Craig's Money Making Blog

Sports Betting Champ Undefeated this Season!

2009-03-22T18:46:00.003-04:00

Hi All,

It's been some time since I've updated this blog. During these volatile economic times I have shied away from Forex and Stock trading. It's difficult even for the most seasoned trader to profit given the wild swings that we've experienced. Keep checking back as I will get back into the market at some future time!

I did want to mention that Sports Betting Champ is currently undefeated (74 Wins, 0 losses) during the current NBA season. This system is a good way to diversify some of your investment dollars away from high risk forex and equity trading. Please check out my past Sports Betting Champ posts for more information on this wagering system. Also, if you do decide to try the system, don't forget to order the Betting System Maximizer to limit your risk if we do experience a series loss.

Happy Spring!

Craig

Forex Autopilot Reaps Over 4,400 Pips in 2 Months!!

2008-11-11T08:17:00.002-05:00

If you're an avid reader of my blog you know I haven't had much confidence in the new version of Forex Autopilot. I was burned on the original version and brushed the new one off as more of the same. I have now compiled over 2 months of demo data and am compared to make a prediction: The new Forex Autopilot ROCKS!! From 9/4/08 to 11/11/08 the trading robot racked up over 4,400 pips. Here is the actual demo statement.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you plan to run the FAP on a live account:
1. Practice proper money management. My maximum drawdown has been 1,500 pips on a 1 mini-lot per trade, 2 max trades, account. I would recommend a $3,000 starting balance for a 1-mini lot setting. If I started with a live account of $3,000 on 9/4/08 my current balance would be $7,366, a 146% ROI.
2. Let the EA do its thing. Once you tamper with trades you are undermining the purpose of having a trading robot. If you're like me you'll check your trades about once an hour and freak out at the first sign of a loss. You need to keep a cool head. I don't recommend checking your account more than a couple times a week.
3. Don't trade with money you can't afford to lose. None of us can predict the future so be prepared to lose a substantial amount and if you can't handle that concept don't risk it.
4. Use a Virtual Private Server for trading. This ensures that you don't have to worry about your computer crashing.

Til next time,
Craig

Forex Autopilot / Wizard / Sports Betting Champ Update 10/11/08

2008-10-11T13:38:00.002-04:00

Happy Saturday Everybody!

I have an exciting progress report from my Forex Autopilot demo account. The account is set up with default settings (2 max trades). Take a look. Yes, you read it correctly, 2,060 pips from 9/4/08 to 10/10/08 with only one 60 pip losing trade! Your first thought might be "Craig, it's time to close the blog because you just found the Holy Grail!"; however, there's one important tidbit that you can't see from the statement. At one point, the FAP was floating two losing trades with total negative pips of roughly 1,500. That's an amount that could blow out an account that isn't using proper money management! I thought the FAP would close out a huge loss at the end of September but thanks to the crumbling U.S. economy, the trend reversed and the month was saved. So here are my thoughts: You can't take away the fact that the EA closed an astonishing amount of pips in just over a month; however, I do think these are extraordinary times. Just look at the stock market and the insane volatility. I feel that this run might have been a stroke of good luck for the EA. Time will tell. My only advice is that if you do decide to use the EA on a live account, make sure you could weather a 1,500 pip drawdown OR set a high stop/loss.

My Wizard testing has come to a standstill thanks to the crazy stock market. The first week or so of trading was good but then everything came crashing down and I stopped trading. I don't think anybody can predict the markets from one day to the next at this point. Once things calm down and are a bit more predictible I will definitely try The Wizard again. Right now I feel like my best financial move is to use cash to pay down line of credit debt and just sit on the sidelines. If you're like me and still need to get a little action, here's something I've been doing. Check out the top day's losers on CNBC about an hour before market close. Find out why each stock is down significantly. Most likely there's a news story that preceded the drop. Today's market is driven by fear. It is very likely that the stock was oversold and there will be a bounce in the near future. Take a look at the company's fundamentals as well as the gravity of the news. Pick up some shares if you determine that this stock was oversold. Your goal is to sell it in the near future when the stock rebounds and cash in your profit. This is risky so don't commit too much of your portfolio. I'm sure there are plenty of deals out there for those willing to buy and hold.

I would like to remind everybody to check out my past posts about the Sports Betting Champ System and the Betting System Maximizer. The NBA season is fast approaching. Last year's record was an impressive 71-1.

Forex Autopilot and The Wizard Performance Update

2008-09-18T19:11:00.004-04:00

Hi All,

I'll start with my weekly update of the Forex Autopilot. It is running on an IBFX demo account with default settings, 2 max trades, since 9/4/2008. The good news is that the FAP has closed 800 pips. The bad news is that it is floating 2 losing trades totaling 630 pips. Net result is +170 pips for the month. Interestingly only 3 of the 40 closed trades were buys. It is definitely picking up on the downtrend; however, both my losers are short (1.3902 and 1.4104).

I am also testing The Wizard signal provider for stocks. I have used it for a week now and have done fairly well. I had one losing trade that I closed out for a 6% loss but 4 other winning trades. One of my trades was actually up 27% in one day! I sold half of the position at a 12% profit as the system instructed. It's way too early to make a recommendation on this system. With a $99/month cost it has to perform well to make it worthwhile. I will say that I feel there are some bugs in the portfolio feature. This allows you to track your open and pending trades. I had one trade close out although the position should have really stayed open. The support person has been responsive but is basically claiming that it's working as intended, although I know that it's not. Oh well, I bought it for the signals anyway.

