Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

[mike99]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

When I run hyperdimension 1.01 version, I got the following error:

 

2009.08.29 11:04:46 2009.01.02 10:00 Fractals4-908b_1.01 EURGBP,H4: Alert: EA had the following error(s): \n--->Program path invalid, please set 'Start In' parameter from your desktop shortcut. Contact our support team ([email protected]) for more information

 

What's happening? Should I use the dll files in "original\libraries" folder?

 

thanks

[⭐ birt]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

When I run hyperdimension 1.01 version, I got the following error:

 

2009.08.29 11:04:46 2009.01.02 10:00 Fractals4-908b_1.01 EURGBP,H4: Alert: EA had the following error(s): \n--->Program path invalid, please set 'Start In' parameter from your desktop shortcut. Contact our support team ([email protected]) for more information

 

What's happening? Should I use the dll files in "original\libraries" folder?

 

thanks

 

That's what I used, they worked ok for me.

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

EURUSD - 1.6

EURGBP - 2.0

GBPUSD - 2.5

My platform has:

EURUSD - 2

EURGBP - 4

GBPUSD - 3

 

though I think these values are a bit too high for this EA. I'm not getting good results using Every Tick. I'll try testing with lower spreads later.

 

History center shitdata. I don't feel like overdoing it with 99% quality with gain capital tick data which is dubious at best.

Yeah working with Gain Capital takes a lot of work, though the data quality is becoming a lot better than earlier years. I think FXDD data from their web site (whilst the Alpari trade server data that was available from their web site remains offline) is the best data to use practically at the moment.

 

I always use an offline terminal when testing. The errors are probably due to the terminal being online at some point and the data getting "tainted".

One of the EURUSD reports states 1116 mismatch errors, which is too high.

 

What you should do now is replace the HST files in your offline terminal (C:\Program Files\MetaTrader - Alpari UK (Offline)\history\AlpariUK-Demo) with pure offline historical data, because what you have now is historical data mixed with live quote data, and you will keep getting those errors each time you test over the data until you do replace it. If you want to stick with Metaquotes data, download it through the History Center using your online Alpari terminal, making sure that you don't have the charts open while downloading for each symbol.

 

Regarding backtest date range, on page 7 of the previous version (Build 907) Quick Start Guide it states:

If you back test the EA, you can back test as far as 2-3 years before. No need to back test to the past 5-10 years before. First, because the forex market condition always change. Second, the EA has been calculated to work best with the past 2 years market conditions.

 

I just tested 01.01-03.08 separated from the rest, with GMT offset +2 instead of +1.

I think you have the offset values the wrong way around. Here are the exact dates and corresponding offset values from some tedious analysis of Alpari data that I did a while ago:

//< 1999-10-28, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 1999-10-28 00:00 && < 2000-03-30 23:00, currentUtcOffset = 1	
//>= 2000-03-31 00:00 && < 2000-10-24 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2000-10-24 00:00 && < 2001-03-30 23:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2001-03-31 00:00 && < 2001-10-22 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2001-10-22 00:00 && < 2002-03-30 23:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2002-03-31 00:00 && < 2002-10-28 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2 
//>= 2002-10-28 00:00 && < 2003-03-30 23:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2003-03-31 00:00 && < 2003-10-27 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2003-10-27 00:00 && < 2004-03-30 23:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2004-03-31 00:00 && < 2004-10-28 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2004-10-28 00:00 && < 2005-03-31 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2005-03-31 01:00 && < 2005-10-26 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2005-10-26 00:00 && < 2006-03-31 02:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2006-03-31 03:00 && < 2006-10-24 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2006-10-24 00:00 && < 2007-03-31 02:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2007-03-31 03:00 && < 2007-10-22 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2007-10-22 00:00 && < 2008-03-31 01:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2008-03-31 02:00 && < 2008-10-27 00:00, currentUtcOffset = 2
//>= 2008-10-27 00:00 && < 2009-03-31 01:00, currentUtcOffset = 1
//>= 2009-03-31 02:00, currentUtcOffset = 2

