Wave Rider EA - User Guide (5.0 series)
Welcome, and thank you for choosing Wave Rider! This guide walks you through the commercial Wave Rider 5.0 input layout, including the 5.01 maintenance update. Wave Rider is a multi-strategy Expert Advisor designed for Gold (XAUUSD/GOLD) on MetaTrader 5. It can manage your entries with either grid recovery or a single position with SL/TP. Take a few minutes to read this guide before your first launch — it will save you time and help you get the most out of the EA.
Product page: Wave Rider on MQL5 Market
⚠️ Important: Upgrading from 4.x
Already running Wave Rider 4.x? Great — version 5.0 brings a lot of improvements, but please read these four points carefully before switching. They will save you from avoidable surprises:
- Upgrade only when all Wave Rider positions are closed. Version 5.0 uses a new strategy lineup, new input names, and new Magic Numbers. Updating while an older basket is open can prevent the new version from identifying that basket correctly.
- Do not load an old 4.x set file into 5.0. Some renamed inputs will not bind to their old names. Start from the 5.0 defaults and recreate only the changes you actually need.
- Default Magic Numbers changed to 77701-77707. If you run more than one Wave Rider instance on the same account, every instance must use its own complete set of seven Magic Numbers.
- The old Entry Strictness input was replaced by Risk Profile. Risk Profile changes strategy selectivity. Auto Risk Level controls lot sizing. They are separate controls.
⚡ Before You Start
A quick checklist of what Wave Rider expects from your setup. Getting these right from day one makes everything that follows much smoother:
- Platform: MetaTrader 5 on a hedging account. Grid recovery requires separate positions and is not designed for netting accounts.
- Symbol: Gold. Common names such as XAUUSD, XAUUSD with a broker suffix, and GOLD are detected automatically. Symbol specifications and price feeds still differ between brokers, so backtest the exact symbol before live use.
- Chart timeframe: Any. Each strategy reads its own internal timeframes; changing the chart timeframe does not change its signals.
- Account type: A low-spread RAW/ECN account is strongly preferred. Spread, commission, slippage, stop distance, leverage, and tick history all affect results.
- Cent accounts: Not recommended. Balance-based sizing and the tested grid assumptions are intended for standard account units.
- VPS: Recommended. The terminal must stay connected for virtual basket targets, new trailing updates, filters, and recovery management to keep running.
- Capital: There is no universal safe minimum deposit. Required margin depends on lot size, leverage, broker contract size, trade direction, and how deep a basket becomes. Test those exact conditions first.
Risk warning: We want you to trade with open eyes. Grid recovery can hold several positions during a sustained move. Wider spacing and flat lots reduce some risks but do not guarantee recovery. Drawdown protection, broker stop levels, and news filters can reduce exposure; they cannot remove market, gap, slippage, connection, or execution risk.
🚀 Installation and First Launch
Setting up Wave Rider takes just a few minutes. Follow these three steps and you'll be ready to go:
Step 1 — Allow Algorithmic Trading
- Open MT5 and select Tools > Options > Expert Advisors.
- Enable Allow algorithmic trading.
- Add https://nfs.faireconomy.media/ to Allow WebRequest for listed URL. This lets Wave Rider use the ForexFactory calendar feed.
- Restart MT5 after changing WebRequest permissions.
Step 2 — Attach Wave Rider
- Open your broker's Gold chart.
- Drag Wave Rider from Navigator > Expert Advisors onto the chart.
- Confirm Allow Algo Trading on the Common tab.
- Review the Inputs tab. For a first test, keep the 5.0 defaults.
- Click OK and confirm that MT5 AutoTrading is enabled.
Step 3 — Verify the Setup
- Read the Experts log for the detected pip size, enabled strategies, calculated lot size, time offset, and news source.
- If the dashboard is enabled, confirm that it shows seven strategy rows and the expected position size, risk labels, and news status.
- Run a broker-specific backtest with recent high-quality tick data before live use. A result from another broker does not prove that your symbol feed will behave identically.