Until next week,
Craig

New Forex Autopilot Results 9/11/08

2008-09-11T21:58:00.002-04:00

I've been running the new Forex Autopilot EA on a demo account since 9/4 with default settings. On 9/8 I changed the max trades setting to "2". Here are my current results.

As you can see it closed an amazing 660 pips between 9/4 and 9/11; however, floating losses total 424 pip. Although the net is still a very respective positive (+236 pips) I still feel that trading without a stop loss is a scary venture. I for one am not convinced that this EA is totally "fixed". I am going to continue to run this EA on the demo account and will update you when I have more info.

I have decided to take some time away from Forex trading. I've been trading since the beginning of the year and have found Forex to be an extremely difficult market. I have made nice profits, only to give them back to the market just as quickly as they came. I have decided to go back to my first love, stock trading.

I am testing a new (in '08) service called The Wizard. The site offers specific entry and exit signals for stocks, futures, ETF's, and even Forex. The site is more of a tool than a stock picking site. Their proprietary trend indicators pick the direction of specific industries and then recommend stocks within those industries. The idea is always to trade with the trend. As far as I can tell the results have been great. This week's results are always posted on the homepage. The site was created by Gene Stunkel, who from a quick Google search appears to be a legitimate trader/speaker/banker/real estate investor. You pay a monthly fee for each product. The stock site is $99/month, so you probably want to have at least $5,000 to trade with to use this product. I will begin picking stocks this week and will update my blog periodically. I would love to hear if anybody has used this service and if so, what the results were. I have not found much in the way of reviews as this was launched in spring of '08.

Til next time,
Craig

Follow Up Post on Forex Autopilot

2008-09-05T20:43:00.005-04:00

I just wanted to share some exciting results from the new Forex Autopilot EA. This is running the default settings and starting only yesterday. The EA is set to trade a maximum of 2 trades at the same time. Take a look at the 15-min chart (reds=sells, greens=buys):

That's a total of TWENTY 20-pip profitable trades over 24 hours for a grand total of 400 closed pips!! I have 2 floating trades which net to +13 pips. 24 hours doesn't mean much in the long run but it was a heck of a start. I look forward to posting more results next week.

Have a great weekend,
Craig

Bogie-NN-v8 Performance Update and NEW Forex Autopilot Info

2008-09-04T21:44:00.003-04:00

Hello All,

Now that summer is winding down I should have more time to stay current with my posting.

The Bogie-NN-v8 experienced issues picking up on the change in market direction in early August. I basically gave back all of the profit that I had made the weeks prior. I turned the EA off for about a week or so then started it up about two weeks ago. A week later and I was up about 15%. Today I turned the EA off after once again giving back all of the profit I earned. I am very disappointed as I had hopes that this EA was something special. Please take a look at CK's live results here. CK's EA was set to the original settings; however, it should be noted that Boatright issued new settings a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I was using some custom settings so I don't have results using the recommended settings.

I received an interesting email from Forex Autopilot yesterday. They claimed to be offering a new FAP that was capable of picking up on both up and down trends. I was actually amazed that they finally admitted that the weakness of the EA was that it couldn't pick up on downtrends!! Anyway, the new FAP is free to download for past purchasers so I gave it a try. My demo account closed 7 20-pip profitable trades since yesterday. Interestingly, most of the trades were shorts so I guess it is now capable of picking up on a down market.

I also discovered a site called FAP Winner. It was created by Charles Floyd, who claims to be a professional trader. The site includes a FAP EA with custom settings (you don't need to buy one separately), access to a fairly active forum for questions/answers about FAP, a custom trading plan, and a weekly trading strategy. I found the weekly trading strategy to be useful. He will note things such as: "set EA to only longs this week" or "set EA to trade only during European session". These recommendations seem to be well thought-out. I was concerned about something they call the "March to a Million". Charles will send you a custom trading plan set to your account balance and based on how you can reach a million dollars in two years. My first recommended trade was 1 standard lot for my $10,000 account. If you recall, FAP doesn't have a S/L so there is a potential for huge drawdown. A 400 pip DD would put me at 40% DD based on the trading plan. I don't feel that this is proper money management.

I am currently trading both the FAP Winner EA/trading strategy and the standard new FAP on a live account (set to 1 mini lot trades). I'll plan to share my results with you soon.

Cheers,
Craig

Bogie-NN-v8 Performance Update 8-7-08

2008-08-07T21:35:00.005-04:00

Hello,

This has been a disappointing week for the Bogie-NN-v8 Expert Advisor. Last week at this time I had closed a 10% return after only 2 weeks of trading. At this moment my account balance is -3.6%. So what happened???

July 31st through August 5th the market was basically sideways. Big pip gains were not easy to come by with the EURUSD trading in such a tight range. On August 5th the trend became strongly bearish and we saw the price drop over 350 pips since August 4th. I experienced three big losses, all on long positions. Immediately people on the discussion forums were proclaiming that this EA can't handle a downtrend. After studying the charts since the inception of this EA (June 1), the entire month of July was basically a downtrend and the EA still posted a 27% return according to the Bogie Blog site. This would dismiss the idea that it simply can't handle a bear market. So I asked this question directly to the developer. Here is William Boatright's response:

"We are also seeing these results. Not sure if just short term. Subscribers may want to only run a Demo right now or reduce input Risk=1 (1%) until we see what is happening. Also, it is difficult for EA to trade in this current lateral choppy market. End of July through August is not good trading time as many US and European large institutional traders are on vacation. The success of this EA has been to take advantage on wins and try to minimize loses. But losses will happen."

