A detailed reference for every input of the Turtle One MT5 EA, using the labels shown in the terminal's Inputs tab. Updated for build v1.76.
What's New Since the Last Guide
Version 1.76 adds five parameter groups that did not exist in the earlier release, and standardises the units used across all of them:
- Break Even Type — break even is no longer a single method. Three modes are available (Pips, Lock Money, Magic Trail), each with its own clearly labelled input group.
- Early Fakeout Exit — a failed-breakout exit that cuts a trade that reverses immediately after fill, instead of waiting for the full stop loss.
- Protection Guard — slippage, spread-spike, broker stop-level, and margin-buffer guards, all with a shared time-based cooldown.
Note on units: every Protection Guard threshold is entered in pips, the same unit as Stop Loss and Break Even Start. Each input is converted once at initialisation into the raw broker points the guards compare against, so the same settings behave identically on 2, 3, 4 and 5-digit feeds.
Inputs (General)
Trade Comment (default: empty) — Free-text comment attached to every order the EA places. Purely a label; it has no effect on trading logic.
Timeframe (default: H1) — Timeframe label shown in comments and on the panel. Informational only — it tags the setup and does not change the timeframe the EA actually calculates on.
Pre-check Automatic Trading (default: true) — When enabled, the EA verifies that Algo/Automatic Trading is switched on before it attempts to trade, so it fails loudly instead of silently doing nothing.
Warm Up (Adjustment)
Warm-up: bar observed after attach before entry (0=OFF) (default: 1) — The number of bars the EA watches after being attached to a chart before it is allowed to place its first entry. During warm-up the panel shows "BOT IS BEING ADJUSTED" with the current bar count, so the pause is visible rather than looking like a broken EA. 0 = OFF, meaning the EA may enter on the very first tick.
Manage Pending Orders
Trade Direction (default: Buys + Sells) — Restricts which side the EA is allowed to open. Buys + Sells trades both directions, Buys only blocks all sell entries, and Sells only blocks all buy entries. Useful when you want the EA to align with a longer-term bias.
Trade Strategy (default: Aggressive) — The overall strategy preset that decides which internal sub-strategies run. Conservative enables a limited set with a double pending order at a time, Moderate is the balanced middle option, and Aggressive turns on all sub-strategies for the most active behavior.
Period in bars (default: 60) — Lookback length, in bars, used by the entry indicator/levels. Larger values react to broader swings; smaller values react faster to recent price.
Pending Expiration, in minutes (0=OFF) (default: 0) — How long a pending order stays live before it is auto-deleted, in minutes. 0 = OFF, meaning pending orders never expire on their own.
Manage Lot and Money
Autolot Type (default: Fix lot Size) — Chooses how position size is calculated. Fix lot Size uses a constant lot, Fix Money Size scales the lot from balance divided by the fixed money size, and Risk Per Trade sizes the lot from a percentage of the account. Pick one method; the other sizing inputs only apply to their matching mode.
Fixed Money size (default: 100) — The money-per-lot base used only when Autolot Type is set to Fix Money Size. The EA sizes the lot as balance ÷ this value, so a smaller number means larger lots. Keep it above 0 — a zero here would break the sizing math (the current build guards against it and falls back to the fixed lot size).
Fixed Lot size (default: 0.01) — The constant lot size used when Autolot Type is Fix lot Size. It also acts as the safe fallback lot if an auto-lot calculation cannot be completed.
Risk Per Trade % (default: 10) — Risk per trade, expressed as a percentage, used only when Autolot Type is Risk Per Trade. Higher values produce larger positions relative to account size.
Maximal Lots (default: 0.01) — A hard ceiling on the lot size of any single order, regardless of the sizing method. Whatever the calculation produces, it is capped here.
Manage SL-TP Settings
SLTP Type (default: ECN SLTP) — How stop-loss and take-profit are applied. FIXED SLTP attaches fixed SL/TP directly to the order, Virtual SLTP hides them and closes internally (not visible to the broker), and ECN SLTP places the order first, then modifies SL/TP afterward — the correct choice for ECN accounts that reject SL/TP at entry.
