Guide

Trading robots and scams: how to tell what's real

By InverMind · Updated June 2026

The trading-robot space is full of smoke. Before you part with money, it is worth learning to tell a scam from an honest product. Here are the red flags and what any serious vendor should offer you.

Red flags

What an honest vendor should offer

If someone guarantees you will win, you already know what it is. There is no robot that always wins, and promising it is the clearest sign of smoke there is.

Our approach, without self-praise

We publish the real log trade by trade, openly acknowledge the bad streaks, and offer a free trial so you don't have to take our word for it. We don't say this because we are special, but because it is the minimum you should demand from anyone selling you a strategy.

Related: whether automated trading is profitable and automated strategies for MNQ.

Frequently asked questions

No, but there is a lot of smoke. The difference is transparency: real auditable results, losses included, and the chance to test before paying.
Ask for live-account results, not just a backtest; check that they also show the losses; and be suspicious of any guarantee of profits.

ORB: an automated ORB strategy with public, real results

Traded on a live account, with the full trade log published and updated weekly. Try it free for 30 days before you decide.

See the ORB strategy See real results
Don't have NinjaTrader 8 yet? It's free for simulation and backtesting. Download it here →
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Risk Disclosure: Futures and forex trading involves substantial risk and is not appropriate for all investors. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial investment. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing one's financial security or lifestyle. Only risk capital should be used for trading and only those with sufficient risk capital should consider trading. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results.

Hypothetical Performance Disclosure: Hypothetical performance results have many inherent limitations, some of which are described below. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. In fact, there are frequently sharp differences between hypothetical performance results and the actual results subsequently achieved by any particular trading program. One of the limitations of hypothetical performance results is that they are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight. In addition, hypothetical trading does not involve financial risk, and no hypothetical trading record can completely account for the impact of financial risk in actual trading. For example, the ability to withstand losses or to adhere to a particular trading program in spite of trading losses are material points which can also adversely affect actual trading results. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program which cannot be fully accounted for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results and all of which can adversely affect actual trading results.

NinjaTrader® NinjaTrader® is a registered trademark of NinjaTrader Group, LLC. No NinjaTrader company has any affiliation with the owner, developer, or provider of the products described here, nor has any interest in, or provides any recommendation for the products or services described.