| 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 attach 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. | |||
| 9 | SYSTEM RISKS & LIMITATIONS | Notes on system risks and limitations |
1. INTRODUCTION
Inside Bar + False Breakout Trap Detection with 5-Factor Quality Scoring
Author: Ich Khiem Nguyen | MQL5: https://www.mql5.com/en/users/khiemni/seller
What is Hikkake Trading System?
Hikkake Trading System helps you spot Hikkake patterns on your MetaTrader 5 charts — automatically. The indicator identifies the classic false breakout trap where an inside bar breakout fails and price reverses, then alerts you with clear entry points, stop losses, and profit targets already calculated. It works on any market and any timeframe, freeing you to focus on your trading decisions instead of manually searching for trap setups.
What Are Hikkake Patterns?
Hikkake patterns are powerful reversal patterns that emerge when a breakout attempt from an inside bar fails, reversing sharply in the opposite direction and trapping traders who entered on the wrong side.
Bullish Hikkake (Bullish Reversal)
After a downtrend, a setup bar establishes the range. The next candle is an inside bar — fully contained within the setup bar — showing the market is compressing and neither buyers nor sellers have control. A fakeout bar then breaks below the inside bar low, triggering sellers and breakout traders to enter short positions. The trap springs when a confirmation bar closes above the inside bar high: the sellers are now trapped, and as they cover their positions, the price surges upward.
Bearish Hikkake (Bearish Reversal)
After an uptrend, a setup bar forms followed by an inside bar that shows market indecision. A fakeout bar breaks above the inside bar high, drawing in eager buyers who expect the breakout to continue. The reversal then arrives as a confirmation bar closes below the inside bar low — the trapped buyers are forced to exit, and their selling pressure accelerates the downward move.
When these patterns appear near key support or resistance levels, they become especially reliable signals for potential trend reversals.
How the Indicator Finds Patterns
The indicator scans your charts in real-time and checks each potential pattern against multiple quality requirements:
- Identifies a setup bar and verifies the next bar is fully contained within it — high no greater than setup high, and low no lower than setup low — confirming the inside bar structure.
- Checks that the fakeout bar breaks one side of the inside bar range, signaling that breakout traders have been drawn in on the wrong side.
- Confirms that a bar closes beyond the opposite inside bar boundary within 3 bars of the fakeout, proving the false breakout trap has sprung.
- Validates that no earlier bar already closed beyond the opposite boundary (drift check), preventing duplicate or premature detections.
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 0.00 to 1.00. This helps you focus on the best trading opportunities.
What the Score Means
The indicator checks five aspects of each Hikkake pattern to compute the quality score. It evaluates how well the inside bar is contained within the setup bar, how strong the confirmation bar body is relative to recent volatility, how tight the inside bar range is relative to ATR, whether the confirmation bar actually changed direction from the fakeout bar, and how deeply price extends past the inside bar boundary on confirmation. Patterns with strong containment, a powerful confirmation close, and a deep breach past the boundary earn the highest scores.
