Monaco. You must ask the provider questions. Best bet do free trial on LOW RISK then see if you like it. It's the only way to tell if there is no thread on it. Stay away from social club just read it's thread

                        Hey Big River Man,

                        I think I have made up my mind and I will go with GoldStar.

                        Also, even with a balance of 14.5k you think GoldStar may be too risky?


                        Regards,

                        nvenr32

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by nvenr32 View Post
                          Hey Big River Man,

                          I think I have made up my mind and I will go with GoldStar.

                          Also, even with a balance of 14.5k you think GoldStar may be too risky?


                          Regards,

                          nvenr32
                          Your balance doesn't mean anything. 10k or 50k. Who cares. It's all about %%%%%%%% not $$$$$$$.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I have blackwave monaco and australia. Both are good signals by the way.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Nice thread, always thinking of new combinations of signals myself. Like BRM says its all percentages and risk. I run viper 2x, beta 2x, smart squared 0.5x. Having VIP access is a must imho. Plus a trader that is active in the forums with updates etc really helps subs.
                              Best of luck whichever combo you choose

                              Comment

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