🧠 How Wave Rider Operates
Here's the big picture of what Wave Rider is doing on your chart. Seven independent strategies look for different market structures — think of them as seven specialists, each watching for its own kind of setup. By default, only one strategy may own an open basket at a time. When that basket closes, the EA waits through its global cooldown before evaluating new entries.
- Recovery (Grid): The first strategy entry opens normally. If price moves against it, additional positions may be added at the configured distances. The basket is managed from its weighted breakeven price.
- Single Position (SL/TP): One position is opened with a broker stop loss and take profit. No recovery positions are added.
- Entry filters: Time, spread, ATH, news, cooldown, and single-strategy rules block new strategy entries. They do not abandon existing positions.
- Open-position management: Grid management, profit closure, trailing, and protection checks continue even when new entries are blocked by time or news.
📊 The Seven Commercial Strategies
Meet the team. Each strategy has its own personality and its own conditions for stepping into the market:
- S01 - Support & Resistance: Finds M15/M30 swing zones and can enter a confirmed breakout-retest. Its filters are designed to avoid chasing an already extended breakout.
- S02 - Pullback: Looks for multi-timeframe momentum pullbacks and recoveries, with exhaustion and trend-tail protection.
- S03 - Trend Breakout: Uses Bollinger Band, momentum, volatility, and trend context to detect directional breakout conditions.
- S04 - M5 Bounce: Looks for M5 bounce and rollover setups. BUY and SELL sides have separate candle-precision controls.
- S05 - Smart-Money Volume: Uses Volume Spread Analysis across several timeframes to identify No Supply, Stopping Volume, No Demand, and Buying Climax patterns.
- S06 - Momentum Continuation: BUY-only. Looks for fresh M15 momentum ignition near value and may take pullback-resume entries while the move remains valid.
- S07 - Impulse: BUY-only. A large higher-timeframe move arms a window; the strategy then looks for controlled M5 pullback-resume entries.
Direction transparency: Trade Direction is a global permission, but it cannot make a strategy trade a direction it does not implement. S06 and S07 remain idle in SELL-only mode. S01-S05 can evaluate both directions subject to their own conditions.
🛠️ Input Parameters Explained
This is your reference section. You don't need to memorize it — the defaults are the tested configuration, so feel free to start with those and come back here whenever you want to understand or adjust a specific input.
▶ Main Settings
- Enable UI Dashboard (default: false) - Shows the on-chart performance, settings, strategy, news, and position-management panel. It also includes a manual Close All Positions button.
- Trade Mode (Recovery/Single) (default: Recovery (Grid)) - Selects grid recovery or one position with SL/TP. Grid settings are ignored in Single Position mode; Single Position settings are ignored in Grid mode.
- Trade Direction (BUY/SELL) (default: BUY and SELL) - Allows BUY only, SELL only, or both. Strategy-specific direction limits still apply.
- Enable only one strategy open at time (no parallel trading) (default: true) - Prevents several Wave Rider strategies from holding baskets simultaneously. Turning it off can materially increase margin use and overlapping exposure.
- Enable automatic currency conversion to USD (default: false) - For non-USD accounts, converts the account balance to an estimated USD equivalent before Auto Risk or Custom Scale lot calculation. It does not convert account funds and does not affect Fixed Lot Size. If live conversion symbols are unavailable, the EA uses an approximate fallback rate and logs a warning.
- Max spread (points) (default: 50) - Blocks a new strategy entry when the current spread exceeds this number of broker points. Points are not the same as the EA's gold pips. Set 0 to disable the spread limit.
- Trade comment (default: Wave Rider) - Text written to each order comment.
- Append strategy code to comment (e.g. [S01]) (default: true) - Adds S01-S07 to the comment so orders are easier to identify.
▶ Position and Risk
One thing worth understanding early: Risk Profile and Auto Risk Level do different jobs. Risk Profile changes selected strategy-entry thresholds. Auto Risk Level changes lot size only when the Automatic size method is selected. Keeping these two apart in your mind will make the rest of this section much clearer.
- Risk Profile (default: Balanced) - Selects the tested strategy behavior:
- Cautious - More selective strategy settings and normally less activity.
- Balanced - Default compromise between activity and stability.
- Aggressive - Allows more activity and can increase drawdown and basket frequency. It does not automatically increase the lot size.
