Pipsgrowth EX18085 TrendFollow

Pipsgrowth EX18085 is a self-contained, no-iCustom trend system for XAUUSD on the M5 timeframe. It blends a Tillson T3 smoothing chain with a custom Zero-Lag EMA stack and an EMA-driven candle color filter, requiring all three to vote in the same direction before opening a position. Every indicator value is rebuilt from raw MqlRates buffers inside the EA — there are no external indicator handles, no iCustom calls, and no dependency on sidecar files. The result is a single MQ5 file that compiles cleanly and runs the same on any MT5 build, with no DLL or pip install step required.

The T3 component (InpT3Period=21, InpT3Factor=0.7) is computed by walking six sequential EMAs of the close and recombining them through Tillson's polynomial coefficients (c1 through c4 derived from the volume factor). That gives a smooth line with notably less lag than a standard EMA of the same period. The Zero-Lag MA family is built differently: each line is 2 * EMA(period) − EMA(EMA(period)), the classic de-lagging trick attributed to Ehlers/Mulloy. EX18085 runs three of them in parallel — a fast 9-period, a slow 21-period, and a slow 50-period trend reference — and treats the 50 as the directional filter (longs only above it, shorts only below). The candle color layer is simpler and cheaper: a 10-period EMA of the close is compared to the current bar; a bar that closes above both the EMA and its own open is bullish (1), a bar that closes below both is bearish (−1), and doji-style bars where close and open disagree with the EMA are treated as neutral and ignored.

Entry logic in CheckSignal() is a four-way AND: the fast ZL-EMA must cross above the slow ZL-EMA on the most recent closed bar (with a strict inequality on bar 1 and a ≤ on bar 2 to catch only the first bar of a fresh cross), the close must be on the correct side of the 50-period trend ZL-EMA, the T3 line must be sloping in the trade direction (g_t3[1] > g_t3[2] for longs, mirror for shorts), and the candle color must agree. The result is one signal per closed bar, gated through a session filter and a spread filter before any order is sent. There is no long-only mode in the inputs — the EA can go either side, and it relies on the four-way agreement to keep fakeouts out.

Position management runs on every tick. ManageBreakeven() is invoked before the trailing logic and slides the stop to entry plus 50 points the moment price reaches the configured 200-point BE trigger. ManageTrailingStop() then takes over: once price is 300 points in profit, the stop is ratcheted to a fixed 200 points behind the current bid/ask, but only if the new stop would be strictly better than the current one (a one-way ratchet that never loosens). The TP target is left untouched by the trailing logic, so a 1:3 R:R position can still close at the 1500-point target if the trend runs cleanly. Both helpers are independent toggles — a trader who prefers the static 500/1500 bracket can disable the trailing, the breakeven, or both, and the EA will still respect the bracket exits.

Risk is handled inside CalculateLotSize(). With InpRiskPercent=1.0 the lot is derived from the SL distance: risk money is balance * 1%, the loss-per-lot is computed from SYMBOL_TRADE_TICK_VALUE and SYMBOL_TRADE_TICK_SIZE at the SL distance, and the lot is rounded down to the broker's volume step, clamped to the symbol's min/max and capped at InpMaxLotSize (1.0 default). If the user sets InpRiskPercent to 0, the EA falls back to a fixed 0.01 lot. The order comment, magic number, slippage control and order execution are all channeled through CTrade from <Trade/Trade.mqh>, with the modify path going through a 3-retry TryModify_EX18085 helper that pauses 100 ms on requote/timeout.

The no-trade stack is short and explicit. The new-bar gate (IsNewBar()) ensures that the full indicator suite recomputes only when a fresh M5 bar opens. The session gate (IsWithinTradingSession()) supports two independent windows — by default 08:00–12:00 and 14:00–18:00 server time — which on a typical ECN broker corresponds to the London open and the London/New York overlap. Both windows can be disabled, both start and end hours can be shifted, and a position is never closed just because the session ended: management runs continuously, only fresh entries are blocked. The spread gate accepts any trade where (ask - bid) / _Point <= 200, which on XAUUSD is roughly 2.0 USD of spread — tight enough to filter news spikes but loose enough not to choke on quiet rollovers.

Pyramiding is included but off by default. When InpEnablePyramid is flipped on, IsPyramidSafe() enforces three rules: total open positions for the symbol and magic must be below InpMaxPyramidLevels (3), the SL on every existing position in the pyramid must already be locked into profit by at least InpMinSLProfit points (150 default), and the EA will not add into a position whose stop has not yet trailed above entry. That last rule effectively means new entries only join a trade that is already working — the system will not stack into a losing position. With pyramid disabled, the EA simply holds at most one position per symbol per magic and re-enters only after a stop or TP fires.

The header of the source lists the file as part of the TrendFollow family at version 2.00, with magic 22218085. The .mq5 declares zero #define constants — every tunable sits in the input groups, which makes the EA easy to A/B test from the MT5 Strategy Tester. There is no OnTester pass function and no chart info panel; the strategy is meant to be read through its trade comments and the Experts log. For backtesting, expect the full 1:3 R:R bracket to be the dominant exit path on trending XAUUSD sessions, with the BE/trailing stack doing most of the work on shallow pullbacks inside a longer move.