JohnPaul77 actually known as Traders Family are a group of Forex enthusiast and experts who came with the idea of building a community of Forex traders in Indonesia. They offer trade recommendations (Forex Signal Services) in various social platforms including MQL5.com community signal services.
Their proficiency in Forex has kept them at the Top of the table consistently for several months even up to years amongst over 2,160 MT4 Signal Providers in MQL's community signal services.
The secret of their success has been a subject in the minds of his subscribers and other interested traders. The only information available to us is the insufficient summary of their system posted on their signal services page on Mql5.com, which is not sufficient enough to tell what is behind their trading strategy. However thanks to the recent interview conducted by MQL5 team and the Traders Family, which opened up a lot we can learn from them to make us better traders.
Do they rely on EAs?, Manual Strategies? or Special Indicators? Are they bankers? Well lets find out from the excerpt of the interview conducted on 11th July, 2014.
Hello! Could you please introduce yourself and your team members?
My name is Tito Hayunanda and the rest of our trader’s team are Lorry Marthias, Hendro Sasmito and Levi Giovanni.
The name of John Paul is an alias. Why did you take it?
John Paul is actually our “God Father” who gathered us in one team five years ago. He is the one who taught us everything about Forex business. We used to be gamers, and as the time goes by, we are more dedicated to trading than to doing business. We took his name in recognition of his invaluable help.
What attracts you in Forex and social trading?
There are three reasons why we have chosen Forex:
1. Two-way opportunities investment
In Forex, we are able to adapt to the market conditions, no matter if they are bullish or bearish. Any other investment puts us on hope and makes us pray for price increases. It is too dependent on other people, we assume. In short, only in Forex we can really ignore the economic conditions and conduct maneuvers to follow the fluctuations.
2. The most liquid investment
In Forex, we can quickly disburse our funds whenever we need that. Even some brokers can transfer the funds in a few minutes. Its 24-hour market makes it even more beautiful, since we can always receive the current market price without the need to bargain with others.
3. High-return investment
Some might say that Forex is a high-risk and high-return investment. We believe it is because they don’t use a proper risk management. If they do, then it could become a low-risk and high-return investment. In a year, we are able to get at least 50% of return. What kind of investment could possibly be higher than that?
Please note that we always say “investment” because it really is. At least, that’s how we treat it, while most people don’t. It’s not a “get-rich-quickly” business, in which we can judge the results day by day. It becomes a “get-poor-quickly” business instead for those who chase fabulous profits. Maybe that is the reason why we have survived in this industry until now. To be honest, we were surprised to know that it is so hard to find a portfolio older than 2 years. Surprisingly, our account is the oldest one in MQL5!
We think that social trading is the best solution not only for Forex industry, but also for the entire investment world. It has grown into a fully controlled investment. Thanks to social trading, now all investors are connected to each other, and they can have full control of their assets with their own suitable risk.
So, you are a team of traders. But who exactly controls your account monitored at Trading Signals? Is it managed by one or several persons?
The current account on MQL5.com is managed by me and Hendro. However, we combine the analysis from all four of us, so that we are able to detect every possible opportunity. After we all do our analysis, Hendro and I choose, which pair to trade. For the most part (95%), we rely on technical analysis.
How different is your forecast compared to the ones of your team members?
We all do technical analysis, and then we correlate it with the economic news to estimate the usual daily range. We apply different methods – some of us use chart patterns, while others may prefer candlestick patterns. Finally, we combine all analysis and decide on the best way to enter the market based on risk/reward ratio. Basically, we trade only when the risk is worth it.
I am sure that many traders are already anticipating my next question. What tools of technical analysis do you use?
Believe it or not, we only apply the most basic strategy everyone forgets about – support and resistance levels. We just use horizontal lines and that’s it.
Could you please be more specific on how you make your decisions? Suppose that today is May 1, and I think that EURUSD will go up for 300 points. However, one of my team mates believes that the pair will go down, while the third one has his own idea. But finally, we are still able to come up with a trading decision: “Buy EURUSD with Take Profit of 100 points”. Can you provide such an example from your everyday activity?
