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Separating Lines Trading System - MANUAL

22 February 2026, 09:49

Ich Khiem Nguyen

Separating Lines Trading System | Buy Trading Indicator for MetaTrader 5

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PART	Section	Description
1	INTRODUCTION	Product introduction, what the product helps you with

2	INSTALLATION & SETUP	System requirements, step-by-step installation guide
	Guide to Installing Free Indicators and EAs Included with the Mirage Trading System Purchase
3	INTERFACE DISPLAY	Explanation of the components displayed on the chart
	User Guide: Trading Lines & Signal Tracking System	The system automatically draws Entry, Stop Loss, and Take Profit lines (TP 1–4) on the chart, tracks price action for hits, records Win/Loss results, and displays real-time performance statistics.
	User Guide : Visualization, Zone Fill, Signal Dashboard & Cancelled Signals	When you attachbn an indicator to a chart, the system renders the following visual components for each detected signal
	User Guide: MTF SCAN & Dashboard User Guide	MTF SCAN automatically scans all Market Watch symbols across 8 timeframes (M1 to W1) and displays results on a Dashboard grid directly on your chart.
	User Guide : Chart Theme User Guide	Chart Theme is a feature that changes the entire chart color scheme in MetaTrader 5 — including the background, candles, grid, text, and Bid/Ask lines — with a single click.
4	CORE CONCEPTS	Fundamental concepts that the system is built upon
	User Guide: Market Structure Functionality in the Trading System	Identifies trend direction (Uptrend, Downtrend, Ranging) by analyzing swing highs/lows, and detects key events: BOS (trend continuation) and CHoCH (potential trend reversal).
	User Guide : Signal Types, States, and Lifecycle	A signal is the system's notification when it detects a qualifying candlestick pattern on the chart. Each signal tells you the expected price direction and provides suggested entry, stop loss, and take profit levels.
5	SIGNAL FILTERS	Filters that refine and validate trading signals
	User Guide: Trade Direction (Direction Filter) in the Trading System	Defines the allowed trading direction (Buy only, Sell only, both, or neither) as the first filter before searching for entry signals, based on current market trend.
	User Guide: Signal Zone Filter in the Trading System	Eliminates signals not near important price zones, retaining only those connected to market structures (swing high/low, BOS, CHoCH) to reduce noise.
	User Guide: StoplossHunt Filter User Guide — Filtering "SL Sweep" Signals	Identifies higher-probability signals by checking whether price "swept stoploss" before forming a pattern.
	User Guide : Extreme Zone Filter	Extreme Zone Filter is a signal filtering feature that helps avoid entering trades when price is at the top or bottom of a Donchian price channel.
	User Guide: Opposite Signal Filter	The Opposite Signal Filter is an automatic feature that prevents new signals from appearing when you already have an active trade running in the opposite direction.The principle is very simple: Don't buy when you're selling. Don't sell when you're buying.
	User Guide : Quality Filter User Guide	Quality Filter is a feature that helps you receive only the best signals — price patterns formed clearly, with balanced proportions and high reliability — and reject weak signals, dull patterns, and those below standard.
6	TRADE MANAGEMENT
	User Guide : Risk/Reward & SL Method User Guide	Risk/Reward (R:R) is the ratio between the amount of money you accept losing (Risk) and the amount of money you expect to gain (Reward) in a single trade.
	User Guide: Trailing Stop Loss (TSL) User Guide	Regular Stop Loss (SL) stays fixed in one place. You set SL at 1990.00, and it stays there forever — even if price has risen to 2030.00.Trailing Stop Loss (TSL) is different. It automatically moves in your favor when price advances. As price moves up, TSL moves up with it. When price stalls or reverses, TSL holds the best position it reached.
7	CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS GUIDE	Detailed guide to each configuration parameter
	SIGNAL SCANNING CONFIGURATION GUIDE - MIRAGE TRADING SYSTEM EA	Guide to mastering signal scanning settings within the Inputs tab, optimizing trade discovery on a single chart or across the entire market.
8	ALERTS & NOTIFICATIONS
	User Guide: Alerts & Notifications User Guide	Configure push notifications, and on-screen popups when new signals are detected.
7	SYSTEM RISKS & LIMITATIONS	Notes on system risks and limitations

1. INTRODUCTION

What is SeparatingLinesTradingSystem?