 

Also, you should have set the parameter values that are recommended on page 9 and 10 of the Quick Start Guide. (The new version didn't come with preset files; it seems to crash MetaTrader when using them):

EURUSD
Filename Fractals4-EURUSD.set
Risk 0.3
Aggressive_Setting 5
Take_Profit 300
BEP 20
Min_StopLoss 20
Max_Open_Position 5

EURGBP
Filename Fractals4-EURGBP.set
Risk 0.2
Aggressive_Setting 3
Take_Profit 300
BEP 20
Min_StopLoss 20
Max_Open_Position 3

GBPUSD
Filename Fractals4-GBPUSD.set
Risk 0.2
Aggressive_Setting 3
Take_Profit 350
BEP 20
Min_StopLoss 20
Max_Open_Position 3

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

When I run hyperdimension 1.01 version, I got the following error:

 

2009.08.29 11:04:46 2009.01.02 10:00 Fractals4-908b_1.01 EURGBP,H4: Alert: EA had the following error(s): \n--->Program path invalid, please set 'Start In' parameter from your desktop shortcut. Contact our support team ([email protected]) for more information

 

Page 6 of the Quick Start Guide tells you how to fix it.

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Version 908b_1.02 is now here:

http://sharebee.com/fd906a61

It includes UTC offset switching code for FXDD trade server data from their web site:

http://www.fxdd.com/en/mt1m-data.html

[⭐ birt]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Yeah working with Gain Capital takes a lot of work, though the data quality is becoming a lot better than earlier years.

 

Come to think of it, I'm not even sure it's possible to use that data anymore, in the MT4 that we have nowadays. I recall the old versions I was using a while ago had a "recalculate" button in the strategy tester window and I just noticed it's gone... So I have no idea can one use an FXT file now.

 

 

I think FXDD data from their web site (whilst the Alpari trade server data that was available from their web site remains offline) is the best data to use practically at the moment.

 

I don't think it's much different from the history center data, it's still bar data not tick data. Actually, I just downloaded it and it's missing some 2+ months, from 05.27 until 08.something iirc.

 

I think you have the offset values the wrong way around.

 

You're right. However, I don't think correcting it would dramatically improve the EA performance.

 

Also, you should have set the parameter values that are recommended on page 9 and 10 of the Quick Start Guide. (The new version didn't come with preset files; it seems to crash MetaTrader when using them):

 

I did forget to set these, but the only real difference is the number of trades and the 350 TP for GBPUSD. The rest are just risk settings... I don't think setting them is really gonna make a difference. Please post your results if you test using every tick and actually pay attention to the settings ;)

 

Basically, from my point of view, the EA is quite ok, but I don't really like the smell of the July drawdown in my backtesting. Let us know if your results come up differently.

[mike99]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

EURUSD

Filename Fractals4-EURUSD.set

Risk 0.3

Aggressive_Setting 5

Take_Profit 300

BEP 20

Min_StopLoss 20

Max_Open_Position 5

 

EURGBP

Filename Fractals4-EURGBP.set

Risk 0.2

Aggressive_Setting 3

Take_Profit 300

BEP 20

Min_StopLoss 20

Max_Open_Position 3

 

GBPUSD

Filename Fractals4-GBPUSD.set

Risk 0.2

Aggressive_Setting 3

Take_Profit 350

BEP 20

Min_StopLoss 20

Max_Open_Position 3

 

Are the settings above for 5 digits broker only? What if I use FXDD (4 digits broker) to do the backtest? Should I change the settings as following?

 

EURUSD

Take_Profit 30

BEP 2

Min_StopLoss 2

 

Thanks! ^:)^

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Come to think of it, I'm not even sure it's possible to use that data anymore, in the MT4 that we have nowadays. I recall the old versions I was using a while ago had a "recalculate" button in the strategy tester window and I just noticed it's gone... So I have no idea can one use an FXT file now.

