I didn’t know if the market would win or the bots incredible prowess would win. On Friday, it became clear the Octane bot would have to yell, “Uncle.” It still did it methodically, however. It just must have decided it was missing too many trades waiting on the USDCHF pair to reverse. It didn’t say, “I was wrrrooooonnnngggg!” (I picture the Fonz saying this with much reluctance.) It simply said, “I have made a mess, and no one else is going to get me out of it.” (I’m not sure what accent an algo uses, but that is his chosen accent.) So, it started working to eliminate the reason for the excessive drawdown.

Despite my disappointment with Octane‘s performance this month, there are some things to be positive about:

• Despite a lousy month (I know it is not over yet, so the final monthly gain is not known), 12 X 1.6% is better than you are getting in the bank.
• I learned how Octance deals with a bad drawdown. It is patience to a point, but only to a point. Once it sees the trades aren’t panning out, it is willing to accept some pain/losses to get through them.
• Trading bots don’t make promises. They go out there and make decisions based on what they see in that moment AND the trades they are already engaged in. Until I have a losing month, I will trust the bots. I may have some losing days, but I need to keep focused on the monthly totals.

In conclusion, I still like the Octane bot. I didn’t like it in April as much as in March. Do April losses bring May gains? 😉