- Size Method (default: Automatic) - Chooses Fixed Lot Size, Automatic by risk level, or Custom Scale by balance.
- Fixed Lot Size (default: 0.01) - Used only with Fixed Lot Size. The broker's minimum, maximum, and volume step are still applied.
- Auto Risk Level (default: Low risk) - Used only with Automatic sizing:
- Very low: 0.01 lot per 4,000 balance units
- Low: 0.01 lot per 2,000 balance units
- Medium: 0.01 lot per 1,500 balance units
- High: 0.01 lot per 800 balance units
- Very high: 0.01 lot per 500 balance units
- Custom: Scale by Balance (default: 1000) - The balance interval used by Custom Scale.
- Custom: Base Lot Size (default: 0.01) - Custom Scale formula: Base Lot Size x balance / Scale by Balance.
▶ Strategies
- [S01] Enabled (Support and Resistance) (default: true)
- [S01] Magic Number (default: 77701)
- [S02] Enabled (Pullback) (default: true)
- [S02] Magic Number (default: 77702)
- [S03] Enabled (Trend Breakout) (default: true)
- [S03] Magic Number (default: 77703)
- [S04] Enabled (M5 Bounce) (default: true)
- [S04] Magic Number (default: 77704)
- [S05] Enabled (Smart-Money Volume - VSA) (default: true)
- [S05] Magic Number (default: 77705)
- [S06] Enabled (Momentum Continuation) (default: true)
- [S06] Magic Number (default: 77706)
- [S07] Enabled (Impulse) (default: true)
- [S07] Magic Number (default: 77707)
Magic Numbers are position ownership IDs, not risk settings. Never assign the same Magic Number to unrelated EAs. If two Wave Rider instances run on one account, change all seven numbers for the second instance, for example to a separate unused range.
▶ Grid Settings
This is the heart of Recovery mode, so it deserves a careful read. These settings are used only in Recovery (Grid) mode. The maximum count includes the initial strategy position.
- Maximum Grid Orders (default: 16) - Maximum total positions in one strategy basket. A higher limit increases possible margin use; it does not guarantee that recovery will succeed.
- Lot Size Multiplier (default: 1.0) - Multiplies each new grid leg from the previous lot. At 1.0, lots remain flat. Values above 1.0 create increasing exposure and can raise risk quickly.
- [BUY] Grid Distance (Pips) (default: 22) - Distance below the last confirmed BUY position before another BUY grid leg may be added.
- [SELL] Grid Distance (Pips) (default: 35) - Distance above the last confirmed SELL position before another SELL grid leg may be added. SELL spacing is intentionally wider than BUY spacing in the tested defaults.
- Profit Target (Pips) (default: 12) - Basket target measured from weighted breakeven. Commission, swap, spread, slippage, and broker execution can make the realized result differ from the displayed target.
- Show TP Line on Chart (default: true) - Draws the current basket target. This line is informational; the EA must remain running to manage its virtual basket target.
- Enables Trailing Stop Loss (default: true) - After the basket passes its target plus the trailing-start distance, Wave Rider places and advances real broker stop losses on the positions.
- Pips to start trailing after reaching virtual TP (default: 2.5) - With a 12-pip target, trailing becomes eligible at approximately 14.5 basket pips.
- Distance in pips (step) for Trailing SL (default: 3.0) - Minimum profit step before the stop advances. Broker stop/freeze rules may defer an update until the price is valid.
- Enable progressive spacing (wider gaps as grid deepens) (default: true) - Widens later fixed-mode grid distances instead of stacking every leg equally.
- Start progressive spacing from position N (default: 4) - Progressive spacing starts when the basket has reached this depth and the next leg is calculated.
- Distance multiplier per level above threshold (default: 1.2) - Each later progressive level uses a larger distance. Higher values reduce stacking but can require a larger retracement to recover.
- Grid spacing: Fixed (original), ATR-dynamic, or Hybrid (default: Fixed) - Selects how the next distance is calculated:
- Fixed - Uses the separate BUY/SELL distances and progressive settings. This is the tested commercial default.
