This article reveals the steps required to convert your trading strategies into Forex signal services, which would create an additional source of income.
Forex signal services is a system where Forex signals are sent
through the signal provider's trading account, trading platform/server, automated
synchronizing systems, web, or emails to a client's trading account or terminal. It
is a fast growing method of commercializing trading strategies.
A
consistent and profitable Forex system is every trader's desire. The
Forex system could be in the form of an expert advisor, manual trading
strategy, news trading or semi automatic trading systems. Apart from the
profits the Forex system would generate when it is used to trade, more
income can be generated from it when it is commercialized. An
interesting fact is that Forex system producers make more money from
their products when they commercialize it.
Why You Should Commercialize Your Forex System?
If your system is good why sell it? This is a question most traders ask.
Forex
trading has one of the highest number of participants in the world as
evident in its daily revenue returns, which is higher than all other
financial investments (stocks, shares, e.t.c.) put together. This means
that there are millions of people trading everyday, and more than 80% of
them are trading with the use of one Forex system or the other. Imagine a Forex system with the capacity to
generate 80% win ratio or 50% monthly returns with 2% drawdown, and it
is being sold in the Forex market with over 1 million
potential buyers
for $100. That would amount to $100,000,000.00 if everyone bought the
product or maybe half or less than half of it, which is about
$25,000,000.00 in some months of sales. Now imagine you were the owner of
that Forex system.
Commercializing your Forex trading strategy
would give room for critics, which would enable you to redesign a much
better system. A newer release or version would normally fix bugs or add
more functionality, which would improve trading performance.
Commercializing
your Forex system would pay you for the years or months of hard work,
costs, salaries for programmers, and other expenses incurred. It also
provides an opportunity for an alternative source of income.
Why Do Signal Providers & Traders Prefer Signal Services?
- Cheaper Cost:
The cost of rendering signal services is quite cheaper depending on the
type of signal services solution that is deployed by the provider.
Types of Signal Services Solutions:
- SMS (Mobile SMS, Web to SMS, Bulk SMS, e.t.c.)
- Host Providers (e.g. MQL Community Signal Services)
- Direct Emails & Websites
- Social Platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ Community, e.t.c.)
- Instant Messenger (Skype, Mobile Messengers, Yahoo Chat, e.t.c.)
- Wider Client Reach:
Most traders prefer Forex signal services to other Forex systems due to
the simplicity, cheaper cost, and trust on the provider. The technology
involved in signal
services makes it easier to reach many clients
irrespective of their geographical location. Getting customers or
clients is very easy through forums and social platforms. For example
MQL has about 117,070 members as at 12th Sept, 2013 and they support
signal services from providers to their members.
- Easy Installation:
Some signal services do not require installation on the users trading
platform especially those that are provided through SMS, Web, Live
Rooms, e.t.c. Some require installations in the form of indicators or
EAs, which connects to the provider's server where the signals are sent
directly to the client's trading platform.
- Trust:
Trustworthy signal providers usually publish their performance results
on their website or on reputable benchmark websites like myfxbook.com
for all intending subscribers to scrutinize. Also some providers give
daily analysis of their trades before it occurs or after it occurs.
- Flexibility:
It is very flexible in terms of upgrades, and expansion. More concepts
can be introduced as the subscriber base grows or improves. For example when a
subscriber base increases or a particular signal is being subscribed
more often, it gives the signal provider an opportunity to increase the
fee or break it down to smaller services with additional fees.
STEPS ON HOW TO CONVERT YOUR TRADING STRATEGY INTO FOREX SIGNAL SERVICES
- Conduct Thorough Tests on the Trading Strategy:
Ensure you have
tested your trading strategy in a live account or demo account for a minimum of
6 months upwards. The longer the test period the better the
confidence. This is very important as most Forex traders look out for
consistency in profitability of any trading system. Use the best Forex testing software at your disposal to conduct random testing with different parameters. Also test your strategy with different brokers
and account types. The essence is to make sure your trading strategy meets the optimum standard.
See: Forex testing software (StrategyQuant EA Analyzer., StrategyQuant Tick Downloader, Forex Tester 2.0)
- Choose a Good & Affordable Signal Services Delivery Solution:
You do
not necessarily need massive computer servers, or software to start a signal
service. There are lots of options, and solutions to choose from when
deciding the right technology to start with. Beginners, and those with little budgets are advised to look out for free or cheaper solutions like emails, free hosting providers, forums, e.t.c.
When choosing a signal services solution, the following criteria are very important:
- Speed
- Broker specifics (ability to handle 4 & 5 digit orders, other currency types, automatic order placements, e.t.c.)
