Grid Triangular Moving Average EA

Start with a free look: load Grid Triangular Moving Average EA into the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester, turn on visual mode, and watch how it sits quietly through choppy candles and only arms a grid when a closed bar crosses a doubly smoothed line whose faster inner half has already turned the same way.

A LINE WITH ITS WEIGHT IN THE MIDDLE.

A simple average gives every bar the same weight. A weighted average leans on the newest bars. The Triangular Moving Average does something different: it is an average of an average, so the bars in the middle of its window count the most and the bars at both ends count the least. Plotted as weights, that profile is a triangle, which is where the name comes from. The result is one of the smoothest lines a trader can put on a chart, with almost no small kinks, and Grid Triangular Moving Average EA uses it as the single visible reason to start each grid cycle. Once a cycle is running, a full grid management engine takes over and keeps shrinking the oldest exposure through group closures and partial slices.

At a glance

• A BUY cycle can begin only when a bar closes above the TMA after the bar before it closed at or below it; a SELL cycle needs the mirror cross below. Only closed bars are read, so nothing repaints.

• The TMA is built from two MetaTrader 5 built-in Moving Average handles: a first simple average of price and a second simple average applied on top of the first. No custom indicator file is needed.

• New in this product: the Triangle Apex Guard. Because the TMA is so smooth, it reacts late. The EA therefore checks the first, faster stage of the triangle and asks it to sit on the trade side of the TMA by a minimum number of ATR. When the inner average already leads the outer line, the top of the triangle has turned, and only then is a cross accepted.

• The Cross Depth Guard stays: a close that barely touches the line is treated as noise, and a close that lands far beyond it on one violent candle is treated as a spike.

• A slope rule keeps entries in step with the line: a BUY only while the TMA rises, a SELL only while it falls.

• The TMA is drawn in the main window of the live chart, and arrows mark each candle where a cycle was armed.

• Profits are banked by groups of the oldest and newest orders, and a heavy old order is retired in partial slices rather than waiting for a full return.

• No stop loss and no forced close-all. A reached limit refuses new levels while the existing book keeps being managed.

• Works on hedging and netting accounts, with every limit exposed as an input.

FIRST STEPS

Begin on EURUSD H1 or XAUUSD D1 with the default 0.01 lot and the additive ladder. For the first session choose Scan only in RunMode: the panel then displays every plan the EA would execute without sending a single order, and one button switches it to Armed when you are comfortable. Run the Strategy Tester on your own broker's data before going live, because spreads, swaps and commissions differ between brokers. On a small balance keep the starting lot and let the tester show you how deep the book can grow on your symbol.

Why a triangular average

With a period of 21, the EA first takes an 11 bar simple average of price and then an 11 bar simple average of that result. Each price ends up counted many times, with the most weight in the centre of the 21 bar window. Two good things follow. First, the line is extremely smooth, because a single odd candle is diluted twice. Second, an old bar leaves the window gradually instead of in one jump, so the line does not bend just because something dropped out of the back. For a grid this matters: every new cycle adds exposure, so a signal line that ignores small twitches means fewer cycles opened inside noise. The cost of all that smoothness is lag, and the new guard below is there to deal with it.

The improvement in this release

The Triangle Apex Guard is this EA's own addition. On every cross the EA reads the inner simple average, the first half of the triangle, and measures how far it sits from the finished TMA. That distance is divided by the ATR of the same bar, so one setting fits currencies, gold and indices, and it is signed by the trade direction. A BUY needs the inner average to be above the TMA by at least your minimum, a SELL needs it below by the same amount. If price crosses the TMA while the inner average still lags behind it, the cross is skipped as early or false. Set the minimum to 0 to switch the guard off. The panel shows the live apex reading next to the depth reading, with OPEN or HOLD for each guard. Margin-level timeframe safety is included and is off by default.

One cycle, step by step

1. The read. On every closed bar the EA reads both stages of the TMA from the built-in MetaTrader 5 Moving Average. The forming candle is never used, so history shows exactly what the EA saw.

2. The cross. A BUY is considered when the bar closes above the TMA after the previous bar closed at or below it; a SELL is the mirror below.

3. The slope rule. By default the TMA must be rising for a BUY and falling for a SELL.

4. The Cross Depth Guard. The close must sit between your minimum and maximum distance from the line, measured in ATR.

5. The Triangle Apex Guard. The inner average must lead the TMA in the trade direction by your minimum ATR fraction.

6. The optional trend filter. A slow EMA can confirm the side: trade only with it, only against it as a fade, or leave it off.

