This is the best system I find so far, the pros are: great trending detection and entry timing; the cons are: waiting for trending reversed can result in reduced profit, and sometime volatility ETFs diverge with market trend, eg. bot TVIX@51.11 on 11/11/2011, sold TVIX@58.96 on 11/22/2011, profit 15%, it went through a complete trend until reversed, TVIX spiked up to 64 on 11/17 and 11/21 two times, the max gain could be 25%. Another trade, bot TVIX@48.10 on 12/8/2011, closed @39.50 on 12/15/2011, loss 18%, in that period, S&P went from 1261 down to 1212. So, how to benefit this system? First, set stop loss order. Second, take profit promptly. Third, be careful with those leverage volatility ETFs such as TVIX, you may consider buying spy calls/puts if you know options.
Every system has its ups and downs, this unfortunately has been on a tear downwards. It seems to be like going to the roulette table and keep doubling down as you loose more and more. If it turns around and gets back on track in the future, I may step back in, for the time being I am staying on the sidelines.
With the European crisis heating up in February the markets have been shot all over the place. To actually think that everything would be smooth sailing and trading would still produce stellar results is ridiculous. The developer does not have a holy grail here but he is trying and I am sure he is learning from the experience with his recent changes to include tighter stops.
It's worth sticking in for a while longer to see if he will recover.
Although, I do agree subscription fee is a little high especially for those of us who scale down. Maybe he should change his plan to performance based.
System loses months of equity in just two days and has been on a downtrend since mid January, about a third of the life of the system. Dev relies on a high rate of small wins vs loses but he seems to have lost the edge as shown by the recent massive and frequent loses. In response to the recent drawdown developer has bumped up the number of lots traded increasing risk. Positions are held over weekends... Sounds like it's going to be extremely difficult for the system to work out long term.
At $236/month and with many other forex systems coming up on C2 with more stable equity curves, better risk/reward profiles and cheaper monthly rates a it's hard to see the value on 'Strawberry'
I probably didn't give it enough of a chance. I have to be fair, this system is one of my favorite's in C2. The gain per trade is very good. I just don't like the conditional orders, it just doesn't work well with MB auto trade. The developer seems to study the market for the week and place his orders at the start of the week right after the weekend. It has a sound strategy. Wish him and it's subscribers the best. A 3 star rating for Good.
I subscribed to PIPALER 30 days ago. I think the system waits out times of high volatility and takes its profits in slightly calmer markets. The manager takes profits when they are there. He also takes a small loss in order to exit position which is about to backfire or exit position which went bad but has a temporary recovery. Both are very much appreciated, as I hate draw downs which are all too common for all FX systems here. I do hope we will avoid big draw downs as I am somewhat "allergic" to them. :-) The history shows the manager has staying power and can generate consist profits. I was subscribed to a lot of systems this is one of the last 2 I am running.
I have subscribed to several systems on C2. This is one of two left. Consistent smart entries and exits and a great record. VERY long history for c2 so you know it is not a flash in the pan. Highly recommended!
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.
