Pipsgrowth EX18022 TrendFollow

Pipsgrowth EX18022 TrendFollow is an MT5 Expert Advisor that takes a textbook EMA(9/21) crossover and surrounds it with enough confirmation logic that a single bar of noise cannot reach the order ticket. The entry trigger is the crossover itself — bullish when the 9-EMA closes above the 21-EMA on the current completed bar, bearish on the mirror — but every other condition that could let a fake signal through is closed. Five independent votes must agree, a higher-timeframe agreement check has to clear, and a regime classifier has to declare the market trendable before the EA will send an order. The result is a 12-layer trend system that filters on the way in and manages on the way out, with no martingale, no grid, and no scaling by default.

The signal stack is the most distinctive part of EX18022. On top of the EMA(9/21) cross the EA inlines a full Hull Moving Average implementation rather than calling a native HMA indicator — it builds HMA(20) and HMA(50) from LWMA halves and fulls and adds an HMA_SLOPE_BARS=3 slope check on each. The long vote requires HMA(20) rising, HMA(50) rising, and HMA(20) above HMA(50); the short vote mirrors. RSI(14) is used as a side filter rather than a trigger: longs require RSI below the InpRSIOb threshold (default 70) and shorts require RSI above InpRSIOs (default 30). MACD(12,26,9) contributes its histogram sign — long only when main minus signal is positive, short only when negative. ADX(14) gates trend strength with InpAdxThreshold=20 and requires +DI above -DI for longs and the opposite for shorts. The HTF agreement layer runs on PERIOD_H1, comparing close to a 50-EMA and checking that the H1 Hull(50) slope agrees with the direction; this is the layer that most filters out counter-trend attempts during the day.

The regime classifier is a 7-state engine that decides whether the market is even worth trading. It looks at three values: ADX(14) main, the current ATR(14) percentile rank within a 200-bar rolling window, and Bollinger Band width (period 20, deviation 2.0) expressed as a fraction of the middle band. From those it produces one of: StrongTrend (ADX at least 1.5x threshold AND ATR-pctile at least 0.70), WeakTrend (ADX at threshold AND ATR-pctile at least 0.50), Expand (ATR-pctile at least 0.85 with positive BB-width), Compress (ATR-pctile at most 0.15), Breakout (ATR-pctile at least 0.65 with elevated BB-width), Range (ADX at most half threshold), or Choppy. Entries are allowed only in StrongTrend, WeakTrend, Breakout, and Expand; a flip into Range, Compress, or Choppy forces any open position to close via the RegimeAllowsEntry check that runs on every manage tick.

Risk control is the part of the code that runs first on every entry attempt. The EffectiveCapital() function returns account equity unless InpCapitalCapAmount is set, in which case it caps the equity at that dollar amount (so a $200 account with cap=100 treats itself as a $100 account for sizing and loss-limit purposes). InpCapitalCapFloor=50 blocks any new trade if effective capital falls below $50. The RealizedPnL() helper walks the deal history filtered by magic 22218022 and computes profit plus swap minus absolute commission. Three loss gates read from it: a daily realized loss limit of 3% of effective capital, a weekly realized loss limit of 6%, and a consecutive-loss cooldown of 5 bars (the cooldown constant COOLDOWN_BARS) when the last two closed deals were both losses. The CountConsecLosses() function scans the most recent 10 deals in reverse and counts losses until the first winner, and the cooldown engages only when that count reaches InpCooldownAfterLoss=2.

Position sizing follows the classic risk-per-stop formula. For each signal the EA computes an initial stop as the worse of (a) the recent 14-bar swing low/high and (b) entry ± 1.5 × ATR(14), then floors the result against the broker stops-level distance. Risk money is effective_capital × InpRiskPercent / 100 (default 0.50%) and lots are RiskMoney / (stop_dist / TickSize) × TickValuePerLot, clamped to the symbol lot step and to a minimum of VolMin(). OrderCalcMargin is then called to verify that free margin covers the request; if not, the entry is skipped with a log line. There is no fixed take-profit at the order level — the EA passes tp=0 and lets its manage functions close the position adaptively. The minimum reward-to-risk ratio is enforced at entry via InpMinRR=1.20, so a 1.5:1 trade is allowed but a 0.9:1 is not.

Trade management runs on every tick and runs five separate exit paths. The Chandelier-style trailing stop ratchets the stop to high_since − InpChandelierK × ATR (default 3.0x) for longs and the mirror for shorts, only ever ratcheting in the profitable direction. A break-even move fires once when MFE reaches InpBE_R_Mult=1.0 times the entry ATR, lifting the stop to entry plus one R. A partial close of 50% fires at the same MFE threshold (the TP1_R_MULT=1.0 constant), locking in half the position. The final close trigger is TP_FINAL_R_MULT=3.0 times the entry ATR in MFE, which exits the remaining half. Time-based exit is a hard 200 bars in trade (InpMaxBarsInTrade). Opposite-signal exit checks whether the EMA(9/21) cross has flipped on the most recent closed bar. Regime change and session end both force a close — IsWithinSession() returns true only for server hours 2 through 21, so any position still open at hour 21 is force-closed.

The no-trade gate that runs before any order is sent is exhaustive and explicit. In order, it blocks on: kill switch active, effective capital below the $50 floor, daily realized loss has hit the 3% threshold, weekly loss has hit 6%, current spread exceeds InpMaxSpreadPoints=30 points, regime is not in the allowed set, position count is at InpMaxConcurrent=1, current time is before cooldown_until, the same bar would receive a second entry (the last_entry_bar == last_bar_time check), current server hour is outside the 2-21 window, or the most recent close is non-positive. The panel label in the top-left corner of the chart displays the active block reason plus the current EMA, RSI, ADX, ATR-percentile, and regime string.

The MT5 tester criterion is the same shape used across the TrendFollow family: (net_profit × profit_factor) / (1 + balance_ddrel_percent), with a hard minimum of 30 trades required for a non-zero return. A strategy that makes money but with low PF or high drawdown will score low; a strategy that has high PF and low DD will score high. The function lives at the bottom of the source as OnTester() and the constants are pulled directly from TesterStatistics().

The OpenTrade() function also includes a retry path for transient order failures: on a TRADE_RETCODE_REQUOTE, TRADE_RETCODE_PRICE_OFF, or TRADE_RETCODE_TIMEOUT retcode the EA re-sends the same order once without changing parameters. TryClose_EX18022, TryClosePartial_EX18022, and TryModify_EX18022 wrap the standard CTrade calls with the same three-attempt retry loop, sleeping 200ms on transient errors between attempts. The order comment is Psgrowth.com Expert_18022 so this EA trades are filterable in the deal history.

For live deployment, EX18022 expects a USDJPY broker with tight spreads (under 30 points at the chosen timeframe — the no-trade gate is unforgiving on this) and accurate tick data. The Strategy Tester reports typically show MEDIUM-risk equity curves with shallow drawdowns, because the 5-vote confirmation and 3:1 final R target combine to favor high-quality signals over trade frequency. Pyramiding is not enabled; only one position per magic 22218022 is ever open at a time, so the EA scales up only by increasing lot size from the risk formula, not by adding to a winner. The InpDryRun=true default means the EA will print its intended actions to the Experts log without sending any real order, which is the recommended first week of operation before switching to live.