7. The rhythm. A quiet gap of bars between accepted signals stops a choppy session from starting one cycle after another, and a signal stays valid for a few bars if a level cannot be placed at once.

8. The ladder. Levels are spaced by fixed points or by ATR, with a floor, an upper limit and an option to freeze the distance for the whole cycle. BUY and SELL grids can run side by side or in one direction only.

9. The harvest. The closer searches for groups of the oldest and newest orders and closes a group as soon as its combined result, after swap and commission, beats your target. When the oldest order is still too heavy, only a slice of it is closed, paid for with profit already available.

10. The safety checks. A reopen guard blocks any closure that would reopen the same level straight away. Every leg is checked against the deal history, failed legs go into a retry queue, and a plan is dropped if the book changes between the scan and the send.

11. The optional hedge cycle. Off by default. When switched on it holds a balanced pair on a symbol you choose and retires it in equal slices, funded by a small surcharge on closures the grid is already making.

The panel

The panel sits on the left of the chart and keeps the right side and the price scale clear. It shows the symbol and magic number, a status pill (ARMED, SCAN ONLY or PAUSED), grid mode, lot step, spacing, banked result, the book in lots with its net result, the closing plan for each side with its own close button, and the order list. The TMA PULSE row shows the period and live value of the line, whether price is above or below it, whether it is rising or falling and how many bars ago the last cross happened. The DEPTH GUARD row shows the live distance in ATR with its state, the live apex lead with its state, and the trend filter. Buttons switch Armed / Scan only, Pause / Resume, chart marks and slicing. The Hedge Vault card is docked directly under the main panel and follows it when you drag or minimise. The panel scales with the screen and draws nothing in a non-visual backtest, so optimisation stays fast.

Protection you control

No stop loss and no forced close-all. A reached limit stops new levels; it never dumps the book at a bad moment.

Before each order the money check asks one plain question: is there enough free margin, with a safety buffer, for this order?

Limits on levels per grid, orders per side and lot per order keep the ladder bounded, and the lot ladder stops growing at the level limit.

On netting accounts the margin of the merged position is capped as a percentage of equity.

Optional margin-level timeframe safety moves the signal and the spacing to a higher timeframe when the margin level falls to your chosen levels, and moves back only after margin recovers past a cushion. Off by default.

Every copy isolates itself by symbol and magic numbers, so several charts never touch each other's orders or saved state.

Scan only mode shows every decision without sending any order.

Who it suits, and who it does not

It suits traders who like a very smooth line as the one clear reason behind every new cycle, who prefer many small closures to one distant target, and who will size the lot for their own account. It does not suit anyone who needs a stop loss on every order, a promised monthly figure, or a set-and-forget robot running large lots on a tiny balance.

Quick answers

Does it repaint? No. Signals come from closed bars only.

Is this the same as the Triangular MA indicators found online? The idea is the same, an average of an average with centre-heavy weights. Here it is built only from the built-in MetaTrader 5 Moving Average, so values are stable and reproducible on every broker.

Some triangular averages are centred and redraw. Does this one? No. This TMA is not shifted back in time; every value uses only bars that have already closed.

Can I make the line faster or slower? Yes. A shorter period reacts sooner and gives more crosses; a longer one gives fewer, calmer crosses.

Can I make it trade more or less often? Yes. Lower SignalBarsDelay or the guard minimums for more cycles; raise them, use a longer period, or switch on the trend filter for fewer.

Every setting explained

Grid - how levels are opened

TradeMode - dual grid by default (BUY and SELL side by side), or one direction only.

GridSpacePoints - fixed distance between levels in points when ATR spacing is off (25).

GridSpaceMultiplier - 1.0 keeps levels evenly spaced; a higher value spreads deeper levels further apart.

MaxGridLevels - the most levels one grid may hold (1000).

UpDirectionIsBuy - decides which side an upward move belongs to.

EAMagicNumber - the ID written on this EA's grid orders (9754320).

GridOrderComment - the comment on each grid order (GTMA).

OneOrderPerBar - no more than one new level per bar.

Lot ladder

InitialLotSize - volume of the first level (0.01).

LotSizingMode - additive by default, or multiply.

LotMultiplier - in multiply mode, each level is the previous lot times this value (1.25).

LotAddStep - in additive mode, the volume added at each level (0.01; 0 means the starting lot).

MaxOrderVolume - the largest lot any single order may use (1.0).

UseAutoLot - scales the starting lot with the balance (off).

