Andrei Moraru on Simple Expert Advisors and Trading Risk

Summary

In this 2011 interview, Automated Trading Championship participant Andrei Moraru reflects on how his trading approach changed over several years. He says he came to favor simpler systems, pay closer attention to position size, and avoid using indicators as entry signals. His competition Expert Advisor entered opposite the direction of the previous position, with the initial direction set manually; it used a trailing stop based on ATR and fixed position volume. He also describes using a small number of optimizable parameters and valuing the platform’s Strategy Tester.

Moraru warns that extensive optimization can produce curve fitting and says multicurrency test results can depend on tester settings. He reports that his EA had a small difference between testing and demo forward results and performed well over eight months, but these are his own historical observations, not independently verified evidence of durable returns. He emphasizes risk management, cutting losses while allowing profits to run, and expresses interest in pyramiding and switching among strategies for different market conditions. His comments are personal views from a competition context, not a general performance guarantee.

Key ideas

• Moraru describes moving toward simpler Expert Advisors and greater attention to position sizing.
• His competition EA reversed direction relative to the prior position and used an ATR-based trailing stop.
• He cautions that optimization can cause curve fitting and that multicurrency testing may be sensitive to settings.
• He highlights limiting losses while letting profitable positions continue and notes possible uses of pyramiding.
• The performance claims are personal reports from a historical interview, not independent evidence.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.