Alligator Joe
- Experts
- Version: 1.41
- Updated: 16 September 2026
Overview
Alligator Joe is a trend-alignment Expert Advisor built around the classic Alligator indicator (Jaw, Teeth, Lips). It waits for a fresh alignment of the three lines — not an alignment that has already been running for a while — then enters in the direction of that trend. Positions are closed gradually in three stages as price falls back through each line, instead of a single fixed exit.
How it works
- The EA checks the last closed candle: are Lips, Teeth and Jaw fully aligned (bullish or bearish)?
- It confirms this alignment is new — it was not present a few bars back — avoiding entries deep into an already extended move.
- Entry is confirmed once price closes beyond the Lips in the trend direction.
- A wide safety-net stop loss is placed beyond the Jaw as a last-resort protection.
- Exit happens in three steps as the trend weakens: one third of the position closes when price closes back through the Lips, another third through the Teeth, and the remainder through the Jaw.
- A built-in dashboard shows live alignment status of the three lines plus running drawdown and net profit.
Inputs
General
- Magic Number
- Trade Comment
Alligator
- Jaw Period
- Jaw Shift
- Teeth Period
- Teeth Shift
- Lips Period
- Lips Shift
- Moving Average Method
- Applied Price
Signal
- Alignment must be new within this many bars
- Confirm signal bar closes beyond Lips
Risk
- Risk percent per trade
- Maximum spread in points
- ATR period
- Safety-net SL distance beyond Jaw, in ATR
Dashboard
- Show dashboard
- Dashboard X position
- Dashboard Y position
- Dashboard font size
Optimizer Score
- Minimum profit factor
- Maximum drawdown percent
- Minimum trades
- R2 weight
- Slope weight
- Split-half penalty
- Skew penalty
- Ulcer penalty
- MAR weight
- Trade count bonus weight
Optimizer scoring system
Alligator Joe includes a custom scoring formula that ranks optimization runs by equity curve quality rather than raw profit alone. It rewards a smooth, steadily rising equity curve (R2 and slope), efficient use of drawdown (MAR ratio) and a reasonable number of trades, while penalizing runs that depend on a single outsized trade, runs whose performance shifts between the first and second half of the test, and runs with deep or long-lasting drawdowns. Set the Optimizer Criterion to Custom max to activate this scoring.
Recommended setup
Symbol: XAUUSD. Timeframe: M30. Modeling: 1 Minute OHLC for the main optimization and final validation; Open Prices can be used for a fast coarse pass to narrow the parameter space before confirming top candidates in 1 Minute OHLC. VPS recommended for live use.
Screenshots
Strategy Tester report and input settings on XAUUSD M30.
Disclaimer
Past performance shown in backtests does not guarantee future results. Test thoroughly on a demo account before live use. Trading leveraged instruments carries a risk of loss.
