Pipsgrowth EX18010 TrendFollow

Pipsgrowth EX18010 TrendRider is a USDJPY-tuned trend-following EA built around a dual-timeframe Hull Moving Average consensus. The header calls it a 'Dual Hull-MA Consensus Trend Rider' and the entire engine is engineered so that a fast M15 Hull and a slow H1 Hull have to agree on direction before the EA will even consider a position. Where most EAs evaluate a single moving average on a single timeframe, EX18010 reads two distinct Hull MAs from two distinct timeframe buffers (g_closeM15[] and g_closeH1[]), asks both to be rising or falling on the same bar, and only then hands the decision off to confirmation, regime, and risk layers.

Hull MA is implemented inline from close arrays — there is no iHull handle. The HullMAFromArr() function constructs each Hull value as 2 × WMA(period/2) − WMA(period) over the requested lookback window, and HullDir() checks the slope across three consecutive bars (HULL_SLOPE_BARS=2 plus the current bar). A direction is BULL only if h0 > h1 > h2, BEAR only if h0 < h1 < h2, otherwise FLAT. For trend strength the EA leans on ADX(14) with a threshold of InpAdxThreshold=18.0 and a 'strong trend' line at InpADXStrong=28.0 — ADX has to clear 18 before any signal is taken, and the 28-level matters because it drives the regime classification (see below).

Regime is a 7-state classifier (ENUM_REGIME) wired into the UpdateRegime() function. Inputs are ADX, an ATR-percentile over a 100-bar lookback, and a Bollinger Bands (period 20, deviation 2.0) width percentile. The mapping: ADX ≥ 28 → STRONG_TREND, ADX ≥ 18 → WEAK_TREND, BB-width percentile < 0.20 → COMPRESS, BB-width percentile > 0.80 combined with ATR-percentile > 0.80 → EXPAND, ATR-percentile > 0.80 alone → BREAKOUT, BB-width percentile < 0.35 → RANGE, else CHOPPY. The RegimeAllowsEntry() whitelist is just four states — STRONG_TREND, WEAK_TREND, BREAKOUT, EXPAND — and the other three (RANGE, COMPRESS, CHOPPY) block entries outright. This is the EA's anti-whipsaw gate: it will not buy into a quiet market even if Hull is rising.

Confirmation is delivered by ConfirmBuy() and ConfirmSell(). A buy requires the bid to be above the closed-bar H1 EMA(50) (the g_htfEma[1] handle from iMA(HTF_TIMEFRAME=PERIOD_H1, HTF_EMA_PERIOD=50)), and either the live EMA is still rising or the live bid is still above the live EMA. RSI(14) has to sit inside a 45–78 band for longs, 22–55 for shorts. If any of those conditions fails, whyN is set to 'HTF_EMA_AGAINST' or 'RSI_OUT_OF_BAND' and the entry is skipped. The signal/confirm pair is computed on the closed bar (g_lastEntryBar guard), so the EA never trades on an unfinished candle.

Stop loss and take profit are ATR-multiples: SL = 1.5 × ATR(14), TP = 2.5 × ATR(14), which gives an R:R of 1:1.67 on the entry. A InpMinRR=1.2 filter is also baked into ManageEntries() — if the projected TP distance is not at least 1.2 × the projected SL distance, the trade is dropped. Lot sizing is fixed-fractional off g_effectiveCap (the active capital cap, see below) at InpRiskPercent=0.5% per trade, via CalcLots() which divides the dollar risk by the stop distance in ticks and clamps the result to the broker's volume step/min/max.

Capital is gated by InpCapAmount (default 0.0 = no cap, the EA trades the full account equity) and InpCapFloor=50.0 USD (entries blocked if equity is below the floor). The capital cap input is a USD-equity ceiling: if you set it to 5000 the EA only ever sizes off the lesser of 5000 or the live equity, which makes prop-firm allocations trivial. The NoTradeGates() function also enforces a daily 3% loss limit and a weekly 6% loss limit (both computed from the magic's own realized PnL via SumRealized()), a 3-consecutive-losses cooldown of 6 hours, max-open-positions of 5, a session window of 00:00–21:00 server time, and a spread gate that blocks entries when spread > 30% of ATR(14). Saturday/Sunday is hard-blocked.

Open-position management runs every tick through ManageOpen(). Three soft-exit protections are stacked: a break-even move that ratchets SL to entry + 0.1 × ATR once profit exceeds 1.0 × ATR, an ATR trailing stop that activates at +1.5 × ATR profit and runs at 1.0 × ATR behind bid/ask (only ratchets in the favorable direction), and a 50% partial close that fires when price reaches halfway to TP (only when remaining volume is at least 1.5 × volMin). Three hard exits sit on top: a volatility-spike exit that closes any in-profit position when ATR(14) exceeds 2.6 × its 20-bar average, a stochastic exit (K crossing D from the overbought/oversold side, periods 14/3/3, levels 80/20), and an opposite-Hull exit that closes a long when the fast M15 Hull flips to BEAR. All three hard exits are gated by profitDist >= 0 — they never cut a loss, only protect a winner.

Pyramiding is wired in (up to 5 levels, spaced at 1.0 × ATR apart) but disabled by default — InpPyramidEnable=false. Weekend protection is a hard flatten at Friday 20:00 server time via ShouldCloseForWeekend(). The 3-retry TryClose_EX18010, TryClosePartial_EX18010, and TryModify_EX18010 functions each retry with 200ms / 100ms sleeps on requotes, price-off, timeout, and price-changed retcodes before giving up. Filling mode is auto-detected: FOK if the broker permits it, otherwise IOC, otherwise RETURN.

OnTester() returns (netProfit × max(0.01, profitFactor)) / (1 + balanceDDpct) with a 30-trade minimum, so the strategy is judged in the optimizer on a profit-per-unit-of-drawdown basis rather than raw net. The InpDryRun input defaults to true — out of the box the EA logs DRYRUN BUY/SELL/MODIFY/CLOSE lines to the journal instead of placing orders, which is the safest way to validate on a new broker before going live. The lot-size calc, regime classifier, and signal logic all run identically in dry-run; only the order sends are stubbed.

The 12-layer stack the header advertises maps cleanly: REGIME (7-state classifier), SIGNAL (dual Hull consensus + ADX), ENTRY (closed-bar gate, INIT vs PYRAMID tags), CONFIRM (H1-EMA50 + RSI band), NO-TRADE (8 gates incl. capital floor, loss limits, cooldown, spread, session, weekend, max-positions, regime), CAPITAL CAP (USD-equity ceiling with floor), RISK (0.5% fractional off effective cap), SIZING (CalcLots with ClampVolume to broker step), MANAGE (BE + trail + partial TP), EXIT (opp-Hull, stoch, vol-spike), SCALING (pyramid OFF by default), and OnTester (custom criterion). On USDJPY M15 with the default inputs, the EA reads a low-ADX Asia session as CHOPPY and refuses to trade, then engages STRONG_TREND once London opens and ADX clears 28. The dual-Hull design is the EX18010 signature — distinct from ex18009's H1 triple-EMA stack, ex18004's 7-state regime with HTF agreement, and the more aggressive 5-way confirmation used in ex18007.