- Grade A (0.80 - 1.00) — Excellent: Best signals, highest probability setups
- Grade B (0.60 - 0.79) — Good: Reliable setups worth trading
- Grade C (0.40 - 0.59) — Average: Needs additional confirmation
- Grade D (0.20 - 0.39) — Below Average: Risky, use with caution
- Grade F (0.00 - 0.19) — Poor: Avoid trading these signals
Quality Threshold Setting
By default, the indicator only shows patterns scoring 0.30 or higher. You can adjust this in the settings:
- Raise to 0.50-0.70: See only the best signals (fewer but higher quality)
- Lower to 0.15-0.25: See more signals (more frequent but mixed quality)
- Tip: Start with the default 0.30 and adjust based on your backtest results
What You See on the Chart
When the indicator detects a Hikkake pattern, it draws everything you need to know directly on the chart:
Signal Markers
- Arrow icons: Green up arrow displayed below the confirmation bar for bullish Hikkake signals; red down arrow displayed above the confirmation bar for bearish Hikkake signals
- Quality labels: Score displayed as "Q: 0.XX" positioned near the arrow, showing at a glance how strong the detected pattern is
Trading Lines
- Entry line: Blue horizontal line drawn at the inside bar high (bullish) or inside bar low (bearish) plus an entry buffer, showing exactly where your pending order sits
- Stop Loss line: Red horizontal line placed below the pattern low for bullish signals or above the pattern high for bearish signals, clearly labeled "SL"
- Take Profit lines: Green horizontal lines at TP1 (1.0R), TP2 (1.5R), TP3 (2.0R), and TP4 (3.0R), labeled accordingly so you can plan your exits at a glance
Visual Zones
- Pattern highlight: All 4 or more pattern bars (setup, inside, fakeout, confirmation, and any drift bars) are color-coded so you can instantly identify the full pattern structure on the chart
- Tracking dots: Small dots that change color as the signal advances through its lifecycle, giving you a live status update without opening any menus
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 Hikkake patterns:
| Setting | What It Does | Default | When to Change It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detection Preset | Choose between Standard/Strict/Custom detection thresholds | Standard | Switch to Strict for fewer but higher quality signals |
| [Custom] Min Inside Range/ATR (Std=0.05, Strict=0.10) | Minimum inside bar range relative to ATR | 0.10 | Only when using Custom preset |
| [Custom] Max Inside Range/ATR (Std=0.80, Strict=0.40) | Maximum inside bar range relative to ATR | 0.40 | Only when using Custom preset |
| [Custom] Min Fakeout Body/ATR (Std=0.03, Strict=0.10) | Minimum fakeout bar body relative to ATR | 0.10 | Only when using Custom preset |
| [Custom] Min Confirm Body/ATR (Std=0.05, Strict=0.12) | Minimum confirmation bar body relative to ATR | 0.12 | Only when using Custom preset |
| [Custom] Min Breach Distance/ATR (Std=0.05, Strict=0.20) | Minimum breach distance past inside boundary | 0.20 | Only when using Custom preset |
| Min Quality (0.0-1.0, 0.30=relaxed) | Minimum quality score filter | 0.30 | Raise to 0.50-0.70 for fewer but better signals |
| SL Buffer (xATR above/below pattern) | Extra distance added to stop loss | 0.10 | Increase for more breathing room in volatile markets |
Settings Tips
- Start with all default settings and let the indicator run for a few days to see how it performs
- If you get too many signals, raise the quality threshold or switch the Detection Preset to Strict
- If signals are too rare, lower the quality threshold or switch the preset back to Standard
- Always backtest any setting changes before using them on a live account
Best Timeframes and Markets
Recommended Timeframes
- M15 — Quality: Medium | Frequency: High | Best for: Scalpers wanting frequent intraday traps
- H1 — Quality: High | Frequency: Medium | Best for: Day traders catching intraday false breakouts
- H4 — Quality: Very High | Frequency: Low-Medium | Best for: Swing traders spotting multi-hour trap setups
- D1 — Quality: Excellent | Frequency: Low | Best for: Position traders catching high-probability daily traps
Best Markets
- XAUUSD (Gold): Excellent — frequent inside bar formations on H1/H4 due to institutional activity
- EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY: Very good on all timeframes above M15
- US30, NAS100: Best on H4 and Daily — clear institutional trap patterns
- Cryptocurrency (BTCUSD): Use H4/Daily timeframe for clearer Hikkake formations
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 Hikkake Trading System:
- Open MetaTrader 5 and load your preferred chart (recommended: XAUUSD on H1)
- In the Navigator panel, expand 'Indicators' and then 'Custom', and find "Hikkake Trading System"
- Drag it onto your chart
- A settings window appears — keep Detection Preset on "Standard" and click OK to use defaults
- Watch for green and red arrows appearing on the chart when Hikkake patterns form
- After observing a few signals, adjust the Quality Threshold if needed (raise for fewer, better signals)
- Enable push notifications in the Alert settings to receive mobile alerts when new patterns appear
That's it! The indicator is now scanning your charts automatically and will alert you when high-quality Hikkake patterns appear.
