My path to success has the following steps:

1. Buy new external hard-drive.
2. Load all the Oanda and Gain Capital historical price data text files.
3. Create the interval data.
4. Experiment and find 10 or so (seemingly) profitable trading systems.
5. Find a "churn" system, that trades really often and is somewhat profitable. This one is to get the monthly Oanda API fee waived.
6. Yada yada yada.
7. Have a lot of money.

So you see, having a new external hard-drive is the first step to success.

The reason I say "new" external hard-drive, is because (as you might remember) a cat knocked over my old one and now it sounds like how it would if you ran over a roller skate with a lawn mower. (Do people still remember roller skates?)

You're probably aware that the Oanda API costs $600 initially, and then after the first 2 months it costs $600 per month. But, it's discounted $50 for every $1m of currency you buy, so if you purchase $12m worth of currency in a month then it's free. I want to create a trading system which pretty much just buys and sells and buys and sells so that even with a couple of hundred dollars in their account, people can get the monthly fee waived.

I figure the high price of the Oanda API is a barrier to people buying my software, so if I can find such a "churn" system then it's good for everybody. Including Oanda who rake in the spread.

At first I wrote down "find a churn system that doesn't lose too much". Then it became "find a churn system that breaks even". And thinking about it a little more, I decided on "find a churn system that is also profitable."

The words we use are important, aren't they.

Oh, and don't forget this post of mine (but the theory taken from the Oanda forums) on how to pay a maximum of $400 as the monthly fee, not $600.

Oh, and don't forget that there is no getting around the initial $600 payment.

Success begins with an external hard-drive. Don't forget those words. That'll become the phrase that people remember me by, just like "I have a dream" or "Ich bin ein Berliner" or "Do the Bart-man."