1) April Results 13-20%
It is hard not to get excited when we see another month when the equity takes off and does not look back. Intra month draw downs seemed to be less than 3% while the end of the month upside was an incredible 20% in some cases. With six months of solid history behind our most recent evolution of the C25 trading systems, our current performance numbers appear as this below.

Of course, the first question you may have is why the large differences in returns between the 3 PAMM accounts shown in this chart in the month of April? The short answer this time is "Leverage".

Early in the month both FXCM's PAMM accounts were trading near 1.5:1 leverage. Because USD PAMM deposits came at a time when not much movement was happening in the markets, we were able to maintain a leverage pretty close to 1.5:1. Because of this, you can also see how the results in the USD PAMM closely matches the predicted gains from our 1.5:1 Leveraged Demo numbers. The EUR PAMM situation was a little different. In the second week of April, the combination of a larger influx of deposits in the EUR PAMM while key moves were happening all resulted in our positions being a bit lower leveraged than we would have liked. As a result we also consulted with FXCM on the possibility of automating the increasing or decreasing of leverage/lots with respect to account equity. Automation turned out to NOT be possible but we now have other procedures in place to keep a closer watch on things, as well as a way to add lots to existing open positions to maintain a most consistent leverage. The end result of this process should keep both of the FXCM PAMMs returning more equal percentages regardless of PAMM's account equity.

The Dukascopy account is another story as well. First remember that our FXCM PAMMs trade mini lots which are 1/10th the size of a standard 100k lot. Mini lots at FXCM allow us a very fine and granular way to scale leverage up or down as well as compound equity gradually which all results in a smoother equity curve. Because Dukascopy is traded with standard 100k lots we do not have this flexibility and when forced to over or under leverage, we chose the later more conservative route. Our Dukascopy PAMM is at the point now where we can adjust lots up a notch more. This should result in results somewhere between what the 1.5:1 and 2:1 leveraged accounts will produce in May.

For a better understanding of leverage and how it related to our trading accounts, please read our "About Leverage" paragraph found at this link. http://www.galleonfx.com/content/view/27/39/

2) Use of Leverage Going Forward
If you have kept up with our website news and information regarding leverage, you would know that in most cases we maintain leverage somewhere between 1:1 and 2:1. Our hypothetical results are actually based on 1:1 leverage and up until the 2nd week of April, our average leverage on trading accounts has actually been closer to 1:1 than to 2:1. At the same time both hypothetical and real world results show that the risk to reward ratio of maintaining a leverage closer 2:1 is not just tolerable, but acceptable to most all people. So, along with our new procedure of maintaining a more consistent leverage, we have recently been maintaining leverage closer to 2:1 on both FXCM PAMMs as of the 4th week of April.

Maintaining leverage closer to 2:1 means slightly larger draw downs but much higher returns. See the table above for an example of what 2:1 leverage can produce. Since most of our clients are seeking aggressive growth we feel that current and future clients will be happy with leverage being skewed more towards 2:1 than 1:1. It is also just a matter of time until we provide options not just for aggressive investors, but for conservative investors seeking lower leveraged accounts. If a lower leveraged account is more appealing to you or your clients please contact us.