Zulutrade provider Pro-B5 has generously responded to my post and has some interesting things to say about the Zulutrade platform. His whole response is below, but here are my key takeaways:
- I reduced my stops from 500 pips to 180 pips
- Pro-B5 communicates regularly with ZT founder Alex Leon regarding allocating a fixed amount of capital to each provider. This would result in realistic performance history and address the fact that the performance on the site is purely theoretical - since its based on unlimited capital.
- Technical problems with trade opening and closing are an ongoing risk with the ZT platform are solely at the risk of the ZT user. I knew this already, but since it hasn't happened to me in a while and I needed a reminder.
In summary, Pro-B5 is a real asset to the Zulutrade community and we are grateful for his efforts! Full text of the reply is below:
Hi TCX System
Interesting Post, just as a guide, I have to be careful about the daily range on the GBP-JPY which is about 280 to 326 pips per day. Only after having study that will I place a trade.
This is why some time I will not trade on Zulu if the price action is at the extremes. Since I will not risk a big stop or put the client’s money at risk in such a foolish trade.
I will let the other providers play games. I am here to win, and yes I will lose. But I will get back my losses in an orderly fashion like you seem that I have done, One trade at a time MAYBE 2 lots but never will I go nuts trying to keep a "green Tape" ever again. I leave that to those others that call themselves traders.
I know that Zulu has had problem and I took the heat from the users that did not have their trades close in profit and suffered on a winning trade of 23 pips a lose of close to 200 pips.
They take there anger out on (me)the signal provider at times when it is out of my hands That is why I think the rating is nothing more than a place to vent anger and means nothing to me. Also I e-mail Mr. Leon almost 3 times a week and I know for a fact biased on his e-mail that Zulu is addressing the problems with painting the tape and will put a fix amount of capital on every signal providers to match a real demo . This will keep them from opening so many trades. To me people blame Zulu for their own acts of greed and foolish mistakes. I am sure if the problem was on Zulu they would make it “good” and correct it” . But they sometime also take heat when say the API for FXCM goes off line and trades will not close. They have problems we all do.
Now what happens when there is a tech mistake? People do not want to hear the excuse. We all risk money when we trade. I risk a trade that is positive going into a loss because Zulu has a problem. But I deal with it and move on to the next trade. There is no need to cry about it .That will not get back my loss. I am reasonable and I will get my loss and my clients. Zulu can correct the problem which I have witness this first hand.
We all have seen when people are on a roll with “painting the tape” they feel they got the next Holy Grail and can do no wrong, but when they give back all the winnings and all their trading capital it is to late. But since most of Zulu’s clients are retail traders they just never learn.
The world 4 top hedge funds one binging Paul Tudor ( Tudor Fund) which avg a yearly return of 58% and one year made 98%, What makes people think they will make 50%+ per month is beyond me. Again it shows they know very little about trading and are hoping to get rich quick,
Also there is NO need to use a 500 pip stop NEVR set it at 180 max. Because bet your lost damn dollar I will close the trade unless God take my life at the moment I am closing it. Other wise it will get done , and” no if” about it.
This is an open source e-mail post it if you like,
If you or any one suffer losses because of my wide stops 9 months ago .I am TRULY SORRY. This will never happen again .Watch my actions not my words.
No one is prefect but a real trader must stand by his belief and I will stand by mine. Even if I lose 90% of my people because other make more pips by “painting the tape” or using 500 to 1,000 pip stop lose .Than I really do not need user like that . I want real investor large or small.
Thank you , and wish you all the Best
Pro-B5
Sincerely,Pro-B5
Risk Warning:The Off Exchange Retail Foreign Currency Market(FOREX)has opportunity for large potential rewards, but equal opportunity for large potential loss. Be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest in the Forex markets. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and there for you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. Nothing in our e-mail or website shall be deemed a solicitation or an offer to Buy/Sell currencies ,we are not liable for any loss or damages. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits as past performance of any trading methodology is not indicative of futures results. Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not actually been executed.
Open a free Zulu-trade account at http://zulumon.zulutrade.com/.