I have not completely given up on this EA. If you take a look at CK's demo results you'll see that his account is still boasting a 79.5% return since 5/29/08. That is still a spectacular return.

I hope that Boatright can make the adjustments (if neccessary) to right whatever is wrong. If you got a chance to listen to his interview you know that he is constantly optimizing his EA's and subscribers will have access to the most current version each month. As for now I have my live EA set to only take short positions. I will do this until I see that the demo accounts are performing correctly.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share your comments on this EA. Don't forget, if you do decide to purchase this EA please click on the Bogie logo to the right of this post to take advantage of the special 20% discount.
Craig

Bogie-NN-v8 Performance Update 7-31-08

2008-07-31T21:15:00.006-04:00

Hello Everybody!

My second week of trading has not been quite as profitable as the first; however, an almost 10% return (almost 11% counting my floating profit) over two weeks ain't too shabby!

This week has been tough for the EA. The EURUSD has been consolidating and trading in a tight range over the past three days. The Bogie-NN-v8 prefers trending markets. The goal is for 60% profitable trades according to developer William Boatright; therefore, the wins must be significant to achieve the kind of return that this EA has demonstrated. The longer I use this EA, the more I learn about its strategy. I got some insight from a great interview with Boatright that you can find here. Thanks to CK Owyong for setting up an informative question/answer forum. If you are truly interested in learning more about this EA I highly recommend you take an hour to listen to the full recording.

I was frustrated twice this week to see two profitable trades slip into a loss and a minimal gain. It seems that this strategy is the "go big or go home" strategy. When it picks up on a nice trend it attempts to ride it as long as possible. We will need to live with the occasional win-turned-loss if we want to cash in on the 200-300+ pip wins.

Tomorrow morning is the Nonfarm Payroll Report. During Boatright's interview he recommends shutting down the EA during major news reports. I am contemplating whether or not to shut it down tomorrow. In my case if I shut it down I will miss the entire day of trading; however, I could avoid a big loss if I'm in a trade and the currency gaps in the wrong direction. Boatright feels that the major reports to avoid are the NFP and the US and EURO prime rate change meetings. Take into consideration that results shown on Boatright's website are trading 24/5, through the news reports.

I continue to be optimistic about this EA for a number of reasons:

1. I have confidence in the developer. Boatright placed 2nd in the Automated Trading Championship last year. Listen to his interview, he is very low-key and is not simply hocking his product. He seems genuinely interested in creating a profitable EA. His motto is "Steady Equity Growth is the Name of the Game". He does not claim to make you an overnight millionaire.
2. The structure of the purchase ensures that the developer will continually be refining the product. If this EA turns out to be a failure his subscription income will cease. Boatright recently quit his "day job" and is now making his living from the results (ultimately in subscriptions) of this EA.
3. I have scoured forums and other forex sites. I have found forward tests beginning in the end of May that show significant profitability and limited risk. I have seen charts that show the EA entering and exiting positions with uncanny accuracy. The EA had the first back-to-back loss this past week since testing began in late May.
4. Stop losses are custom set to the user's specs. I know that I cannot lose more than 10% equity on any one trade. This ensures that I don't have a runaway trade that bankrupts my account.

I plan to add more money to my account shortly and potentially a greater chunk if results continue. As always, my to-date detailed statement is posted below. Keep in mind this is on a live money account which started at $3,611. Here are my settings: UseEmail=true ; UseMM=true ; MiniAcct=true ; Risk=50 ; Lots=0 ; TakeProfit=0 ; StopLoss=200 ; TrailingStop=170 ; BuyTrigger=54 ; SellTrigger=74 ; MagicNumber=12345 ; NoTradeDay1=6 ; NoTradeDay2=6 ; RenewalWarning=true.

If you plan to purchase this EA, please use my special discount link (banner to the right of this post) to get a 20% discount (only $40 per month).

Til next week,

Craig

Bogie-NN-v8 Performance Update 7/23/08

2008-07-23T12:44:00.002-04:00

Hi Everybody!

Last week I introduced the Bogie-NN-v8 Expert Advisor by William Boatright. I set the EA to work on my $3,600 live-money IBFX account on 7/16, exactly one week ago. Thus far I have been extremely impressed! Please read on...

This EA calculates lot sizes by your custom risk setting. On a standard account a risk setting of 5 equates to a 10% maximal drawdown (excluding swap) per trade. My first trade was set to a risk setting of 5 which resulted in a lot size of 0.18 mini lots. I then realized that I needed to set the risk to 50 due to the fact I was trading with a mini account. And by the way, the 10% max DD is always equal to a 200 pip S/L; therefore, if you set your max risk lower than you lot size will decrease to the point where your max risk is equal to 200 pips.

My first trade resulted in a 67 pip loss (only $12.06 due to my wrong risk setting). Second trade was a 12 pip profit, third trade a 73 pip profit, and the current open trade a 202 pip profit! A total net win of 220 pips over one week (including the open order). I realize this may be premature because the open order has yet to close but dollar-wise that equates to a 14.6% one-week return!

This is the first system I tested that uses some form of intelligent entry and exit. For example the Forex Autopilot limits profitable trades to X and losing trades are unlimited. Exit points simply depend on hitting a S/L or T/P. The Bogie-NN-v8 is constantly re-evaluating open trades and is willing to close a profit at 10 or 1000 pips depending upon internal indicators. The same goes for losing trades. My one loser was for 67 pips despite the maximal S/L of 200.