Stop Loss (in pips) (default: 25) — Stop-loss distance in pips. Set relative to your symbol's volatility and the timeframe you trade.
Take Profit (in pips) (default: 200) — Take-profit distance in pips. The default aims for a wide reward relative to the stop.
Manage Trailing
Trailing (default: true) — Master on/off switch for the trailing stop. When off, none of the trailing settings below apply.
Trailing Type (default: Trailing Pips) — The trailing method. Trailing Pips trails by a fixed number of pips, Virtual Trailing uses an internally managed trail, and ATR Trailing trails by ATR distance for a volatility-adaptive stop.
Trailing Start, in pips (default: 25) — Profit in pips that must be reached before the trailing stop activates. The stop only begins following price once this cushion exists.
Trailing Step, in pips (default: 5) — The minimum move in pips before the trailing stop is shifted again, which prevents constant tiny modifications.
ATR Multiplier (default: 0.25) — ATR multiplier that sets the trailing distance, used only in ATR Trailing mode. Larger values keep the stop further from price.
ATR Period (for ATR Trailing Stop) (default: 14) — Number of bars used to calculate ATR for the ATR trailing stop. Only relevant when Trailing Type is ATR Trailing.
Manage Break Even
Break Even (default: true) — Master switch for moving the stop to break even once a trade is in profit. When off, all three break-even types below are inactive.
Break Even Type (default: Break Even Magic Trail) — Selects which break-even engine runs. Break Even Pips moves the stop a fixed pip distance, Lock Money works in account currency, and Break Even Magic Trail uses a ratcheting ladder. Only the input group matching your choice has any effect — the other two are ignored.
BE Type 1: Break Even Pips
BEPIPS: Break Even Start, in pips (default: 15) — Profit in pips required before the stop is moved to the entry price. Below this level the original stop stays in place.
BEPIPS: Break Even Step, in pips (default: 5) — A small offset in pips added beyond entry when the stop is moved, so the trade locks in a few pips rather than an exact zero.
BE Type 2: Lock Money
BEMONEY: Lock start, $ (default: 0.2) — Floating profit, in account currency, that must be reached before the money lock engages. Previously hard-coded — it is now a proper input, which makes this mode configurable for the first time.
BEMONEY: Lock stop, $ (default: 0.1) — The profit, in account currency, that is locked in once the lock engages. Keep it below the lock start value.
BE Type 3: Breakeven + Magic Trail
This is the Breakeven ladder. Once profit reaches the trigger, the stop jumps to break even plus a locked amount, then ratchets one extra step of locked profit for every further full step of profit. It is additionally pulled along at a fixed distance behind live price — whichever of the two is tighter wins, and the stop is never moved backwards.
BEMAGICTRAIL: Fixed Break-Even Trigger, in pips (default: 10) — Profit in pips that activates the ladder.
BEMAGICTRAIL: Break-Even Locked Profit, in pips (default: 2) — Pips beyond entry locked in when the ladder first triggers.
BEMAGICTRAIL: Magic Trail Progression Step, in pips (0=OFF) (default: 10) — Every full step of additional profit adds one more step of locked profit. 0 = OFF disables the ratchet, leaving only the fixed trail.
BEMAGICTRAIL: Fixed Trailing Distance, in pips (0=OFF) (default: 25) — A conventional trail kept this far behind live price, running in parallel with the ratchet. 0 = OFF.
All four distances use the EA's standard pip normalisation, so they are entered in the same unit as Stop Loss and Break Even Start, and accept fractional pips.
Early Fakeout Exit
A breakout that reverses within the first few minutes is usually a liquidity grab or stop hunt. Waiting for the full stop loss turns what should be a scratch into a maximum-size loser. This filter is evaluated before break-even and trailing, so it can cut the trade before any stop is moved.
Enable Early Fakeout Exit (default: true) — Master switch for the failed-breakout exit.
Fakeout Detection Window, in seconds after fill (default: 180) — How long after the fill the fakeout check stays armed. Once a position is older than this, the exit no longer applies and normal SL/TP management takes over.
Fakeout Adverse Move, in pips against entry (default: 10) — How far price must move against entry, within the window, to trigger the exit. Used when the ATR option below is off.