Thanks for posting this. Pro-B5 is currently the only provider in my account. I applaud him for the conservative approach and I will stick with him as long as that continues. I have been with him since 4/14 and picked up 345 pips. (would have been more if it were not for some issues with the performance of the platform.) There was only 2 losses of 100 and 140 pips during this time frame which were quickly recovered.
ReplyDeleteWay to go Ryan! Thanks for the comments and great to see you Twitter!
ReplyDeleteI am a live Pro-B5 member, and I Love this signal provider. It’s the first time in over 2 years that I have been able to trust a signal provider. I can sleep and walk away trusting what Pro-B5 has written on the Zulu web site and by looking at the trade record I love what the e-mail posted on this site says when Pro-b5 wrote “Watch my actions not my words” about honoring the stop loss.
ReplyDeleteI had my account blown out by LowestDD who does not even know the meaning of margin calls. Today LowestDD has over a 7,200 pip floating loss ( Sept 4,2009). What is funny Pro-B5 listed all the faults of Zulu and the signal providers on Pro-B5 system description.
Not one of these providers care at all, but I have come to notice a BIG DIFFREENCE from all the other signal provider and what sets Pro-B5 apart from all the loser.
Pro-B5 has well over 1,100 members the same amount as the top other 2 signal provider. But as you can notice LowestDD they have no concern for traders and just opens trade after trade and floating on massive losses. Just like Pro-B5 wrote, they do it only to collect fees.
Now look at Pro-B5 , no where do you see the system just open trades to make fees, and mind you Pro-B5 could do the same thing . But Pro-B5 chose to make “real trades” . Some thing all others need to learn, but I guess if they where force to close losing trades, Than we would all see that in fact they are not traders at all. ANYONE can open a trade and leave it open with a 800 pip stop lose and take a 15 pip profit, need proof look at the VERY recent trading record of LowestDD.
I too was fooled by the way Zulu reports the stats for the signal providers, But when my real money is on the line I will stay with Pro-B5 .
I feel sorry for new traders who come to Zulu, I think Zulu needs a lot of work still to weed out and make traders aware of the fact that these signal provider trade with unlimited capital and can NEVER have a margin call. Its so sad when you think about how many unknowing subscribers have their account blown out by the likes of LowestDD and others.
Mike - Way to go! Forex is a minefield and no-one is immune from losses, including Pro-B5 - as we found out on Monday 9/7 - more on that later.
ReplyDeleteBut he's honest in sticking with one open position and taking losses when they occur. Cheers and keep the faith.
This is Great!!! It is nice to know that I am not the only one that sees Pro-B5 as the only good signal provider on Zulutrade. It did not take me long to realize that Pro-B5 was worth using. It did take me a long time to realize that other traders are not worth using though. I had another signal provider Bigwin that I was using. I noted that they did the multiple open trades thing but did not care as their history showed not trades drawing down lower than around 200 pips, and there were very few that did draw down that low. Bigwin would actually stop out and take smaller losses rather than draw down to huge levels. I was up big in July 09 then it all came crashing down at the beginning of Aug. 09. Bigwin drew down past 200, I of course had my safe stop at 200 and took the loss anyway, but this provider let it draw down to around -300 and then got out at around -224. I took a huge loss, but thought that this was a rare occasion and decided to keep two trades for Bigwin after this. Bigwin became a Big Mistake again. I lost more not to long after. This time Bigwin let it draw down around -400. To say the least I am pretty upset and thought I had a gold mine with Bigwin whom had a great history. I suppose a signal provider can just change on you whenever they want. I hope Pro-B5 does not and sticks around for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI have done all kinds of data research on signal providers and can't find anyone like Pro-B5. Maybe The Hunter, however when I traded with The Hunter my actual results were way off from what Zulutrade was recording. And I mean way off. They say he made 20 pips I made .85 pips for example. At any rate I have a blog as well http://zulutrade-top.blogspot.com/ where I write my stuff about Zulutrade. I have been finding the data you can download from a signal provider in .xls is more valuable than what Zulutrade shows you on the site.
I am going to cross my fingers and hope Pro-B5 can put me back in the positive with a decent gain this year. I hope he sticks around and continues to do what he is doing.