It's too early tell if this EA is the real deal but thus far I am feeling great about it. I have yet to pick out a deficiency. My one-week trade history is posted below. I will update my results next week.

A reminder that the Bogie-NN-v8 is being offered at a 20% discount only through this special link. By the way, my open trade is now up over $400 as I typed this - that's over an 11% return on my initial deposit!

Bogie-NN-v8: Could This Be the Holy Grail??

2008-07-16T12:29:00.003-04:00

Hi all!

I have exciting news to announce. After I had all but given up on finding a profitable Expert Advisor I may have found what I've been looking for. The Bogie-NN-v8 EA was released on June 1st, 2008 by William Boatright. Boatright earned $55,000 for his second place finish in the 2007 Automated Trading Championship. Boatright is highly regarded as one of the leaders in the automated trading industry. He has created a number of commercial EA's; however, the new Bogie-NN-v8 has people talking like never before.

Now before you poo-poo this as another affiliate promotion, please note that this is NOT a Clickbank product with a hyped up sales page and annoying pop-ups. Don't believe me - check out the site: Bogie Enterprises or Bogie Blog .

Bogie-NN-v8 produced an actual return of 79.8% during the month of June 2008. Risk percentage can be custom set. I set mine to the moderate setting of 5%. This equates to a maximal drawdown of 13.55% and generated a return of 179% between 1/1/08 and 6/1/08 according to the manual.

I discovered this product yesterday and had it running on my live account by last night. I plan to do weekly updates on my LIVE account performance.

The cost of this EA is $49.50 per month. I decided to see if I could negotiate a discount for my blog visitors (it never hurts to ask). Boatright is offering a 20% discount to visitors of Craig's Money Making Blog through this link. Unfortunately this is only valid for new members. Note that you must purchase through my link or you will pay the normal $49.50/month. Do yourself a favor and check this out. I am super excited to update you on my performance.

Craig

PS. If you are interested in the performance of the Forex Tracer EA on my demo account, account equity is currently down 6.7% since the EA started running. I do plan to update the statement at some point but am in no rush since it's not performing.

Forex Tracer Performance Update 7-6-08

2008-07-06T20:52:00.003-04:00

Greetings! I'm back from vacation with demo results for the new Forex
Tracer EA. My demo statement can be viewed here.

You'll notice that the account equity declined almost 2% from 6/22 through today. The loss is primarily due to one trade which hit the 250 pip stop loss. This occurred during a very volitile day for the dollar. There were 5 winning trades for 30 pips each (3 longs and 2 shorts) and a couple minimal wins. I found it interesting that there was a fairly equal number of buys and sells and also that the EA was successful going in both direction.

I definitely am interested to see how this continues to perform. Check it out for yourself here. There is a 56-day money back guarantee so I would recommend putting it on a demo account to test it out.

Cheers!
Craig

Forex Tracer EA - Anybody Heard of it?

2008-06-20T22:44:00.003-04:00

Hi all,
I just discovered the Forex Tracer EA. This particular EA trades the EURUSD on a 30-minute chart. Backtest results (Northfinance) over the past two years show maximal drawdown of 25% and the original $25,000 deposit growing to $360,000. The backtest is very interesting in that the EA frequently modifies open trades. Unlike the Forex Autopilot there are both longs and shorts.

I'm always skeptical but if we don't try it we'll never really know. I purchased the EA and set it up on my IBFX demo account to begin trading this week. I'll keep you all informed of my results. Click here to learn more about Forex Tracer.

Cheers,
Craig

New Blog Posts Actual Sports Betting Champ Results

2008-06-18T12:17:00.002-04:00

Hello all!

I am writing a quick update to inform you that there is a new blog called My Betting Blog (www.mybettingblog.net) which is tracking the actual performance of Sports Betting Champ using my Betting System Maximizer. The results are posted after the completion of each series.

The blog was started on June 7th and shows an ROI of 8.83% after only two bets. It will definitely be interesting to see the actual results on a real account. I think it will turn some of the naysayers into believers.

As a side note, I released a free bonus Alternate Strategy for use with Sports Betting Champ. Members will have access to the strategy as well as the actual NBA/MLB result comparison between the traditional and alternate strategy. The new strategy showed a 19% ROI improvement over the traditional strategy during the current MLB season (through 6/5/08). I believe this bonus is easily worth the cost of the Betting System Maximizer alone.

Once again, apologies to my Forex visitors. This summer has been very busy so far and I haven't had time to test any new EA's. I will mention that somebody tried the Forex Autopilot on a one-hour chart over a multiple currencies with success (both long and short). I plan to test this strategy myself when I have time.

Enjoy the summer!

Craig

Free Betting System Maximizer Offer Expires 5/31/08

2008-05-22T18:35:00.003-04:00

Well folks, all good things must come to an end. Some of the affiliates promoting my product are not happy that I am giving it away for free. It looks as though I need to set an expiration date for the offer. In order to keep everybody happy I am extending my free offer until the end of the month.

Over the past week I have given a number of memberships away to past buyers and a few new buyers of Sports Betting Champ. The offer was meant as a "thank you" to all of my blog visitors, old and new. I have gotten some great feedback regarding the Betting System Maximizer and am pleased with the response. People seem to feel that it's worth the $49.95 as I have had no refund requests from paid members and only positive comments.

