Your EA wins 92 % of trades in Technique Tester… then a single reside place erases a complete month of revenue. The silent culprits? Slippage and unfold shock.
1 — Why “Excellent” Again-Exams Lie
Technique Tester assumes fastened spreads and zero-delay execution. Actual markets? By no means that sort.
When liquidity thins or information hits, brokers widen spreads and sellers fill orders a couple of pips—typically dozens—away from the requested worth. The loss doesn’t present up in your shiny fairness curve till you commerce reside.
Slippage: worth moved earlier than your order hit the ebook
Unfold shock: dealer widens bid-ask throughout volatility
Each drain your edge sooner than a foul stop-loss.
2 — Actuality Proof (Again-Check vs. Ahead)
(Insert equity-curve comparability right here: back-test clean vs. ahead jagged after NFP spike)
A consumer despatched us this chart: the technique printed +18 % in a 12-month back-test—but the primary week reside, an sudden 12-pip unfold on GBPUSD throughout Asia reversed two worthwhile trades and pushed the account –4 %. The code hadn’t modified; the market situations had.
3 — The Hidden Emotional Value
Slippage doesn’t simply steal pips—it hijacks your psychology:
- Over-confidence crash: “The bot was flawless on demo, what’s occurring?”
- Revenge tweaks: Merchants elevate lot dimension to ‘win again’ misplaced edge.
- Technique abandonment: Completely good methods get scrapped as a result of reside fills appeared ugly.
Loss aversion kicks in; the $100 problem payment feels heavier, and panic choices observe.
4 — The place Slippage Spikes
| State of affairs | Why it’s Harmful |
|---|---|
| Low-liquidity hours | Broad spreads after NY shut—robots designed for London/NY quantity choke. |
| Excessive-impact information | Brokers widen spreads earlier than and after releases; fills grow to be random. |
| Flash occasions | Sudden liquidity vacuum (e.g., mini-flash crash GBP 2016) magnifies losses. |
5 — A Sensible Framework to Survive
- Dealer choice
- Select ECN/RAW accounts; common unfold on GBPUSD ≤ 1 pip throughout London session.
- Check slippage with micro-lot ahead runs—not demo—earlier than risking dimension.
- Slippage filters
- Set MaxSlippage = 5 (instance) so the EA refuses fills past tolerance.
- For prop-firm guidelines (5 % day by day), this single line usually saves a problem.
- Dynamic exits beat static TP
- Mounted 50-pip targets look cute till spreads soar 15 pips.
- ATR-based trailing locks revenue inside the candle vary—unfold can’t eat what’s already banked.
- Day by day fairness cap
- Arduous-stop buying and selling when fairness drops 3–5 %. No second guess, no revenge commerce.
DoIt GBP Grasp: Constructed for the Ugly Bits
Reside proof: MyFxBook ahead check reveals +94 % achieve with < 12 % drawdown—regardless of Brexit hangovers and a number of CPI print spikes.
How?
- Mounted-lot, multi-leg logic (no martingale)
- ATR trailing grabs revenue earlier than unfold assaults
- Configurable MaxSlippage & day by day loss cap to fulfill prop-firm guidelines
Inside Studying for Deep Dive
Nonetheless belief back-tests blindly? See why back-tests usually lie and learn how to repair them:
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6 — Motion Plan in 60 Seconds
- Run a micro-lot ahead check tonight in your dealer—log slippage.
- Rating the EA with the guidelines above.
- Load DoIt GBP Grasp free in Technique Tester (ATR trailing + slippage filter prepared).
- Watch the fills: if spreads spike > 5 pips, the EA refuses new orders—saving fairness.
7 — The Resolution
Choice A — Ignore slippage
- Preserve excellent back-tests, bleed reside.
- Repeat a $100 prop-firm payment each quarter.
Choice B — Commerce actuality
- Use instruments engineered for ugly fills.
- Funded account, payout, peace of thoughts.
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