Pipsgrowth EX09020 MeanReversion

Pipsgrowth EX09020 is the most ambitious member of the EX9 family: a multi-symbol scalper that runs two completely different signal stacks side-by-side and lets an in-strategy regime classifier pick which one is live. The two stacks are not blended. On every cycle the EA looks at ADX(14) and assigns the symbol to either Mean Reversion mode (when ADX is below InpADXSwitch = 18) or Breakout mode (when ADX is at or above 18). The MR stack and the BO stack then each produce their own buy/sell flags, and a third optional Liquidity Trap detector can sit on top of either regime to add its own long/short signal. The default symbol list at OnInit reads EURUSD,USDJPY,GBPUSD,EURJPY,AUDUSD, but the CSV is editable and the EA can be pinned to a single symbol by flipping EnableMultiSymbol = false.

When the regime classifier selects Mean Reversion, the entry condition requires the close to sit at or beyond the outer VWAP sigma band — InpVWAP_SigmaOuter = 2.0 standard deviations from the session VWAP — and then demand an RSI(2) recapture through the level InpRSI2_LevelLow = 10 for buys or InpRSI2_LevelHigh = 90 for sells. The VWAP itself is computed on a session-anchored basis (00:00 server time) using typical price times volume, with a 60-bar lookback for the sigma calculation. The KAMA slope-agreement filter runs on top: a long is only valid if the Kaufman Adaptive Moving Average (period 10, fast 2, slow 30) is sloping up; a short needs the slope to be down. The bar-quality filter then drops any candidate bar whose body-to-range ratio is below InpMinBodyToRange = 0.18, so dojis and pin bars with thin bodies are excluded.

When the regime classifier selects Breakout, the logic switches to a Donchian + SuperTrend + KAMA blend. A long is only fired if the close prints above the upper Donchian band (InpDonchianPeriod = 20 bars), the SuperTrend (ATR period 10, multiplier 2.0) is bullish, the KAMA slope is up, and the bar clears the body-quality filter. The optional VWAP distance limiter (InpLimitBO_VWAPDistance = true) blocks breakouts that have stretched too far from VWAP — specifically, if the z-score of the close against VWAP exceeds InpMaxVWAP_Zscore = 1.5, the breakout signal is suppressed to avoid chasing late moves. The short side is the mirror. Both MR and BO scan a small window of recent closed bars — EntrySignalsMustMatchWithinBars = 2 by default — and only fire if at least one qualifying bar appears within that window.

The Liquidity Trap layer sits orthogonal to the regime. With UseLiquidityTrap = true (default), the EA looks back InpTrapLookbackBars = 30 bars for a swing high or low that price has just swept by InpTrapSweepPts = 12 points. If the candle then closes back through that swing level by InpTrapReentryPts = 8 points and the candle wick ratio against the bar range is at least InpTrapWickRatio = 0.30, the trap fires. The trap signal is OR-ed with the regime-derived base signal, so a long trap can fire even when the regime classifier has the symbol in BO mode.

After the base signal is set, the EA requires confirmations. Four confirmation modules can be enabled: volume spike (VolumeSpikeOK, comparing current volume to a 20-bar SMA with multiplier 1.30), KAMA slope agreement (already used inside MR, repeated here as a confirmation), VWAP statistical availability (needs at least 30 valid bars and a non-zero sigma), and an optional Bollinger re-entry check using bands(20, 2.0) — that last one defaults to OFF. The user sets InpNeedConfirmationsK (default 2) and the EA fires only when the count of passing modules meets that threshold, capped at the number of modules actually enabled.

Layered on top of all of that is the safety gate IsSafeToTrade_EX09020 and the per-symbol pre-trade check CanPlaceNew. The safety gate enforces a capital cap (InpCapAmount, InpCapFloor), an initial-balance floor at InpMinEquityPercent = 95%, a daily realized-loss cap of InpDailyLossLimitPct = 3% against effective capital, a max-trades-per-day limit of 50, a market-open check (no Saturday, no Sunday before 22 GMT, no Friday after 21 GMT), a session-active check that only allows London 7-16 GMT and New York 12-21 GMT (with the Asia block 0-7 GMT respected when InpAvoidAsia = true), and an optional news-time filter that blocks entries within ±15 minutes of the London or NY open hour. CanPlaceNew adds the per-symbol state: a one-entry-per-bar gate, a per-symbol pause-until timestamp that latches on three consecutive losses (60-minute pause) or a $100 cumulative loss amount (60-minute pause), a per-symbol daily-drawdown pause of 2% that resets at the next day rollover, a dynamic spread cap computed as median + 3 * MAD over the last 200 spread samples (with an optional absolute cap), and a tick-activity floor of 18 ticks per minute.

