Bots vs Brains; The hidden edge of Human touch in tradingBots vs Brains; The hidden edge of Human touch in trading
A random Google search on the internet about forex trading robots reveals thousands of forex robots exist. With all these trading robots promising handsome returns in the shortest time, the forex trading industry should be minting new millionaires daily. However, statistics from forex brokers paint a sad picture—a failure rate as high as 90%.
In 2024, you can’t go a day without reading or watching a reel about Artificial Intelligence (AI). The high failure rate, especially in the world of finance, is baffling given all these technological advancements. This led me to take a deeper look into the world of automated forex trading, also known as bots or Expert Advisors (EA).
Overview of Automated Trading
A trading bot is software developed to analyze financial markets and execute trades on your behalf. Semi-automatic trading bots analyze the markets but do not execute trades.
Large financial institutions, such as banks and hedge funds, use specialized algorithmic trading bots. These institutions bring together mathematicians, programmers, and economists to develop sophisticated algorithms. Needless to say, it requires significant financial resources and time to develop these bots. Development can take at least six months, followed by an additional six months of testing. The high cost makes these bots inaccessible to retail traders.
Retail traders, however, are not left out. There are individuals and software platforms where you can develop your own trading bot. These bots are often marketed as being developed by experts with deep market knowledge—or so I thought. Trading bots follow specific rules based on the developer’s strategy, which ideally should mirror the success of an experienced trader. Therefore, if a trader is profitable, the bot should at least mimic their results, if not surpass them—more on this later.
Before launching these bots, developers conduct extensive backtesting and refinement to optimize them for ideal market conditions.
Advantages of Automated Trading
Developers of trading bots often market them as superior to manual trading. They emphasize the need to eliminate human error and emotions, highlight faster execution speeds, and promote the ability to trade 24 hours a day as long as markets are open. Additionally, bots can save traders significant time that would otherwise be spent analyzing markets and executing trades. On the surface, purchasing trading robots seems like a smart decision.
Limitations of Automated Trading
Bots rely on historical data, assuming the future will mirror the past. However, global events are unpredictable. Take, for example, the 2008 financial crisis or the sudden shock of COVID-19—events like these can completely throw off a bot’s programming. Robots struggle to adjust to such volatility unless they’re frequently updated with new data, which many are not. This is a major limitation, especially when you consider how quickly the forex market moves with trillions of dollars in circulation.
Earlier, I mentioned that robots are supposedly developed by profitable traders. But to my surprise, I found that with little trading experience, anyone can create a robot on platforms like EA Trading Academy. All it takes is registering, selecting a few parameters, running a back test, and then selling it. It’s really that simple. The ease with which these bots can be built raises questions about their reliability, especially when they aren’t crafted by experts. I even plan to build one myself, and I’ll give you feedback in a year’s time.
Why I Think Robots Don’t Work
The main issue is that there’s a shortage of consistently profitable traders. A trader who dedicates the time and effort to developing a reliable robot is likely to charge a hefty fee. The likelihood that they would focus solely on developing robots instead of trading themselves is very slim. This makes me wonder—who is actually building all these robots? If most profitable traders are busy trading, it raises concerns about the experience level and expertise of those creating the majority of these products.
Secondly, trading styles vary significantly from trader to trader. Purchasing a robot based solely on profitability or low cost is unwise. In addition to checking a developer’s track record, you should assess whether their risk tolerance and trading approach align with yours. For instance, buying a scalping robot when you prefer swing trading could be a costly mismatch.
Finally, purchasing robots without a solid understanding of the markets is irresponsible, and the disasters that follow are often justified. Many experienced traders who have tested and reviewed bots on YouTube agree that 99% of them are either scams or simply don’t work. I encourage you to watch some of these reviews to see for yourself.
The Future: Automation vs. Human Touch
Mastery in trading comes from a combination of skill, time, and experience. While bots claim to save you the time spent on analysis, it's precisely that time—the deep learning and constant market study—that ultimately leads to true mastery. There are no shortcuts. Bots may be designed to minimize human error, and in theory, they do. But the reality is that even the most sophisticated bots are not infallible. They can and often do fail, sometimes catastrophically. When accounts are blown—whether by a human or a bot—it’s still the trader who bears the loss and the disappointment. So, while bots may reduce human error, they can never eliminate the human responsibility for those errors.
Trading the financial markets is a craft like any other. Automation, AI, and machine learning can be valuable tools in your journey to becoming a skilled trader. They cannot replace the critical thinking and adaptability that come with human experience. AI can assist by analyzing large sets of data, flagging trends, or executing trades faster than a human could—but the nuanced understanding of market sentiment, global events, and individual risk tolerance is something only a human can develop through dedication and practice. Automation might help you refine your craft, but it's the time spent learning, making mistakes, and adapting that leads to true mastery. As promising as they are, AI and bots are tools—not substitutes—for the expertise that comes from being deeply engaged in the markets.
Others before you have achieved mastery, and with enough commitment, you can too.