Yes, they removed the recalculate button from around build 210, so it overwrites your custom FXT file if you put one in. There may be ways around it, but I won't get into it here.

 

I don't think it's much different from the history center data, it's still bar data not tick data. Actually, I just downloaded it and it's missing some 2+ months, from 05.27 until 08.something iirc.

It can be different because it's trade server data. Indicative data would be smoother because of the averaging process of data from multiple sources, and that may make results look much better.

 

The FXDD trade server data only goes up to the end of May 2009. They just haven't updated it. I think they've even removed the link to their historical data from their web site. It feels a bit like what Alpari did. Maybe they don't want traders optimizing strategies for their platform and making big profits; I'm not sure. You could get more recent data by running the FXDD MetaTrader terminal, ensuring in the options that the number of bars in a chart is set to maximum, then opening the chart of a symbol in M1 timeframe and holding down the Home key. It will then get around the latest 2 months of data from the connected trade server (not from MetaQuotes) and you can see the new bars appear in the chart and also if you open the History Center. You can then export the latest data to a HST file for use in your offline backtesting terminal.

 

You're right. However, I don't think correcting it would dramatically improve the EA performance.

I did forget to set these, but the only real difference is the number of trades and the 350 TP for GBPUSD. The rest are just risk settings... I don't think setting them is really gonna make a difference.

They are some big assumptions that you've made. We may not know how sensitive an EA is to varying parameter values until we actually test it over different parameter values (much like the optimization process).

 

I don't really like the smell of the July drawdown in my backtesting.

The official forward test results looks much better, with only a quick and small drawdown at around 2009-07-21. So I was thinking that the drawdowns that you got in backtests were possibly due to suboptimal settings.

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Are the settings above for 5 digits broker only? What if I use FXDD (4 digits broker) to do the backtest? Should I change the settings as following?

No, don't change the settings. The take profit and stop loss values that you see are expressed as 4 digit pips.

The EA is programmed to automatically multiply it by 10 if Digits == 5.

[dirtydan]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Does this thing have a pretty decent track record or is it just another loser. I havent really messed with expert advisors but I am thinking of opening a seperate account to run one of them and trading my main account manually. \m/

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Does this thing have a pretty decent track record or is it just another loser.

 

You can read about this EA and others at the official web site:

 

http://www.forexhope.com
[url]http://forexbreakthrough.com[/url]

The forward tests that they have done for all of their EAs are particularly interesting.

 

I like the detailed technical content that they provide and discuss on their web sites, unlike a lot of the largely worthless marketing rubbish that you find for other EAs. e.g. compare with:

http://fapturbo.com
[url]http://www.forex-megadroid.com[/url]

 

I'm still tinkering with the internals and checking backtest results, and started forward testing for myself - as good as an EA vendor's own backtests and forward tests appear, you should still do your own backtests and forward tests and compare.

[⭐ birt]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

The official forward test results looks much better, with only a quick and small drawdown at around 2009-07-21. So I was thinking that the drawdowns that you got in backtests were possibly due to suboptimal settings.

 

Sure, it's entirely possible, but I'm not gonna rerun the tests anytime soon. I'm gonna look into using custom FXTs and perhaps backtest it at a later time on the gain capital data.

[saendee]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

^:)^ birt :shand: what is FXTs :-bd

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

^:)^ birt :shand: what is FXTs :-bd

They are tick data files that are automatically generated in the \tester\history folder of your MetaTrader installation when you run the Strategy Tester. Since the smallest resolution of data in the MetaTrader History Center is one minute, the ticks that are generated for each one minute bar are fake.

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

I'm gonna look into using custom FXTs

Would you know how to patch the terminal.exe file to prevent the Strategy Tester from generating a new FXT file when it is run?

 

perhaps backtest it at a later time on the gain capital data.

Do you have or are able to get the Oanda FXTicks data? It's free if you have an account there. It would be far better quality than Gain Capital data. I requested it a while ago here: http://www.indo-investasi.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=4425

[saendee]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

^:)^ many thank for that great insight into FXT :-bd Enjoy & have a nice day :shand:

[⭐ birt]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Would you know how to patch the terminal.exe file to prevent the Strategy Tester from generating a new FXT file when it is run?

