Pipsgrowth EX18111 TrendFollow

Pipsgrowth EX18111 is a Smart Money Concepts scalper built specifically for XAUUSD on the M5 chart, and it does something the majority of gold robots on the marketplace don't: it tries to read market structure the way a discretionary SMC trader would, then layers a six-factor indicator consensus on top before pulling the trigger. The OnTick loop is a state machine. On every new bar, UpdateSwingStructure() walks InpSwingLength=20 candles on each side of a candidate pivot and either certifies or rejects the bar as a swing high or swing low. When a confirmed swing is later broken by the close of bar 1, the EA classifies the break as either a Break Of Structure (BOS, continuation in the existing swingTrend) or a Change Of Character (CHoCH, reversal against the prior swingTrend) and updates g_swingTrend accordingly. The same logic runs at InpInternalLength=5 for a faster, internal-structure trend that helps catch reversals inside a swing. Every confirmed structural break also calls CreateOrderBlock(), which scans up to ten bars back from the originating pivot and stores the extreme candle as an SOrderBlock struct with top, bottom, time, and bias. DetectFVG() runs in parallel, looking at three-candle sequences where the middle candle's range is non-overlapping and the imbalance exceeds InpFVGMinATR=0.5× ATR. Both zones are kept in rolling arrays capped at InpMaxOBCount=5 and InpMaxFVGCount=5, and the EA deactivates any zone as soon as price trades through it (CheckOBMitigation / CheckFVGMitigation).

The actual entry decision is gated by a six-point consensus score calculated separately for buys and sells. CalculateBuyScore() awards one point each when: RSI(9) sits between 30 and 70 (configurable via InpRSI_OS / InpRSI_OB); the Hull MA at bar 1 is higher than at bar 2 (an internal slope confirmation, where the Hull is built from two LWMAs at periods 20 and 10 with the standard 2*LWMA(N/2) − LWMA(N) construction); the fast EMA(9) is above the slow EMA(21); the current ATR(14) exceeds the 20-bar average ATR by InpATRVelocity=1.2×; g_swingTrend is BULLISH; and an active BOS or CHoCH alert fired on the current bar. The mirror logic runs for sells. The trade only fires when buyScore (or sellScore) clears InpMinSignalScore=3 AND the swingTrend agrees with the directional bias. If those conditions hold, ProcessEntrySignals() walks the entry modes in MODE_ALL / MODE_OB_RETEST / MODE_FVG_FILL / MODE_BOS_BREAK order. A bullish or bearish engulfing pattern (IsBullishEngulfing / IsBearishEngulfing, with the previous bar's body fully inside the current bar's body and the current body larger) or a pin bar with wick-to-body ratio above InpPinBarRatio=2.5 acts as a discretionary override and forces validEntry true regardless of the SMC path.

Risk is sized by CalculateLotSize(), which uses balance × InpRiskPercent=2.0% divided by the SL distance in tick units, floored to SYMBOL_VOLUME_STEP and capped at SYMBOL_VOLUME_MIN/MAX. InpFixedLot overrides the formula when set above zero. Stop loss and take profit are ATR-anchored: SL = 1.5×ATR(14) below entry for longs, TP = 2.5×ATR(14) above entry, producing a 1:1.67 risk-reward at the defaults. The order uses MqlTradeRequest with deviation=30 and the fill mode auto-detected from SYMBOL_FILLING_MODE in GetFillMode(). Margin is sanity-checked at 80% of free margin before any new ticket is sent, and a 5-minute cooldown (InpTradeCooldownMin) is enforced between trade attempts.

EX18111 is also one of the few EAs in the PipsGrowth catalogue with a true pyramid. ExecutePyramidLeg() is only called when CanAddPyramidLeg() confirms the open legs are all in profit (InpRequireAllProfit=true), the last leg's profit exceeds InpMinProfitNextLeg=$1.50, at least 60 seconds have elapsed since the previous leg, and the current count is still below InpMaxPositions=3. The size of each additional leg is base × InpPyramidLotMult=0.75^legNum, which means a de-escalating pyramid (legs 1, 0.75, 0.5625) rather than the more common escalating martingale. Before any pyramid leg is opened, RatchetToBreakeven() walks every open position in the same direction and tightens the SL to entry + spread for buys, entry − spread for sells. ManagePositions() then handles the trailing logic on every tick: once price exceeds entry by InpBreakevenATR=0.8×ATR, the stop is ratcheted to entry plus 10 points, and once price is beyond that BE level, the trail advances by InpTrailATR=0.5×ATR on each subsequent tick that the new SL would beat the existing one by 10 points. TPs are never modified after the fact.

The optional AI news layer is the EA's most experimental feature. If you populate InpPerplexityAPIKey with a real key and add https://api.perplexity.ai to MT5's allowed WebRequest URLs, CheckAINews() will POST to the Perplexity llama-3.1-sonar endpoint every InpNewsCheckInterval=300 seconds, asking for a single-word bias (BULLISH / BEARISH / NEUTRAL) plus a one-line reason covering upcoming high-impact USD data, geopolitical events, and recent Fed statements. The response is parsed by ParseAIResponse() and stored in g_aiBias. If AI returns BULLISH but g_swingTrend is BEARISH (or vice versa), entries are blocked — so the AI acts as a veto rather than a source of fresh signals. With no API key the EA silently degrades to AI_DISABLED and runs on structure + indicators alone; the in-comment claim of a 12-layer stack is therefore aspirational in the default config, with the AI layer being the most obviously optional piece.

The session gate uses server time, not GMT. IsWithinSession() returns true between InpSessionStartHour=8 and InpSessionEndHour=20, and when InpAvoidRollover is true it also blocks the 21:00-01:00 window when spreads and swap charges tend to spike. Two safety stops run independently: IsDrawdownExceeded() compares the current equity against g_peakEquity and trips when the trailing drawdown exceeds InpMaxDDPercent=30%; IsDailyLossExceeded() compares equity against g_startDayEquity (reset every day in CheckNewDay) and trips when realized plus unrealized loss exceeds InpMaxDailyLossDollar=$15. IsSpreadOK() refuses entries when the live spread exceeds InpMaxSpreadPoints=50 — which on XAUUSD is roughly half a dollar per ounce, a sensible filter for retail brokers.

The on-chart dashboard is built once in OnInit and updated every second by UpdateDashboard(). It shows the live swing trend, AI bias (if enabled), the buy/sell consensus scores, RSI(9) value, Hull MA direction arrow, ATR in points, spread status, open position count vs the cap, total P/L including swap, drawdown percent, and whether the session is active. Order blocks are drawn as dodger-blue rectangles for bullish zones and coral rectangles for bearish zones, while FVGs use spring-green and tomato fills. All of this is purely cosmetic — the trading decisions are made entirely by the SMC + consensus pipeline described above.

Backtest expectations: on a quality 5-minute XAUUSD dataset with realistic spread (20-30 points), expect 2-5 entries per London-NY session and a win rate in the 40-55% range given the 1:1.67 reward ratio. The pyramid de-escalation means a long trend day can add 2-3 legs to a single idea and amplify the winners, while the all-legs-must-be-profitable gate prevents the pyramid from forming in a chop environment. The trailing DD cap is the main account-level safety, and $15 daily loss is a tight per-day limit — well-suited to a $100 micro account but easy to bump up for larger balances via the InpMaxDailyLossDollar input.