Merab, are you a professional programmer?
No, I am not a programmer at all. I am a pure ideologist. I generate new ideas for automated trading based on my own experiences in the market and on various experiments with technical analyses and indicators. All my ideas are translated into the clear program code by Maxim Kolesnikov known on http://www.metaquotes.ru/forum/ as Buttler. He is my follower in materials about Forex and he is also my second self, the backbone in programming of all my ideas. I think programming needs very good and delicate knowledge of the market. So two persons have found each other: the one learned MQL4 and the other taught him market fundamentals. Manus manum lavat, but we both make a face.

Does Maxim Kolesnikov participate in the Championship?
No, he does not. He does not need it. Neither him, nor me place our stakes on money. And we would not do it. We have other purposes and tasks. After the Championship Rules had been published, he immediately decided not to participate. Well, I myself was not sure whether I would participate - we had got some commercial offers for some of our programs, though we decided not to accept them at that moment. This is why we do not want to participate just for the prize. However, I decided to look who and how will participate. I was interested what it would be like to approve one of our EAs under absolutely new conditions and an independent environment.

You wrote in one of your posts that automated trading systems would help to free from psychological dependability on trading. What did you mean?
Greediness, avarice, tiredness, human ability to haggle with him or herself - all this harms more than helps. If there is a clear system, a practiced strategy, it is better to spend some time and realize it in a program. Then it is necessary to install a good server with independent power supply and internet connection, and then just visit it from time to time in order to make sure that there are no outages due to power failures.

There are strategies that can work on a 24-hour basis. Who can sit 24 hours through by the monitor? Let the program do it, and we will sleep in the night and work as the day goes on. Well, I myself was the victim of that I had a strategy, a clear plan, but, due to being hard set for money, closed positions too early and lost more than gained. For all your knowledge, facing the market you feel that a half of your knowledge just melts into the air. A program does not think of it and does not doubt - there are tasks, and it completes them. That's all.

Besides, I think a human being should not live for only thoughts of trading. Life is so nice! You should put yourself into the family, into children. Well, you should enjoy your life.

You often say that some people participate in the Championship to get the prize, but others do in order to declare themselves. What are you aimed at when participating in the Championship?
I marvel that organizers wanted one thing but got absolutely another. Instead of becoming a real competition among automated trading systems creators, the Championship turned to be just a pursuit of prizes. The most of Expert writers embark on an extraordinary venture descending to all tricks and ordering ways, using very aggressive plough-back, placing stop orders at very large distances. These are the limits of 200-250 points or no StopLoss at all. This results in that the Championship turned to be something like a chase of heavy money by all means. But these prices and these means have nothing in common with the real market. In the end, the prizes will turn to be in hands of those who act against market rules. The money will be shared among those who can act without any logic, adventurously and very aggressively. I am more than sure that no one being in one's right mind would act this way on Forex. It's alogical and even impossible.

As of now, there are only 3-4 Expert Advisors that are really interesting among those 258 Participants. I mean these few ones are both technically well developed and stable in the market. But only one of them perhaps will get the prize. The other ones, despite of their real value, will be left without prizes. But I am sure: If a potential investor notes these Experts and their owners, I forecast a bright future for the guys.

Automated trading has its future, a very fine future. Just it needs people that are experienced both in the market and in programming.

What would you change in the existing Rules?
If we are interested in getting a real result, the rules must be clear, linear and strict. Approximate rules can be like this: deposit of 10 000, orders up to 3 (including pending). Order volume to be always the same - 1 lot per order and no plough-backs. StopLoss and TakeProfit distances may not coincide. There must be a difference of minimum 5 points. Maximal drawdown to be 6 000, or even 5 000. If the drawdown exceeds the above, the Participant is disqualified at any stage of the Championship. The system with such a drawdown is doomed to failure. Under such conditions, it is really possible to estimate the strength of a program and the vision of its author.

Under such Rules, the organizers would get about 100-150 Participants. But there could be really good programs, noteworthy ones. I would submit such a program, too. As for the present Championship, I submitted a weak, flaw Expert. It has only one plus - stability. Besides, it is linear, without plough-back or any tricks. My opinion about the plough-back is the following: the market goes in 2 directions. And the task is to estimate when to enter and when to leave it. It is this problem which is very important in trading. But there are all 2 000 plough-back forms, not just 2! So what we have? Who uses the most aggressive form is the winner? Or those who place the most volumes? Look, who is on the first page after Friday, the 24th of November? Those who trade exactly in the above way. It means, no offence intended, come-and-go people. They would never dare trade in such a way on the real market. But your goal was to show the world what programs are written to trade in real!

