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I have a strategy EA in mq4 that I wrote and it has several problems I can't resolve. The strategy is a long only breakout trading strategy designed to run on a basic bar chart. It is fairly simple and does not have any elaborate money management, pyramiding, targets or stop losses. It has roughly 100 lines of code. The logic is there and it compiles OK (with one warning) but is not generating the expected trades in the strategy tester. I previously coded this EA in Excel and it should be generating 50-100 trades per year on 30 min bars, but it's not. I've tried to adapt code I found in the mql5 forums but it's not working right.
I need this EA to do the following:
- Reference the last bar close[1] versus the highest close[2 and 3], lowest close[2] and moving average[1]. I tried to populate arrays with these values, but got array value access errors. So I switched to using the shift parameter e.g. iMA(NULL,0,bar period,length,shift,...) but I don't think it's the same values and isn't working. I'd like to store these values in arrays and access them to compare to the last bar close[1].
- Enter and exit long trades on the current bar open
- Use the external variable EAid to identify trades and positions created by this EA, and only trade those. (EAid is used as variable for MagicNumber)
- Allow only one open unfilled trade order at a time.
- Allow only one open filled position at a time. No pyramiding if the EA strategy conditions are met a second time after a position is opened.
- Trade only once per bar so it doesn't keep sending new orders on the current bar.
- Check for available account margin to enter a new trade and not allow trade orders if there is insufficient capital in the account
- Specify external variables to input / optimize: HH and HC lookback, MA length, Lots, Slippage, EAid, a variable to trade at market or max spread, a time variable to specify maximum time an entry order can be open before it's cancelled
- I generally trade at market, but may want to trade the EA with a maximum bid-ask spread (which I assume will result in some missed trades). I would like an external variable to specify either, and if max spread is chosen, to use the Slippage value. I would also like to specify the max time an entry order can be open, then have the EA automatically cancel that order if it's not filled within the specified time.
- If the trade screen / symbol where the EA is running is closed or the EA is stopped with open orders or positions, then automatically cancel open orders and sell all positions in that screen at market. If this is not possible (e.g. MetaTrader crashes, or is shut down too fast without sending orders, or the Internet goes out) then the EA should check for open positions when it is reopened.
- All entry and exit trades should be displayed on the chart.
Problems to fix on this EA:
- The EA only generates a single trade in strategy testing at the beginning of the test period and doesn't close the trade according to the exit conditions. I'm expecting 50-100 trades per year on 30 minute bars.
- Code the HC, LC and MAVG arrays correctly so they store the historical values for 4 past bars, and these values are accessed correctly in the entry / exit logic
- Warning "return value of 'OrderSelect' should be checked" (I eliminated this warning with some code found in the forums but I don't know if it's right)
- Warning "return value of 'OrderClose' should be checked"
- Keep the code that's good (including code I commented out but didn't know how to use) and delete the code that's wrong or useless
- General cleanup of variables, etc.
- Any other problems
- Save as version 1.1 in mq5 format (it's currently in mq4 cuz I just started it that way for no reason)
My EA code is below, warts and all...
