Follow the BIG Candle

Thanks. Magic numbers managed internally (not settable bu user). But my idea was that I want the two copies (clones) of the EA to work as one. In other terms one to be a backup for the other since I am not using VPS.

Anyway, maybe this is too much at this stage, and I am sure VPS will be available when working on a Real Account.

I don't think that you have to copy it in any place other that ..\MQL4\Experts\

@FerruFX : Any Idea ?

In the new builds (600+), the folders for indicators and experts were moved in another location in the computer. To find the folders, open the new platform, then click File > Open Data Folder > MQ4 ... then in the MQ4 folder you will find the experts and indicators folders. Once your tools in the right folders, restart the platform.

Although technically possible, it may be possible to faar to complicated to run one EA in such a backup-way. If the magic is not settable by the user then please document it somewhere (e.g. with a "extern string"-command in the settings). This would give a possible way to let the user choose different numbers in other EAs.

And of course, you will have errors in the journal when one EA would try to close another which was closed from the other one etc. Possible problems because of different round trip times to the brokers, different RAM and CPU-Allocations of the machines (resulting to faster trades-executions of one compaired to the other). So a lot of things do check in the code.

@FerruFX
@PBPTaker

Thank you for your valuable contributions.

Your welcome. The (IT)-technical way is easy (at least to me as an IT-professional), but forex is the actual hard thing
to manage.

For you any one else still confused with parameter settings, here is
Another Look at the EA Parameter Settings (Applicable to Big_Candle_04):

 

1. atr_period=20 : ATR period (for current time frame)
   1. Please refer to posts # 79 & 80 & 81 for more details on how this is handled

1. atr_multiple=8 : ATR Multiple (Trade Trigger) opens a trade if candle reaches atr_multiple * atr value
   1. this parameter should be large for short time frames and small for larger time frames
   2. out of my observations you can use 8 for M30, 6 for H1, 4 for H4, 2 for D1 and so on.
   3. This parameter is very important because it will trigger the trade in the direction of the Big Candle, so we want to make sure that we are correctly identifying the Big Candle
   4. When we set to to 8 for example on M30 frame, the trade will open only if the candle size exceeds 8 x ATR, so if ATR was 9 pips, Big Candle should be of size > 8 x 9 (72pips)
   5. You have to experement with different pairs and time frames to reach the best value that:
      1. Identifies a Big Candle (to avoid false signals)
      2. Produces acceptable number of trades (to have reasonable ROI)

2. tp_atr=100 : ATR Multiples for Take Profit
   1. If you are looking for Long-term trading keep this parameter high (100,200 ... etc), so that it will not be reached (i.e. Disabled). Because the trade will end at either SL, TS or Opposite Signal
   2. If you are Scalping (although not recommended), you can make it small so that it can be hit easily

More about the remaining parameter settings later on.

Regards,

Khalil

Another Look at the EA Parameter Settings (Applicable to Big_Candle_04): Continued:

 

1. sl_atr=20 : Stop Loss in terms of ATR multiples. Now this should be at least equal to atr_muliple parameter, and better to be Twice, for example if the atr_multiple is 8 make sl_atr=16, as some times the consolidation after the big candle can go beyond the candle low/high, but do not make it too big because your R:R ratio will suffer. To Disable Stop Loss (Not recommended) make it very high (100).
2. ts_atr=10 : Trailing Stop, For Trend Following this should be large enough to protect the trade from pull backs. I advise this to be at least equal to atr_multiple, better to be more. To Disable it make it high (100)
3. be_atr=10 : Break Even Stop, EA will move the Stop Loss to Break Even point when the trade profit reaches this value (again in terms of atr). Suggested either equal or less that trailing stop, because if it is larger that trailing stop, then the trailing stop will Override it. To Disable set to high value (100).
4. partial_tp_atr=10 : EA will take partial profit (on 50% of position size) when profit reaches this parameter value (in terms of ATR), ideally this is best to be equal to break even stop. To Disable it set it to high value (i.e. 100).

To be continued later ....

Another Look at the EA Parameter Settings (Applicable to Big_Candle_04): Continued:

 

1. candle_period=0 : Candle Period 0 Open on current candle, 1 open on next candle.
   1. If you are using low value for atr_multiple its better to open on current candle for better momentum utilization,
   2. while if you are using high value for atr_multiple its better to open on next candle (for a better open price).
   3. If you chose to open on next candle , it is better to setup also the ef_sz_atr (candle effective size) parameter to be at least 1/2 of atr_multiple to avoid pin-bar or doji candles.

