Trading Station Desktop

Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

APP STORE
www.fxcmapps.com

Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Downloading Your App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Setup and Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Activating Your Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Backtesting Your Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Optimizing Your Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

FXCM APPS - www.fxcmapps.com

Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Introduction
INTRODUCTION Congratulations for downloading this app from the FXCM Apps store. Now you can begin customizing your trading experience with FXCM. Remember, this app only works with an FXCM account, so be sure to get yours today.
NEED AN FXCM ACCOUNT?

If you dont have an FXCM account, it only takes several minutes to request one. You can also sign up for a free $50,000 demo account in a flash, which will let you use this app in a risk free environment. Heres how to get your FXCM account or free demo account: Visit http://www.fxcm.com/fxcm-portal.html Select your country of residence Navigate to the accounts section of our website and follow the instructions
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN IN THIS GUIDE?

This guide explains how to install your app, how to activate it within FXCMs Trading Station Desktop, how to adjust its parameters, and where to get support.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Download Your App
DOWNLOADING YOUR APP Once you have completed the checkout process at the FXCM Apps store, you will be presented with your app download link. Clicking on that link downloads the files you need to use your app.
WHERE IS MY DOWNLOAD LINK?

Your app download link is located in the Your Order section of the confirmation page that is displayed after you submit your order.

Click the download button to access your app files.

HOW DO I ACCESS MY DOWNLOAD LINK AT A LATER DATE?

If you need to download your app files at any time in the future, please refer to your original order confirmation email. That email was sent to you shortly after you submitted your order at the FXCM Apps store. The emails subject line follows this format, order FXCM-XXX from FXCM, where the Xs represent your unique order number.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Installation
Once you have located your order confirmation email, follow these steps to download your app files: Click on the web link in the email to view the orders details Locate the Unlock Downloads section of the web page Enter the credit card number used at the time of purchase if your app cost money (leave the credit card field empty if your app was free) Click the Apply button to retrieve your download link If you have deleted or misplaced your order confirmation email, a representative at FXCM can resend a copy to you. Please use the support form on the FXCM Apps website for these requests. INSTALLATION The app files that you downloaded (see page 2) are contained within a zip file with the extension .zip. The zip file must be unpacked to expose the files contained within it. After unpacking the zip file you will see two files, an executable file named setup.exe that is used to install the app onto your computer and this PDF getting started guide.
STEPS TO INSTALL YOUR APP

Before you begin, please ensure that FXCMs Trading Station Desktop software is not running. Then follow these steps: Double-click the executable file called setup.exe Follow the installation instructions on your screen until you receive confirmation that the app has been installed successfully

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Setup and Preferences
SETUP AND PREFERENCES Now that you have installed your app, you can begin using it with FXCMs Trading Station Desktop software. Remember, apps from the FXCM Apps store only work with FXCM accounts (see page 1).
WHERE IS MY APP IN FXCMS TRADING STATION DESKTOP?

Log on to FXCMs Trading Station Desktop Open the Marketscope Charts Click on Alerts and Trading Automation, then New Strategy or Alert. Locate your app in the New Strategy or Alert list

HOW DO I USE MY APP?

Locate your app in the New Strategy or Alert menu and click its name to highlight, and then click the OK button to add it to your chart.
Please note that the app should be added to a chart of the instrument you wish to use (e.g. EUR/USD, GBP/USD, etc.). Also, be sure to set the chart time frame accordingly.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Activating Your Strategy
HOW DO I START, STOP OR PAUSE A STRATEGY?

The starting, pausing and stopping of strategies is done from the Strategy Dashboard. There are multiple ways to access the Strategy Dashboard, including: In Marketscope, click on the Strategy Dashboard tab. In Marketscope, in the top menu click on Alerts and Trading Automation then Strategy Dashboard then Show Always. In Trading Station Desktop, click on the Strategy Dashboard tab. Usually located on the bottom left. On the Strategy Dashboard you can Start, Pause and Stop your strategy from trading. See the below image to locate the corresponding buttons. 1) Start Strategy 2) Pause Strategy 3) Stop Strategy

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Activating Your Strategy
HOW DO I ADJUST MY STRATEGYS PARAMETERS?

