Elastic Band Grid

Elastic Band Grid is an automated Expert Advisor for MetaTrader 5. It is a mean-reversion grid: it buys stretched-down prices and sells stretched-up prices and waits for them to snap back, like an elastic band.

How it works

• Entry: when the last closed bar closed below the lower Bollinger Band and RSI is below its lower level, the advisor buys. Above the upper band with RSI above its upper level, it sells.
• Grid: if price keeps moving against the basket, a new level is added each time price has moved the grid distance. The distance is the larger of a fixed minimum and half the ATR, so it widens automatically in volatile markets. Each level is 1.15 times the previous one by default, with at most 6 levels.
• Exit: the whole basket shares one take profit a fixed distance beyond its volume-weighted average price. When price returns to it, all levels close together.

IMPORTANT: this advisor uses a grid with a lot multiplier (a mild martingale). Individual positions have no stop loss; they are managed as one basket. In a long one-way move the basket can build a large floating loss before a protection closes it. Please read the protections below and test it on a demo account first.

Protections

• Account drawdown breaker: when equity falls a set % below balance (default 20%) the advisor closes all its trades, or blocks new grids, or blocks new grids and additions (your choice)
• Per-symbol loss cap: when one symbol's basket is losing more than a set % of balance (default 8%), only that basket is closed
• ADX trend filter: no new grid levels while a strong trend runs against the basket
• Correlated-pair filter: limits how deep two related pairs (default AUDCAD and NZDCAD) can be at the same time
• High-impact news filter using the MetaTrader economic calendar (live trading only)
• Spread, free-margin, volume and margin checks before every order

Multi-symbol

Leave "Symbols" empty to trade the chart symbol, or enter a comma-separated list (for example NZDCAD,AUDCAD) to trade several pairs from one chart. Broker suffixes are supported. A hedging account is required, because each grid level is a separate position.

Backtest results (for information only; past results do not guarantee future results)

Two tests with the same strategy settings (Low Risk lot sizing, 1.15 multiplier, 6 levels, 280-point minimum distance, 20% drawdown breaker, max spread 20 points). They are shown together because results depend strongly on the broker's spread.

Test A - raw-spread broker data, NZDCAD H1, 1-minute OHLC modelling, October 2019 to 30 September 2026, 10,000 USD start:

• Net profit: 9,817 USD (+98%)
• Profit factor: 2.67
• Maximum equity drawdown: 12.8%
• 745 trades, 79.5% winning
• By year: 2020 +15.7%, 2021 +14.8%, 2022 -4.0%, 2023 +15.8%, 2024 +12.2%, 2025 +12.1%, 2026 (to 30 September) +4.9%

Test B - MetaQuotes demo data with wider spreads, real ticks, January 2019 to September 2026, 100,000 USD start:

• Net profit: 29,465 USD (+29.5%)
• Profit factor: 1.57
• Maximum equity drawdown: 19.6%
• By year: 2019 +2.1%, 2020 +6.2%, 2021 +6.4%, 2022 -14.1%, 2023 +11.9%, 2024 +5.0%, 2025 +4.3%, 2026 (to September) +6.6%

Expect your own results somewhere around this range, and lower on wide-spread accounts. Please run your own backtest with the free demo before buying.

Recommendations

• Symbol and timeframe: NZDCAD H1 (the defaults were tuned there). Other range-bound crosses with low spreads can work; strongly trending pairs do not suit this strategy.
• Broker: low spread on the traded pair, hedging account.
• Minimum balance: 1,000 USD with fixed 0.01 lots, about 5,000 USD with Low Risk lot sizing.
• Use a VPS.

Input parameters

General

• Symbols (empty = chart symbol), UID (magic number base), Max Spread (points, 0 = off), Max Slippage, Min Free Margin %

Risk

• Lot Sizing Method: Fixed, Low Risk (0.01 lot per 2,000 USD), Mid Risk (0.01 per 1,000 USD), High Risk (0.01 per 500 USD)
• Fixed Lot Size, Maximum Lots per Trade

Grid

• Min Distance (points), Lot Multiplier, Max Trades per Grid, Use Smart Distance (ATR)

Strategy

• Bollinger Bands Period and Deviation, RSI Period, Lower and Upper level, Grid Take Profit (points)

Drawdown Management

• Max Drawdown %, Drawdown Action

Correlated Grid Filter

• Enable, Sibling Groups (SymA:SymB,...), Max Sibling Levels Before Block

News Filter

• Enable, Minutes Before News, Minutes After News

Per-Symbol Loss Cap

• Enable, Max Floating Loss per Symbol (% of balance)

Grid Addition Trend Filter

• Enable, ADX Period, ADX Threshold

Notes

The advisor does not use DLLs or external files and does not connect to any web service. Set files and a user guide are available to buyers on request through MQL5 private messages, and in the product's Comments section.

Trading leveraged products carries a high level of risk, and grid strategies can produce large losses in strong trends. Only trade with money you can afford to lose.