Turtle Soup plus CRT Scanner
- Indicators
- Version: 2.12
- Activations: 10
Turtle Soup CRT Scanner Pro: A Professional MT5 Price-Action Scanner & Trade Management Dashboard
Executive Summary
The Turtle Soup CRT Scanner Pro represents a sophisticated convergence of two proven price-action methodologies—Candle Range Theory (CRT) and the Classic Turtle Soup pattern—unified within a single, professional-grade MetaTrader 5 indicator. This is not merely a signal generator; it is a comprehensive trade management ecosystem designed for traders who demand structural integrity, multi-timeframe confluence, and precise risk management.
By combining rigorous pattern detection with institutional-grade filtering, real-time news integration, and an interactive dashboard, this system elevates discretionary trading into a systematic, repeatable process. It identifies liquidity traps, confirms them through lower-timeframe structural shifts, and provides actionable entry, stop-loss, and take-profit levels—all while maintaining complete manual control over the scanning process.
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Core Philosophy: Liquidity Sweeps as High-Probability Setups
The scanner operates on a foundational market truth: liquidity rests above recent highs and below recent lows. When price aggressively sweeps these levels and fails to sustain the breakout, it signals that the directional move was a manipulation, not a genuine trend. The subsequent reversal is often swift and powerful.
This indicator captures two distinct manifestations of this principle:
Candle Range Theory (CRT)
CRT identifies a strict three-candle structure on the higher timeframe:
· Candle 1 (The Range Candle): Establishes a well-defined trading range with a genuine momentum body, small wicks on both sides, and volatility that exceeds the average of the preceding 14 bars.
· Candle 2 (The Manipulation/Sweep Candle): Wicks beyond Candle 1's high or low, trapping breakout traders, before closing back inside the range.
· Candle 3 (The Distribution/Confirmation Candle): Closes inside Candle 1's range in the trade direction, confirming the failure of the sweep and signaling the next leg of the move.
Classic Turtle Soup (TBS)
Based on the legendary Turtle Trading system's Donchian breakout failure:
· Identifies a sweep of the prior N-bar high or low (classic 20-bar lookback).
· Requires a close back inside the N-bar range, signaling a false breakout.
· Applies the same rigorous validation and confirmation filters as CRT, ensuring this pattern is not treated as a looser bolt-on but as an equally valid source of high-probability setups.
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Institutional-Grade Filtering: The Valid Zone Requirement
What separates this scanner from simpler tools is its mandatory valid zone filter. Every CRT or Turtle Soup formation is immediately rejected unless the range candle sits at a genuine demand or supply zone. This ensures setups occur at areas of market memory, institutional order flow, and structural significance—not mid-range noise.
The zone validation engine checks three distinct criteria:
1. Swing Extremes: Is the range candle's low (bullish) or high (bearish) positioned near a recent swing pivot?
2. Order Blocks: Does a displacement candle's base confirm the zone as institutional supply or demand?
3. Fair Value Gaps (FVGs): Is the range candle's edge aligned with an unmitigated price gap?
Each zone is validated using a dynamic ATR-based tolerance, adapting to current market volatility rather than applying rigid, arbitrary distances.
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The Confirmation Engine: CHoCH + FVG/OB + Retest
A valid CRT or Turtle Soup formation on the higher timeframe is only the first layer. The system then drills down to a lower timeframe to wait for structural confirmation before marking any signal as "Ready." This three-legged confirmation model ensures you are not entering on a sweep alone, but on a shift in market character followed by an actual retest of the zone.
Leg 1: Change of Character (CHoCH) – Mandatory
The system identifies a true three-bar swing high or low—a genuine fractal pivot, not a rolling maximum or minimum over a lookback window. It then requires price to close beyond this swing level, confirming that the lower-timeframe structure has shifted:
· Bullish CHoCH: Price breaks above the last swing high.
· Bearish CHoCH: Price breaks below the last swing low.
No CHoCH = No signal. This ensures the lower timeframe has actually changed its directional bias, not merely retraced within the same structure.
Leg 2: Entry Trigger (FVG or Order Block)
The system scans for either:
· Fair Value Gap (FVG): An unmitigated price gap in the direction of the trade.
· Order Block (OB): The last opposite-color candle before the displacement move that broke the CHoCH level.
Both are drawn directly on the chart when confirmed, providing a visual reference for the trade's origin.
Leg 3: The Retest – Mandatory Trade Trigger
This is the critical entry condition and represents the practical application of "Candle 3" on the lower timeframe. Even with a valid CHoCH and a clear FVG or Order Block, the signal will not fire until price returns to and trades back into that zone. This ensures:
· You are entering on a pullback after a structural break, not chasing the break itself.
· The zone has actually been tested and held, confirming its relevance.
· Your stop-loss placement is anchored to a recent, valid swing extreme.
Without this retest, the setup remains "pending"—identified but not actionable.