2. risk_perc = 0.01 : risk percentage will determine the trade position size based on Stop Loss level. please refer to post # 91 for more details on this.
3. fixed_lots=0 : Fixed number of Lots, This parameter will determine the Fixed Trade Size regardless of balance and Stop Loss level, and will be used for all new trades. And of course it will override risk_perc parameter. To Disable fixed_lots set it to 0.
4. close_on_opp=1 : 1 to Close on Opposite Signal, or 0 to keep the trade open regardless of opposite signal.
   1. Opposite Signal means that another Big Candle appeared in the opposite direction of the open trade. So, should we close the trade immediately or disregard the opposite signal and continue the trade to be closed either at Stop Loss or Trailing Stop instead.
   2. If your using Static ATR, and set this parameter to 1, it is not necessary that the EA opens an Opposite Trade right away, as the ATR might be different at this time. While if you are using Dynamic ATR it will open immediately.
   3. For a better understanding of Static vs Dynamic ATR please refer to post#79.

To be Continued ...

Another Look at the EA Parameter Settings (Applicable to Big_Candle_04): Continued:

1. ma_period=20 : Exponential Moving Average Period.
   1. If you like to take only trades in the direction of the prevailing trend you can set this parameter to the period that you see suitable for trend identification on the used time frame.
   2. To Disable it set it to a low value (3 is OK because a Big Candle will cross EMA(3) for sure).
   3. Notice that if you put a high value (100,200 .. etc), you will not be able to catch the start of new evolving trends. Also number of trades will be less

2. ma_open_atr=100 : If you will use the ma_period, maybe you don't want to open trades at a price too far from EMA as most probably it will return to EMA.
   1. Here you can set the maximum distance (in terms of ATR multiples) from EMA that you want the EA to open trades, if its more the EA will disregard the signal.
   2. To Disable it set it to a high value (100)

3. ef_sz_atr=3.0 : Candle Effective Size(in terms of ATR multples)
   1. When used in conjunction with candle_period=1 it will the EA to open the trade only if the Effective Size of the Big Candle is greater than this parameter value (again in terms of ATR multiples)
   2. Please review post#73 for details on Candle Effective Size.

4. dyn_atr=0 : Use Dynamic ATR calculation=1 or Static ATR=0.
   1. please refer to post# 79 for details on Static vs Dynamic ATRs.

That's all regarding the EA (version 4) parameters.

One of the new parameters that I am planning to add to version 5 will be :
Respect Parent Candle on Higher timeframe.

Which means that if for example we are trading H1 and the recent Big Candle on D1 is bullish then we trade only bullish Big candles on H1.

What do you think ?

what ever u plan to do, always keep an option of ON and OFF.

Although the Big Candle concept seems logical, I think we are still not able to Correctly identify the Big Candle.

Look at the attached chart for EUR/USD M30 Current.



I still believe that ATR is not the best solution.

Hi abokwaik,

Just installed the EA v4 for demo trading. It's looking for candle lenght of 4.5x ATR 20, although properties are set at a multiple of 8. Any idea why ?

In this thread ( http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=459503 ), they are using an indi to identify the largest candle of the last x bars. May be you can experiment with it, i.e. if current candle if the lasgest of the last x bars, then enter trade (may be 2/3 days for M30).

Here the indi:

In fact v4 was modified to use a Smoothed ATR value. The below text was taken from post#81.

"I smoothed the ATR over 7 different periods based on the period used in the setup, 3 quarters below the given period and 3 quarters above, plus the original period as follows:

Suppose the user set ATR Period to 20. The system will generate ATR for the periods 5,10,15,20,25,30,35 and take the average. For ATR Period of 60, periods will be 15,30,45,60,75,90,105. and so on."

[quote=abokwaik;7359352]{quote} In fact v4 was modified to use a Smoothed ATR value. The below text was taken from post#81. "I smoothed the ATR over 7 different periods based....

Understood ! Thanks for your explanations !

Thanks, I suggested a similar idea in post#113.
"I am thinking also of a better way to identify the Big Candle, I am not sure that using ATR is the best method.

I mean the Big Candle should stand out of all recent candles, maybe twice as large as the largest candle in the previous 20 or 50 candles ... I don't know.".

But I still need a way to Globally identify a Big Candle, I mean, looking at long historical data for different time frames.
What we need is either a variable or a fixed identifier that will generate more good signals than false, and a reasonable number of trades.

Some statistics on GBP/USD M30 for the period from 20/6/2011 until today

1. Period M30 candles: 33961 candles
2. Period Days : 1008 days
3. Period Weeks : 144 weeks
4. Period Months : 33.5 Months
5. Period Years : 2.8 years
6. Average Candle Size = 14 Pips
7. Maximum Candle Size = 198 Pips

Now what would you consider to be Big Candles over this period ?

1. There are 12561 Candles of size bigger than average (14 pips)
2. There are 2682 Candles of size bigger than Double the average (28 pips)
3. There are 689 Candles of size bigger than Triple the average (42 pips)
4. There are 225 Candles of size bigger than 4 times the average (56 pips)

Now , would 56 pips be the most suitable size for a Big Candle on GBP/USD M30 time frame ?

This is the type of historical data study I am looking for.