Why do you think your Expert Advisor is below beneath? What would you refine on it?
It belongs to history. I can say the following: If we rate the Experts that I have, this one belongs to the thirds. I would hardly use it to enter the market as I have much better versions. Though, after having recalculated the Championship results according to its Rules, I won't be surprised if I get to the Top Ten. Even in the Top Five, though the market can spring any surprises on. Well, my Expert has not allowed its maximal drawdown of 7100 yet. It is unlikely that it happens since it works on counterbalances: It just does not allow super-profitability or super-losses. It is aimed at stable working! Well, it still needs trailing stop, completed profit fixing when the market turns, etc. MQL4, this powerful tool, allows writing of everything. The most important thing is who writes and how. There are really few good Expert writers. Expert writing standards, inner resources and techniques of writing must be developed.

You write that your Expert Advisor operates on alerts from an embedded indicator. Is this indicator your own development?
No, it is a simple Commodity Channel Index (CCI) with some special settings and special interpreting of its indications and alerts. The idea of how one should trade using this indicator is just developed in our Expert Advisor.

Why have you chosen the ratio of 1:5 for your stop orders? Please tell us about it.
In my personal opinion (proved by the market), an Expert without a StopLoss is explosive for the trader's account. One has to understand what StopLoss is. If it is a distance exceeding 80 points, it is just an assumed border to prevent too large losses. Actually, there are signals to enter in another direction after 80 points. So why to overtime the position and lose the chance to repair the loss? As to the TakeProfit, it is relative in my Expert. ССI allows to gain all 200-250 points in profit for a one-sided market. If such is not expected to be, we close the existing profit when the market turns.

You wrote that your Expert Advisor had allowed a drawdown of 7100 when tested. Is such a drawdown possible during the Championship?
As you can see, it has not happened yet. But, if it happens, I would like to ask for disqualification of my Expert as a shame to its creator. Everything is possible, though, this drawdown, too. It belongs to the future, but who can predict the future? I cannot. It rests with me to stop trading and refine on my EA when it allows a drawdown exceeding the average one. Or I just pass it to the garbage heap of history and find new solutions.

What does the amount of positions opened simultaneously depend on in your Expert Advisor?
My orders work with three different timeframes. If the market always goes in one way, all alerts to enter in this one direction can be received. But, anyway, every order will have its own Stop Loss and Take Profit. Based on my 2.5-year laborious researches in charts, I could note a very simple truth: The market goes in only two directions. It is our task to predict to what direction it will move in each specific situation. It is difficult, of course, to plan the market-move length due to news, comments, etc. But technical analysis and statistics allow creation of something stable, anyway.

You wrote in your comments that you were not going to make your Expert Advisor public. Why?
Why? It is an interesting question... Because it was a base for other, more successful Expert Advisors, people even offered to buy them. If it is demanded, there is a sense in non-making it public. Well, there is no need to open it, actually. If the Championship Rules had demanded to make the code public, it would be another pair of shoes. But only 15 of 258 Participants did it.

What is, in your opinion, the most important when developing an Expert Advisor: analytical tools, implementation, money management, something else?
The most important thing is the logic, the strategy contents. Applicability under all market conditions and a properly written code. Money management is helpful, of course. But only as an idea about how much of the deposit one can lose and how much profit one can expect to gain. If there is a clear idea of to what limits the profit-loss fluctuations can be expected, it is possible to provide the program within a half of an hour with a plough-back method or with a technique that prevents losses of the profits gained.

And what is important in your Expert Advisor?
The only what I am sure of is that there are no programmer's errors in the code. There are some logical defects, yes, but programmatically everything is ok. Maxim has to show for labor. He made everything he was asked for. All errors depend on the broker and the server, but not on the Expert's code.

Will you participate in the next Championship?
If the rules remain the same, no. It resembles ultimate fighting now with only two provisions: no knocking on the head with a stool and no killing. All other means are allowed. The Rules must be clear, plain, linear, protecting from cheating mechanisms. Well, what do we need? We need to show ourselves and to see others, professionals like we are. Those must win who offer the most stable system. These 3 months would be fully enough to check whether the system is stable or not. I am sure you have chosen this time of the year for your Championship not in vain. The market usually makes many surprises at the end of the year. Well, I am waiting for changes to be made in the rules. If the new rules meet my expectations, of course, I will participate! For the Rules as they are now, I do not see myself in the Championship.

Whom do you see on the prize places? Whose Expert Advisors are the best, in your opinion, and why?
I must confess the main thing: whatever happens and whatever are the Championship results, Hendrick is great. He placed a very noteworthy Expert Advisor at this Championship. Whatever coefficients are applied to him, he is one of the best here. Hendrick's Expert Advisor is very good as it is. The fact that it operates with yen is heroic. I would be happy if Hendrick takes a prize place. Aver and Rich have some potential, too. They can complete their Experts to the logical end: correct their attitude towards stops and methods of loss control. Then they will become successful, too. Ldamiani has made something, but his Expert Advisor cannot be really used in the market.

This is my estimate of their Experts' contents and possible development, but not their current balances.

Thank you for the interview and for your original and frank opinion!