Price Action Setup Finder

Price Action Setup Finder looks for bar-by-bar price action setups on your chart and marks them when the bar has closed. Every setup has its own on / off switch, so you run only the ones you trade. Traders define the same idea in different ways (a pullback, a failed breakout, a double bottom), so the tool gives you the setups, the way to enter, the stop and the target as separate choices with plain names.

26 setups, each on its own switch

• H1, H2, H3: buy after a pullback - 1st, 2nd or 3rd try.
• L1, L2, L3: sell after a pullback - 1st, 2nd or 3rd try.
• IB: buy / sell when an inside bar breaks up / down. The setup is marked even when the same bar also breaks the other side, because a trader cannot know that in advance; the stop-first rule below decides the result.
• FB: buy after a failed breakdown, sell after a failed breakout.
• MA: buy / sell the first pullback to the average after a long run away from it.
• OB: buy / sell after a strong bar that covers the last bar.
• DB and DT: buy at a double bottom, sell at a double top.
• 3P: buy after three pushes down, sell after three pushes up.
• RF: buy at the bottom, sell at the top of a sideways range.
• CX: buy after a run of strong down bars, sell after a run of strong up bars.
• BK: buy above / sell below a strong breakout bar.
• BP: buy / sell the first pullback after a breakout.

A quick choice switches a whole group on at once: Pullbacks (H, L and MA), Breakouts (IB, BK, BP), Reversals (FB, OB, DB, DT, 3P, CX), Sideways market (RF, FB) or Everything. The default is "Use my switches", with H2, L2 and the two FB setups on.

How a setup is found

• Everything is decided on closed bars. A mark appears when the bar that triggers the setup has closed, and it never moves or disappears later.
• The signal bar is the bar before the trigger bar. The setup triggers when the next bar goes beyond the high or low of the signal bar.
• Pullback tries: after a move, the first bar with a lower high starts a pullback. Each time a later bar goes above the high of the bar before it, that is one try (H1, H2, H3). A pullback ends when price makes a new high, goes too deep or lasts too long. L1, L2, L3 are the same for sells.
• A strong bar needs a body of a set size and a close near its high or low. You choose Loose, Normal or Strict.
• The trend can come from the price against a moving average, from higher highs and higher lows, or from the direction of the last big strong bar. Pullback setups can be limited to the trend.

How to trade it: three choices, plain names

• Entry: above / below the signal bar, at the close of the trigger bar, or back at the broken level (waits 3 bars).
• Stop: beyond the signal bar, beyond the whole pattern, or 1.5 x the average bar range.
• Target: same as the risk, twice the risk, the size of the last swing, or the previous swing high / low.
• 26 setups x 3 bar strictness levels x 3 entries x 3 stops x 4 targets give 2,808 combinations to test on your own chart.

What you see on the chart

• A short label (H2, FB, DB and so on) under the trigger bar for a buy (green) or over it for a sell (red). When the trade has finished, the result is added, for example "H2 +2.0R".
• Entry, stop and target lines for the latest setups.
• A panel with the trend, the setups that are on, the plan you chose and the totals on the past candles of this chart (setups, won, lost, ended, open, net result in units of risk), then up to five lines with the finished trades, the share that reached the target and the net result of single setups. These are counts of past candles only. You can enter the spread you pay (in price units, for one round trip) and the panel then shows the results after that cost; with no spread entered the results are before costs and look better than real trading.
• Alerts when a bar has closed: pop-up, push notification, e-mail.

For Expert Advisors

• 8 buffers: direction (+1 buy, -1 sell), entry, stop, target, setup code, trend at the signal bar, signal bar quality, average bar range. A buffer holds a value only on the bar where a setup triggered.

How it was checked

• The rules were written a second time in a separate program. On many months of EURUSD, GBPUSD and XAUUSD data (M1, M5, M15, M30, H1 and D1), with the default inputs and with every switch, quick choice and trade-plan option, the indicator and the separate program gave the same marks and the same trade results. Snapshots taken during the tests were compared with the final values to look for repainting: none changed.

Please read before you buy

• This tool shows setups that follow written rules. It does not tell you that a trade will win. The numbers in the panel are counts on past candles of one chart and are not a promise of future results.
• Traders define these patterns in different ways. The rules used here are written in the inputs and in this text; if your definition is different, change the inputs or leave that setup off.
• Pullback, swing and breakout setups need some bars before they can be confirmed. They are marked after the trigger bar has closed, not before.
• In tests of all 26 setups and all trade plans on D1, H4 and H1 charts of EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, gold and silver (2014 to 2026), no setup with a trade plan was clearly positive after the spread on all of them. The tool does not claim an edge. It shows the setups and lets you test your own choice.
• The panel is there so that you can test your own choices. On many charts a plan shows a negative net result, and a plan that did well on one chart can do badly on another. Test the setups and the plan you want on your own symbol and timeframe before you use any of them.
• Use a demo account first. You decide your own lot size and risk.

Setup in two minutes

1. Attach Price Action Setup Finder to a chart (H1 or lower is a good start).
2. In the inputs, choose a quick choice or switch single setups on.
3. Choose how to enter, where to put the stop and where to aim, and read the panel for that plan.

Inputs

Setups: quick choice and 26 switches. Strong bar: Loose, Normal, Strict. Trend: how to find it, average period, swing size, pullback and inside bar setups only with the trend, failed breakouts only with the trend. Pullback tries: longest pullback, deepest pullback, must touch the average. Other setups: range bars and bars allowed to fail (failed breakout), bars away from the average, double top / bottom look-back and closeness, sideways range bars and tallest range, strong bar run, breakout bars, bars to wait after a breakout, minimum bars between the same setup. Signal bar: what it must be, skip tiny bars. How to trade it: entry, stop, target, closest and furthest stop, close the trade after this many bars. On the chart: bars to look back, setups shown, setups with lines, panel and its place. Spread: the spread you pay, used for the results in the panel. Alerts: pop-up, push, e-mail.

Questions and answers

• Does it repaint? No. A mark is placed after the trigger bar has closed and stays.
• Does it trade for me? No, it is an indicator. An Expert Advisor can read its 8 buffers.
• Does it need a DLL or a web connection? No.
• Which markets and timeframes? Any symbol and timeframe of MetaTrader 5. It works on candles only, with no volume.
• Can I run only one setup? Yes. Switch the others off; the panel then shows only that setup.