We have the pleasure of interviewing FxAzil, the trader behind the DARWIN $CLA. $CLA is based on a trading strategy which has been trading through the broker Darwinex since its inception in June 2016.
Tell us a little about yourself. How did you first catch the bug for trading and how long have you been trading for?
I took an interest in stocks and shares from a young age, perhaps from watching a movie without really realising what it meant.
At the start of university I came into contact with the stock market, competing against older students from other degrees and universities throughout the country. We had accounts with fictitious money, but with real quote prices and conditions. Throughout my time at university and from the outset, I have won this annual contest several times; I had a good numerical intuition, however I lacked the knowledge, skills, resources and means to develop further.
Some years later, towards 2011 and thanks to the Internet I came across Forex and I was able to investigate and invest live funds from home. 5 years passed until I managed to become a consistent trader. I am completely self-taught, there were thousands of hours of testing, changing and investigating; in 5 years I easily surpassed the 10,000 hours of study and practice that is estimated necessary to acquire the skills to excel in an area.
In regards to your strategy, which assets/pairs do you usually trade? What timeframes do you like using?
I trade the major pairs. The majority of my indicators have a timeframe of 15M, but I observe the market using any timeframe, without this having an impact of when I enter or leave.
I manage a series of strategies, all of which are statistically valid since 2001. On average I lose 2 or 3 months a year, with a maximum historical Drawdown set to 15%, a maximum risk per trade of 1.5%, only one trade per strategy, without grids, martingales, adding positions, averages or increasing lot size. In addition, I use an algorithm to avoid over-optimising, and at the same time it allows as a whole to maximise the profits for each one of the months of all the years analised; which is the main reason behind my accounts’ stability.
As a trader, what would you say is your main strength?
Using (and understanding) good trading practices. In any field we have to make use of what are known as ‘good practices’ and patterns, which means that there is an appropiate way of doing things, and should a problem arise there is somebody who has already studied and given a technical solution to turn to when the same problem reoccurs.
In the case of trading some good practices are:
- Not having a DD higher than 23%, as we then would need exponential profits to recuperate the capital.
- Not risking more than 2% per trade (ideally only 1%), because we would need approximately 10 consecutive losses to reach that maximum DD allowed of 23%.
- Not using mathematically losing strategies, such as grid or martingale strategies. Generally speaking, we shouldn’t add positions nor increase the lot size when faced with a loss, as all you are doing is exponencially increasing the risk while maintaining a constant profit.
- All trades must have a stop loss and exit conditions.
Knowing how to apply the good practices and my knowledge in statistics, maths and programming are my main strengths, which have enabled me to be the trader who has made the most money with only one DARWIN. For some months now I have been amongst the top places in the Darwinian ‘Hall of Fame.
It is no coincidence that CLA has already won a place in DarwinIA 13 times. This month I am fighting for a position, whereas last month, as in so many others, I was a couple of spots away from winning a place. CLA must be one of the DARWIN who has won a place in the contest the most times, producing around 200,000 EUR of capital allocated by DarwinIA.
And your biggest weakness?
My lack of knowledge regarding the financial markets. I only understand numbers, statistics and programming. I do not have the skills yet to undertake a fundamental analysis of Forex, and even less so of shares. I can’t interpret the market direction when there is a news release. Neither do I know about futures, I do not trade indices, and I do not understand many of the concepts related with these things. As a trader I make the most of my strengths, having many weaknesses, which I take on one by one, to study them and constantly improve.
According to our algorithms, your strategy stands out in particular for its capacity to choose the optimal time to close trades (Cs). Is there any advice you can offer to other users so they can improve their score in this attribute?
In the majority of my strategies I use price depletion which has to do with the asset being overbought or oversold. Adding this to a good optimisation of the exit parameters ensures that my Cs score maintains a good level.
What would you say is the most important lesson you’ve learnt in the world of trading?
Firstly, the world of trading can be bad and deceitful. A few months back I unmasked a fraudster showing with mails from myfxbook and fxstat how his supposedly audited accounts were fake. This resulted in the wrong person being accused, thinking that this was the person I was attacking. In trading I value privacy above all else, despite being amongst the most profitable traders, I cannot broadcast this great worldwide achievement myself with my own name. I would be a victim of crime and I would likely have to move my family away from the neighbourhood we live in, or to another country. This is the main reason why I only recently accepted this interview, despite having been invited back in October 2017.
Secondly, everything learnt through my studies can be applied to real situations. Many think that they will never apply what they learnt in the classroom and that it does not help in the real world. I am here to tell you that in my professional life and above all in trading I have applied the numeric techniques I learnt at university, and this was not a degree that is traditionally associated with capital markets.
Whatever you do in life always use the best practices.
Lastly, do you have any comments you wish to add for other traders or investors who are reading?
For traders, use the best practices and statistical validation in your strategies. You should be responsible with your followers and publish serious account, I would recommend having adequate pip levels of average profits, expectancy and time in the market. You must always think about your investors profits, which will in the end result in your profits.
For investors, look for accounts which show use of good practices and statistical averages. Be patient because good accounts also have periods where there are losses, which you need to know how to ride out.