All that being said, you still have until 5/31/2008 to claim your free Betting System Maximizer. Please read my last post to learn how to claim it. If you've been on the fence as whether to buy Sports Betting Champ, now is the time. 5/31 is the last day you'll be able to receive my $49.95 Betting System Maximizer at no charge - no exceptions.

Remember, you need to have either purchased or purchase the Sports Betting Champ system through my blog link. Make sure that at the bottom of the credit card order page it says Affiliate=cwp1979. If it doesn't, delete cookies and go through my link again.

Cheers,
Craig

Click here for past Betting System Maximizer and Sports Betting Champ posts

P.S. I apologize to all of my Forex visitors. I have not had sufficient time to test any new Forex product recently due to the development and promotion of Betting System Maximizer. Rest assured I do plan to continue my search for a truely profitable autotrading system. Please check back often...

Sports Betting Champ - New Betting System Maximizer

2008-05-12T20:21:00.005-04:00

This post is a "must read" for anybody who has already purchased the Sports Betting Champ system or may purchase it in the future. I am proud to announce today's launch of the Betting System Maximizer, a new product for Sports Betting Champ users. I am even happier to announce that I am giving this product away for FREE to my blog visitors who have either already purchased the Sports Betting Champ system or plan to purchase the system through my blog link...read on!

Through this blog I have been advising a number of visitors who purchased the Sports Betting Champ through my blog link. The majority of these individual had absolutely no experience with sports betting. I realized that the primary stumbling block was managing betting amounts to limit risk. The one drawback of the system is a non-existent money management system. I set out to develop a spreadsheet-based calculator to automatically calculate the correct amount to bet based on your personal risk tolerance level. Through this process I stumbled upon an equally valuable benefit, profit maximization. The Betting System Maximizer takes all of the guesswork out of making bets. It mathematically calculates your optimal bet and tells you whether to increase or decrease future series bets based on constantly changing odds.

I have been using this calculator myself and could not fuction without it. I also forwarded it to some test users who also loved it. I decided that it was actually so valuable that people would pay for it. I built a website around it and launched it through Clickbank. The cost is $49.95 to the general public. Visit the site at http://betting-system-maximizer.com

Here is how to get it for free for new users:
1. Follow this link to purchase the Sports Betting Champ.
2. Upon completing the transaction email me at cwp1979@gmail.com with your first and last name.
3. I will email you the link to the Members Area for immediate download. Expect to receive the email within 24 hours (may be longer on weekends).

Here is how current users can get it for free:
1. Email me at cwp1979@gmail.com and mention that you already purchased through my link and give me your first and last name.
2. I will email you the link within 24 hours.
NOTE: THIS ONLY PERTAINS TO INDIVIDUALS THAT PURCHASED THROUGH MY LINK

I sincerely hope you enjoy the product as much as I do. Please feel free to drop me a line with questions, comments, or suggestions. Any product testimonials to post on my website would be much appreciated!

Craig

P.S. The system is 11-0 in MLB bets this season (as of today) and went 79-1 during this past NBA season. That's a 99% win rate! And that is why a level-headed banker like myself am plugging a sports betting system...

Past Sports Betting Champ posts and FAQs

UPDATE: THIS OFFER ENDS 5/31/2008.

Instant Forex Profit System Testing 5/11/08

2008-05-11T19:12:00.003-04:00

Happy Mothers Day! Hope you all remembered to call mom.

I've decided to discontinue my testing of the Forex Autopilot until a future version is released. The poor performance in a downtrend is obvious. Please see prior posts.

I finally got a chance to purchase and tinker around with the Instant Forex Profit System. The system is an .exe program. It is definitely simple and easy to use. In fact, the pure simplicity of it makes me suspect...or maybe it's genius? We shall see.

You basically find the high, low, and close for the past two weeks of whichever currency you choose. It claims to work best on GBPUSD and USDCHF because of their volatility. You input the 6 numbers, choose your currency, and click "Make Decision". The software instantly chooses a pending long and short position to take. Recommended S/L is 30 pips and T/P is 80 pips. I'm not sure what it uses to calculate but I assume that it's basically a hedge to pick up a trend. Trades are to be placed sometime between market open and Monday AM. If the long is triggered then the software gives you a figure to adjust your short. All trades are closed out manually close to market close. This could pose an issue for me since I'm at work when the market closes.

I'm always skeptical of hyped-up forex systems; however, I do enjoy testing them (on a demo account this time!). The cost of the Instant Forex Profit System is a one-time payment of $97 and is a Clickbank product which means that the 8-week money-back guarantee is sure to be honored.

I placed pending orders in EURUSD and GBPUSD currencies. If anybody else decides to purchase this software I would be pleased to share your results with everybody.

Best,
Craig

Forex Autopilot Performance Update 5/4/08

2008-05-04T20:47:00.003-04:00

Greetings! This will be a short update as there is not much to talk about. I closed out the losing trade on my live account for about a 400 pip loss this past week. I decided to remove the EA from my live account until I see how my demo account does in this volatile market.

My demo account closed out it's long position at 1.6009 for a 385 pip loss on 5/1/08. Interesting I actually lost more on my live account due to a hedge that I closed out as the market temporarily rebounded. To my dismay the EA opened another long at 1.5625 which is currently floating a 175 pip loss.

I'm not going to post the actual trade details this week as I've already detailed the only trades closed.

Thus far the results during a downtrend have been weak to say the least. The EA catches pips easily on an uptrend. The EA also did well in a market trading in range (with a little help). I will continue to run the EA on the demo and hope that Markus Leary continues to fine-tune the EA.

