Pipsgrowth EX18031 TrendFollow

Pipsgrowth EX18031 is built around a single, repeatable observation: on a fast chart, price spends most of its time clustered around its short-period EMA, and the moments when it actually leaves that cluster are the moments worth trading. The EA defines that cluster as a band of width InpBandMult * ATR(14) on either side of an EMA of length InpEMALength = 10 — a 10-bar Gaussian-style smoothed mean. A long signal triggers on the first closed bar whose close pushes above the upper band by at least InpBreakDistATR = 0.30 * ATR AND whose body is at least 60% of the bar's full range. The previous two closes must remain below the band so the breakout is fresh, not a late continuation, and the EMA itself must be sloping up. Shorts mirror the same condition against the lower band. ComputeSignal() returns ±1 and assigns a confidence score of 60 by default, with 15 extra points added when the current regime qualifies as a trend and a further 15 if that trend is rated strong.

Before any order is allowed, the EA runs the current bar's environment through a 7-state regime classifier in UpdateRegime(). ADX(14), ATR(14), and a Bollinger band of period 20, deviation 2.0, are all read on the closed bar. ATR in price units must clear InpATRMinPrice = 0.30 to keep the EA out of low-volatility gold sessions where spreads eat the move. If ADX reads ≥ InpADXMinTrend = 20.0 AND the Bollinger width is expanding (>5% wider than the prior bar), the regime is REG_STRONG_TREND. ADX ≥ 20 alone is REG_WEAK_TREND. Expanding width without ADX is REG_EXPAND. Compressing width is REG_COMPRESS. A width/ATR ratio above 3 is REG_BREAKOUT. Anything else is REG_RANGE, and the only hard-blocked state is REG_CHOPPY — set automatically when ATR falls below the floor. NoTradeReason() lists REGIME_CHOPPY explicitly, so a quiet market forces a flat posture.

A trade is only attempted when the no-trade gate is clean. The gate combines a maximum of InpMaxConcurrent = 3 open positions and EX_MAX_SYMBOL_POS = 3 per-symbol positions, an EX_SESSION_START-to-EX_SESSION_END server window of 08:00–22:00, the manual InpKillSwitch, the InpMaxSpreadPoints = 50 spread ceiling, the daily 3% loss cap relative to effective capital, and a one-hour cooldown triggered after EX_COOLDOWN_LOSSES = 3 consecutive losses. NewsBlock() adds two fixed blackout windows — 12:30 and 14:00 server time, each with EX_NEWS_BLOCK_MIN = 30 minutes of padding — which approximates the most common US macro release slots in a thin way that does not require an external feed. When a bar is being held (IsNewBar() returns false), the EA still updates trailing logic, but new entries are blocked — exactly one attempt per closed bar via the g_lastEntryBarTime guard.

Confirmation in Confirm() is short but disciplined. The higher-timeframe trend EMA (hHTF = iMA(InpTrendEMA = 50) on the timeframe chosen by InpHTF = 6 → PERIOD_H4) must agree with the signal direction: a BUY requires bid above the H4 EMA(50), a SELL requires bid below. The TP/SL multiple ratio InpATR_TP_Mult / InpATR_SL_Mult must be at least 1.0 (the defaults 1.5 / 1.2 = 1.25 naturally pass). The closed-bar ATR(14) must remain above the floor. If any check fails, Confirm() returns the reason string and the entry is skipped.

Position sizing is standard risk-percent: CalcLot() divides effective_capital * InpRiskPercent / 100 by the per-lot dollar loss at the entry ATR distance, then clamps to the symbol's volume step and limits. EffectiveCapital() is min(InpCapitalCapAmount, equity) when InpCapitalCapAmount > 0, else full equity; with the default 0.0 the cap is off and full equity is used. InpCapitalCapFloor = 50.0 still blocks new entries when equity is too small to size a sensible lot. MarginOK() pre-checks margin availability before trade.Buy() / trade.Sell() is dispatched. The trade helper retries once on requote/timeout.

Once in the trade, ManagePositions() runs every tick. Opposite-signal exit (EX_OPP_EXIT) closes the position immediately on a flip. Regime-change exit (EX_REGIME_EXIT) closes the position if the regime transitions into REG_RANGE or REG_CHOPPY — i.e. when the trend that justified the entry has died. Time exit fires at InpMaxBarsInTrade = 240 bars (20 hours on M5). Break-even triggers when price reaches 1R: stop is moved to entry plus the broker's stop-level in price. Partial TP closes half the position at 0.5 * InpATR_TP_Mult * ATR(14) from entry (so 0.75× ATR for the defaults). The trailing stop then ratchets at InpATRTrailMult = 2.0 × ATR, with broker stop-level respected. All modification calls go through TryModify_EX18031() with a 3-attempt loop sleeping 100 ms on requote/timeout. EX_PYRAMID_ON is hard-coded false, so adding to a winner is intentionally disabled — every entry is a fresh signal.

For tuning, the most important levers are the band multiplier (InpBandMult) and breakout distance (InpBreakDistATR). Cranking InpBandMult up to 1.2–1.5 reduces signals to the most extreme dislocations; dropping it to 0.5 increases frequency. The ADX floor (InpADXMinTrend) is the on/off switch for trend tolerance — leave it at 20 for gold's typical 18–28 ADX range, raise it to 25–30 to require a confirmed move before entries. The HTF choice (InpHTF = 6 = H4) is sensible for M5: an H1 EMA(50) tends to be too reactive on gold, while Daily works but generates signals on the daily boundary only. The TP/SL pair (InpATR_TP_Mult = 1.5, InpATR_SL_Mult = 1.2) gives a 1.25:1 R:R at the trade level, but the BE+partial+trail stack converts that to a much better realized ratio on winners. Expect a hit rate in the 35–50% range, with the partial + trail doing the heavy lifting on the win side.

A practical use case is the London–New York overlap on gold, where ATR clears 0.30 reliably and the breakout bands give 2–4 signals per session. The 08:00–22:00 server window in this EA typically aligns with that overlap depending on broker GMT offset, and the 12:30/14:00 blackouts help avoid being caught in a sudden spike on US data prints. This is not a low-spread-required system — the 50-point spread ceiling is generous — but on thin ECN accounts the spread filter can be tightened to 25–30 to avoid the after-hours widening that gold is notorious for.