- ATR-dynamic - Uses M15 ATR x multiplier inside the configured minimum and maximum. If ATR data is unavailable, fixed distance is used temporarily.
- Hybrid - Uses ATR spacing while the basket has fewer than the selected wide-leg count, then returns to flat fixed spacing. Progressive spacing is intentionally not applied in Hybrid mode.
- ATR/Hybrid mode: distance = ATR x multiplier (default: 1.0) - ATR conversion multiplier.
- ATR/Hybrid mode: minimum distance (pips) (default: 15) - Lower clamp for the ATR-derived distance.
- ATR/Hybrid mode: maximum distance (pips) (default: 60) - Upper clamp for the ATR-derived distance.
- Hybrid mode: ATR-wide legs before dense rescue (default: 4) - Number of early basket positions covered by the ATR-wide phase.
Advanced-setting warning: ATR and Hybrid modes are available for controlled testing, but Fixed is the default used for the published 5.0 behavior. Changing spacing can materially change entry count, floating drawdown, margin use, and recovery timing.
▶ Single Position Settings
These settings are used only in Single Position (SL/TP) mode.
- Stop Loss (pips) (default: 250) - Intended broker stop distance. Gaps, slippage, and execution conditions can produce a larger realized loss.
- Take Profit (pips) - safety net (default: 50) - Broker take-profit distance.
- Enable Trailing Stop Loss (default: true) - Advances the real broker SL after activation.
- Start trailing after (pips profit) (default: 12) - Profit distance required before trailing starts.
- Trailing step (pips) (default: 3.0) - Minimum favorable step before another SL update. Invalid or frozen stop levels are deferred and retried rather than forcing a close.
▶ Time Management
Wave Rider is picky about when it trades — and that's by design. Global weekly windows and strategy-specific windows must both allow a new entry. Times are anchored to the configured broker winter offset and automatically normalized for the broker's summer-time shift.
- Base GMT offset, auto-adjusts for DST (ICM, VT, Fusion, BlackBull) (default: 2) - Broker winter offset used when the schedules were configured. The EA detects the live server offset and compensates for the normal GMT+2/GMT+3 seasonal shift. Change it if your broker uses a different winter server offset.
- Enable weekly time filter (default: true) - Master switch for weekly entry windows. Turning it off removes these global time windows but does not disable strategy windows, news, spread, cooldown, or protection rules.
- Monday-Thursday start times (default: 01:15;14:35;15:45)
- Monday-Thursday end times (default: 14:20;15:20;22:30) - The defaults form three paired windows: 01:15-14:20, 14:35-15:20, and 15:45-22:30.
- Enable Friday trading (default: true)
- Friday start time (default: 01:30;16:05)
- Friday end time (default: 10:00;16:55) - The defaults form 01:30-10:00 and 16:05-16:55.
- Enable Friday NFP trading (default: true) - If false, the entire detected NFP Friday is blocked by Time Management. If true, Friday windows remain available, but the separate News Filter can still block NFP according to its full-day rule.
- Christmas holiday filter (no new trades Dec 20 - Jan 7) (default: true) - Blocks new entries during that date range. Existing positions continue to be managed.
For multiple windows, the number and order of start values must match the end values. Use 24-hour HH:MM format and separate pairs with semicolons.
▶ Protection Manager
These are your safety nets — the systems watching your account while you're away from the screen:
- Enable Drawdown Protection (default: true) - Monitors drawdown from the current day's peak equity. When the threshold is reached, Wave Rider requests closure of its positions and disables new trading for the rest of the server day.
- Drawdown calculation mode (default: Percentage) - Percentage uses the day's peak equity. Money uses an absolute amount in the account currency.
- Drawdown threshold (% or money) (default: 35) - Means 35% in Percentage mode or 35 account-currency units in Money mode. Execution may finish beyond the threshold during fast markets.
- Prevent trading close to All-Time High (default: false) - Blocks all new strategy entries when price is within the configured distance of the calculated symbol high. Existing baskets continue to be managed.
- ATH calculation timeframe (default: W1)
- ATH lookback periods (default: 100) - With W1, this is approximately 100 weekly bars.
