Disclaimer: the Metatrader 4 EAs that we provide for free are for educational purpose only. These expert advisors (algo trading) have been created between 2015 and 2019 for testing purpose. Some EAs have been used for live automatic trading in the past and some EAs should still provide some good results under certain market condition (and input parameters) nowadays, but we don’t advise to use any of these EAs live. If you choose to do this, it’s at your own risk.
We do not offer any support for this EA.
How the EA works
The EA takes advantage of the Fail to Return candle pattern. If you don’t know what this FTR pattern is, you can search on the Internet, and here is a summary:
- For a sell signal, you must have :
- A clear down trend momentum
- A bullish candle (candle close > candle open)
- And then a bearish engulfing candle. This candle close will give us the sell signal
- For a buy signal, it is the exact opposite.
Why the FTR works in trending markets?
The FTR pattern could work under trending markets because it shows us that in big down trend, some buyers tried to push the price up (the bullish candle), but the sellers are telling us that the down trend is not over. They still have more power than buyers because the bearish candle that follows the bullish one is an engulfing candle. It closes below the bullish candle.
The buyers tried to push the price higher but couldn”t do it, that’s why the pattern is called the Failed to Return (FTR) pattern.
EA input parameters
| Parameter | Value (example) | Description/usage |
|---|---|---|
| StopLoss | 40.0 | the stopLoss static pips value (0 to disable stop loss) |
| TakeProfit | 80.0 | the takeprofit static pips value (0 to disable) |
| BreakevenAfter | 0.0 | the number of pips in profit that will triggered the breakeven (0 to disable) |
| BreakevenValue | 2.0 | the breakeven value |
| Breakeven2After | 0.0 | a second number of pips that will move the SL to secure the position 50 to disable) |
| Breakeven2Value | 12.0 | the 2nd breakeven value |
| ftrMomentumMinPips | 10 | the minimum move that we must have before the FTR pattern to consider we have a trend (momentum) |
| ftrMaxStopLoss | 12 | filter the FTR signal candle size to avoid taking signals with big stopLosses when the SL is set below/above signal candle. You can set a very high value in default version because the SL is a fixed pips number. |
| emaPeriodForEntry | 12 | filter the signal with EMA to buy when price is above ema et sell below ema only |
| emaPeriodForClose | 18 | Used to close trades in profit when the price crosses the EMA. Active after a breakeven has been triggered only. |
| tradingStartHour | 8 | the EA intraday start hour (broker time) |
| tradingStopHour | 20 | the EA intraday stop hour (broker time) |
| LotSize | 1.0 | Lot size per opened position |
| EAMagicNumber | 205678 | EA identifier, you can put whatever you want |
| MaxSpreadPips | 2.0 | Security to avoid opening position when the spread is higher than this value |
EA download
Source code FTR EA
Should you need to get the source code or just thank us for the free content, you can place an order using the buttons below.
We can’t give the source code for free because it’s using some custom libs that took a lot of time to build but we are offering it at a €29 fair price. The files will be sent to your paypal email address within 24 hours.
EA backtests example
Here is a quick backtest I made on GBPUSD M30 (4 months) for testing purpose.
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