SeparatingLinesTradingSystem helps you spot Separating Lines patterns on your MetaTrader 5 charts — automatically. The indicator scans every candle, identifies high-probability trend continuation setups, and shows you only the best opportunities with clear entry points, stop losses, and profit targets already calculated. It works on any market and any timeframe, letting you ride the dominant trend with confidence instead of second-guessing every candle.

What Are Separating Lines Patterns?

Separating Lines are two-candle continuation patterns that confirm the dominant trend is resuming after a brief counter-move. Unlike reversal patterns, these tell you the trend is not finished — the pullback was a trap, and price is ready to continue in the original direction.

Bullish Separating Lines (Bullish Continuation)

A Bullish Separating Lines pattern forms during an uptrend. The market pulls back with a bearish candle (the setup candle) — sellers appear to be taking control. Then the next candle opens at the exact same price as the setup candle's open. From that shared open, buyers push the price strongly upward, closing well above where the session started. This identical open price is the key signal: the market returned to the same starting point and immediately resumed the uptrend, separating from the pullback.

Bearish Separating Lines (Bearish Continuation)

A Bearish Separating Lines pattern forms during a downtrend. The market bounces with a bullish candle (the setup candle) — buyers appear to be taking control. Then the next candle opens at the exact same price as the setup candle's open. From that shared open, sellers push the price strongly downward, closing well below where the session started. The matching open price signals that the brief bounce was exhausted, and the downtrend is resuming.

When you see these patterns forming in the direction of a clear trend, they become reliable signals that the trend has strength left to continue.

How the Indicator Finds Patterns

The indicator scans your charts in real-time and checks each potential pattern against multiple quality requirements:

Open match check: Confirms that the signal candle opens at approximately the same price as the setup candle's open — this is the core requirement of the pattern and must be within a tight tolerance.
Trend context check: Verifies that a clear prior trend exists in the correct direction before the pattern forms, so the continuation signal makes sense.
Candle body strength check: Measures that both the setup candle and the signal candle have substantial bodies, filtering out indecisive candles that produce weak signals.
Close position check: Confirms the signal candle closes strongly within its range, showing real commitment from buyers or sellers in the trend direction.

Only patterns that pass all these checks appear on your chart, so you don't waste time on weak or invalid setups.

Quality Score — How Good Is the Pattern?

Every pattern gets a quality score from 0% to 100%, like a grade on a test. This helps you focus on the best trading opportunities.

What the Score Means

The indicator evaluates five factors to calculate the score. The most important factor is how closely the two candle opens match — a nearly identical open signals strong market memory and adds the most to the score. Next, the signal candle body size relative to recent volatility shows how committed the market is to resuming the trend. The prior trend strength, the setup candle body size, and where the signal candle closes within its range round out the final score.

Factor	Weight	What It Measures
Open Match	30%	How precisely the two candle opens align
Signal Body (ATR)	25%	Signal candle body size vs. recent volatility
Trend Context	20%	Strength of the prior trend
Setup Body (ATR)	15%	Setup candle body size vs. recent volatility
Close Position	10%	Where the signal candle closes within its range

Grade	Score Range	Quality Level
A	80-100%	Excellent — Best signals
B	60-79%	Good — Reliable setups
C	40-59%	Average — Needs confirmation
D	20-39%	Below Average — Risky
F	0-19%	Poor — Avoid

Quality Threshold Setting

By default, the indicator only shows patterns scoring 30% or higher (Min Quality = 0.30). You can adjust this in the settings:

Raise to 50-70%: See only the best signals (fewer but higher quality)
Lower to 20%: See more signals (more frequent but mixed quality)
Tip: Start with the default 30% and adjust based on your backtest results

What You See on the Chart

When the indicator detects a Separating Lines pattern, it draws everything you need to know directly on the chart:

Signal Markers

Arrow icons: An amber upward arrow appears below the signal candle for bullish patterns; an amber downward arrow appears above the signal candle for bearish patterns. Arrows are placed at the signal candle's close bar.
Quality labels: A score label (e.g., "SL 78%") appears next to the arrow, showing the pattern grade at a glance.

Trading Lines

Entry line: An amber horizontal line at the signal candle's close price — this is your immediate entry level.
Stop Loss line: A red horizontal line below the pattern low (bullish) or above the pattern high (bearish), with a small ATR buffer added for safety. Labeled "SL".
Take Profit lines: Four green horizontal lines above (bullish) or below (bearish) the entry, labeled TP1 (1.0R), TP2 (1.5R), TP3 (2.0R), and TP4 (3.0R).