- Distance from ATH threshold (%) (default: 0.25) - Entry block begins when price is within this percentage of the tracked high.
- Dynamic Exit (close all on rapid adverse move) (default: false) - Monitors a rapid move against the dominant Wave Rider position direction. When triggered, it requests closure and pauses trading for the rest of the day.
- Dynamic Exit (price move % to trigger) (default: 0.5)
- Dynamic Exit (lookback window in seconds) (default: 120) - The default looks for an adverse 0.5% move over approximately two minutes.
Protection transparency: These systems react after prices and broker state are received. They are not guaranteed fills and cannot cap loss exactly during gaps, disconnections, rejected requests, or extreme slippage.
▶ News Filter
Gold reacts strongly to news, so the News Filter is one of your most valuable tools. It blocks new strategy entries. It does not stop management of an existing basket. ForexFactory is tried first when WebRequest permission is available; otherwise Wave Rider falls back to the native MQL5 Economic Calendar. Calendar names and impact ratings can differ between sources.
- Enable News Filter (ForexFactory, MQL5 Calendar) (default: true)
- Filter High Impact events (default: true) - Applies the ordinary before/after window to relevant high-impact events.
- Filter Medium Impact events (default: false) - When enabled, all relevant medium events also use the ordinary window.
- Minutes before news to stop trading (default: 120)
- Minutes after news to resume trading (default: 120)
- Also Watch These News Currencies (USD by default) (default: USD) - Comma-separated additional currencies. Wave Rider also derives relevant currencies from the attached symbol. USD remains explicit because it is the primary news currency for Gold.
- Treat These Medium Events as High Impact (default: FOMC,NFP,Nonfarm,CPI,Fed Chair,Interest Rate Decision,ISM Non-Manufacturing,ISM Services,Unemployment Claims,President) - Case-insensitive name matching. A promoted medium event receives the normal 120/120-minute window; promotion alone does not create a full-day block.
- News Names That Block Their Day + Next Day (default: FOMC,NFP,Nonfarm,CPI) - Case-insensitive keyword list for the extended rule.
- Don't Trade on Selected News Day + Next Day (default: true) - A matching high-impact event blocks its full broker-server date and the following date. Trading resumes at 00:00 server time after the second date.
- Don't Trade on USD Bank Holidays (All Day) (default: true) - Blocks the USD bank-holiday server date only. It does not block the following day.
The dashboard distinguishes NEWS for ordinary minute windows, NEWS DAY for the event date, POST-NEWS for the following-day pause, and USD BANK HOLIDAY (ALL DAY) for a holiday block. Hover the status for the source event time and expected end of the pause.
▶ S01 - Support & Resistance Strategy
- New Trades Allowed From (default: 01:15)
- New Trades Allowed Until (default: 22:30)
- Enable trading on 15min timeframe (default: true)
- Enable trading on 30min timeframe (default: true)
- Breakout-Retest: buy the pullback to a broken swing high (default: true) - Adds the tested BUY retest path. It waits for a breakout to arm, then requires a controlled pullback instead of buying the initial spike.
▶ S02 - Pullback Strategy
- New Trades Allowed From (default: 01:15)
- New Trades Allowed Until (default: 13:00)
▶ S03 - Trend Breakout Strategy
- New Trades Allowed From (default: 06:00;16:30)
- New Trades Allowed Until (default: 11:00;21:00) - Paired windows are 06:00-11:00 and 16:30-21:00.
▶ S04 - M5 Strategy
- New Trades Allowed From (default: 06:00)
- New Trades Allowed Until (default: 21:00)
- [BUY only] More precise entries (fewer trades) (default: false) - Requires stronger bounce-candle confirmation. It can reduce entries and does not guarantee better results on every feed.
- [SELL only] More precise entries (fewer trades) (default: true) - Uses stricter bearish rollover confirmation to avoid some SELL entries during upward expansion.
- Enable M10 timeframe signal (default: false) - Adds the M10 signal profile. Leave off unless you have tested the change on your broker.
▶ S05 - Smart-Money Volume Strategy
- New Trades Allowed From (default: 07:00)
- New Trades Allowed Until (default: 20:00)
S05 signal thresholds and the S06/S07 detailed timing and signal controls are intentionally locked to their tested defaults in the commercial build. Their Enable and Magic Number controls remain available in the Strategies group.
