I'm new to this (just downloaded Zorro the other day). I registered for a demo account at FXCM, and put the login info in Zorro. It connected to a server and downloaded a bunch of stuff, but now says "The specified instrument is incorrect." and just sits there. It's a Saturday at 11:00 here in the USA - are the markets not trading, or am I doing something wrong? Thank you....

I was using Z1. Being in the USA, I remember reading somewhere on here you may have to use z1 OR z2 nfa... Trying that to see if it works. If anyone can explain better which instruments to use and why that would be wonderful...

In the USA you can only use the ...nfa systems. Most instruments, such as stock indices and commodities, are not available to you - that's why you got that error message.

Okay. Does nfa affect the rate of return Z1 and Z2 will give back back? Also, can you give me a short explanation of what the sliders do and how they affect each other? If I open a micro account, should the margin slider be down more - and what does the panic slider mean? If I run the demo for a couple weeks, is that an indication of what I can expect when I go live with it? I'm also getting this:

Login.. at UTC 22.01. 04:33
Downloading EUR/USD prices.. ok
Downloading USD/CHF prices.. ok
Downloading GBP/USD prices.. ok
Downloading USD/CAD prices.. ok
Downloading USD/JPY prices.. ok
Downloading AUD/USD prices.. ok

Trade: Z1nfa portfolio on 22.01.2013
Read Z12.fac Z12.par
[795: 22.01. 04:33] 1.5844

but I don't see any pips moving on z1nfa or z2nfa - no trading results or anything... it's as if it is ready to trade, but is just not doing anything... Sorry for all the questions - just really want to see this work. Thanks for your reply.

Hi. Not sure if reactivating an old thread is the best place for this, so apologies if not.

I'm one of those hamstrung by NFA . I've Tested z1, z1nfa, z2, and z2nfa. z1nfa tests much worse than z1. z2nfa is worse than z2, but much better than z1nfa vs. z1. Does that sound correct? If so, forget about z1nfa and just test z2nfa?

Thanks.

I'm in the US too and I chose to run a Z2nfa demo. In the manual it mentions that Z2 is better. It also says that running Z1 + Z2 together is best, but you have to have Zorro "S" (a paid upgrade) to run both.

I'm going to watch Z2nfa run in demo, while I watch it and study the manual & the tutorial. There's a lot to read, but it's beginning to soak in (to my head).

There's an index & search bar for the manual, which opens from the trading panel when you click the "help" tab. Makes it much easier to find things again.

Thanks GlennR.

I was actually trying to ask a developer question: Is that wide a difference expected by design? Or is it a reflection of the market over the Training/Testing time available?

Re. NFA, I've done a bit more Googling and evidently there are 2 things going on - the NFA trading prohibitions and the SEC CFD prohibitions. I've seen the NFA cite as 2-43(b) - does anyone know the SEC cite?

Thanks for the reminder re. the Search function when using the Help. I was going through the on-line manual which doesn't appear to have them. So, I guess I'll have to split my time - between Help when I need Search and on-line for the most up-to-date.

Thanks.

The inefficiencies exploited by trend following have strong correlations between different currencies. This is the reason why the Z1 FX-only variants, including the NFA version, have much lower performance than Z1. If you have only currencies for trading, Z2 is better, as it is not this affected by the correlation problem.

Thanks jcl.

I gather these are systemic correlations based on the inherent nature of the currencies/inefficiencies rather than temporary due to market conditions? Do you have a reference that goes into this further so I can research off-line?

Also, do you know the SEC CFD prohibition cite?

Thanks.