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Professional Dashboard & Interactive Interface
The indicator features a visually organized, information-dense dashboard designed for rapid decision-making and seamless execution.
Panel 1: HTF Formations (Top Panel)
Displays the freshest valid formations across the active higher timeframes (W1, D1, H4, and optionally H1). Each row includes:
· Symbol
· Timeframe
· Pattern Type (CRT or TBS)
· Direction (Buy/Sell)
· Color Coding: Lime for bullish, Red for bearish; Turtle Soup formations display in Aqua for immediate visual distinction.
Panel 2: Signal Ready (Bottom Panel)
Ranks the top confirmed signals by their calculated Risk-to-Reward ratio. Each row displays:
· Symbol and TF Pair (e.g., H4 → M15)
· Entry, Stop Loss, and Take Profit levels (formatted to the symbol's correct decimal precision)
· R:R Ratio
· Grade Tag: [A+] (FVG + OB + CHoCH), [FVG], or [OB] , with the pattern prefix (e.g., "[TBS A+]").
Interactive Features
· Click to Open: Clicking any row in the Signal Ready panel opens a brand new chart window for that symbol at its specific lower timeframe, leaving your dashboard chart untouched.
· Auto-Draw: Upon opening, the system automatically draws the SL/Entry and Entry/TP boxes, the CHoCH level, FVG rectangle, Order Block rectangle, and a pattern tag—all on the new chart, providing immediate visual context for the trade.
· Manual Scan Control: The "SCAN CRT (Manual)" button sits directly above the dashboard, ensuring no automatic scans run on load or timer. You control when the system searches for new setups.
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Integrated High-Impact News Filter
The indicator includes a live news panel positioned directly below the scan button. This panel monitors the economic calendar exclusively for High Impact (Red Folder) events, providing critical context that technical analysis alone cannot offer.
Upcoming Events
Displays the next high-impact events within a user-defined lookahead window (default 240 minutes), showing the currency and the minutes remaining. This helps you avoid entering trades immediately before major announcements like NFP, FOMC, or CPI.
News Outcomes
For events released within the lookback window (default 180 minutes), the system grades the outcome:
· Favorable (Green): The actual print was beneficial for the currency based on the specific indicator's historical impact.
· Not Favorable (Red): The actual print was detrimental.
· Pending (Gray): The actual value is still awaiting release.
This grading leverages the terminal's own economic calendar engine, which understands the nuanced relationship between forecast, actual, and currency reaction—avoiding naive "higher is better" assumptions.
Independent Refresh
The news panel refreshes on its own timer (default 60 seconds), decoupled from the manual CRT scan. This ensures the countdown and outcome display remain live, rather than stale until the next manual scan.
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Precision Markings & Visual Clarity
The system draws clear, non-intrusive markings on both the higher and lower timeframes to provide visual confirmation of the setup's structure.
Higher Timeframe Markings
· Range Lines: CRT and Turtle Soup range lines are drawn at Candle 1's high and low (or the N-bar high/low for TBS). Turtle Soup lines are dotted and displayed in Aqua for immediate pattern distinction.
· Explicit Tags: "C2 Signal" is displayed at Candle 2's close for CRT; "TBS" is displayed at the sweep candle for Turtle Soup.
Lower Timeframe Markings
· SL/Entry Box (Red): The entire distance from entry to stop loss.
· Entry/TP Box (Green): The entire distance from entry to target.
· FVG Box (Gray): A filled rectangle spanning the gap's time and price.
· Order Block Box: A filled rectangle in Bull or Bear color at the OB's candle.
· CHoCH Level (Blue, Dashed): A horizontal line at the broken swing pivot with a "CHoCH" text label.
· Pattern Tag: A small "CRT" or "TBS" tag at the entry level, ensuring you always know which pattern source generated the signal.
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Risk Management & Stop-Loss Logic
The indicator employs a precise, structure-based approach to risk management:
Stop Loss (SL)
Derived from the specific lower-timeframe structure that triggered the entry:
· If triggered by an Order Block: SL is placed at the OB's extreme (low for bullish, high for bearish), ensuring the stop is anchored to the institutional base of the move.
· If triggered by a Fair Value Gap: SL is placed at the extreme of the pre-gap candle (the "1st candle"), providing a tighter and more relevant stop than any arbitrary ATR multiple.
This approach ensures stops are placed at the logical invalidation point of the specific entry trigger, not at a generic or overly wide level.
Take Profit (TP)
Fixed to the opposite extreme of the range candle:
· Bullish Setup: TP = Candle 1's high (or the N-bar high for TBS).
· Bearish Setup: TP = Candle 1's low (or the N-bar low for TBS).
This creates a clear, mechanical target based on the original range that was swept, providing a fixed Risk-to-Reward ratio that is calculated and displayed on the dashboard.