Visual Zones

Pattern highlight: A shaded amber box covers the two-candle pattern, making it easy to see the setup and signal candles together.
Tracking dots: Small colored dots trail the signal as price moves, showing whether the signal is still active, has hit a target, or has been stopped out.

Signal Lifecycle

Signals progress through different states, shown by changing colors and tracking dots:

Pending: Pattern just detected, waiting for entry confirmation
Triggered: Entry price reached, trade is active
Target Hit: Price reached take profit level (signal turns green)
Stop Hit: Price hit stop loss (signal turns red)
Cancelled: Signal invalidated before entry (signal disappears or grays out)

You can watch your signals evolve in real-time without opening any menus or panels.

Settings You Can Adjust

Here are the main settings that control how the indicator finds and displays Separating Lines patterns:

Setting	What It Does	Default	When to Change It
ATR Period for volatility	Number of bars for the Average True Range calculation used in all volatility measurements	14	Use 10 for faster adaptation on intraday charts; use 20 for smoother ATR on daily charts
Max Bars to Scan (history depth)	How many historical bars the indicator processes when loading on a chart	3000	Lower to 1000-2000 for faster loading; raise to 5000 if you need deeper history
Min Bars Between Patterns	Minimum gap between two detected patterns — prevents signal clustering	3	Raise to 5-10 on lower timeframes to reduce noise; lower to 1-2 if signals are too rare
Open Match Tolerance (xATR, 0.25=balanced)	Maximum allowed difference between the two candle opens, expressed as a fraction of ATR — the core structural requirement	0.50	Lower to 0.25 for stricter open matching (fewer but purer signals); raise to 0.75 if signals are too rare
Min Body/Range (both bars, filter doji 0.15=15%)	Minimum candle body size as a ratio of the full candle range — filters out doji and spinning-top candles	0.15	Raise to 0.25 for stricter body requirements; lower to 0.10 on quieter markets
Min Signal Body/ATR (significance, 0.25=standard)	Minimum body size of the signal candle relative to ATR — ensures the continuation candle has real momentum	0.25	Raise to 0.40 for stronger momentum requirement; lower to 0.15 if signals are too rare
Min Setup Body/ATR (counter-trend, 0.20=standard)	Minimum body size of the setup (counter-trend) candle relative to ATR — ensures the pullback had substance	0.20	Lower to 0.15 on smaller timeframes; raise to 0.30 for stricter pullback requirements
Require Trend Bars Before Pattern (1=balanced)	Number of consecutive trending bars required before the pattern to confirm trend context	2	Raise to 3-5 for stricter trend requirement; lower to 1 for more flexible detection
SL Buffer (xATR above/below pattern)	Extra distance added beyond the pattern high/low for the stop loss, in ATR units	0.10	Raise to 0.20 on volatile pairs to avoid stop hunts; keep at 0.10 for tight management
Trend SMA Period (0=disable)	Number of bars used for the SMA-based trend analysis; set to 0 to disable this filter entirely	20	Use 10-15 for shorter-term trend detection; use 30-50 for longer-term trend context; 0 to disable
Min Quality (0.0-1.0, 0.30=relaxed)	Minimum quality score a pattern must achieve to be displayed on the chart	0.30	Raise to 0.50-0.70 for fewer but higher-quality signals; lower to 0.20 for more signals

Settings Tips

Start with all default settings and observe the indicator for a few days before making changes
The Open Match Tolerance is the most sensitive setting — even small changes significantly affect how many patterns are detected
If you trade on H1 or smaller, consider lowering Require Trend Bars Before Pattern to 1 for more responsive detection
The Min Quality filter at 0.30 is relaxed by default — raise to 0.50+ once you're comfortable with the pattern
Always test any setting changes on a demo account or through the Strategy Tester before applying to live trading

Best Timeframes and Markets

Recommended Timeframes

Timeframe	Signal Quality	Signal Frequency	Best For
M15	Moderate	High	Intraday scalpers who want frequent entries during strong trending sessions
H1	Good	Moderate	Day traders looking for reliable intraday continuation setups
H4	Excellent	Low	Swing traders seeking high-quality setups with cleaner trend context
D1	Excellent	Very Low	Position traders wanting the strongest trend confirmation signals

Best Markets

XAUUSD (Gold): Excellent results — Gold's strong directional trending behaviour makes Separating Lines highly reliable on H1 and H4.
EURUSD: Works well on H1 and H4 during active London and New York sessions when trends are well-defined.
GBPUSD: Good results on H4 and D1; the pair's directional moves produce clear two-candle structures.
US30 (Dow Jones): Strong signals on H4 and D1 during trending market conditions.
NAS100 (Nasdaq 100): Best on H4 and D1; the index's trend-driven behaviour suits continuation pattern logic.

