Mechanical Forex Traders Are Scared To Improve Their Trading Strategies

Mechanical Forex Traders follow a strict set of rules to make money in the currency market. As a matter of fact, they are coached to never break the rules. But by not testing other variations of the trading system, they may be losing a lot of money every time they trade.

But adhering to the rules might be costing you huge profits every time you place a trade? You see, there is a question that "rule following" mechanical Forex traders can't answer. And that question is... is the system you are following the absolute most profitable way to trade the system?

The Fear Of Mechanical Forex Traders

Finding a trading system you like and that makes you consistent profit is no small feat. Regardless of whether you paid for someone else's system, or you created it yourself, once you find a profitable system you don;t want to mess with it for fear of lowering profits... or losing a ton of money. But reducing profits is only ONE possible outcome of tweaking your mechanical trading system.

What if you moved your profit target up and started making more money per successful trade? What would happen if you start using a Trailing Stop instead of a Take Profit target? What if a slight change in money management turned a "break even" trading strategy into a successful one, or a successful trading plan into an "WOW, I can;t believe I'm making so much money" system?

The Best Way To Split Test Your Mechanical Trading System

Nobody wants to risk their hard earned money testing variations of your trading plan. And DEMO testing can take forever because you are doing it in real time. Most traders just don't have the patience for this... I know I don't. Sop the solution is to use Forex testing software.

Forex testing software allows you to test Forex trading systems using real, historical date over long periods of time... in a fraction of the time. The great part about this software is you can test the SAME time period over and over again using slightly different variations of your trading system. Comparing results can expose more profitable versions of the same system which leads to more money in your account.

Here Is An Example Of Improving A Mechanical Trading System

Recently, I picked a popular trading plan and put it to the test. I tested it "out of the box" for the entire year of 2008, and got 83% profit for the year. Not bad. Then I identified some changes I would like to try and tested the new style over the same trading period... and increased profits to 279%. (This equates to almost $10,000 more money for the same year of trading). Then I tested it again and increased it again to 789% profit. Can you imagine increasing profits from $8,300 to $68,900 with the same starting balance and same time period traded.

I think it is clear, making small changes to your trading system can yield huge returns. If you are currently a Mechanical Forex Trader and not split testing your trading system, you could be leaving a ton of money on the table. Imagine... same trades, same investment or time and money and more profits!