Recently, I received an inquiry from someone who was considering the EFX Octane bot.

I was grateful this person had not yet purchased the bot. Yet, I still tried to let this person know, “Many people have had a good experience with the Octane bot.” From there, I let this person know of some things to consider with the bot and beyond:

• Cost: The price this person was told was considerably more than the “intro” price I paid 6 months ago.
• Bot Effectiveness: The bot will make money. (It doesn’t count as “made” money until you withdrawal it, right?)
• Broker: You will likely work with Ox Securities. How do you feel about your money being wired to a bank in New York for your account with an Australian broker?
• VPS: Yes, you need a computer. And, no, it should not be a computer at your house. What happens if the power goes down?
• Algo Bots: The Octane bot can give good results, but there are other good bots.
• MT4 and the intermittent updates: This is going to happen with any bot you choose to work with. The software gets updated, and the older versions may show, “No Connection” and be unable to algo trade until the manual upgrade takes place.
• Drawdown: There is going to be drawdown. When you are in deeper drawdown, the bot may miss opportunities that would have been more profitable than the trades you are tangled up in.
• Octane (specifically): Bot trading has risks. With Octane, you have the choice between Conservative, Moderate, and Aggressive. You can’t control lot sizes on any of the traded Forex pairs, especially the more volatile ones. Other bots allow you to be pickier in what is traded. With other bots, the recent issue with USDCHF could have been avoided. Prior to entering the trade, I could have chosen to not trade that pair or to trade smaller lot sizes.

I don’t know what this person will do. I certainly gave this person something to think about. Anyone who considers algorithmic trading, is a bit of a risk taker who is willing to explore options. I did not tell this person, “It is easy to algo trade. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do it.” It isn’t easy. Trusting some portion of your wealth to a a few lines of code is bordering on insanity! Good luck!