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| BreakoutModel_v1_FOREX.mq4 |
//| Copyright 2020, Lawrence H. Klamecki |
//| |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright "Copyright 2020, Lawrence H. Klamecki"
#property link ""
#property version "1.0"
#property strict
//--- input parameters
//extern allows you to change these variables from the strategy tester
extern int Lookback=10; //LOOKBACK PERIOD FOR HIGHEST HIGH AND LOWEST LOW
extern int MAlen=50; //SIMPLE MOVING AVERAGE LENGTH
extern double Lots=0.1; //FIXED NUMBER OF LOTS TO TRADE 1 LOT = 100,000 CURRENCY
extern int Slip=10; //SLIPPAGE PER TRADE = LOTS * PIP SIZE * PIP SPREAD EX: 0.1 LOTS * $10 * 5 PIPS = $5
int EAid=1007; //ID OF THIS EXPERT ADIVISOR USED TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCE OF ORDERS IT GENERATES
int BarsCount, i, n, halt1, total ;
//extern double StartEquity=1000.00; //STARTING EQUITY IN USD
//extern double Leverage=10.0; //LEVERAGE USED PER TRADE
//int Shift=1; //SHIFT (0=current bar, 1 = last bar, 2 = 2 bars ago etc)
// START EA CODE
int start()
{
//double HC[4]; //HC ARRAY CONTAINING 4 HIGHEST CLOSE VALUES
//double LC[4]; //LC ARRAY CONTAINING 4 LOWEST CLOSE VALUES
//double MAVG[4]; //MAVG ARRAY CONTAINING 4 MAVG VALUES
double HC1, HC2, HC3, LC1, LC2, MAVG1;
int ticket;
int cnt = 0;
//POPULATE ARRAYS WITH LAST 4 HC AND LC VALUES i.e. positions 0 to 3
//for (n = 0; n < 4; n++)
//NOTE - I SWITCHED TO SHIFTED VALUES BELOW INSTEAD OF ARRAY VALUES TO GET EA TO COMPILE. LAST PARAMETER IS BAR SHIFT.
// INSTEAD OF SHIFTED HC1, HC2, HC3 ETC I WANT TO USE HISTORICAL HC[1], HC[2], HC[3] ETC VALUES FROM ARRAYS IN ENTRY-EXIT LOGIC
HC1 = Close[Highest(NULL, 0, MODE_CLOSE, Lookback, 1)]; //HIGHEST CLOSE[1] IN LOOKBACK PERIOD
HC2 = Close[Highest(NULL, 0, MODE_CLOSE, Lookback, 2)]; //HIGHEST CLOSE[2] IN LOOKBACK PERIOD
HC3 = Close[Highest(NULL, 0, MODE_CLOSE, Lookback, 3)]; //HIGHEST CLOSE[3] IN LOOKBACK PERIOD
LC1 = Close[Lowest(NULL, 0, MODE_CLOSE, Lookback, 1)]; //LOWEST CLOSE[1] IN LOOKBACK PERIOD
LC2 = Close[Lowest(NULL, 0, MODE_CLOSE, Lookback, 2)]; //LOWEST CLOSE[2] IN LOOKBACK PERIOD
MAVG1 = iMA(NULL,0,MAlen,0,MODE_SMA,PRICE_CLOSE,1); //MOVING AVERAGE VALUE[1] (SYMBOL(NULL=CHART SYMBOL),BAR PERIOD(0=BAR PERIOD OF CHART),LENGTH,MA SHIFT(+FWD,-BACK),MA TYPE,PRICE,VALUE SHIFT)
//LONG ENTRIES
//CHECK THAT EA HAS NO OPEN ORDERS
if(OrdersTotal()<1)
{
//THEN CHECK THAT EA HAS NO OPEN POSITIONS (THIS EA DOES NOT ALLOW PYRAMIDING)
//TBD -- HOW TO CODE THIS?
//THEN CHECK FOR INSUFFICIENT FUNDS IN ACCOUNT
if(AccountFreeMargin()<(1000*Lots))
{
Print("Insufficient funds to enter new trade. Free Margin = ", AccountFreeMargin());
return(0); //exit
}
//THEN IF LONG TRADE CRITERIA ARE MET OPEN BUY ORDER
//ENTER LONG IF CLOSE[1] > HIGHEST CLOSE[2] AND CLOSE[1] < HIGHEST CLOSE[3] AND CLOSE[1] > MAVG[1]
//REFERENCE HIGHEST CLOSE, LOWEST CLOSE AND MAVG VALUES FROM ARRAYS ABOVE
if((Close[1]>HC2) && (Close[2]<HC3) && (Close[1]>MAVG1)) //NOTE - THESE VARIABLES ARE THE SHIFTED VALUES I CREATED TO GET THE EA TO COMPILE. I WANT TO USE HISTORICAL ARRAY VALUES IN THE ENTRY-EXIT LOGIC.