Craig

Click here to see past Forex Autopilot updates.

Instant Forex Profit System

2008-04-30T22:26:00.004-04:00

Good Evening All. I decided it was time that I begin testing a new money making opportunity. Last week I got word that a new product called the Instant Forex Profit System was to be released at noon today by Stephen Wilson. The fact that it was new and untested attracted me to this product. I am skeptical as usual, especially with a name like "Instant Forex Profit System". I haven't been trading Forex long but long enough to know that profits typically aren't "instant".

This product is software along the same line as the Forex Killer. Trades are placed manually. I've learned my lesson and now plan to test this product on a demo account.

I hope to begin testing when I get some free time next week. I will plan to keep you all informed with my progress.

Craig

Forex Autopilot Mid-week Update 4/29/08

2008-04-29T19:12:00.003-04:00

Hi all! I want to remind everybody that tomorrow at 00:00 GMT 5/1/08 your Forex Autopilot will close all open trades. This also includes any manually entered trades. If you do not wish to have your trades closed then remove your EA until after 5/1.

The EA was made to close any floating losses/profits at the beginning of each month. I plan to allow it to close out my "hands off" demo account. On my live account my short hedge at 1.5590 is now in play and I've locked in roughly a 400 pip loss. I'm not sure whether I'll close out or wait to see if we experience an uptick in the market. The FED is meeting tomorrow and there may or may not be another quarter percent rate cut. I believe that non-action may be a very bullish sign for the dollar and it may be time to cut losses on those floating 1.5900+ longs.

Best,
Craig

Forex Autopilot Performance Update 4/25/08

2008-04-25T16:15:00.003-04:00

Happy Friday! Time for this week's review of the Forex Autopilot EA by Markus Leary.

This week we saw the EURUSD reach the record 1.6000 level and then make a major correction to a close at 1.5593 (a 400+ swing in a matter of days). We all knew this was coming but it was a matter of "when". Due to the EA's preference for long positions many of you are either sitting on significant drawdown or have manually closed out a large loss. My live (somewhat manually managed) account closed 186 pips of profit and is floating a 379 pip loss. The "hands off" demo account closed 150 pips and is floating a 416 pip loss.

I chose not to stop out the trade as I've been burned a few times in the past for letting my emotions get the best of me. I will however, monitor the market closely next week and potentially stop out the loss. At this point my $3,000 deposit has grown to a balance of $4,010 so I'm really just losing profit rather than principal. If I chose to do nothing the trade will eventually close out automatically on the 1st of May.

One strategy to manage the current drawdown is to manually place a hedge trade. By setting a short position you will in effect "lock in" your loss as the market continues to decline. With each pip decline, the long will lose a pip and the short will gain a pip - netting out to a wash. If you decide that the market has begun an uptrend you can close out the hedge trade and your "locked in" loss will decline as the price climbs. I wish I would've set a hedge as I'm worried about a potential gap at market open.

Collectively we have learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of this EA and hopefully we will continue to learn how to maximize the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses. I spoke with a representative from Forex Autopilot yesterday and he mentioned that updates will be released and all existing users will be notified. I would be excited to see what changes will be made in the future.

On an unrelated note, you can now access this blog at www.craigsmoneymakingblog.com. Now it's much easier to remember when you're at work!

Have a great weekend and let's hope for a good upcoming week of trading.
Craig

Click here to view past Forex Autopilot updates.

Sports Betting Champ Update and FAQS

2008-04-23T18:00:00.006-04:00

I thought I'd take some time mid-week to update everybody on the recent performance of the Sports Betting Champ (SBC) system by John Morrison. As mentioned in my last SBC post, the final tally for the 2007/2008 NBA season was 79 wins and 1 loss. The MLB season is also off to a great start with 5 wins and 0 losses. Last night's win with Seattle netted me $50 cash - not bad for the 90 seconds it took to read the emailed pick and place the bet!

I've gotten a number of skeptical emails due to the nature of this system. This is certainly reasonable and I would advise anybody to do their due diligence before putting any type of money making program into action. I thought I'd share some of the frequently asked questions and answer them to the best of my ability. Keep in mind that I walk a fine line between giving away too much information about a copyrighted system; therefore, I unfortunately cannot answer every question.

What exactly is the "system" - software, a web site, a book?

The "system" is a strategy for picking games and structuring bets. There is a separate system for the NBA (basketball) and MLB (baseball) season. You will receive each strategy via PDF file so you clearly understand the concept. The great thing is that you will receive an email from John on the morning of each bet. This means that although you know WHY the games are being picked, you don't have to do the legwork.

What has kept you from betting like $1000 per game? I would think with such accuracy you'd be inclined to bet at least that much.

You can't expect to bet $100 100 times, win 97 times, lose 3 times, and net out to $9,400 profit. If the system worked like that I could quit my job. The system involves picking particular 3-game series. A series may take 3 bets (3 games) to finally win and net a profit for the series. A losing series will happen less than 3% of the time but when you do lose, you will have actually lost 3 bets (each consecutively larger). This means that you need to keep a bankroll large enough to weather a rare losing series. For example, I deposited $800 in my account and set a per game profit target of $20. Sometimes I'd win $20 if my team won the first game of the series and sometimes I'd win $60 if my team won on the third game. Based on this level of betting I could survive a losing series and still have enough funds to keep betting at the same pace. I ran many scenarios and based on a 97% win rate I would win $1,552 over 100 bets with a required initial bankroll of $1,150. This represents over 100% ROI on 100 bets. There were 80 bets in just this past NBA season alone so your total yearly bets will far exceed 100, serving only to further increase your yearly ROI. Also keep in mind that this past NBA season was actually a 98.75% win rate which would have significantly increased the profit (over $2,000 net). As you can see, this isn't a "get rich quick" scheme but a 100%+ ROI seems like a good place to park some of my investment funds. You can't beat the diversification.