 

Yes, I will probably do it sometime next week. Actually, most likely instead of doing that I will make it open for example EURUSD1_1.fxt instead of EURUSD1_0.fxt when it's done calculating it.

 

Do you have or are able to get the Oanda FXTicks data? It's free if you have an account there. It would be far better quality than Gain Capital data. I requested it a while ago here: http://www.indo-investasi.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=4425

 

My Oanda account has around 300 EUR left atm and the the minimum requirement for requesting data is 1k ;(

 

I would fund the account, but I don't think I'm going to use it again due to the lack of automation; the wire transfer bank commissions are too high to fund and withdraw only for getting the data (it'd cost me close to 100 EUR round turn).

[Stormin_Norman]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Stormin_Norman, it's the new version. The 908b_1.01 version is the one that contains some of my modifications to make it run faster etc.

 

on your modded EAs im getting an error

 

"2009.08.30 22:41:07 2009.08.26 23:41 Fractals4-908b_1.02 EURUSD,H4: Alert: EA had the following error(s): \n--->Program path invalid, please set 'Start In' parameter from your desktop shortcut. Contact our support team ([email protected]) for more information"

 

should i be getting that? or am i doing something wrong?

 

i read the manual, and yes. i was doing something wrong.

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Backtests using Every Tick over FXDD trade server data looks very different to backtests over MetaQuotes data downloaded through an Alpari UK terminal.

I tested both with UTC offset switching and with constant UTC offset.

 

Here are the equity curves of backtests over FXDD trade server data from their web site:

StrategyTester_EveryTick_EURUSD_Spread=2_Data=FXDDHST_Broker_OffsetHour=2_AddHoursForDS=1_DateRange=2005.01.10to2009.06.01.gif[/attachment:9nju7ue2]

StrategyTester_EveryTick_EURUSD_Spread=2_Data=FXDDHST_Broker_OffsetHour=3_AddHoursForDS=0_DateRange=2005.01.10to2009.06.01.gif[/attachment:9nju7ue2]

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Here are the equity curves of backtests over MetaQuotes data downloaded through the Alpari UK MetaTrader History Center:StrategyTester_EveryTick_EURUSD_Spread=2_Data=AlpariUKHST_Broker_OffsetHour=1_AddHoursForDS=1_DateRange=2005.01.10to2009.06.01.gif[/attachment:1hmu44y3]StrategyTester_EveryTick_EURUSD_Spread=2_Data=AlpariUKHST_Broker_OffsetHour=2_AddHoursForDS=0_DateRange=2005.01.10to2009.06.01.gif[/attachment:1hmu44y3]

 

The result without the UTC offset switching looks much better. One reason could be that the EA was developed & optimized without any UTC offset switching, but I'm not sure.

 

I'll test over Gain Capital one minute bar data later in order to compare with the FXDD trade server data results.

[⭐ birt]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

But I think the hard part would be trying to make terminal.exe work with FXT files... how do you think you'd do it?

 

Assuming the backtesting process begins with a sequence of steps that can be described as follows:

1. fd = fopen(symbol+period+"_0.fxt","w+");

2. fwrite(fd, stuff);

3. fclose(fd);

4. fd = fopen(symbol+period+"_0.fxt","r");

5. start_backtesting(fd)

I'm going to change the fopen on line 4 to open symbol+period+"_1.fxt" instead, so basically it will still recalculate the data, but it will open the custom fxt instead.

 

Of course, I might be totally wrong and they might not be closing the file after the creation, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'd do it right now but I'm extremely busy with a work-related project that I should've finished a week ago :|

[⭐ birt]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

Assuming the backtesting process begins with a sequence of steps that can be described as follows:

1. fd = fopen(symbol+period+"_0.fxt","w+");

2. fwrite(fd, stuff);

3. fclose(fd);

4. fd = fopen(symbol+period+"_0.fxt","r");

5. start_backtesting(fd)

I'm going to change the fopen on line 4 to open symbol+period+"_1.fxt" instead, so basically it will still recalculate the data, but it will open the custom fxt instead.