//OPEN BUY TICKET
ticket = OrderSend(Symbol(),OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,Slip,0,0,"BREAKOUT OPEN",EAid,0,Green); //SYMBOL,BUY OR SELL OPERATION,LOTS,BID/ASK PRICE,SLIPPAGE,STOP LOSS,TARGET PROFIT(e.g. Ask+TakeProfit*Point),ORDER TEXT,MAGIC NUMBER,DATETIME EXPIRATION,COLOR
if(ticket>0)
{
if(OrderSelect(ticket,SELECT_BY_TICKET,MODE_TRADES))
Print("BUY order opened : ",OrderOpenPrice());
}
else Print("Error opening BUY order : ",GetLastError());
return(0); // exit
}
else if(OrdersTotal()>0)
{
//LONG EXITS
for(cnt=0;cnt;)
{
if(!OrderSelect(cnt, SELECT_BY_POS, MODE_TRADES))break;
if(OrderType()!=OP_BUY && OrderSymbol()!=Symbol() && OrderMagicNumber()!=EAid){continue;}
if(OrderType()==OP_BUY && OrderSymbol()==Symbol() && OrderMagicNumber()==EAid) // check for open long position, symbol & EAid
{
//EXIT IF EXISTING POSITION AND LAST CLOSE < PREVIOUS LOWEST CLOSE OR LAST CLOSE < LAST MAVG
if(Close[1]<LC2 || Close[1]<MAVG1) //NOTE - THESE VARIABLES ARE THE SHIFTED VALUES I CREATED TO GET THE EA TO COMPILE. I WANT TO USE HISTORICAL ARRAY VALUES IN THE ENTRY-EXIT LOGIC.
{
OrderClose(OrderTicket(),OrderLots(),OrderClosePrice(),Slip,Gray); //CLOSE LONG POSITION
if(OrderClose(OrderTicket(),OrderLots(),OrderClosePrice(),Slip,Gray)==FALSE)
Print("Error closing BUY order : ",GetLastError());
return(0); // exit
}
}
}
return(0); //exit
}
return(0); //exit
}
return(0); //exit
}
//CODE PREVENTING MULTIPLE ORDERS FOR THE SAME SYMBOL ON THE SAME BAR - HOW TO USE THIS?
//int ticket(){
// for (int t=0;t<OrdersTotal();t++)
// {
// if(OrderSelect(t,SELECT_BY_POS,MODE_TRADES))
// if(OrderSymbol()==Symbol())return OrderTicket();
// }
// return -1;
// }
//ALTERNATIVE CODE FOR EXITING OPEN POSITIONS - HOW TO USE THIS?
// if(OrdersTotal()>0)
// {
// for(i=1; i<=OrdersTotal(); i++)
// {
// if (OrderSelect(i-1,SELECT_BY_POS)==true)
// {
// if(OrderMagicNumber()==EAid) {halt1=1;} //IF THIS EA HAS AN ORDER OPEN THEN HALT!
// {
//LONG ENTRIES
//ENTER LONG IF NO POSITION AND LAST CLOSE > PREVIOUS HIGHEST CLOSE
//AND PREVIOUS CLOSE < PREVIOUS PREVIOUS HIGHEST CLOSE AND LAST CLOSE > LAST MAVG
//REFERENCE HC, LC AND MAVG VALUES FROM ARRAYS ABOVE USING POSITION VARIABLE IN BRACKETS [n]
// if((Close[1]>HC[2]) && (Close[2]<HC[3]) && (Close[1]>MAVG[1]) && (halt1!=1))
// {
// int openbuy=OrderSend(Symbol(),OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,Slip,0,0,"BREAKOUT OPEN",MagicNumber1,0,Green);
// }
// }
// }
// }
// }
// }