▶ Dashboard Appearance
- Scale override (0=auto, typical 1.0-1.5) (default: 0) - Keep 0 for automatic DPI scaling. Use a manual value only if the panel is unsuitable on a specific remote-desktop or display setup.
- Font name (default: Calibri) - Must be installed in the Windows environment running MT5.
- Base font size (default: 9) - Changes dashboard body text. Very large values can cause clipping even when automatic panel scaling is correct.
The 5.01 dashboard includes Retina/high-DPI font compensation. Standard desktop sizing remains unchanged. The dashboard's Closed P/L is calculated from history belonging to the configured strategy Magic Numbers; a new Magic range correctly starts at zero when no matching history exists.
💡 Recommended First-Use Process
There's no rush to go live. The traders who get the best long-term results with Wave Rider are the ones who take this path patiently:
- Use the current defaults and the Balanced Risk Profile.
- Choose a lot-sizing method that you understand. On a non-USD account, decide explicitly whether USD-equivalent conversion is required.
- Backtest the exact broker symbol with recent high-quality tick data. Check maximal equity drawdown and the deepest baskets, not only profit or win rate.
- Run on demo and compare spread, number of entries, grid depth, and execution with the backtest.
- Change one setting at a time. A lower trade count does not automatically mean lower risk, and a higher profit factor does not prove a safer grid.
- Keep Algo Trading, internet access, and the terminal running whenever Wave Rider positions are open.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
The questions we hear most often from Wave Rider users, answered honestly:
Why is Wave Rider not opening trades?
This is the most common question, and it almost always has a simple answer. The market may be outside the global or strategy window, spread may be too high, another strategy may own a basket, cooldown may be active, the H1/strategy filters may reject the setup, or news/ATH/holiday protection may be blocking new entries. Read the Experts log and dashboard status before changing settings.
Why are S06 and S07 inactive in SELL-only mode?
They are deliberately BUY-only in 5.0. SELL-only is a valid global selection, but it does not create SELL logic in a BUY-only strategy.
Does a news or time block stop grid management?
No. These filters stop new strategy entries. Existing Wave Rider positions continue through grid, target, trailing, and protection management.
Can I attach the EA to M1, M5, or H1?
Yes. The chart timeframe is only the display timeframe. Strategy calculations use their own configured timeframes.
Can I use a broker suffix such as XAUUSD.a or XAUUSD-ECN?
Usually yes because Wave Rider operates on the attached chart symbol and recognizes common XAU/GOLD naming. Contract size, digits, history, and execution can still differ, so verify the detected pip size and backtest that exact symbol.
Can I run multiple instances on one account?
Yes, but every instance needs a separate seven-number Magic range. Avoid any collision with other EAs. Also remember that several instances can multiply total account exposure even when each instance allows only one strategy basket.
Is Wave Rider a martingale?
The default Lot Size Multiplier is 1.0, so grid legs use flat lots. A user value above 1.0 creates increasing lots and increasing risk.
What remains protected if MT5 disconnects?
Broker-accepted SL/TP levels remain at the broker. Logic that requires new ticks or new requests cannot update while MT5 is offline, including virtual basket closure, later grid management, and further trailing steps. Use a stable VPS.
What happens when Drawdown Protection or Dynamic Exit triggers?
Wave Rider requests closure of its positions and disables new trading for the rest of the server day. Actual closing prices depend on broker execution.
Can I use old 4.x set files?
No. Rebuild the settings from the 5.0 input list. Renamed inputs and the new strategy/magic layout make silent fallback to defaults possible when an old name is no longer recognized.
Have a question this guide didn't answer? You're not on your own — reach out through the Wave Rider MQL5 product page and the developer will be glad to help.
Disclaimer: Trading leveraged products carries a high level of risk. Past performance and backtests do not guarantee future results. Broker feeds, spreads, swaps, commissions, slippage, liquidity, and execution differ. Test on demo, use conservative sizing, monitor free margin, and never trade money you cannot afford to lose.