AutoLotBaseBalance - the balance that matches the starting lot (1000).

AutoLotAllowDecrease - lets auto lot go below the starting lot (off).

ATR spacing

GridSpacingMode - ATR by default, or fixed points.

ATRTimeframe - the timeframe volatility is measured on (current chart).

ATRPeriod - ATR length (14).

ATRSpacingFactor - spacing equals ATR times this value (1.0).

ATRBarShift - 1 uses the last closed bar.

ATRMinSpacingPts - the smallest allowed spacing in points (50; 0 means none).

ATRMaxSpacingPts - the largest allowed spacing in points (5000; 0 means none).

ATRFreezeOnStart - keeps one spacing for the whole cycle (off).

Profit target

DesiredProfitPerClosure - the base target in account currency (2.0).

ProfitMultiplier - scales the final target between 1.00 and 2.00.

ProfitTargetMode - scaled by default, so a bigger and deeper book must earn a bigger result.

ProfitVolumePower - how strongly closing volume lifts the target (1.0; 0 turns it off).

ProfitDepthBonus - extra target for each additional open level (0.10).

ProfitMaxMultiple - the cap on the scaled target as a multiple of the base (50).

ProfitMaxReachFraction - keeps the target within a fraction of one grid step so it stays reachable (0.50).

Fragment scanner

UseMultiLegScan - tests combinations of several orders before the simple pair (on).

MaxOldestLegs - the most oldest orders allowed in one closure (3).

MaxNewestLegs - the most newest orders allowed in one closure (6).

ScanPriority - how qualifying groups are ranked; most orders first by default.

NeverBankLessThanPair - a group must also beat the plain pair target (on).

RequireCloseVolumeExceedsTarget - the newest volume must outweigh the oldest volume (on).

MinCloseVolumeRatio - minimum ratio of closing volume to target volume (1.5).

Target slicing - partial closes

EnableTargetSlicing - closes a slice of the oldest order when the whole lot cannot be paid off yet (on).

FragProfitWeightPower - how profit is weighted per closing lot (1.5).

FragMinSlicePercent - the smallest slice as a percent of the target order (20).

FragAllowMultiCloser - lets several newest orders pool their profit to pay for one slice (on).

FragPreferFullClosure - a full closure wins over a slice whenever both qualify (on).

Reopen guard

ReopenGuard - blocks closures that would immediately reopen a level (step based).

ReopenGuardCushion - the safe distance as a fraction of one grid step (0.90).

Account protection

MinMarginLevelPercent - no new levels below this margin level percent (0 = off).

MaxAccountRiskPercent - no new levels above this floating loss as a percent of balance (0 = off).

NetMaxMarginPercent - on netting accounts, the largest margin of the net position as a percent of equity (5.0).

MaxTotalOrders - absolute cap on grid orders per side (1000).

Execution and verification

RunMode - Armed or Scan only; Scan only is the gentle first step.

CloseSequence - the order in which legs are sent; oldest first by default.

MaxSlippagePoints - maximum slippage (30 points).

MaxSpreadPoints - trading pauses above this spread (7500 points).

MinSecondsBetweenClosures - minimum pause between two closures on the same side (5 seconds).

CloseAttemptsPerLeg - send attempts before a leg moves to the retry queue (3).

VerifyTimeoutSeconds - how long a stuck leg keeps being checked (90 seconds).

DeferWhenMarketClosed - waits for the session instead of halting when the market is closed (on).

MarketClosedRetrySeconds - retry interval while the broker refuses orders (30 seconds).

AutoResumeAfterSeconds - clears a halt by itself after this many seconds (300; 0 waits for the panel button).

NoPartialRetryMinutes - tries partial closes again this many minutes after a broker refusal (15; 0 never).

AbortIfBookChanged - drops a plan if a leg changed between the scan and the send (on).

UseFullCommission - counts commission for both sides of a trade (on).

CommissionPerLot - fallback commission when history has none (0 reads it from history).

CloseOrderComment - the comment on closing deals.

Hedge cycle

EnableHedgeCycle - off by default.

HedgeSymbols - comma-separated list of hedge symbols; repeating one gives it more turns (XAGUSD).

HedgeSymbolRotation - how the next cycle's symbol is picked (per cycle).

HedgeMaxSymbolsInTester - limits rotation in the Strategy Tester only (2; 0 means no limit).

HedgeCycleLots - lots on each side of the balanced pair (0.01).

HedgeSliceLots - lots retired from each side per slice (0.01).