The indicator works on any symbol and timeframe, but these combinations tend to produce the most reliable signals.

Getting Started — Quick Setup

Follow these steps to start using SeparatingLinesTradingSystem:

Open MetaTrader 5 and load a chart — start with XAUUSD on the H1 or H4 timeframe for the best initial experience.
In the Navigator panel (Ctrl+N), expand the Indicators section and find SeparatingLinesTradingSystem.
Double-click the indicator name or drag it onto your chart.
A settings window appears — click OK to use the default settings for now.
The indicator will immediately scan historical bars and display any detected patterns with amber arrows and trading lines.
Watch for new signals over the next few hours or days, paying attention to the quality score shown next to each arrow.
After observing a dozen or more signals, adjust the Quality Threshold upward if you want fewer, higher-quality signals — or enable alerts in the Notifications section so you never miss a setup.

That's it! The indicator is now scanning your charts automatically and will alert you when high-quality Separating Lines patterns appear.

All Features at a Glance

Pattern-Specific Features

Open-match precision scoring (30% weight) — the dominant quality factor that distinguishes true Separating Lines from lookalike patterns
Dual-candle body validation using ATR-relative measurements for both the setup and signal candles
Prior trend context scoring to ensure continuation signals appear in genuine trending conditions
Close-position analysis to confirm the signal candle finishes strongly in the trend direction
Immediate entry at signal candle close with pre-calculated SL and four TP levels (1R, 1.5R, 2R, 3R)

The following professional-grade features are available across all our indicators:

3	INTERFACE DISPLAY	Explanation of the components displayed on the chart
	User Guide: Trading Lines & Signal Tracking System	The system automatically draws Entry, Stop Loss, and Take Profit lines (TP 1–4) on the chart, tracks price action for hits, records Win/Loss results, and displays real-time performance statistics.
	User Guide : Visualization, Zone Fill, Signal Dashboard & Cancelled Signals	When you attachbn an indicator to a chart, the system renders the following visual components for each detected signal
	User Guide: MTF SCAN & Dashboard User Guide	MTF SCAN automatically scans all Market Watch symbols across 8 timeframes (M1 to W1) and displays results on a Dashboard grid directly on your chart.
	User Guide : Chart Theme User Guide	Chart Theme is a feature that changes the entire chart color scheme in MetaTrader 5 — including the background, candles, grid, text, and Bid/Ask lines — with a single click.
4	CORE CONCEPTS	Fundamental concepts that the system is built upon
	User Guide: Market Structure Functionality in the Trading System	Identifies trend direction (Uptrend, Downtrend, Ranging) by analyzing swing highs/lows, and detects key events: BOS (trend continuation) and CHoCH (potential trend reversal).
	User Guide : Signal Types, States, and Lifecycle	A signal is the system's notification when it detects a qualifying candlestick pattern on the chart. Each signal tells you the expected price direction and provides suggested entry, stop loss, and take profit levels.
5	SIGNAL FILTERS	Filters that refine and validate trading signals
	User Guide: Trade Direction (Direction Filter) in the Trading System	Defines the allowed trading direction (Buy only, Sell only, both, or neither) as the first filter before searching for entry signals, based on current market trend.
	User Guide: Signal Zone Filter in the Trading System	Eliminates signals not near important price zones, retaining only those connected to market structures (swing high/low, BOS, CHoCH) to reduce noise.
	User Guide: StoplossHunt Filter User Guide — Filtering "SL Sweep" Signals	Identifies higher-probability signals by checking whether price "swept stoploss" before forming a pattern.
	User Guide : Extreme Zone Filter	Extreme Zone Filter is a signal filtering feature that helps avoid entering trades when price is at the top or bottom of a Donchian price channel.
	User Guide: Opposite Signal Filter	The Opposite Signal Filter is an automatic feature that prevents new signals from appearing when you already have an active trade running in the opposite direction.The principle is very simple: Don't buy when you're selling. Don't sell when you're buying.
	User Guide : Quality Filter User Guide	Quality Filter is a feature that helps you receive only the best signals — price patterns formed clearly, with balanced proportions and high reliability — and reject weak signals, dull patterns, and those below standard.
6	TRADE MANAGEMENT
	User Guide : Risk/Reward & SL Method User Guide	Risk/Reward (R:R) is the ratio between the amount of money you accept losing (Risk) and the amount of money you expect to gain (Reward) in a single trade.
	User Guide: Trailing Stop Loss (TSL) User Guide	Regular Stop Loss (SL) stays fixed in one place. You set SL at 1990.00, and it stays there forever — even if price has risen to 2030.00.Trailing Stop Loss (TSL) is different. It automatically moves in your favor when price advances. As price moves up, TSL moves up with it. When price stalls or reverses, TSL holds the best position it reached.
7	CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS GUIDE	Detailed guide to each configuration parameter
	SIGNAL SCANNING CONFIGURATION GUIDE - MIRAGE TRADING SYSTEM EA	Guide to mastering signal scanning settings within the Inputs tab, optimizing trade discovery on a single chart or across the entire market.
8	ALERTS & NOTIFICATIONS
	User Guide: Alerts & Notifications User Guide	Configure push notifications, and on-screen popups when new signals are detected.

