Someone on the trade of 2/16 opened a position with 1,000 minilots!!
To me, this is just insane. This idiotic move was rewarded with a $100K+ drawdown in that person's account. How is Hans possibly going to make any money with his trades if subscribers put on positions that large? Yes, I know that EUR/USD is very liquid, but if a bunch of us put on positions that big, we're never going to make consistent profits. Professional market traders see these trades on their screens and have much more leverage than we do to force the market in the opposite direction and run the stops.
I give Hans much credit in trying to actively manage his stops to get the best outcome for us, but all of us need to do our part and scale-in with moderation so we can all profit together as a group.
Overall the system has certainly been impressive, however, history has shown that double digit monthly returns are not sustainable in the long run and trying to keep a high win percentage at all cost is troublesome. If you look at all the fx systems older than 1 yr with less than 30% dd and CAGR of at least 37% you will find that all have a low win ratio but a high avg. profit/loss ratio. I wish the vendor would adopt a similar strategy.
Keeping a position over the weekend is not a good idea . Take the (relatively) small loss to protect subscribers from potential larger losses - especially with potential Euro news. This action has blown up many C2 systems. This approach is concerning as to whether the real reason is avoid another blemish on the win/loss track record.
After taking the big loss with 40 mini-lot positions, the next trade size went to 45 mini-lots. Very aggressive move to try and recoup loss.
Sometimes the trades get stop-loss orders, but then they get canceled. Not sure why. Therefore, the trade is not protected at some times. Case in point is the 2/16 trade, which had a stop loss, got canceled and then the price below through communicated 90 pips SL.
I have a few concerns that apply to other successful systems on C2. First, the developer stated that there is a 90 pip stop loss. If you look back through the trades, on 2/16/12 the system suffered a larger loss than 90 pips. Second is the risk/reward ratio. If you look at the amount that the system is willing to sustain as a loss, it can be 10-15 times the average profit. That creates significant pressure to maintain a VERY high win rate. All in all a good system but could do with better risk mgmt.
I think this is a good system, but it hasn't performed well in the current market conditions. I traded it for 6 months and didn't make any money. I might have stuck with it if it were a performance-based subscription.
This system is excellent. Win percentage is outstanding and dd on most trades is nonexistent. The developer stays consistent with 2 mlots so that subscribers can multiply their mlots appropriately. The system trades 2 mlots and makes average win of $39...Trade 20 mlots in your account and you'll be seeing the same $390/trade that I've been seeing. By far THE BEST system on C2.
this system is what i've looked for, low turnover, very good results and low drawdown, even after the recent volatility, developer is always available to answer my questions :)
This is a good system the only thing you need to know is in what month he is going to loose 35%, NO MONEY MANAGING, I will call it the "LAS VEGAS HOLY GRAIL"
The method of implementation is, in part, being driven be the way per-trade-fees are collected and performance statistics are calculated. This is to the detriment of the subscriber.
Two points of note:
Money management. The methods adds to losing trades as the market moves away from the entry level. This gives fewer losing trades (higher % winners) but also gives far greater risk and larger $ losses if market does not revert sufficiently.
Fee and slippage. Winning trades are frequently closed out and immediately reopened. This causes extra slippage, brokerage and trade fees and improves the strategy statistics due to many more winning trades (but with a small gain) Look at the timestamps and prices in the trade history. A fixed monthly fee would be more appropriate here.
I've been a subscriber since September of '11 and I believe that this is the best stock system on C2. If you don't believe me, do a Grid search on all stock systems with Age>700 and Sharpe>2.5 -- only one system meets that test. This system has proven to me that an excellent human trader like Julian can beat the best mechanical systems. He currently trades pretty conservatively (there is often a lot of idle cash) so don't plan on getting rich quick. If you're like me and are happy letting your account grow at 30% per year or more and not suffering a sharp drawdown in the process then this system is for you.
I am giving this a fair rating for the following reasons:
1- Risk is handled in a very acceptable manner. In over a year of trading, the average adverse excursion has been very reasonable.
