May 2008:

A disappointing month at Managed Forex Returns in one respect as due to the restriction of reporting on a calendar monthly basis we must report a loss of 10.05%, however in reality there are several positives we wish to share.

Robot 1 incurred genuine losses for the first time this month, meaning there were no issues outside of expected trading practice that affected the results and that every trade that should have been placed was placed. During the month’s trading we experienced what we refer to as an orange alert, this alert or flag is generated when trade win rate is markedly lower than the norm and the staking progression is extended beyond a specific level. At times like this capital preservation becomes priority and had we caught just one trend this last week of the month then break-even was attainable.

That trend did not materialize unfortunately as the market consolidated at the upper daily trend line similar but opposite to the manner in which it consolidated at the lower daily trend line earlier in the month. The staking progression will now be reset before next month’s trading, therefore a trending move early into next month will really rub salt in the wound as it will have come that little too late for this month’s report.

We did suffer 2 market gaps that totaled 58 pips, which added to draw down, but that is something that happens at times of shock news and / or data release and is something we must expect and as such factor into daily trading.

Robot 2 finished the month at break-even, however due to some unexpected integration issues break-even is not a true reflection of how the second robot would have performed as a one winning trade was missed and one losing trade would not have been placed had our initial integration be set up correctly.

To summarize trading the GBPUSD this month was tough going, confirmed by our ‘orange alert’ (Historically months that have experienced an Orange Alert have been followed by a month offering solid profit) yet for us the positives gained have ensured that we have never been more confident that the robots in place and the combined strategy they offer are ready willing and able to trade GBPUSD aggressively for maximum profit.

Addition (Added June 02nd 2008):

The 1st trading day of June and we finally caught the trend we were waiting for during the last week of May, that would have comfortably taken us into profit. It is frustrating that due to the constraints of reporting on a calendar monthly basis the genius of the staking progression will not always be maximized but hopefully these months will be minimal in comparison to profitable months.

April 2008:

There was unavoidable disruption to live trading during the final few days of the April as we enhanced the opportunity on offer. Given that accounts were 14.81% in profit, we assumed you would forgive the interruption.

We successfully added a new dedicated backup server, a process that required additional programming to ensure that all trade logs on both servers update simultaneously, allowing for seamless transfer between servers as required.

We also added our latest robot to the overall trading strategy, designed to complement our existing robot as it trades potential reversals to a trend.

The new robot is fully tested and very robust. However, contrary to our existing robot, the new robot utilizes a simple 2000 point bank, non reductive staking strategy, whereas our first robot utilizes a complex progressive staking strategy.

If you were to imagine our 2 robots as twins, the new robot would be the responsible slightly dull twin while our existing robot would be the flamboyant slightly wacky genius - You will note we have carefully avoided any reference to which twin was male and which was female ;-).

The above was completed successfully and tested thoroughly in plenty of time for the start of May's trading.

March 2008:

Through March both the robot and the Gain Capital service functioned perfectly, and monthly profit should have been in double figures, though we have ceased trading for the month at virtually break even - average loss of 0.88%.

The reason for this action is that on the 24th March new funds were added into trade, that were NOT to be traded until April 1st. In the short period while we waited for these funds to be removed from trade the robot was turned off, unfortunately missing a trade that would have generated 90+ pips profit, automatically closing the present staking progression and locking in serious profit.

Mindful that the staking progression was being falsely extended we manually placed a break even stop loss during the run of a Buy trade initiated by the robot on the 25th. The market reversed momentarily closing the trade at the break even stop loss by just 1 pip before pushing on to what should have been additional profit in excess of 120 pips.

If we had simply left well alone, all clients would have been delighted with results; however, as an error had been made on the 24th, we felt the need for added caution and ultimately we were trying to cleverly outmaneuver the market to rectify the overall position, at minimum risk to client funds - Ultimately we missed out by 1 pip!

Given that 2 strong moves have now been missed in the past few days, either of which would have locked in due profits and reset the staking progression, and that the staking progression has become falsely overextended it would be foolhardy and unprofessional of us to chase missed profits. Capital preservation therefore becomes priority, hence our decision not to trade the last 2 days of the month.

The reason incorrect funds were added into trade was, in hindsight, due to a lack of detailed information on our part. New clients and Gain Capital were not at fault. We accept responsibility for the confusion that caused the disruption in trading and the ultimate disappointment of missed profit. As such please note the following:

DO NOT SUBMIT your Power of Attorney document until the day you wish your funds to enter trade, only YOU have the power to decide when funds enter or are removed from trade by submitting or revoking the Power Of Attorney. We do not have back office functionality that allows us to allocate individual account funds in or out of trade.

Given that these details have been made clear, the above scenario should NEVER affect trading again.