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Performance Optimizations & Stability
This is a mature v2.12 tool, refined through multiple iterations to address real-world trading conditions:
Static Rendering
The mid-chart "CRT System" label is created once and only repositioned on chart changes, eliminating the flickering and blinking that plagued earlier versions during zoom or scroll operations.
Dynamic Bounds Checking
Every array access is rigorously bounded against the actual number of bars returned by the terminal. This eliminates "Array out of range" errors that commonly occur on illiquid pairs, newly listed instruments, or when trading on higher timeframes (W1, MN) with limited historical data.
De-Duplicated Alerts
Alert and push notifications are throttled to a user-defined cooldown period (default 5 minutes). Each unique signal is tracked by a composite key (Pattern + Symbol + Timeframe + Time), ensuring you are never spammed with duplicate notifications for the same setup across multiple manual scans.
Manual Scan Integrity
The system explicitly avoids running any automatic scan during initialization or on timer events. The "SCAN CRT" button is the sole trigger for pattern detection, giving you complete control over when the indicator consumes CPU resources and generates alerts.
ChartWindow Independence
Clicking a signal row opens a new chart window using ChartOpen, rather than switching the current chart's symbol and timeframe. This preserves your dashboard view and allows multiple signal charts to be open simultaneously. Markings are drawn explicitly on the new chart's ID, ensuring they always appear on the correct window.
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Input Parameters: Customization & Control
The indicator provides extensive input controls, allowing you to tailor the system to your trading style:
Scan Configuration
· Max Symbols: Limit the number of instruments scanned.
· CRT Lookback: Number of bars to search for the Candle 1/Candle 2 pair.
· Enable H1 Scan: Toggle H1 as an additional higher timeframe (confirms on M5 for scalpers).
Pattern Filters
· CRT Filters: Minimum wick ratio, minimum body ratio, maximum wick ratio (both sides), and momentum multiplier (body vs. ATR of preceding 14 bars).
· Turtle Soup Filters: Enable/disable, lookback bars, minimum wick ratio, and custom color for TBS markings.
Zone Validation
· Zone ATR Multiplier: Controls how close a range candle must be to a valid zone relative to current volatility.
Dashboard & Visuals
· Dashboard Position: X and Y offsets.
· Bull/Bear Colors: Customizable for all drawn objects.
· FVG, CHoCH, and Box Colors: Full control over visual style.
News Filter
· Lookahead Minutes: How far forward to check for high-impact events.
· Outcome Lookback Minutes: How far back to check for released events.
· Currencies to Monitor: Comma-separated list (default: USD,EUR,GBP,JPY,AUD,NZD,CAD,CHF).
· Refresh Interval: Independent timer for news panel updates.
Alerts & Notifications
· Enable Alerts: Toggle on-screen alerts.
· Push Notifications: Toggle mobile push notifications.
· Cooldown Seconds: Prevent alert spam.
· Verbose Scan Log: Print detailed diagnostics to the Experts tab.
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Installation & Usage Workflow
Installation
1. Place the .mq5 and .ex5 files in the Indicators folder of your MetaTrader 5 installation.
2. Attach the indicator to any chart.
3. Configure the inputs to match your preferred symbol list, timeframe scan set, and alert preferences.
Daily Workflow
1. Attach the Indicator: It loads with an empty dashboard and a "SCAN CRT (Manual)" button.
2. Run a Scan: Click the SCAN CRT button. The system iterates through all configured symbols and higher timeframes, detecting valid CRT and Turtle Soup formations.
3. Review HTF Formations: Scan the top panel for the freshest valid zones.
4. Monitor Ready Signals: If a lower-timeframe confirmation completes, the signal appears in the bottom panel with Entry, SL, TP, and R:R displayed.
5. Open the Signal: Click the signal row to open a new chart at the lower timeframe with all markings drawn.
6. Execute the Trade: Use the displayed Entry, SL, and TP levels to execute your trade.
7. Run Scans Periodically: Click SCAN CRT again to update the dashboard with new formations and confirmations.
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Conclusion
The Turtle Soup CRT Scanner Pro is a professional-grade price-action scanning and trade management system that bridges the gap between discretionary pattern recognition and systematic execution. By combining robust pattern detection (CRT and Turtle Soup), institutional-grade valid-zone filtering, a rigorous lower-timeframe confirmation engine (CHoCH + FVG/OB + Retest), and an interactive dashboard, it provides a complete workflow from market scanning to trade execution.
Whether you are a day trader seeking intraday setups using the H1 → M5 mapping, a swing trader capturing daily and weekly reversals, or a discretionary trader who wants to eliminate the subjective guesswork from pattern identification, this indicator delivers a structured, repeatable, and professional approach to trading liquidity sweeps and false breakouts.
The manual scan control, integrated news filter, precise stop-loss logic, and meticulous visual marking system ensure you remain in control of your decisions while benefiting from a rigorous, algorithmic identification and confirmation framework. This is not merely an indicator—it is a trading cockpit.