Yes, we can. Suppose that one of us thinks that EURUSD is still in a bullish trend with the movement of 70 points based on the normal daily range. But then the second guy detects a double top chart pattern. After that pattern is fulfilled, the price movement becomes bigger, while the risk usually decreases. In that case, we prefer to put a Sell Limit order at the double top level instead of following the bullish trend. Basically, we are working intraday, so we do not really focus on long-term trends.
Why have you chosen these analytical tools instead of others (for instance, Bill Williams tools)? Do you think your strategy is better than others?
We have been using this strategy for more than 3 years now, and it remains profitable so far. So why would we change it? Besides, the tools you have mentioned are not able to detect daily range changes and major economic events.
Why do you need a team? It seems to me, that all this can be made by one person, while the most part of the analysis can be performed by an Expert Advisor.
A single person may conduct a good analysis and make a trading decision. But there is also an emotional side that matters as well. That is why we always need other team members to remind us of controlling ourselves. As for Expert Advisors, we see that many traders trust them too much. But as I have already said, no trading robot or an indicator is able to detect daily range changes. Manual labor is always very expensive, isn’t it?
You are doing very well for a long time now receiving much profit from trading. Why have you decided to distribute your trading signals and thus, share your results with other traders?
We are traders, and what we need is a good broker. The reputation of Forex industry is worsening with each passing day, especially in our country (Indonesia). We simply want to prove that real traders actually exist, and trading for a living is not a dream. Some might say that only 5% of traders can survive in this industry. Hopefully, by distributing our signals, we can change that 5% into whatever possible bigger number. We believe that we can change the current public image of Forex industry.
However, you have set a price for your signal. Have you done this deliberately?
Initially, the signal was free, but we have received negative reviews from people reacting vehemently to every trade we made. Most of them could not afford the losses. Therefore, we have set the price. Now, only those who are willing to spend money and aware of the risk can follow our signal and leave comments about it. But we still keep the monthly subscription fee at the lowest possible level. We are not naive. If we can get extra income without extra effort, we see no reason why not to do it. By pricing our signals, we feel more responsibility for every trade we make. That helps us to enhance our trading skills and moves us closer to our cherished dream of becoming hedge fund managers.
You have mentioned bad reputation of Forex industry in Indonesia. Why don’t you choose a broker from another country then?
We did, but had the similar experience. Besides, it is more convenient to trade locally because we can simply visit our broker’s office in case there is a problem. By the way, even an international broker behaved unfairly towards us a couple of years ago.
Suppose that you have a lot of subscribers from different countries, and they ask you to change the broker for more convenience. Will you comply?
Indeed, many of our subscribers are constantly asking us to change the broker. However, it would be unreasonable for us to do so, since the broker’s trading conditions suit our system well. We feel comfortable enough with our current brokerage company, since they never interrupt our trades and have no problems with payments – that is the most important.
Thank you for your interesting answers. We wish you good luck and many new subscribers
There are some important tips worth taking to heart about their view of the word "investment"....; "Please note that we always say “investment” because it really is. At least, that’s how we treat it, while most people don’t. It’s not a “get-rich-quickly” business, in which we can judge the results day by day. It becomes a “get-poor-quickly” business instead for those who chase fabulous profits. Maybe that is the reason why we have survived in this industry until now. To be honest, we were surprised to know that it is so hard to find a portfolio older than 2 years. Surprisingly, our account is the oldest one in MQL5! "
It's also quite amazing to note that the simple Support & Resistance approach is the core secret behind their successful trading strategy all this while. Although a few traders complained about their counter trend trading style which seems a bit awkward but somehow works for them. Recently they have been experiencing difficulties in their performance due to market inconsistencies in the past months being their worst ever. It's understandable because it reflected on other trading systems as well.
However as a veteran trader i quite support systems that integrates support & resistance in their trading logic. Our 40 to 50 pips trading strategy works well with it.
My advise: Before trying any Forex signal services use it on a demo account first.
Happy Trading.
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