After adding an app to a chart, a parameters window opens, allowing you to customize the apps parameters. Here is an example showing an apps parameters window: The left column lists the type of inputs you can modify The right column, which you can edit, controls the apps output

FXCM APPS - www.fxcmapps.com

Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Backtesting Your Strategy
Strategy Parameters These parameters will vary depending on a strategy. For example, the MA_Advisor strategy has two sets of parameters: "Fast Moving Average Parameters" and "Slow Moving Average Parameters." Timeframe Specify the timeframe to which the automated strategy will be applied. Allow Trading It is necessary to set the parameter to Yes to allow a strategy to trade on the live market. Please note that the parameter is not available for alerts and signals. Trading Parameters The parameters usually include Amount (the trade size in lots), Set Stop, and Set Limit (distance for Stop and Limit orders in pips).

WHAT IS BACKTESTING?

Strategy backtesting lets you test strategies and signals against historical prices to quickly find out how strategies or signals would have performed had they been used.
HOW DO I BACKTEST A STRATEGY?

There are 5 steps required to setup your back test: 1) Select the Strategy 2) Set your Account Parameters 3) Select specific Market Data 4) Adjust the Strategy Parameters 5) Confirm the Margin Requirements

FXCM APPS - www.fxcmapps.com

Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Backtesting Your Strategy
6 STEPS TO BACKTEST A STRATEGY

1) Click on the Backtest Strategy button from the Trading Station Desktop navigation menu.

2) Strategy After clicking on the Backtest Strategy button, the Backtest Strategy window will pop up. Select the strategy you would like to backtest and then click on Next. This example uses the MA_ADVISOR strategy:

3) Account Parameters Select the base account settings used during this test.
These selections can be independent of your own account settings and will have no effect on your live account.

FXCM APPS - www.fxcmapps.com

Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Backtesting Your Strategy
4) Market Data Select the timeframe and instrument on which the backtest will run.

5) Strategy Parameters Select the custom parameters, trade size and notifications for this test.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Backtesting Your Strategy
6) Margin Requirements The Backtester automatically populates the correct margin requirement. To confirm this parameter and begin the test, click Start.

Once complete, your backtest will display key strategy performance metrics including an equity line, statistics, and history.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Optimizing Your Strategy
WHAT IS STRATEGY OPTIMIZATION?

Have you ever wondered what the best parameters are for a strategy or signal? Strategy Optimization lets you test different combinations of strategies and signals to find the best performing parameters. You can now quickly analyze trading strategy and signal performance directly from the platform. The strategy back-testing and optimization features are available from buttons located on the Trading Station navigation menu or the Marketscope Charts.

HOW DO I OPTIMIZE A STRATEGY?

There are 7 steps required to optimize a strategy 1. Open the Optimize Strategy window 2. Select the Strategy 3. Set your Account Parameters 4. Select specific Market Data 5. Adjust the Strategy Parameters 6. Confirm the Margin Requirements 7. Specify the calculation methods used by the Optimizer

1) Click on the Optimize Strategy button from the Trading Station Desktop navigation menu.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Optimizing Your Strategy
2) Strategy After clicking on the Optimize Strategy button, the Optimize Strategy window will pop up. Select the strategy you would like to optimize and then click on Next. This example uses the MA_ADVISOR strategy:

3) Account Parameters Select the base account settings used during this test. These selections can be independent of your own account settings and will have no effect on your live account.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Optimizing Your Strategy
4) Market Data Select the timeframe and instrument on which the backtest will run.

5) Strategy Parameters A list of strategy parameters will display. Add parameters to optimize by expanding the strategy parameter drop-down boxes (the "plus" sign on the left hand side). Set the minimum value, maximum value, and step (interval between each value) for each parameter. You will also see the total possible combinations update based on the parameters you select. Click Next.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Optimizing Your Strategy
6) Margin Requirements The Backtester automatically populates the correct margin requirement. To confirm this parameter and begin the test, click Start.