Fakeout: use ATR x mult instead of fixed pips (default: false) — Switches the adverse-move threshold from a fixed pip figure to a volatility-based one.
Fakeout ATR: adverse move = ATR x this (default: 0.25) — The ATR multiplier used as the adverse-move threshold when the ATR option is on.
Fakeout ATR Period (default: 14) — Number of bars used to calculate the fakeout ATR.
Fakeout ATR Timeframe (default: M15) — The timeframe the fakeout ATR is read from.
Manage Daily Target
Daily Target, % (0=OFF) (default: 0) — A daily profit goal as a percentage of balance; once reached, the EA stops opening new trades for the day. 0 = OFF.
Manage Drawdown
Max Drawdown Daily (0=OFF), % (default: 0) — Maximum daily drawdown allowed, as a percentage. If the account's daily loss reaches this figure, trading is halted to protect capital. 0 = OFF.
Manage Cooldown
Cooldown x minutes after SL hit (0=OFF) (default: 0) — After a stop-loss is hit, the EA pauses new entries for this many minutes, giving the market time to settle. 0 = OFF.
Cooldown x minutes after x loss close (0=OFF) (default: 0) — After a run of losing closes, the EA pauses new entries for this many minutes. 0 = OFF. Works together with the loss-count setting below.
Number of loss closes to trigger cooldown (default: 3) — The number of losing closes that must occur to trigger the loss cooldown above.
Friday Exit
Friday Close All (default: false) — When enabled, the EA closes all open trades at the defined Friday time, avoiding weekend gap risk.
Friday End Time (default: 20:00) — The server time at which Friday positions are closed when Friday Close All is on.
Trading Hours (Server Time)
Enable or disable the time filter (default: false) — Master switch for the trading-hours filter. When off, the EA may trade at any time; when on, it only trades inside the per-day windows below.
Monday … Sunday Trading Hours (defaults: weekdays 13:30-22:00;09:00-18:00 , weekend 00:00-00:00 ) — The allowed trading sessions for each day, in server time. Use the format HH:MM-HH:MM , and separate multiple sessions in a day with a semicolon ( ; ). A day set to 00:00-00:00 is disabled, which is why Saturday and Sunday are off by default.
Close all trades when a trading session ends? (default: false) — When enabled, all open trades are closed as soon as a trading session ends, so nothing is carried outside the allowed window.
Manage News
News Filter (default: false) — Master switch for the economic-news filter. When on, the EA avoids trading around scheduled high-impact events.
Stop trade X seconds before the news (default: 3600) — How many seconds before a news event the EA stops trading. The default of 3600 equals one hour.
Stop trade X seconds after the news (default: 3600) — How many seconds after a news event the EA stays out before resuming. Again 3600 = one hour by default.
Protection Guard
Four independent guards that watch broker execution quality. When any of them trips, the EA starts a time-based cooldown during which no new orders are placed — while exits, trailing and break-even keep running normally. The cooldown always clears on wall-clock time, so a frozen or stale quote feed cannot leave the EA paused indefinitely.
All thresholds below are entered in pips.
Guard: react to broker slippage on fills/closes (default: true) — Master switch for the slippage guard. Slippage is measured on every one of the EA's own deals, both on entry fills and on stop-loss closes.
Max order deviation / slippage cap (in pips) (default: 5) — The maximum deviation submitted with each order request. Fills that would exceed it are rejected by the server rather than filled at a worse price.
Trip cooldown if entry slippage > this (in pips) (default: 5) — If an entry actually fills further than this from the requested price, the guard trips and pauses new orders.
Trip cooldown if SL-close slippage > this (in pips) (default: 5) — Same check applied to stop-loss closes. Repeated bad SL fills are a strong signal that conditions have deteriorated.
Guard: pause on a broker spread spike (default: true) — Master switch for the spread-spike guard.
Spread guard mode (default: Spike vs learned typical spread) — How the trip level is derived. Fixed threshold uses the spread floor below as an absolute limit. Relative trips at the typical spread multiplied by the spike multiplier, and never below the floor — so it adapts to each symbol and session automatically.