I was about to pull the trigger on the sports betting system until I saw a part about a 55% bonus for you first deposit. How is this possible? If John Morrison paid it he would be operating at a huge loss.

The bonus is from the sportsbook site, not John Morrison.It's common for gambling sites to have bonuses to get people to play. They're banking on you losing all of your money anyway. The bonus is structured based on how much you deposit. So if you only do $500 you may only get 20%(I don't know the exact structure).55% is the max bonus. I only deposited $800 and I think I got $125 (can't remember exactly). The great thing for me was that the bonus paid for most of the cost of the system.

I know nothing about sports betting or even sports in general. Is this for me?

This was my first attempt at sports betting. I don't even follow the MLB or NBA season. In fact I didn't watch a single game that I bet on thus far! Anybody with average intelligence can comprehend and benefit from this system. The picks are emailed to you and all you have to do is place them on the site.

How can John Morrison continue to pick winners? How can I be sure this will continue?

Both of the systems are based on a scenario that happens infrequently. When a series matches this certain scenario it has resulted in a 97%+ win rate over many years. This is statistical research, not gambling in my opinion. Here are the most recent statistics according to John's site:

NBA Basketball
'04/'05 season 68 wins - 2 losses
'05/'06 season 71 wins - 3 losses
'06/'07 season 66 wins - 2 losses
'07/'08 season 79 wins - 1 loss

MLB Baseball
2004 season 48 wins - 0 losses
2005 season 55 wins - 3 losses
2006 season 52 wins - 1 loss
2007 season 67 wins - 3 losses
2008 season as of 4/23/08 5 wins - 0 losses

Are there any drawbacks to this system?

The only real risk you run is from variance. Variance occurs when you flip a quarter ten times and it lands on heads 8 of the 10 times. Statistically it should land on heads only 50% of the time but sometimes you get unlucky. The odds of losing two series within a short period of time are extremely low as your chance of losing each series is less than 3%, but it could happen. I feel confident enough in the long-term statistics to reload the account even if I wiped it out with two losses in a row.

Overall I really like this product. Unlike the Forex Autopilot it is proven and there is historical data to back it up. Don't get me wrong, the FAP has made a great return but the long-term results are still up in the air.

Please feel free to email or comment any questions about this system. I did develop my own wagering structure for the MLB season which I feel is superior to John's. I would be glad to share it and also walk anybody through the steps of making their first bets. I have done this in the past and am more than willing to do it again. The only thing I ask is that you purchase it through my link.
It's the only way I can know that you actually purchased the product and avoid copyright infringement.

Best,
Craig

Past Sports Betting Champ Posts:
Sports Betting System Independent Review

Forex Autopilot Performance Update 4/20/08

2008-04-20T16:50:00.005-04:00

Greetings all! I am anxious to add a fresh post as it's taking 10 minutes just to scroll through all of the 89+ comments on my last post. The discussion has been great and provides educational value for all visitors (myself included). Keep it up!

I've had another profitable week of trading with the Forex Autopilot EA. I closed approximately 340 pips on my live account this week ($340). That's an 11% return on my original $3,000 deposit.

The FAP closed 7 trades this week for a total of 165 pips (5x25 and 2x20). The remainder of my profit was made from manual trades that I placed using my strategy described in last week's post. I have realized that I cannot run this EA totally "hands off" in my live trading account. I can't help making easy money when I get the opportunity. Because of this reason I have decided to run a demo account through the same broker, starting with the same capital, and running the same EA settings. Each week I will post both my live results and demo results. That will give us a truly "hands off" look at what this EA can do.

The EUR/USD hit new heights last week which made me nervous because of the EA's preference to take long positions. I actually turned the EA off for about 12 hours until the market made a correction. Unfortunately during Thursday night it rebounded and I entered a buy at 1.5923 and the market dropped significantly. I placed a manual hedge buy at 1.5848 on Friday AM. I'm currently sitting on a combined drawdown (manual and FAP trade) of approximately 184 pips. I'm not overly concerned and may either break even or possibly profit on both trades. Last I checked the US ecomomy didn't rebound over the weekend :-)

A frequent visitor to the site, Peter (fxisland on the comment thread), created a spreadsheet that calculates return based on inputted winning %, avg win, avg loss, etc. Thanks Peter! The Excel spreadsheet can be downloaded here.

I have posted this week's live account statement below. Another blog visitor, Fawzi, has generously shared his FAP results which can be downloaded here.

I have noticed through the comment thread that some of you may not be running the FAP on a virtual private server (VPS). A VPS is a subscription service that allows you to have a server-based operating system that runs 24/7 and guarantees nearly 100% uptime. I use VPS Land and pay $20 a month for the service. I originally was running my EA's off of a laptop which eventually froze up one day while I was at work and cost me some real money. The VPS allows me to access the same MT4 platform from any computer with an internet connection. Ck Owyong has a wonderful tutorial on setting up a VPS here.

