Trading Systems

Dawnbreak – complete guide: how it trades, every setting, set files

1 October 2026, 07:13
Pitt Petruschke
Pitt Petruschke
0
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Dawnbreak trades one clean idea: the breakout of the early-session range. It measures the high and low of a fixed time window, brackets it with a BuyStop and a SellStop and lets the market choose the direction. One trade per day and chart, every trade with a stop loss. No grid, no martingale, no averaging.

Tested on 21 months of real-tick data (MT5 Strategy Tester, January 2025 – October 2026, 1 % risk per trade):

  • Gold (XAUUSD): +41.65 %, max drawdown 20.77 %, profit factor 1.21, 413 trades
  • DAX (DE40): +40.28 %, max drawdown 12.44 %, profit factor 1.20, 431 trades

Gold and the DAX are my recommendation, but not the only markets that made money: USDJPY and EURJPY also finished in profit, and a ready-made Bitcoin set is included (section 3).

Updates are free for every buyer. Want to check it first? Download the free demo and run it in the Strategy Tester on your own broker's data.
Get Dawnbreak: mql5.com/en/market/product/178401

Dawnbreak: how it trades

1. What you get

  • Rules you can see. The range, both entry levels and the exit time are drawn on the chart. No black box.
  • Risk you set. A fixed amount or a percentage of the balance per trade. The lot size follows the stop distance, so the loss at the stop matches your risk setting (rounded to the broker's lot step).
  • Protection built in. Daily loss limit, max-spread filter, a pause after losing streaks, and order handling that survives a terminal restart.
  • Ready to run. Tested set files for gold and the DAX. Setup takes five minutes.
  • Live dashboard. Status, session timeline, today's range, today's result and recent trades at a glance.
  • Runs on hedging and netting accounts, on any symbol with M1 history.

2. How Dawnbreak trades

Every day, on every chart, the same four steps:

  1. Measure – Dawnbreak records the high and low of a fixed time window from M1 history, for example 03:05–06:05 server time on gold.
  2. Bracket – when the window closes, it places a BuyStop at the range high and a SellStop at the range low (plus an optional entry buffer).
  3. Break – the first order to fill wins; the other one is cancelled immediately.
  4. Exit – the trade ends at the stop loss, the take profit or a fixed close time.

Dawnbreak: ranges on the chart

3. Recommended markets and set files

Every market gets its own range window, close time and stop. I put each example set through a real-tick test with a clear pass mark: profit factor at least 1.15, maximum drawdown at most 25 %, at least 60 trades. Gold and the DAX passed. These are the two markets I recommend.

Set file Symbol Range window (server time) Close Range filter
Dawnbreak_XAUUSD_v3.7.set XAUUSD 03:05–06:05 18:55 0.2–1.5 % of price
Dawnbreak_DE40_v3.7.set DE40 07:00–11:00 20:00 off
Dawnbreak_XAUUSD_adaptive_v3.7.set XAUUSD 03:05–06:05 18:55 0.2–1.5 % of price

Both main sets risk 1 % of the balance per trade with the stop at the opposite side of the range. Each set has its own magic number, so gold and the DAX run side by side on one account. The adaptive gold set is the lower-drawdown option (section 6). DE40 is called GER40 or GDAXI at some brokers.

More profitable markets. In the same real-tick test USDJPY made +49.35 % and EURJPY +10.09 %. They missed my pass mark on drawdown or profit factor, so they are not on my recommended list, but their set files are ready to use. Bitcoin (BTCUSD) has its own set file as well, and I trade it on my own live account. My test broker does not offer Bitcoin, so check it in the Strategy Tester on your broker's data first.

Set file Symbol Range window (server time) Close
Dawnbreak_USDJPY_v3.7.set USDJPY 03:00–04:30 18:00
Dawnbreak_EURJPY_v3.7.set EURJPY 04:00–10:00 18:00
Dawnbreak_BTCUSD_v3.7.set BTCUSD 05:00–09:30 20:00

All set files are attached to this post as Dawnbreak_Example_Sets_v3.7.zip. Every file states its test result in its first lines.

Dawnbreak: gold and DAX

4. Backtest: gold and DAX on real ticks

Example sets, 1 % risk per trade, no take profit, stop loss at the opposite side of the range. 1 Jan 2025 – 14 Oct 2026, every tick based on real ticks (Darwinex), random execution delay, 10,000 USD, leverage 1:100. Tested with version 3.6; on gold and the DAX the lot sizes were already correct, a stop cost about 1 % of the balance.

Market Trades Net Max drawdown Profit factor Win rate
XAUUSD (gold) 413 +41.65 % 20.77 % 1.21 47.2 %
DE40 (DAX) 431 +40.28 % 12.44 % 1.20 45.9 %

Run your own test: download the free demo and choose "Every tick based on real ticks" in the Strategy Tester.