Spread trip floor (in pips) (default: 5) — The minimum spread that can ever trip the guard. In relative mode the effective limit is the larger of this floor and typical spread × multiplier.
Relative mode: trip at typical spread x this (default: 3.0) — The spike multiplier. A value of 3.0 means the guard fires when spread reaches three times normal.
Typical spread (in pips, 0 = auto-learn live) (default: 0) — Manual override for the reference "typical" spread. 0 = auto-learn, where the EA maintains a slow moving average of live spread and ignores spikes when updating it.
Guard: pause if broker widens the stop level (default: true) — Master switch for the stop-level guard. A broker raising its minimum stop distance is a reliable early warning of unstable conditions.
Max tolerated stop level (in pips) (default: 5) — The stop level above which the guard trips.
Cooldown after a guard trips (minutes) (default: 15) — How long new orders are suspended after any guard trip.
Delete pending orders when a guard trips (default: true) — When on, all working pending orders are removed on a trip, so nothing can fill during the disturbance.
Log guard events to the Experts journal (default: true) — Prints guard trips, cooldown countdowns and resumptions to the journal, with all figures reported in pips. Useful for tuning; can be turned off to reduce log noise.
Keep this % of equity free as margin buffer (0 = off) (default: 20.0) — Before placing an order the EA projects the margin required if this order and every working pending of ours filled simultaneously. If that projection would eat into the reserved buffer, the order is skipped. This is what prevents fill-time retcode 10019 ("not enough money") when several pending orders trigger at once. 0 = OFF.
Manage Others
Delete All Pending Orders if Spread > MaxSpread (default: false) — When on, all pending orders are removed whenever the spread rises above Max Spread, so entries are not triggered in poor conditions.
Pre-check margin before placing orders (default: true) — Verifies that free margin can cover an order before it is placed, preventing "no money" rejections.
Enable Dashboard Panel (default: false) — Shows or hides the on-chart dashboard panel. Visual only; it does not affect trading.
Max Spread (in Pips) (default: 300) — The maximum spread, in pips, the EA will tolerate. Above this value entries are blocked (and pending orders removed if the delete-pending option is on).
Max Slippage (in Pips) (default: 3) — Maximum slippage tolerated on execution, in pips. Orders that would exceed this are not filled.
Magic number (default: 8055) — A unique ID that tags this EA's orders so they are never confused with manual trades or other EAs. Setting it to 0 makes the EA manage every position on the symbol.
Text Color (default: White Smoke) — The color of the panel and on-chart text. Cosmetic only.
Font Size (default: 8) — The font size of the panel and on-chart text. Cosmetic only.
Built-in Safeguards (automatic, not inputs)
These behaviors are always active and shape how the inputs play out:
- Auto-trade pre-check — before trading, the EA confirms that Algo Trading is enabled, so it never sits silent because the terminal switch is off.
- Warm-up notice — during the warm-up period the panel states plainly that the bot is adjusting, so the delay is never mistaken for a fault.
- Margin guard — with the margin pre-check on, entries are skipped cleanly when free margin can't cover the order, avoiding "No money" rejects. The Protection Guard's margin buffer extends this to the worst case where all pendings fill together.
- Spread guard — trades are blocked (and optionally pending orders cleared) whenever spread exceeds Max Spread, keeping entries out of poor conditions.
- Drawdown & target locks — the daily drawdown limit and daily target halt new trades once their thresholds are reached, protecting the account balance.
- Cooldown brakes — after a stop-loss, a streak of losses, or a Protection Guard trip, cooldown timers pause new entries so the EA can't over-trade a bad patch. Exits, trailing and break-even continue running throughout.
- Order of operations on exits — the Early Fakeout Exit is evaluated before break-even and trailing, so a failed breakout can be cut before any stop is moved.
- Never-backwards stops — break-even and trailing stops only ever move in the favourable direction; a stop is never loosened once tightened.
- Unit normalisation — every distance in the EA, including all Protection Guard thresholds, is entered in pips and converted once at initialisation. Settings behave identically across 2, 3, 4 and 5-digit feeds.
- Divide-by-zero guards — lot sizing and leverage math are protected against zero values (broker lot step, fixed money size, and account leverage), so a bad broker value can't crash the EA.
