Why is it not worth buying systems on Allegro?

'Dream machine COMBO !!!', 'Mega extended EA FOREX',,Effective Forex Investing System if ,Real forex scalping system '- these are just a few of the auction titles that popped out after entering the phrase Forex in the search engine of the largest auction site in Poland. Not only that, the price of any of the above systems does not exceed PLN 100. According to the descriptions, they generate great results and guarantee earnings of hundreds of thousands of zlotys or pips, if you prefer. You want to buy these wonderful forex systems from Allegro, because it seems to be an incredible opportunity to make your dreams come true.

Okay, but more seriously ... Are you wondering where the catch is, since everything at first glance looks quite plausible? This article will answer that question.

Why does someone sell their system?

This is the first question we should ask ourselves. If someone has a great system that generates amazing revenues, why is the author playing with selling it for PLN 300, 200, or even PLN 10 on Allegro? Of course, this is just an example - this applies to all systems available for pennies on the Internet.

Well, there can be many reasons for such a sale. In fact, as many as there are sellers and they are limited only by their imagination. The most common arguments are that it is an additional profit, and no money stinks. Fact, that's why it's worth selling a lot of hard work for a penny :-). Others say they do not have enough capital to start a serious investment, hence they are selling a certain package to raise capital and make millions on their own FX system themselves.

Forex systems from Allegro

According to the principle "something that is more difficult to obtain is more desirable", sellers often clearly indicate that they plan to sell only 10 unique pieces of the system, because they do not want it to become too popular for fear that it will stop working. Of course, after some time they change their minds and put out another 10 pieces :-).

But how can the author of the system know that a given strategy works on a real account, since he has never had capital for investments? And if he knows that it works, he probably had a deposit? Only what could have happened to him ... Hmm ... The actual reasons for the sale are completely different, but about that a few paragraphs below.

Big price increases credibility?

You might think so at first. If someone has worked hard to develop a given system and it is effective, he will not sell it for PLN 10 or 200. Setting a higher price of PLN 1500, or even a prohibitive price of PLN 10, gives the impression that if something costs so much, it must be good. Who knows, maybe it is ... On the other hand, most of them will not be able to afford such a system or will not be ready to give in the blind, so sometimes sellers come up with the idea of ​​throwing themselves on the product ("find 000 other people and you will put together PLN 3"). After all, it's all about selling, because you were never meant to make money by using this system, and if you think otherwise, read the previous paragraph again.

Original ideas - are you sure?

If someone who has spent some time on the FX market and in the meantime searched a lot on the Internet on forums (Polish and foreign) in various strategies and systems, and then reads descriptions of some auctions, it may get the impression that some things have already been seen somewhere. It could be. A lot of people selling this type of stuff online simply don't care about copyright somewhere and offer people systems that are available for free online. A few light touches, changed the description and naming, a few screens and voila - the system is like new.

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Similarly with EA, that is, automated strategies. It seems common to download someone's EA from the network, decompile (if it is needed), change the name and sale as a super extra product to earn money.

Are all systems sold on the net a scam?

Well, I did not analyze everyone, but I can say that the vast majority do. Can you find a gem thanks to which we will earn? It is possible, however, that it will not be easy and will require proper preparation about what will happen next.

Why can someone sell their "profitable" system?

Usually because he does not earn money, he earns money, but for a while, and then he starts to lose or is so risky that the "author" himself is afraid to use it. in other words, it can earn but play at such a risk that long-term bankruptcy is inevitable (typical of martingales i grids). It is also possible that he once earned money and suddenly stopped, e.g. as a result of changes in market conditions, and the author decided that he would try to squeeze out of him as much as possible.

In the case of machines, it may also be that the system itself earns, but only in a demo account in artificial market conditions or has great results only in historical tests on the backtester (EA settings perfectly matched to the history of a given pair).

I own a whole set of such strategies myself, and if anyone would be interested in buying, of course I invite you :)). Below are some examples from my collections.

Demo account

Backtest EA

Demo account - USD million of profit

What to look for when evaluating the system?

It cannot be said in advance that all systems are a scam. If someone decides to find their zloty this way The grail it is worth knowing what to look for when choosing it before buying and using it.

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Good advice is not bad

• Check what accounts screenshots are from. Can you see anywhere that is the real account? If not, immediately assume that all come from the demo.
• Does the seller show a part or the entire account history? By showing the part, you can assume that we can see the best fragment, and what is in the remaining part can only be guessed.
• How accurate and professional is the listing / system description. Are these sentences like "when you cut green through red, we buy" or you can see that the seller himself knows what he is offering and knows the currency market.
• Is it possible to verify the transaction history in any way through an external portal, for example MyFxBook or receiving an investor password to the platform.
• Is the history of the transaction is fairly fresh and does not come, for example, a year or two ago. You can also ask for a part of the history to be saved from the period of your choice. The transaction history saved in the form of a file can be forged. It is true that it is a bit of fun but for those who want nothing difficult. A small sample on the screen under the points.
• There are also cases where system sellers get along with brokers and, for example, share a part of the profits. For the fact that they will authenticate his transaction history (the demo will be visible as a real account, transactions with withdrawals will be visible, etc.). Of course, such a fraud can only be committed by companies with a dubious reputation, so pay attention to which broker the seller plays with. If this is a bush company that hardly anyone has heard of, forget it right away.

What else is important?

• Does the seller provide any post-purchase consultation or answer questions? If it is a manual system, not everything can be clearly seen from the description. In the case when the seller is not its author, it becomes a small problem, because he may not know how to use it exactly… If it is EA, the problem is smaller, because most of it is hardly written in the code. We can experiment with the settings ourselves.
• It is said that success on the FX market depends primarily on the psyche and on capital management. If the system you are selling does not provide for the latter (because the first one has no effect), it is also not worth much. Even if we assume no use of SL, we need to specify the volume of transactions in some way, and when we see that on the screenshoot from the auction all the time the same flight occurs, we can immediately assume that Money Management does not exist in any form.
• In the case of EA, we will definitely come across charts from backtesters, where the capital curve grows very dynamically. Pay attention to the modeling quality - if it is below 90%, there is nothing to analyze further. Check the test period and the number of transactions - if the test duration is short (a month or a maximum of several) and it has included only a few items during this time, forget about the topic. Similarly, if the test is not continuous but random (e.g. several tests for different months). If the author presents a detailed backtest report, check if the data does not contain errors (also the ticks on the graph - there is an appropriate point in the report for this) and the parameters generated by the backtester.

Part of your transaction history

Two screenshots below. Can you see "slight" differences in the account number and name and in the Profit column? It all took me 3 minutes and I didn't really try hard.

Original

A slightly modified version

However, all this can be done much better ...

What if screenshots come from a real account and everything looks believable?

If the seller has passed through all of the above points verifying the credibility of the system positively, there is a shadow of a chance that we are not dealing with fraud. Access to the platform using an investor's password to a real account, which is set up with a reliable broker, will best dispel doubts. It will certainly be the most difficult to obtain, as the seller may be afraid that we will copy his transactions without his knowledge. Although this can be bypassed by creating a sub-account or changing the password.

The really difficult task will be to find a good network system actually offered at a reasonable price. It also results from the fact that an enterprising trader will not sell fish only to the proverbial rod. And to do it is enough to use PAMM accounts or increasingly popular Social Trading. If the system is actually effective, it will definitely appear and capital, which will want to risk the investment in it.