HedgeFragmentBonus - extra amount added on top of the slice cost (100).

HedgeBonusIsPercent - the bonus is a percent of the slice cost; false makes it a fixed amount (on).

HedgeMaxSurcharge - money cap on what one closure may be surcharged (0 = no cap).

HedgeMaxSurchargePercent - the most the hedge may raise any closure target, in percent (50).

HedgeMagicNumber - the hedge legs' ID; it must differ from the grid's (9754321).

HedgeReopenOnFinish - opens a fresh cycle when one finishes (on).

HedgeStartRequiresTrade - waits for the grid to open something before the first cycle (on).

HedgeIntegritySeconds - how often both legs are checked to be equal (5 seconds).

HedgeAutoRepair - repairs a lone leg automatically (on).

HedgeNakedAction - what to do with a lone leg; re-hedge by default.

HedgeMaxSpreadPoints - no hedge orders above this spread (0 = off).

HedgeSlippagePoints - maximum slippage on hedge orders (30 points).

HedgeAttemptsPerLeg - send attempts per hedge leg (3).

HedgeVerifyTimeout - how long a stuck hedge leg keeps being checked (90 seconds).

HedgeCommissionPerLot - fallback hedge commission (0 reads it from history).

HedgeOrderComment - the comment on hedge deals.

Weekly cash day

WeeklyCashDay - no new hedge cycle and no slice during your withdrawal window (off).

CashDayOfWeek - 0 Sunday, 1 Monday and so on (1).

CashCutoffHour - server hour after which no new slice is fired (21).

Panel and chart

ShowPanel - shows or hides the panel.

PanelX and PanelY - panel offsets from the chart edges (12 and 15).

PanelFontSize - base font size (9).

ShowArabic - adds an Arabic line under the English on the panel (on).

ShowChartMarks - draws plans and levels on the chart (on).

MaxTableRows - order rows shown per grid (13).

PanelCorner - the chart corner the panel is anchored to.

Entry trigger

EntryTriggerMode - the TMA strategy arms the first level by default.

SignalBarShift - 1 means the last closed bar.

SignalBarsDelay - bars that must pass between accepted signals (30; 0 accepts every signal).

SignalValidBars - a signal stays usable for this many bars (3).

SignalAllowBuy and SignalAllowSell - turn each direction on or off separately.

SignalReverse - inverts the direction (off).

Triangular Moving Average - the signal

InpTMAPeriod - the full TMA length (21); the EA splits it into an inner and an outer simple average of 11 bars each.

InpTMAPrice - the price the TMA is built on (close).

InpTMASlopeAgree - a BUY only while the TMA is rising and a SELL only while it is falling (on).

InpTMAApexMinATR - Triangle Apex Guard: how far the inner average must lead the TMA in the trade direction, in ATR (0.05; 0 = off).

InpTMADepthMinATR - Cross Depth Guard: the smallest distance between the close and the TMA on the cross bar, in ATR (0.10; 0 = off).

InpTMADepthMaxATR - Cross Depth Guard: the largest accepted distance in ATR, so over-stretched spike crosses are skipped (2.00; 0 = off).

InpTMAGuardATR - the ATR length both guards use to measure distance (14).

InpTMATrendFilter - 0 off, 1 trade with the EMA side, 2 trade against it as a fade.

InpTMATrendMAPeriod - the trend EMA length (200).

InpShowSignalArrows - arrows on the candles where a cycle was armed (on).

InpShowTMAOnChart - draws the TMA line in the main chart window of the live chart (on; no extra sub-window, so the panel keeps the full chart height).

Debug

DebugMode - detailed journal logging (off).

Margin timeframe safety

UseMarginTFSafety - off by default.

Level1MarginPct and Level1TF - at or below 6000 percent margin level, work on M15.

Level2MarginPct and Level2TF - at or below 5000 percent, work on H1.

MarginTFHysteresisPct - how far margin must recover above a level before stepping back (500).

Honest expectations

A grid manages a position; it cannot see the future. Grid Triangular Moving Average EA is careful about when a cycle begins and works steadily to keep each cycle short and each old order shrinking, but a market can cross a smooth line, confirm every guard and still reverse hard, keeping the book open for a long time. Pick a lot your account can carry through that, test on your own broker first, and let the Strategy Tester show you how it behaves before you trade it live. It runs on any symbol and timeframe and needs no DLLs and no extra files.

If it earns a place on your charts, a short and honest review of how it behaved on your account, good or bad, helps other traders make their choice.