- Provider/Client Operating System & Server Type
- Geographic Location
- Remote capability & mobile phone support
- Package & Pricing:
Packaging is an essential part of
marketing. It involves the product's brand name, logo, and trade
marks.
Although this is not a physical product but it needs to be
presented like a physical product on a shelf on sale. All you
need is a professional graphical design of your product, which would be
used in advertising your trading strategy in the form of a signal
service.
A second essential part of packaging involves breaking down
your signal service or product into smaller services. This helps you
organize a good pricing system.
Fixing the right price is very crucial to how many clients 
would
subscribe to
your signal service. You have to be very cautious with high
prices because of the competition in the market. Start with free
services for some time as most Forex traders love to try free products before paying for it. The free service duration would also help you
build a list of interested clients, and also give you the opportunity to
improve the services from user feedback, and critics. You could also
get client's psychology or perception on what they think should be the
cost of your product. Rolling out the paid service would be
smooth If clients experience positive returns
from your signal service during the free period .
The next stage on the roll out is announcing the price to your clients. How much should it cost? Should clients pay a certain amount per month? or per quarter or annually? Should it be one time-off payment?
The right cost depends on the cost of
technology you choose to use in rendering your service, the management
cost of the service, and your capacity to render adequate support to
your clients. However breaking down the price into affordable units like
free, basic, premium, and gold is the best way to fix a price that will suit you and your clients.
There should be an affordable option available for everyone.
Finally the following costs should be considered, and built into your price if neccessary.
-
Administrative costs (includes programmers fees, hosting fees, and other logistics).
-
Cost of hiring solutions like VPS, and software license renewals (if any).
-
Any other recurring costs necessary to avoid disruption of services.
CAUTION
DO NOT OVER BURDEN YOUR CLIENTS WITH EXCESSIVE
FEES ESPECIALLY IF THE PRODUCT IS NEW TO THE FOREX MARKET. EVENLY DISTRIBUTE THE IMPORTANT OPERATIONAL COST ON THE FEES TO YOUR CLIENTS AND LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN OFF SOME PERCENTAGE OF THE COST AS AN INCENTIVE.
Market & Advertise The Signal Service:
The Forex market has lots of opportunities for traderswho are willing to purchase or try a new product. The question is how do we get the attention of these traders especially when there are similar services out there? This depends on the marketing strategy you deploy. It is very important to note that good products sell faster irrespective of the marketing strategy. However a better marketing strategy would make it outrun competitors, and keep it at the top rank for a very long time. The first step is to identify your niche (i.e. your audience) before deciding the marketing or advertising platform to use.
There are lots of marketing channels with their attendant costs. So if you are a beginner with a low budget there is still something for you. Lets see some free & affordable but effective means of marketing your new signal service package.
Social Platforms: Examples are facebook, google+ community, twitter, chat rooms, forums, e.t.c. These are one of the fastest medium to advertise, and market your signal service. Some of the social platforms offer free signups, and their paid services are also very cheap.
Direct Adverts Through the Web: This involves designing a website solely for the signal service, and using advertising campaigns like google adsense, click bank, RegNow, e.t.c. to promote the website, and the signal services package. This method attracts a significant amount of running costs. A cheaper method is to use web bloggers like blogspot or wordpress.
Signal Services Hosting Providers: This has more advantage over the other methods. The hosting provider connects your service to its pool of clients. The marketing and advertising is taken care of by the hosting provider. A fee is usually required from the hosting provider for hosting the signal services and other services it renders. MQL Community Signal Service hosts over 9000 signal services with over 100,000 members and users.
- Follow Up & Publish Your Trade Results:
Followup with your clients periodically. You can create a forum to enable interactive sessions. This will boost your client confidence and also attract other subscribers. Also ensure you publish your trades daily or at the end of each trade on the forum or website. This would allow transparency and serve as a means of performance advertisement.
Designing a profitable trading strategy is a vital aspect to succeed in Forex. However commercializing it through signal services triples your success to greater heights because you are challenged to improve your system when traders are happy to pay for it.
Further Reading:
- Top 7 MQL's MT4 Signal Services Providers
- How To Make 40-50 Pips Consistently Using Unique MA Combination
- How To Copy Trades in MT4
- 10 Differences Between MT4 & MT5 Trading Platform
Forex Resources & Tools:
EA-Wizard Expert Advisor Development Software for Non-Programmers
EA
is a very serious tool not as it is being hyped or
advertised on websites
with slogans like "relax while the EA makes money for you", "never work
again", "no experience is required", or a picture of a trader relaxing in the beach on resort, e.t.c. It is not entirely true.
