Wrong calculation on 1 month (-100%? not at all!) of my signal provider account). - page 4
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Was these changes announced or explained somewhere ?
What is "TWR" ?
TWR is time-weighted return explained and formula here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-weighted_return.
No announcement i am aware off. But i am pretty confident there was a change recently. Around the time when the *wrong* calculation topics began to show up. There are a couple of signals i was following out of interest which showed a drop in total gain %.
Forum on trading, automated trading systems and testing trading strategies
Wrong calculation on 1 month (-100%? not at all!) of my signal provider account).
Alfonso Fabio Pepe, 2018.11.14 10:09
Another amazing point of MQL is that if you had a month above a +90%, they declare that month as invalid and cheating (it will be not calculated because too profitable to be true!!!!!). So that it is impossible for high yield traders to push this platform to the next step of profitability.
This is not always the case, there are plenty examples where there is no *penalty*.
Fact is the whole signal stats are a mess.
-Cent accounts are free for MT4, but not for MT5.
-For MT5; Subscriber unless informed by signal provider has no clue whether signal provider is trading dollars or cents (maybe when subscribing you will be notified in some way, i don't know, i do not subscribe).
-MT5 netting signals have different stats calculation in that it is calculated on trades, not deals. But a trade can be the results of many deals. Deals are not shown in trade history. Therefor it is impossible for subscriber to analyse if or how a trade is martingaled into profit.
There probably is more i haven't noticed.
This is not always the case, there are plenty examples where there is no *penalty*.
99% of accounts with a good month (way above the average) like +90% and over are treated as trash by this ranking system.
But this is not the main point: the main point is that after and before the month that MQL is declaring as -100% (!!!), I had positive month for a total of +2000% YTD that year... MQL says YTD = -100%
First off, I am not from MetaQuotes, but a normal user.
Secondly, signal accounts (be they normal accounts or MAM or PAMM) with constant deposits and withdrawals, are very hazardous to subscribers of those signals, because a change in balance means that positions sizes on the subscribers side are immediately adjusted, causing them to be prematurely partially closed or increased, which could cause the subscriber unnecessary losses or risk exposure. Their position sizes are based on a ratio of your balance!
Just like anything in trading, actions have consequences and sometimes those can be really drastic and catastrophic.
Deposits and withdrawals have to be properly timed and sized so as not to negatively impact your subscribers, and that is why the calculations are done the way they are so that users are aware of your reckless, uninformed actions, and hopefully they will think twice before subscribing to such an unpredictable and dangerous signal.
If you want to provide a good reliable signal service, then you have to act with your subscriber's best interests in mind and at heart, and not on selfish, egotistical interests.
First off, I am not from MetaQuotes, but a normal user.
Secondly, signal accounts (be they normal accounts or MAM or PAMM) with constant deposits and withdrawals, are very hazardous to subscribers of those signals, because a change in balance means that positions sizes on the subscribers side are immediately adjusted, causing them to be prematurely partially closed or increased, which could cause the subscriber unnecessary losses or risk exposure. Their position sizes are based on a ratio of your balance!
Just like anything in trading, actions have consequences and sometimes those can be really drastic and catastrophic.
Deposits and withdrawals have to be properly timed and sized so as not to negatively impact your subscribers, and that is why the calculations are done the way they are so that users are aware of your reckless, uninformed actions, and hopefully they will think twice before subscribing to such an unpredictable and dangerous signal.
If you want to provide a good reliable signal service, then you have to act with your subscriber's best interests in mind and at heart, and not on selfish, egotistical interests.
I agree but as it works now I don't see how you can change (deposit/withdrawal) your balance at all in a "timed and sized" way. Even if done responsibly your stats will be negatively impacted.
Alain Verleyen: I agree but as it works now I don't see how you can change (deposit/withdrawal) your balance at all in a "timed and sized" way. Even if done responsibly your stats will be negatively impacted.
Fernando Carreiro:
Yes, I checked it myself. I think @Eleni Anna Branou will be able to confirm this as well and has much more experience with signals than I have.
Yes, you can! You can time the deposit/withdrawal when no trades are open or pending. If trading with an EA, you stop the EA from placing new trades, and when no trades are open, proceed with the deposit or withdrawal.
In order to not affect the statistics, you can calculate the ideal percentage of the increase or the decrease of balance so as not to affect the continual growth of your strategy while still maintaining metrics close the current values. This is the same practice that can be done on normal private accounts, when you are withdrawing your "monthly salary" from your earnings but in a way that will still maintain the strategy's average growth potential.
Thanks, I will think about it.
I think that the way the statistics are calculated are unclear, but I do believe that signal providers with erratic withdrawals and deposits are trying to manipulate the statistics.
ie.
Deposit $100
Open a trade
the trade goes $50 into loss
Deposit additional $100 to prevent margin stop-out
the trade goes $100 into loss
Deposit additional $100 to prevent margin stop-out
Trade recovers and closes at BE.
Withdraw $200
Start cycle again hoping for a large profit % on a new trade, ready to add additional funds to support the trade if necessary.
That trade (or group of trades) were opened while the balance was $100 so once it goes into loss by $100, that is minus 100% growth, no matter how many extra deposits there have been.
Also why are cent accounts represented as Dollars? It makes it appear that the signal providers are trading with much larger amounts than they actually are.
I think that the way the statistics are calculated are unclear, but I do believe that signal providers with erratic withdrawals and deposits are trying to manipulate the statistics.
...After reading your post, I thought "but Vaclav didn't do that, all the trades were closed" (I had checked his history). However while preparing the data to post a screenshot, I noticed the trades were not ordered by open time as I took for granted but by close price. And so, it happened that what you described is exactly what Vaclav did ! A trade was opened all the long, I completely missed that in my previous posts.
So now all is clarified. Thanks Keith (and Fernando).
I don't think Vaclav tried to manipulate something, he tried to save his account, hopefully now he will understand what the problem is, and you can't hope to do that without consequence as a signal provider.