Like what you see? Get Dawnbreak here: mql5.com/en/market/product/178401

5. Setup in five minutes

  1. Open a chart of the symbol (any timeframe works; the range is read from M1).
  2. Attach Dawnbreak and load the matching set file (Inputs → Load).
  3. Check your broker's server time. The sets assume UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer. If your broker differs, shift the range window and close time by the difference.
  4. Check the Experts log: on start Dawnbreak prints the key settings (range window, close time, risk, stop mode, range filter).
  5. Keep the terminal online during the session; a VPS is recommended.

6. Adaptive take profit

Instead of a fixed target, Dawnbreak can learn one per symbol:

  • After every breakout it measures how far price moved in the trade's direction.
  • The next target is the average of the last 30 breakouts (adjustable 1–500).
  • Until 30 breakouts are recorded it paper-trades by default. You can switch this off and trade without a take profit during the learning phase.
  • An optional floor and cap keep the target within a multiple of the range.

On gold the adaptive set trades some return for a smoother curve: in an earlier real-tick test it gave up about half the return of the set without take profit for about a third less drawdown. Choose it if a lower drawdown matters more to you than the full return.

7. Capital and risk

  • Gold has wide ranges, so at 1 % risk I recommend about 7,500 USD or more. With a smaller account, lower the risk per trade.
  • Risk adds up across charts: gold and the DAX at 1 % each can put 2 % of the balance at risk on the same day.
  • On a netting account, do not trade the same symbol by hand or with another EA.
  • Your broker must accept pending orders with an expiry time.

8. Build your portfolio

The range breakout behind Dawnbreak is one of three strategies I combine on my own live account. They trade at different times and in different ways, so they complement each other:

9. Live account and channel

My own live account has run the same strategies since February 2026, with a different EA build: mql5.com/en/signals/2372831. Its result mixes all three strategies, so it is not a track record of Dawnbreak's code.

Public channel with updates and set files: mql5.com/en/channels/dawnbreak

10. All settings explained

General

  • Risk mode / Risk per trade – a fixed amount or a percentage of the balance. This is what you lose if the stop loss is hit; the lot size follows the stop distance.
  • Entry buffer – extra points beyond the range high/low for the stop orders (0 = exactly at the range edge).
  • Take profit – none, fixed (multiple of the range or points) or adaptive (section 6).
  • Stop loss – opposite side of the range (default), a multiple of the range from the entry, a percentage of price, or fixed points.

Lot sizes are capped to the broker's maximum volume and volume limit and reduced to fit 90 % of the free margin. If not even the minimum lot fits, Dawnbreak skips the day and says so in the log.

Time

  • Range start / end – the measuring window in server time.
  • Delete pendings – when unfilled stop orders are removed (00:00 = at the close time).
  • Close trades – the fixed time at which an open trade is closed.

Break-even and trailing

  • Break-even – off, or move the stop to entry after a trigger (multiple of the range or points), with an optional lock-in.
  • Trailing stop – off, or trail by a distance (multiple of the range or points) in steps.

Trading days

Monday to Sunday, each on or off.

Range filter

Skip days whose range is too small or too wide, in points or as a percentage of price. Skipped days are marked on the chart.

Protection

  • Daily loss limit – per chart, closed plus open result, in % or as an amount.
  • Pause after a losing streak – after N losing days in a row, pause for N calendar days.
  • Max spread – no orders if the spread is wider at order time.
  • If both pending orders disappear before a fill (deleted by hand, another program or the broker), the bracket is placed again, up to 8 times a day.
  • After a terminal restart, Dawnbreak finds its own orders again; if a trade already filled that day, the leftover order is removed.

Dashboard

Status, session timeline, today's range and price, today's result, loss limit, take profit and recent trades. Three themes, compact mode, any chart corner. Past ranges with their BuyStop/SellStop levels are drawn for the last 20 trading days (adjustable).

Dawnbreak: live dashboard

Dawnbreak: settings

11. Support and updates

Post questions in the channel or the product comments, or send a private message. Please include your broker, symbol, the set file and the Experts log lines from the day in question.

New in version 3.7: the lot size now comes from the loss the terminal itself calculates for the stop distance. This fixes some index CFDs, where older versions could open a larger volume than set. The inputs are unchanged, so your set files keep working. If you trade index CFDs, please update.

Start with Dawnbreak today: mql5.com/en/market/product/178401

More from me:

Risk warning: trading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high risk of loss. Backtests are simulations; past results do not guarantee future results.

#xauusd, expert advisor, MT5, range breakout, Session Breakout