Pipsgrowth EX17017 Volatility

Pipsgrowth EX17017 Volatility is a multi-filter breakout EA that drives entries off a Gaussian-smoothed midline and rejects almost everything else. The midline is a 10-period EMA of close (Length=10, MODE_EMA, PRICE_CLOSE) — a low-lag center that the source calls the 'Gaussian' filter — and around it the EA draws a band of ±0.85×ATR(14) (DistanceMultiplier=0.85). Trades fire only when price closes outside the band for the first time after two inside bars, on a candle whose body is at least 60% of the candle range. That is the only entry path: no mean-reversion to the midline, no zone-grading, no score aggregation. Everything that follows is gate logic, not signal logic, and the gates are aggressive.

The OnTick path runs as a strict priority chain. The first check is CheckMaxDrawdown() — if account equity is more than 10% below balance (MaxDrawdownPercent=10.0), every new entry is blocked and only ManagePosition() runs to babysit existing positions. Next, if RSI_Role is true (default), a 14-period RSI on close is read. The EA returns early on the tick if RSI is at or above 70, at or below 30, OR outside the neutral zone of 40-60. That neutral-zone gate is unusual: it means the EA is willing to enter only when momentum is genuinely undecided, not when RSI confirms a trend. After RSI, the Bollinger Bands gate (BB_Role=true, period 20, deviation 2.0) reads the most recent band. It returns early if the current close is closer than 50% of the band width to the middle band (BB_MiddleBandFilter=0.5) — a chop filter. With BB_UseSqueezeDetection=true (default), it also returns early if the current band width is below half of the 20-bar average band width. The squeeze is computed by GetBollingerBands(i,...) for i=1..20, summing and averaging, so a genuinely contracting volatility regime kills the setup before the breakout test even runs.

With both indicator filters passed, the EA samples ATR(14) and rejects the tick if ATR is below MinATR (0.03) or above MaxATR (0.0 means disabled). When UseAutoFilter=true (default), AutoTuneFilters() rewrites minATR, breakDistance, and bandMult using the live spread — averaging the ask/bid gap to set a pip factor (0.0001 if spread < 3 pips, else 0.01), then anchoring minATR at 3× that factor. The breakout test in CheckAndTradeBreakout() reads three closes: price, pricePrev, pricePrev2. For a buy, price must be above the upper band, both pricePrev and pricePrev2 must be below the upper band, price must be above the higher-timeframe EMA(50) on TrendFilterTF (default H4 = 6), the slope must be up (gaussNow > gaussPrev), and (price − gaussNow) must exceed MinBreakDistance × ATR (0.3 × ATR). The sell side mirrors this. strongCandle and CheckWhipsaw() must also both return true for the call to even reach that logic.

The whipsaw check is the EA's quiet workhorse. CheckWhipsaw() looks at the last WhipsawLookback bars (default 5) and runs five sub-tests. It rejects the tick if the ATR range over those bars is compressed below (1 − WhipsawThreshold) × average ATR (Threshold=0.6, so 40% compression trips it), if the flip ratio of bullish/bearish candles across the lookback is at or above 0.6, if the wick ratio (bars with wick-to-body > 1.5) is at or above 0.6, or if the absolute average net move across the lookback is below 15% of average ATR. RequireVolumeBias is an optional fifth check that counts bar-to-bar volume flips over 50% of the prior bar; it defaults off. None of these individually look severe, but chained together they filter most of the 'fake breakout' tape that follows a 5-bar consolidation.

The HTF EMA is the directional veto. The handle (emaHandle) is created from iMA(_Symbol, g_TrendFilterTF, TrendEMA, 0, MODE_EMA, PRICE_CLOSE) where TrendEMA defaults to 50. The default TrendFilterTF of 6 maps to H4, so an M5 buy requires the H4 close to be above the 50-EMA, and an M5 sell requires the H4 close to be below it. That is a slow filter — H4 50-EMA is the kind of level that re-rates over weeks, not hours. On a fast 5-minute gold chart, this single constraint will reject a meaningful fraction of valid intraday breakouts that point the wrong way on the 4-hour chart.

Risk management is layered. Each entry sends a single 0.10 lot (Lots=0.1) at the live ask/bid, with a stop at ATR_MultiplierSL × ATR (1.2 × ATR) below the ask for buys or above the bid for sells, and a take-profit at FixedTP_Points × _Point (160 points). OneTradeOnly defaults to true, so the EA holds at most one position; MaxOpenTrades is set to 5 but is effectively bypassed when OneTradeOnly is on. AllowOnlyProfitableAdditions is true and gates any second position to require MinProfitPerTradeToAdd=5.0 of unrealized profit on the existing trade first. MaxDrawdownPercent=10.0 is the hard cap, checked every tick.

ManagePosition() handles exits across three concurrent tracks. First, the GAUSSIAN-CROSS exit: if a long is open and price dips below gaussNow, or a short is open and price rises above gaussNow, the position is closed via TryClose_EX17017 (3 retries, 200ms sleep on requote/timeout/price-off). This is the primary trend-failure exit. Second, the trailing stop: UseTrailingStop=true, the new stop is bid − 1.2×ATR for buys or ask + 1.2×ATR for sells, applied only if it improves the current stop (TryModify_EX17017, 3 retries, 100ms sleep on requote/timeout). Third, the breakeven: UseBreakeven=true, the stop is moved to the entry price once bid (for buys) or ask (for sells) is more than 1.2×ATR beyond entry. Fourth, the dynamic profit lock: EnableDynamicLockProfit=true converts unrealized P&L into a step count (profit ÷ 2.0 dollars per step), then ratchets the stop to entry + (stepCount × 2.0 − 1.0) dollars / tickValue × tickSize for buys, mirrored for sells. Only forward moves are accepted. The result is a stop that climbs $1 every $2 of floating profit, never moving backward.

Practical expectations: this EA is designed for medium-volatility XAUUSD on M5 with a $100 minimum. The 5-bar whipsaw filter and RSI/BB chop filters cut the trade frequency sharply — expect one to two setups per London or New York session, often zero on quiet Asian hours. The 10% drawdown cap will halt the EA on a single bad day, and the dynamic profit lock plus the ATR trailing give back some of the open profit by the time the trade closes. Backtests will look best on quiet-trend sessions with clearly expanding ATR; sideways days will be blocked by the BB chop and squeeze filters long before the equity curve takes damage.