Cow Guard Antiburst Protection
- Utilities
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Adrian Winata
Adrian Winata - developer of XAUUSD (Gold) Expert Advisors for MetaTrader 5.
LIVE SIGNALS
Both EAs run on real accounts. Every result is public and verified.
Cash Cow Cent - live cent account, verified on Myfxbook: - Version: 2.90
Free utility for MetaTrader 5.
Works next to any EA on the same account. No DLL needed.
Cow Guard: Stops malicious and cracked EAs before they drain your account.
Cow Guard watches every trade on your MT5 account and raises the alarm within seconds when an Expert Advisor starts to burst it, for example a cracked copy that opens and closes trades nonstop until the balance is gone.
It never opens a trade. By default it only alerts you. If you choose, it also closes all trades, keeps closing new ones and removes the charts of the other EAs.
User manual: Cow Guard User Manual (free PDF). Setup, the panel, every check and setting explained, alerts and troubleshooting.
Quick Facts
- Platform: MetaTrader 5
- Chart: attach to one chart, any symbol and timeframe. It watches the whole account.
- Trades: never opens a trade. Closes trades only if you choose a close action.
- Alerts: MT5 popup, push notification to your phone, sound and Telegram.
- DLL: not needed.
- VPS: works on your own VPS and on the MQL5 VPS (no panel there).
Built From a Real Case
A cracked EA took a 230 USD account to 9 USD in about two minutes: 176 trades, buy and sell opened together every one or two seconds, each closed within a second. Replayed against that history, Cow Guard alarms on the first trade, before any money is lost.
What It Watches
- Danger words in trade comments, such as burst, blow or fix. EA names are never checked, so a normal EA called "Fixer" is not flagged.
- Burst: trades closed within 2 seconds of opening, and buy and sell pairs opened together that both close that fast.
- Loss speed: realised loss of short-lived trades as a percentage of the balance within 60 seconds.
- Trading speed: how many new trades open within 10 seconds.
- Open trades, and optionally lot size and margin level.
Every check has two levels. WARNING only alerts you. ALARM runs the action you selected. Each level can be changed or switched off.
What Happens on an Alarm
- Only alert me (default): you get the alert and Cow Guard keeps watching. Nothing is closed.
- Close all trades and lock: every position on the account is closed, pending orders are deleted, and any new trade is closed straight away until you press Reset.
- Remove the charts of other EAs (on by default with a close action): this stops the EA that caused the problem without needing Algo Trading to be switched off.
Alerts go out as an MT5 popup, a push notification to your phone, a sound and a Telegram message from your own bot. Each alert names the check, the value, and for danger words the exact word and where it was found.
The Panel
A machine-style control panel on the chart: status lamps with a radar that shows each new trade as a blip, a message screen, eight meters with warning and alarm marks, the danger words being watched, and buttons to close all trades, reset the alarm and test Telegram. It folds into a small bar, fits wide or narrow charts and has a dark and a light version.
Tested on Real Accounts
Before release the default settings were replayed against two real account histories:
- The burst case above: alarm on the first trade from its danger word. Without that word, the burst check alarms after 5 seconds and the loss check after 9 seconds.
- A busy account running about 15 EAs for one month, 6,211 trades: no alarms. A few warnings appeared, and warnings only alert.
A replay is not live trading. Run Cow Guard on a demo account first and adjust the levels to your EAs.
Settings You May Need
- ALARM action: start with "Only alert me", then switch to "Close all trades" once you trust the levels on your account.
- Telegram bot token: from @BotFather. Add https://api.telegram.org under Tools, Options, Expert Advisors, Allow WebRequest. The chat ID is found automatically.
- ALARM words: add words your other EAs should never write. Put = in front for an exact word only.
- Open trades and New trades levels: raise them if your own EAs normally open many trades.
- Lot size and margin level: off by default, set them for your account size.
Good to Know
- Cow Guard must run all the time on the terminal that trades the account, for example on a VPS. It cannot act while the terminal is closed.
- It can only react to what has already happened. It shortens a burst to seconds; it cannot undo losses already taken.
- A close action closes every trade on the account, including those of your good EAs.
- Checking the Journal and Experts logs and switching Algo Trading off automatically need DLL access, which Market products cannot use. In this version those options are inactive.
- Not for: anyone who expects it to make profit. It does not trade.
Attach it once, leave it running, and let the cow keep watch.