Common Questions

Q: What makes Separating Lines different from other continuation patterns?

The defining feature is the shared open price. Both candles — the counter-trend setup and the trend-resuming signal — open at the same level. This is not a coincidence; it means the market returned exactly to the starting point of the pullback and immediately rejected that level, resuming the trend. This "memory" at a specific price is a strong signal of institutional interest and makes the pattern structurally distinct from flags, pullbacks, or inside bars.

Q: What is the best timeframe for Separating Lines?

H4 and D1 produce the most reliable signals because longer timeframes have cleaner trend context and fewer false moves. For active traders, H1 offers a good balance between signal quality and frequency, especially on XAUUSD and major forex pairs during peak session hours. Avoid M5 and M15 unless you are an experienced scalper — lower timeframes introduce more market noise that can distort the open-match requirement.

Q: Why is the open match the dominant quality factor (30% weight)?

The open match is the core structural requirement of the pattern. Without a near-identical open between the two candles, you do not have a Separating Lines pattern — you have something else. The closer the opens match, the more precisely the market has "separated" from the counter-trend move and resumed the original direction. A poor open match means the signal is ambiguous and should be treated with skepticism even if other factors score well.

Q: How is Separating Lines different from an Engulfing pattern?

Both are two-candle patterns, but they serve opposite purposes. An Engulfing pattern is a reversal signal — the second candle's body completely engulfs the first, indicating a full momentum flip. A Separating Lines pattern is a continuation signal — both candles open at the same price, and the second candle moves in the direction of the existing trend rather than reversing it. On a chart, the two patterns can look superficially similar, but their market context (reversal vs. trend continuation) and open-price behaviour are fundamentally different.

Q: When does the Separating Lines pattern fail?

The most common failure scenarios are: (1) the trend is weak or already exhausted — always check the broader trend on a higher timeframe before entering; (2) the pattern forms near a major support/resistance level where the trend is likely to stall; (3) high-impact news events cause the signal candle to gap or reverse sharply after the close; (4) very low quality score (below 50%) where the open match or body sizes are marginal. Using the built-in quality filter and the Extreme Zone Filter significantly reduces the frequency of failed signals.

What's New — Version 1.00

This is the initial release of SeparatingLinesTradingSystem. Key features include:

Automatic Separating Lines pattern detection on all timeframes with real-time scanning
Five-factor quality scoring system with open-match precision as the primary factor
Immediate entry system with pre-calculated stop loss and four take profit levels (1R, 1.5R, 2R, 3R)
ATR-based stop loss placement with configurable buffer to protect against stop hunts
Multi-timeframe scanner and dashboard to monitor Separating Lines signals across nine timeframes and multiple symbols simultaneously
Full suite of five filter systems: Quality Filter, Extreme Zone Filter, Stoploss Hunt Filter, Opposite Signal Filter, and Session Filter
Amber color theme optimized for visibility on both light and dark chart backgrounds
Complete alert and notification system with push, email, and pop-up support

Getting Help

If you have questions or need support:

Documentation: Check the detailed user guides linked in the Features section above
MQL5 Profile: https://www.mql5.com/en/users/khiemni/seller
Direct Contact: Message me through MQL5 for technical support

I'm committed to helping you get the most out of this indicator.

Ready to Start?

SeparatingLinesTradingSystem is designed to save you time and help you find high-probability Separating Lines patterns automatically. Attach the indicator to your chart and start with the default settings — you can fine-tune everything later as you get comfortable with how it works.

Happy trading!

Ich Khiem Nguyen

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