7) Optimizer - Set your optimization parameters based on the following options: Optimizer Parameters: Method - Determines how many combinations of strategy parameters will be used.
1) Genetic - Reduces the time required to optimize the strategy by filtering out unnecessary parameters and focusing on the ones that are more likely to produce favorable results. 2) Exhaustive - Tries all possible combinations of the strategy parameters to find the best possible outcome.

Criteria - Determines what metric produces the best results.

1) Highest Balance - The strategy parameters with the highest balance are displayed as the best results. 2) Profit Factor - The strategy parameters with the highest profitable trades compared to non-profitable trades are displayed as the best results.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Optimizing Your Strategy
Agents Number - Determines how much of your computers resources will be used for the backtest.
Selecting lower numbers will cause the optimization to take longer, but will allow you to perform other operations while the optimization is running. Selecting higher numbers will complete the optimization sooner, but will take up so many of your computers resources that it will be hard to perform other operations during the optimization.

Genetic Optimization parameters: Population Size - The initial population size used to start the optimization. A larger initial population may produce a more accurate optimization since the test explores a wider range of possibilities. A smaller initial population size will result in a faster optimization. Maximum Number of Passes - How long the optimization will try to find better parameters. A larger value will result in more parameters being tested and increases the likelihood that better parameters will be found. A smaller number of passes will result in a faster optimization. Advanced parameters: Convergence Rate As the optimizer calculates results and gets closer to finding the optimal set of parameters, it will inevitably reach a point where the incremental change between parameters is too small to be statistically significant. The convergence rate controls how small of an incremental change is acceptable before the optimizer reaches that point. A higher Convergence Rate will require more calculations, while a lower Convergence Rate will require fewer calculations. Use crossover - Enables/disables using of crossover to build the next generation (set of parameters to test). When crossover is disabled, the next parameter sets are obtained only in the result of mutation and are concentrated around the best parameter sets of the previous generation. When crossover is enabled, the variation of obtained parameters increases. Mutation level - Is used to build the next generation (set of parameters to test). The lower the value, the closer the next set of parameters will be to the initial set. Higher values will create a larger variation of values in the next generation.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

Optimizing Your Strategy
Once parameters are set, click on Start to begin optimization.

The complexity of your optimization project will determine the amount of time it will take to optimize that strategy. Once the optimization is complete you can check your results. The best settings and parameters for your strategy from this optimization calculation will be highlighted in green from the Results tab. Please keep in mind that past performance is not indicative of future results.

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Installing, Setting Up, and Getting Support for Your App

SUPPORT
SUPPORT If you have any questions about your app that were not answered by this guide, please let us know. We want to help.
READ OUR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

One of the quickest ways to get answers to questions that were not covered in this guide is by reading the Frequently Asked Questions at the FXCM Apps website. Were constantly adding new questions and answers as needed, which is why many users find the FAQs to be very helpful. Read our FAQs

ASK US A QUESTION

If youve got a tough question and youre having trouble finding an answer to it, we can help. Please submit all support questions that you have through our online support form. A representative will contact you directly within two business days. Ask us a question

Trading forex/CFDs on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable as you could sustain a total loss of your deposit. Leverage can work against you. Do not speculate with capital that you cannot afford to lose. Be aware and fully understand all risks associated with the market and trading. Prior to trading any products offered by Forex Capital Markets, LLC, FXCM Securities Limited, Forex Capital Markets Limited, inclusive of all EU branches, FXCM Asia Limited, FXCM Australia Limited, FXCM Japan Securities Co. Limited, any affiliates of aforementioned firms, or other firms under the FXCM Inc. (NYSE:FXCM) group of companies [collectively FXCM], carefully consider your financial situation and experience level. If you decide to trade products offered by FXCM Australia Limited (AFSL)

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