 

Of course, I might be totally wrong and they might not be closing the file after the creation, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'd do it right now but I'm extremely busy with a work-related project that I should've finished a week ago :|

 

As it turns out, my description was pretty accurate. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to make a loader now, but if you are eager to use custom FXT files, you can make MT4 .225 use an alternate FXT file (e.g. put EURUSD1_1.fxt in tester/history/ and it will be used instead of the EURUSD1_0.fxt that it's going to create) by patching terminal.exe with a hexeditor as follows (offset, change from, change to):

00141313: 8B 31

00141314: 8E C9

00141315: D4 41

00141316: 00 90

00141317: 00 90

00141318: 00 90

 

Note: if you patch terminal.exe that way, it will NOT backtest until you place a file named SYMBOLTIMEFRAME_1.fxt in tester/history/. For example, for EURUSD H1, you will need to place a file called EURUSD60_1.fxt in there. Your MT4 will *still* create the SYMBOLTIMEFRAME_0.fxt file, but it will not use it. Do not check "Use date".

 

As my time allows, during the next week I will make a universal MT4 .225 loader and also some pre-built FXT files to go with it.

[copycat]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

As my time allows, during the next week I will make a universal MT4 .225 loader and also some pre-built FXT files to go with it.

 

 

That will be great, it drives me nuts that when it re-generates the .fxt file everytime when I backtest. I still fail to understand why MQ took away the checkbox that allowed us to use the last generated .fxt files.

 

BTW, it is my opinion that the Fractals4 in its current form is not worth the effort. I really don't like the default behavior that the recovery trade uses 25-50x times of original lot, unfortunately their winning rate it is not that high that's why from time to time there is big DD because of the failure of recovery trade.

[eusanka]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

I am running demo on fractals-4 and one thing that I observed was the 2 blue lines that shows high and low for the High Volatility breakout mode. I took a note on what it was before and after I restarted the mt4 application and guess what, it was very different. If now the blue line is the entry point for a trade, what will happen if this is wrong? Very easy, you will enter the market on false information and with high posibillity to lose that trade.....

[hyperdimension]

Re: Fractals4 -- new Fractals from Fx H0pe

 

it drives me nuts that when it re-generates the .fxt file everytime when I backtest.

It will still generate a new FXT file, just not use the file it generated.

 

I still fail to understand why MQ took away the checkbox that allowed us to use the last generated .fxt files.

Maybe the reason why they disabled the recalculate button and prevent users from testing over custom tick data files is that brokers don't want their clients to develop and optimize EAs tailored exactly for their price feeds. I'm thinking that once you have actual tick data of a particular broker, there may be ways to analyze it enough that you can deduce their market making algorithms and understand the actual price behavior of the feed and then exploit them for profit. Remember that MetaQuotes gets paid by brokers.

 

Here are some quantitative finance books that cover tick data analysis (I posted these previously in the fx genius robot thread):

An Introduction to High-Frequency Finance

http://ifile.it/qj9aog/20060919_d0bae227.djvu
(requires A djvu file viewer e.g. WinDjView: [url]http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/windjview/WinDjView/1.0.3/WinDjView-1.0.3-Setup.exe?use_mirror=biznetnetworks[/url])

Financial Markets Tick By Tick

http://ifile.it/yrn3t06/financial_markets_tick_by_tick_-_0471981605.rar

Econometric Forecasting And High-Frequency Data Analysis

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=95ZKD3XT

 

Could three be any other reason why they removed the recalculate option?

 

 

I really don't like the default behavior that the recovery trade uses 25-50x times of original lot

There is no such thing as a recovery trade in this EA. There are two volatility breakout strategies. Maybe one is better than the other, so you could choose to only use the better one.