Pipsgrowth EX18055 TrendFollow

Pipsgrowth EX18055 TrendFollow is a dual-Hull-MA slope follower that decides direction from the agreement of two inlined Hull moving averages on the last closed bar, then confirms that bias with a higher-timeframe Hull and a 3-state ADX regime classifier. The whole EA sits inside a 12-layer skeleton (REGIME, SIGNAL, ENTRY, CONFIRM, NO-TRADE, CAPITAL CAP, RISK, SIZING, MANAGE, EXIT, SCALING, OnTester) but the design intent is tight: trend-only entries, ATR-based stops, an early break-even, and a wide trailing stop that lets winners run.

The signal engine does not call any iCustom indicator. Instead, the EA builds two Hull series inline from iMA(LWMA) handles — a fast pair at InpHullFastPeriod=20 and a slow pair at InpHullSlowPeriod=50 — and recomputes HMA = LWMA(2·LWMA(price, n/2) − LWMA(price, n), √n) on every evaluation. The HullValue() helper copies √n bars from each of the two underlying LWMA handles, forms the raw difference series, and re-applies an LWMA pass to that difference. The result is the standard Hull smoothing kernel: low lag, good noise rejection, and no dependency on a custom indicator buffer that could de-sync from the chart. Signal is read on the last closed bar (shift=1) and is strictly +1, −1, or 0 — the long path requires the fast Hull sloping up, the slow Hull sloping up, and the fast value above the slow value; the short path mirrors that. Mixed slopes, crossovers without slope alignment, or fast crossing slow but both flat all return 0 and block entries.

A second Hull pair is calculated on a higher timeframe (InpHullHTF input mapping; default value 8 falls through to PERIOD_H1) and used purely as a confirmation filter. The HTF Hull must slope in the same direction as the chart-TF signal or the entry is rejected — this is the only real multi-timeframe agreement check in the stack. The applied price is configurable (close/open/high/low/median/typical/weighted) but defaults to close. The HTF pairing is what gives the system its 'enter with the higher-timeframe trend' character; without it the slope follower can whipsaw on a single M5 candle flipping direction.

Regime classification is intentionally compact. The RegimeState() function reads ADX(InpAdxPeriod=14) at shift=1 and maps it to a 3-state label: StrongTrend when ADX ≥ InpAdxTrendMin=22, WeakTrend when ADX ≥ 0.6·InpAdxTrendMin (about 13.2), and blocked (choppy/range) otherwise. Unlike the corpus's heavier 7-state classifiers, this one only cares about whether ADX is high enough to trust the slope. The SignalComposite() function returns the same +1/−1/0 from HullSlopeChart, with a confidence tag (70 for StrongTrend, 50 for WeakTrend, 30 for blocked-regime entries that the signal still produced) that is logged but not currently used to gate entries — ConfirmEntry() does the real gating.

The no-trade layer in NoTradeBlock() handles all the live-fire rules. It checks the InpKillSwitch input first, then spread (must be ≤ InpMaxSpreadPts=35 points = 3.5 pips on a 5-digit XAUUSD quote), then server time (only 07:00–20:59 — roughly the London + New York cash session, with Asia explicitly excluded), then weekend proximity (Friday after 21:00 blocked, full weekend blocked), then broker trade mode, then the position cap (InpMaxPositions=1 by default), then the capital floor (InpCapitalCapFloor=50 dollars), and finally the daily loss limit (InpDailyLossLimitPct=3.0 percent of effective capital, computed from the per-magic realized PnL since 00:00 server time). Any of these triggers writes a reason to the log and returns without sending an order. DailyLossExceeded() walks the deal history, filters by magic + symbol, and sums profit + swap + commission since day start.

Risk is fixed-fractional. CalcLotsByRisk() takes the SL distance in price, converts it to a dollar-per-lot figure from g_tickValue/g_tickSize, and sizes the lot so that risking InpRiskPercent=0.5% of EffectiveCapital() (which falls back to AccountInfoDouble(EQUITY) since InpCapitalCapAmount defaults to 0 = cap disabled) covers exactly that dollar distance. The result is then snapped to g_volStep and clamped to g_volMin/g_volMax via NormalizeVolume(). MarginOk() pre-checks via OrderCalcMargin() before each send, and SendMarketOrder() retries once on requote/price-off/timeout before giving up. Slippage is InpSlippage=20 points, filling is set to whatever the broker advertises via SetTypeFillingBySymbol.

Stops are ATR-based and built once at entry. BuildStops() takes ATR(InpAtrPeriod=14) at shift=1 and produces SL = price − 1.8·ATR (long) and TP = price + 3.0·ATR (long), giving a 1:1.67 risk-reward that is then validated as ≥ 1.2 inside ConfirmEntry(). The R-multiple is tracked live in ManagePosition() against the original entry-to-stop distance so the trailing logic and break-even are both expressed in R-units rather than raw points. The break-even is a one-shot: once profitPts reaches InpBreakEvenAtR=1.0R, the SL ratchets to openPrice ± 1 point (so a small bid-ask friction adjustment) and never moves back. The trailing stop uses InpTrailAtrMultiplier=2.5·ATR(14) and is gated by the position being in profit by at least 0.5R — it only ever ratchets in the profitable direction (up for longs, down for shorts), respects the broker's stops/freeze level, and only updates if the new candidate is strictly better than the current SL. There is no partial take-profit in this build: positions either hit full TP, get trailed to scratch, or close on signal reversal or time.

Exit logic is dual. The first path is an opposite-signal exit — if the EA is long and HullSlopeChart(1) turns negative, or short and the slope turns positive, the position is closed via TryClose_EX18055() (3 attempts, 200ms sleep on requote/timeout/price-off/price-changed). The second path is a time-based exit: InpMaxBarsInTrade=120 bars at the working timeframe (10 hours on M5, 30 hours on M15) closes the position regardless of signal state. The time stop exists to prevent low-conviction trades from bleeding through regime transitions; it is hard-coded and has no input.

Operationally the EA ticks twice per second in spirit. OnTick() first runs ManageAllPositions() which loops over PositionsTotal() and applies ManagePosition() to every open position with the matching magic + symbol. Then it checks whether a new bar has opened (iTime shift=0 changed); if not, it returns immediately — so all signal evaluation happens exactly once per closed bar, not on every tick. The OnTester() formula is (netProfit × profitFactor) / (1 + maxDD) with a 30-trade floor, the same scoring used across the family. The risk warning in the source header is the standard 74–89% retail-loss disclosure required for European-distributed EAs.

The defaults are tuned for XAUUSD on M5 with a $100 account: 0.5% risk, 1.8·ATR SL, 3.0·ATR TP, 1R break-even, 2.5·ATR trail, 120-bar max hold, daily 3% loss cap, and 3.5-pip spread tolerance. The InpDryRun input defaults to true — the EA logs every intended trade but does not send a market order until the operator flips it off, which makes it safe to drop on a chart for the first few sessions while you confirm that the signal fires where you expect. The capital cap is disabled by default (InpCapitalCapAmount=0) so EffectiveCapital is the live equity; the $50 floor still applies as a safety net so the EA won't try to open trades on a blown account.