But, as it so happens, unless you’ve been the first one to buy a very unpopular piece of software – a few other copies of this EA have been sold.

Let’s just run through this scenario:
20,000 trades get placed simultaneously – or 20,000 attempts are made to get the same trade placed. Online brokers do tend to notice these things, and so what happens, even if you do get filled, the spread rockets up, and there is nearly always comeback on it.

Mass produced EA’s tend to have a life-cycle – they work for a while, they produce a ROI, even 30% or thereabouts, and then they gradually start not working. They get updated, not quite so good, and the pips trail away, until you’re left with very little return on your investment.

Maybe if you’re keen to use an expert advisor, you could learn to write one yourself – it’s not the most complicated thing ever, (if you have done a bit of programming before). Then – and this is about the only way – you’ll know that you’re the only one placing the trades in that exact pattern.

Be a trader – don’t be one little sheep in a large flock….

The London Interbank Offered Rate is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which an institution (ie. a bank) can borrow unsecured funds from other institutions in the London wholesale money (or interbank) market.

It is essentially similar to the US Federal funds rate – the interest rate at which private depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions.

The British Bankers’ Association publishes the day’s LIBOR at around 12.00 UK time. It’s a weighted average of the deposit rates offered by the participating banks for maturities ranging from overnight to one year. LIBOR is calculated for 10 major currencies.

Forex traders have an interest in LIBOR rates, simply as a gauge of respective currency strengths. (What the LIBOR rate isn’t, is the central bank, ie. Bank of England, Federal Reserve, etc. base interest rate – different thing entirely…)

LIBOR rates fixed? Surely not…
Last year, it was reported that banks might have systematically understated the borrowing costs they reported to LIBOR – this would create the false impression of interbank credit being much cheaper than it actually was, and therefore that the whole banking system was healthier than it actually was. Then the credit crunch hit….

If you’re desperate for more on this exciting topic, you can always download the data here.

It’s a little bit US-centric in terms of nomenclature and I’m not totally sure about the advisability of using an apostrophised Tip’d as a name – spoken as a programmer, whose life would be much easier if there weren’t special characters, or capital letters, allowed – or indeed every month had 30 days. Anyhow, it’s a 4-letter domain…

Tip’d certainly stands a chance in its niche – good luck to all those involved.