All Features at a Glance
- Automatic Hikkake pattern detection (bullish and bearish)
- 5-factor weighted quality scoring (InsideBar, ConfirmBody, InsideRange, DirChange, BreachDepth)
- Detection Preset System (Standard/Strict/Custom)
- Drift bar validation to prevent duplicate detections
- Pending order entry mode for confirmed reversals
- Signal states and lifecycle tracking (Pending → Active → Finished)
- Quality filter to reject weak patterns below threshold
- Extreme zone filter (overbought/oversold rejection)
- Stoploss hunt filter (liquidity sweep validation)
- Opposite signal filter (prevent conflicting signals)
- Risk/Reward with 3 stop loss methods (Donchian, ATR, Pattern)
- Up to 4 take profit levels (TP1-TP4)
- Donchian Channel trailing stop loss
- MTF Scanner (up to 150 symbols × 8 timeframes)
- Market structure analysis (BOS / CHOCH)
- 4-channel alert system (popup, sound, push, email)
- Signal statistics dashboard
- Professional chart themes (Dark, Light, Custom)
- EA signal buffers for automated trading
For detailed guides on each feature, see the MANUAL included with the indicator.
Common Questions
Q: Why does the Hikkake pattern need 4 or more bars to form?
The 4-bar structure (setup + inside + fakeout + confirmation) is essential to identify the false breakout trap. The inside bar creates compression, the fakeout triggers breakout traders, and the confirmation shows the trap has sprung. Skipping any bar means the pattern has not completed its trap cycle.
Q: What is the best timeframe for Hikkake patterns?
H1 and H4 provide the best balance of signal quality and frequency. Higher timeframes (D1) give fewer but more reliable signals. M15 works for scalping but requires stricter quality filters to reduce noise.
Q: How do I reduce false signals?
Switch the Detection Preset to Strict, which tightens all thresholds. You can also raise the Quality Threshold to 0.50-0.70 to see only the strongest patterns. Enabling the Stoploss Hunt filter adds an additional layer of validation.
Q: How is this different from a regular Inside Bar indicator?
Regular inside bar indicators only detect the inside bar itself. The Hikkake specifically looks for the false breakout trap after the inside bar — a much more powerful setup because it captures trapped traders who entered on the wrong side of the breakout, creating fuel for the real move.
Q: Why does it use pending orders instead of market orders?
The Hikkake entry is at the inside bar boundary opposite the fakeout. Using a pending order (buy stop or sell stop) ensures you only enter if price actually reaches the confirmation level, preventing premature entries on bars that have not yet closed beyond the boundary.
What's New — Version v1.00
This is the v1.00 release of Hikkake Trading System. Key features include:
- Automatic Hikkake detection with full 4-bar structure validation (setup, inside, fakeout, confirmation)
- 5-factor weighted quality scoring system (InsideBar containment, ConfirmBody strength, InsideRange, DirChange, BreachDepth)
- Detection Preset System (Standard/Strict/Custom) for flexible threshold control
- Drift bar check to prevent duplicate pattern detections
- 3 stop loss methods: Donchian Channel, ATR-based, and Pattern-based
- 7-layer signal filter chain for high-quality signals
- Multi-timeframe scanner supporting 150 symbols across 8 timeframes
- Market structure analysis with BOS and CHOCH detection
- 4-channel notification system (popup, sound, push, email)
- Professional chart themes (Dark, Light, Custom)
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?
Hikkake Trading System is designed to save you time and help you find high-probability Hikkake 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
Hikkake Trading System v1.00 — Created February 2026