2- Unfortunately, the equity line has been flat for over a year. I've experienced great gains followed by periods where it has all been given back.
Now we're told that the subscription fee is going up... I am anxious to see if it will be worth it.
I have been auto-trading this system and cannot be happier. Does it have it's hiccups... yes. Does it recover quickly and keep making money... absolutely! The win rate speaks for itself. The developer is great at what he does. He also has great communication. My only fear about this system is not the developer or his system.... it's the negative people that may distract the developer from managing the trades, or worse, cause him to discontinue it. I concur with the previous reviewer... if you're not happy with the results, please unsubscribe and let Strawberry continue making the rest of our accounts grow at an exponential rate!
So far this system rocks.......good communication. If you don't like the trades.....cancel your subscription and leave the developer alone to keep making money for us.
I just got burned with a 7000 loss today. So investors be careful with new system. There are a lot of risk with new systems when there is no long track record to examine the trading style and phylosophy.
This system seems to be quite good. The only thing I don't like about it is the risk (about 90 pips) versus the reward (about 10 pips) of a typical trade. What remains to be seen is how likely it is that there will be a string of large losing trades bunched together to produce a very large drawdown. I'm willing to take a chance that this won't happen, but I'm trading at a much lower leverage than what is shown on C2. A good rule of thumb I've heard is to risk no more than 2% of your capital on any single trade. The last large loser in this system (as of 1/31/12) was 9.4%. I know I can't stomach that kind of loss and I doubt many others can either.
From my years of experience with C2 and other trading communities, I conclude that there is no perfect system out there. Strawberry is a consistent profit maker with well-managed risk. It is as good as it gets.
In my six months subscription to this strategy using automation, the P&L was negative when I included commissions and subscription fees. It's not a bad system but I feel the fees are too high to justify until it shows more profitability.
I have been autotrading Strawberry for 2 1/2 months and has been a consistent money-maker for me. Differently from other systems, cares about his subscribers. He is cold-blooded but enjoys sense of humour. Four star not for the quality (I think he is top and I believe there are only two other systems for FX here at Collective that stands in the same league) but because the system is relatively new. I'll review again in some months and after, hopefully, gained more money!
Another person/trader who does not care about the money of other people. Tries to be smarter than the market does not recognize that his subscribers lose money. Only excuses, really bad.
1/25 - As the previous reviewer notes, the system developer stays true to his stops. However, those stops have been hit with increasing frequency as indicated by the declining monthly returns: Sept: +25.5%, Oct: +19.6%, Nov: +18.8%, Dec: +13.5%. January promises to be lower still. While the above returns are outstanding, the declining trend is cause for concern. While stops are necessary to give the trade a chance for success, the trade should be abandoned when the reason for making the trade vanishes. The developer shows his ability to reverse his position quickly to recover losses, but he has had two losing weeks in January. I hope I am proven wrong and the previous success resumes. I would be glad to revise my rating to 5 stars in that event.
I've subsribed to this for 3 months, and have been loosing money. This system may work on autottrade, for me manually placing orders after receiving the email has not resulted in any profits. Also, I made a loss in Dec, whereas the web-site shows 8% gain. So, I've just un-subscribed
How about cutting losses short and letting winners run instead of hope and hold? On Friday 1/13 vendor had a small losing position, instead of closing it out during the end of the trading day he added to the losing position for unknown reasons. When it was clear on Monday that he was wrong he nevertheless held on to increasing losses the whole week. Is the vendor asleep at the switch? What a shame for a system which had a promising start.
I have autotraded Venters for almost one month. I like the concept of exploiting a pair that few people follow and I think the system is a sound one with a good developer behind. Unfortunately I went through one of these periods that happen when actual performance deviate from the expected and I give the developer the benefit of the doubt given unusual volaitility. I unsuscribed but on the ground that it was not suitable for my objectives. I'll come back if and when I realize that it fits my need.
Stay away. This appeared to be an intraday system but developer has held a margined position in a 3x ETF for two weeks for an 18% drawdown (so far). Maybe system was abandoned?