I have also noticed that there is some confusion between the Forex Autopilot by Markus Leary, the Forex Autopilot by Mark Copeland, and the Forex Killer by Andreas Kirchberger. Markus Leary's version is that product that I've been testing. Copeland is offering another EA which I have not tested. Kirchberger created a tool for generating signals. This is not an automated system and is to be used in conjunction with you other technical and fundamental indicators. I have purchased the Forex Killer but never spent a significant amount of time with it. My focus is on automated trading as I don't really have time to manually trade. I have heard some good things about the Forex Killer and have heard some bad things about Copeland's Forex Autopilot; however, I encourage you to do your own testing and make your own mind up.

Cheers!

Craig

Past Forex Autopilot Updates:
Forex Autopilot Performance Update 4/11/08
Forex Autopilot Update 4/4/08
Forex Autopilot Independent Review

Forex Autopilot Performance Update 4/11/08

2008-04-11T15:27:00.012-04:00

It's been yet another profitable week of Forex trading for the Forex
Autopilot EA. The final pip count for this week was 125. Not quite as impressive as past weeks but definitely respectable. Based on my initial deposit of $3,000 this is a one-week gain of 4.2%. If I can average this for the year my return would be 217%. Not bad for an $89 software program.

I've been scouring the net for discussion boards, blogs, and honest reviews of this program for over a month. It seems like everybody is having a positive experience with this EA. It has outperformed other commercial EA's that cost significantly more. I'm considering increasing my mini-lot setting to 2 - which would net me a $50 profit per trade. I should be okay if I set a 500 pip stop loss based on my equity balance of close to $3,500.

I have identified one weaknesses of the EA. I am concerned with the high number of long positions it takes. I did not have a single short position all week. This is especially concerning when the price reaches an upper resistance (say 1.5880). If I take a position at the peak it may be a long time before it breaks through the resistance to reach my profit target. Additionally, my opportunity cost is all of the trades that I miss while waiting it to close. My first idea was to set a stop sell at say 1.5870 (+/-). If the price increased to that amount it would enter a short position and the EA would not enter another position until this sell was closed (say at 1.5800). I tested this scenario and found that the EA will not enter new trades when you have a pending order set. On to "Plan B". When the EA has taken a long position close to the upper resistance (say 1.5850) I manually place a short position. The FAP long position will still close when it hits the profit target but it will not open any more trades. This means that I can wait until the short position closes (say 1.5800) and then restart the EA (you will need to manually remove and replace the EA to get it going again). This is not a perfect solution because you do need to monitor it to make sure you place the sell trade before the target is hit and the EA places a new trade. It does however mitigate some of the risk of getting "stuck" with a long position at the peak.

I hope that the creators of the EA will upgrade it to allow the "max orders" option to work. This would allow the EA to open multiple orders. It is currently an option that doesn't work.

Overall I am very satisfied with the performance and would recommend it to anybody to try. Everybody has their own risk tolerance but even at a 0.50 mini-lot setting it will probably pay for itself in a week or so. Here is the website.

I have received a number of emails regarding this program. I would encourage you to post under the "Comments" section below. This would be beneficial to other visitors who have similar questions or would like to learn about other user's personal experiences. I am still fine with answering personal emails if you feel more comfortable communicating directly.

Additionally, I would love to learn about other money making opportunities that you have personally come across. I can either post your own "guest blog" or do my own review of the opportunity. I am open to all types of money making concepts. As you may have read earlier, I am an advocate of the Sports Betting Champ system. This may not be your typical investment but it does provide a nice return at a low risk.

This week's FAP results are posted below. You'll notice two trades that were placed manually. All $25 profit trades were placed by the FAP. I am running the following settings: Lots: 1 ;LRR: 1 ; MO: 1 ; ML : 100 ; aaa: 13 ; bbb:14 ; TP: 25 ; SL: 0 ; TS: 50 ; SG: 0.5 ; SP: 3 ; SGD: 0.2 ; SGW: 0.

Have a great weekend!

Past Forex Autopilot Updates:
Forex Autopilot Update 4/4/08
Forex Autopilot Independent Review

Doubling Stocks Trade Picks

2008-04-08T21:39:00.005-04:00

I discovered the Doubling Stocks website a couple weeks ago and found it interesting enough to purchase. It's a $47 one-time payment for however long they continue to offer picks. There's a money-back guarantee though Clickbank so I am confident that it will be honored.

Their goal is to pick stocks that will double in a short time. Their past picks and performance are listed here.

The site advertises that two picks are made each week but it seems like they just make a pick whenever an opportunity arises. I received an email on Thursday that stated that the new pick will be released on Friday at 9:30AM (market opening). They gave me a link to the release and it was also supposed to be emailed to me. Unfortunately I never received the email on Friday and didn't have the link at work. I was able to stop home at lunch and placed the trade at 12:30pm (3 hours after the release). The pick had a fair amount of fundamental data behind it that seemed legit and well thought out. The stock (I can't release the ticker) was an over-the-counter penny stock that was thinly traded prior to Friday. The price shot up about 55% shortly after the market opened. I'm not sure whether I would've gotten in at the low end because I got the pick 3 hours late. Nevertheless, I still bought $100 worth of the stock. After less than 3 days my stock is up about 12%. That's not a bad 3-day return even if I sold it right now.

Their recommendation is to hold it for 2-3 months for maximum gain. I have a feeling that this could be some sort of pump and dump scheme; however, it's hard to believe that this newsletter would have a following that's sufficient enough to really significantly effect the stock price.

I'm still very skeptical and will plan to update my performance in a week. Check out the site here for yourself.