SMC Basket Guard

SMC Basket Guard is a MetaTrader 5 Expert Advisor designed to automate a BUY-side strategy based on market structure, retracement entries and basket management.

The factory preset was developed and studied primarily for XAUUSD on the H1 timeframe. Users can adjust the inputs and perform their own tests on other symbols and timeframes in the Strategy Tester.

The EA combines selective entries with automated basket management, volatility control and position protection.

How It Works

The EA analyzes market structure and looks for a bullish break of structure. After confirmation, it calculates a retracement area and places a Buy Limit order.

When a position is active, the system automatically manages the basket. If price moves against the initial entry, additional positions may be added according to the configured grid distance.

The basket's weighted average price is used to calculate the exit target.

The commercial version operates on the BUY side only. SELL logic is not part of the current factory strategy.

Basket Management

SMC Basket Guard uses a grid structure with uniform base position sizing. It does not use progressive lot multiplication or martingale lot escalation.

Whenever another position is added, the EA recalculates:

• total basket volume;

• weighted average entry price;

• basket target;

• financial protection limit;

• basket Stop Loss level.

A new grid position is submitted with calculated protection, and after execution the protection levels are recalculated using the actual fill price.

Risk Protection

The EA includes multiple protection layers.

The basket financial Stop Loss is calculated according to account balance and can be placed directly on the broker server.

An additional Emergency Stop is monitored by the EA.

If basket protection cannot be confirmed, the system prevents further grid expansion and can initiate an emergency closing procedure.

This structure is designed to prevent additional exposure when the current basket is not properly protected.

Volatility Filter

The system uses ATR to identify periods of volatility expansion.

When volatility exceeds the configured threshold, new entries or additional grid positions may be blocked.

This filter is designed to reduce exposure during market movements outside the volatility conditions used by the strategy.

Dynamic Money Management

Position size and the basket financial limit can scale automatically with account balance.

The factory configuration uses a reference balance and proportionally calculates:

• base lot size;

• basket financial protection limit.

Dynamic management can also be disabled for users who prefer fixed values during their own testing.

Factory Preset

The default configuration was prepared for XAUUSD H1:

• Signal Timeframe: H1

• Swing Bars: 2

• Retracement Level: 0.50

• Dynamic Lot: enabled

• Reference Balance: 1000

• Base Lot Size: 0.01

• Base Stop Money: 30

• Grid Step: 450 points

• Grid Target: 300 points

• Maximum Grid Levels: 5

• ATR Period: 14

• ATR Average Period: 50

• ATR Expansion Multiplier: 1.60

• Server Basket Stop Loss: enabled

• Emergency Stop: enabled

• Server Stop Factor: 0.95

• Unprotected Trigger: 0.85

Users can modify these values in the Strategy Tester.

Changing the parameters can significantly affect trading frequency, exposure, drawdown and overall strategy behavior.

Input Parameters

Master trading switch
Enables or disables new trading activity.

Signal Timeframe
Defines the timeframe used for market structure analysis and signal generation.

Swing Bars
Controls the sensitivity used to identify swing highs and swing lows.

Retracement Level
Defines the retracement level used to calculate the entry price.

Scale lot/stop with balance
Enables proportional money management based on account balance.

Reference Balance
Reference account balance used for dynamic calculations.

Base Lot Size
Base lot size associated with the reference balance.

Base Basket Stop
Base financial basket protection amount.

Grid Step Points
Minimum distance between additional grid levels.

Grid Target Points
Target distance calculated from the basket average price.

Maximum Grid Levels
Maximum number of levels allowed in a basket.

ATR Period
ATR calculation period.

ATR Average Period
Number of bars used for the ATR average.

ATR Expansion Multiplier
Defines the volatility expansion threshold used to block new entries or grid expansion.

Server Basket SL
Enables basket Stop Loss protection on the broker server.

Emergency Stop
Enables the secondary financial emergency closing mechanism.

Server Stop Factor
Defines the safety margin between the main basket financial limit and the server-side Stop Loss.

Unprotected Trigger
Defines the safety threshold used if server protection cannot be confirmed.

Magic Number
Identifier used by the EA to manage its own positions and orders.

Verbose Journal
Enables additional diagnostic messages in the MetaTrader Journal.

Recommended Use

The factory preset was developed for XAUUSD H1.

Before using the EA on a live account, users should perform their own tests considering:

• broker conditions;

• spread;

• commission;

• slippage;

• symbol specifications;

• account size;

• leverage;

• historical period;

• execution conditions.

Other symbols and timeframes should be tested independently before use.

About the Presented Results

Product screenshots may include examples obtained from the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester over specific historical periods.

These results are historical simulations under specific settings and execution conditions. They are not a guarantee or prediction of future performance.

Live results may differ due to spread, commissions, slippage, liquidity, broker execution and changing market conditions.

SMC Basket Guard is an automated trading tool and should be used with appropriate risk management.