Gotobi Samurai

Gotobi Samurai is a time-based expert advisor for JPY pairs. It places one SELL per Gotobi day at the Tokyo fixing and closes it 20 minutes later.

The idea

Gotobi days are the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th of each month and the last business day of the month. When one of those dates falls on a weekend or a Japanese bank holiday, the previous business day is used. On these days Japanese companies are known for settling payments in US dollars, and flows around the daily bank fixing at 09:55 Tokyo time can move the yen. The EA trades only that short window.

How it works

• On a Gotobi day, at 09:55 Tokyo time (JST) it opens one SELL on the chart symbol.
• The trade has a fixed stop loss (15 pips by default).
• At 10:15 JST any open position is closed.
• The EA does not trade on other days.
• One position at a time. No martingale. No grid. No averaging down.
• Lot size is calculated from a percentage of the account balance (1% by default).

Quick start

• In MetaTrader 5, open the Toolbox (Ctrl+T), go to the Market tab and then Purchased (or Downloaded for the demo). The EA appears in the Navigator window under Experts.
• Switch on the Algo Trading button in the top toolbar (it turns green).
• Open a chart of USDJPY, EURJPY or GBPJPY (any timeframe works, M5 is fine) and drag the EA from the Navigator onto the chart.
• In the window that opens, go to the Common tab and tick Allow Algo Trading. Leave the default inputs on your first run: risk is 1% of the balance per trade and the stop loss is 15 pips.
• Check that a smiley face appears in the top right corner of the chart, and read the Experts tab of the Toolbox for the start message. The EA only trades on Gotobi days, so it can wait several days before the first trade.
• Before using real money, run it in the Strategy Tester (Ctrl+R) on your own broker, then on a demo account.

Recommended use

• Symbols: USDJPY, EURJPY, GBPJPY. The strategy is designed for the yen. Do not use it on non-JPY symbols.
• Timeframe: M5 (any timeframe works because the EA uses the clock, not the chart bars).
• Account: a hedging account is recommended. On netting accounts the EA skips the trade if another position exists on the same symbol.
• Keep the terminal running (a VPS is recommended) with AutoTrading enabled.
• The broker server time is measured automatically from your computer clock, so it works with brokers on different GMT offsets. In the Strategy Tester, choose the matching Server time rule.
• The built-in Japanese holiday calendar covers 2019 to 2030.

Input parameters

• Magic number: identifier of the EA trades.
• Entry hour and minute (JST): time of the entry (default 09:55).
• Max seconds of delay allowed to enter: if the entry cannot be made within this time, there is no trade that day (default 30).
• Exit hour and minute (JST): time of the exit (default 10:15).
• Stop loss (pips) and take profit (pips, 0 = none).
• Risk per trade (% of balance), max daily loss (%) and a safety cap on lot size.
• Skip the trade if the minimum lot risks more than a multiple of the target (protects small accounts).
• Max spread allowed to enter (pips) and max slippage (points).
• Max open risk of the whole account (%) and a circuit breaker (% drawdown of this EA).

Important

• This EA trades only about 6 to 8 days per month, so results can be uneven and there can be long periods without trades.
• Spread, commission and slippage at the fixing time can strongly affect results. Test it on your own broker in the Strategy Tester and on a demo account before using real money.
• Trading leveraged products such as Forex and CFDs involves a high risk of loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Only risk money you can afford to lose.
• This product is a trading tool, not investment advice.

Support: please use the comments section of this product.