Position management centers on ApplyDynamicLockProfitToPosition — the ratchet. Every tick the EA walks open positions, computes how many InpLockProfitEveryXPoints = 120 point steps the price has moved in the position's favor, multiplies that by the step and subtracts InpLockMinusYPointsBuffer = 18 points, and moves the stop to entry plus that distance (for longs) or entry minus that distance (for shorts). The new stop is only ever moved forward — never relaxed — and is checked against the broker's SYMBOL_TRADE_FREEZE_LEVEL before being sent. SL and TP for new entries are ATR-driven: the EA reads ATR(14) in points and multiplies by InpATR_SL_Mult_MR = 1.0 and InpATR_TP_Mult_MR = 1.8 in MR mode, or InpATR_SL_Mult_BO = 1.0 and InpATR_TP_Mult_BO = 2.4 in BO mode. The TP/SL floors in CalcSLTP are 0.8 for MR SL and 1.2 for MR TP, or 1.0 / 2.0 for BO, so the multipliers cannot be dialled down to a sub-1:1 R:R by mistake. The static fallback when InpUseATRforSLTP = false is 250 points SL and 500 points TP.

Sizing uses InpFixedLot = 0.10 — there is no per-trade risk percent in this EA. Lot normalization calls NormalizeVol which clamps to the broker's SYMBOL_VOLUME_MIN, SYMBOL_VOLUME_STEP, and SYMBOL_VOLUME_MAX. Order routing goes through SendOrder_AllFillings, which calls DetermineAllowedFillings to read the broker's SYMBOL_FILLING_MODE bitmask, then iterates preferred filling modes in the order IOC, RETURN, FOK, retrying up to 6 outer attempts with adaptive deviation starting at InpSlippagePoints = 5 and growing by 3 points per attempt up to a ceiling of InpMaxAdaptiveDeviation = 20 points, with 80ms back-off sleeps. The inner TryOrderSend_EX09020 retries 3 times on REQUOTE, TIMEOUT, PRICE_OFF, or PRICE_CHANGED with 200ms sleep. If the broker rejects the trade because of stops (INVALID_STOPS or REQUOTE with SL/TP attached), the EA retries once without stops and then post-modifies via ModifyPositionSLTP.

The utilization cap is a portfolio-level safety: UtilizationCapAllows computes usedPct = (equity - margin_free) / equity and blocks the trade if it exceeds InpUtilizationMaxPct = 50%. By default the cap only gates adds (InpGateAddsOnly = true), so the first entry per symbol is exempt. Adds are also gated by AllowOnlyProfitableAdditions = true: a second position can only be opened in a direction where every existing position in that direction is at least MinProfitPerTradeToAdd = 4.0 points in the green. The directional cooldown of InpCooldownSecondsDir = 20 seconds prevents re-firing on the same side. The maximum positions per symbol is MaxOpenTradesPerSymbol = 2 and the global cap is MaxTotalOpenTrades = 6.

The engine itself runs on a timer (EventSetTimer(1), driven by OnTimer) rather than on every tick — OnTick only pushes the tick-activity counter, updates daily counters, and applies the ratchet to open positions. The OnTester formula is n * pf / (1 + dd) with a 30-trade minimum, so a strategy needs at least 30 closed trades in the optimization window to receive a non-zero fitness and the result is a sharp ratio of net profit times profit factor divided by one plus the equity drawdown percent. The verbose diagnostic logging is off by default; flipping VerboseLogs = true lights up the LOGF macro throughout.

In a backtest, expect this EA to behave like two distinct strategies sharing one account. In low-ADX periods on the major FX pairs, the MR side will trigger from VWAP 2-sigma extremes with the KAMA slope and RSI(2) recapture acting as directional gates, with 1.0 ATR stops and 1.8 ATR targets. When a strong directional move lifts ADX above 18, the BO stack takes over with Donchian 20 breakouts confirmed by SuperTrend and a VWAP-distance cap, with 1.0 ATR stops and 2.4 ATR targets. The dynamic lock profit ratchet is what bridges the two modes — it locks in realized gains on a 120-point step cadence with an 18-point buffer, and it runs on every tick regardless of which regime is currently active, so a position opened in MR mode can have its stop ratcheted into profit while the market transitions to BO mode. Realistic runs on the default FX list will show a mix of quick 100-300 point winners (the MR hits) and longer 200-600 point runners (the BO hits), with the ratchet converting many of them into breakeven-or-better trades even when the TP is missed.