Mini Trader

A disciplined grid system that trades ranges, not trends — with hard stop-loss, basket protection, and drawdown control built in from the ground up.

Overview

Mini Trader is not a blind martingale grid. It only opens a grid in the direction favored by an EMA trend filter, only enters when RSI and Bollinger Bands agree the market is stretched and due for a reversion, and only grids when ADX confirms the market is ranging rather than trending. Grid spacing adapts to current volatility via ATR, so the EA won't over-trade in quiet markets or under-space itself in wild ones.

Every layer — and the basket as a whole — is protected by configurable stop-loss logic, so a single bad run cannot be left to grow unchecked.

This EA is built to broker-agnostic standards: it normalizes lots to each symbol's volume rules, respects each broker's minimum stop/freeze distance, checks free margin before every single order, and validates every input on startup.

Key Features

Smart Entry Filters

• EMA trend filter — only grids in the direction of the higher-timeframe bias
• RSI filter — enters on oversold/overbought extremes, not randomly
• Bollinger Bands filter — confirms price is genuinely stretched from the mean
• ADX filter — blocks new grids when the market is trending too strongly to mean-revert safely
• Spread filter — skips entries when spreads widen (news, rollovers, illiquid hours)

Adaptive Grid Engine

• ATR-based or fixed-point grid spacing
• Three lot-sizing modes: Fixed, Arithmetic step-up (recommended), or Martingale (for experienced users)
• Configurable maximum number of grid layers to cap total exposure

Complete Risk Management

• Per-position Stop Loss — fixed points or ATR-adaptive
• Optional per-position Trailing Stop once a trade moves into profit
• Basket-level emergency Stop Loss — closes everything if floating loss exceeds a set % of balance
• Basket profit target with optional profit trailing (locks in gains as the basket grows)
• Account-level drawdown circuit breaker — automatically pauses new trades if equity drawdown exceeds your limit, and resumes only once it recovers
• Free-margin guard — refuses new trades if they would push free margin below a safe threshold
• Broker stop/freeze-level aware — all stop-loss and take-profit levels are automatically adjusted to satisfy each broker's minimum distance rules, avoiding "invalid stops" rejections

Scheduling

• Configurable trading hours (server time)
• Per-day trading toggle (Mon–Fri)
• Automatic Friday close-out ahead of the weekend gap

Broker & Market Compliant

• Full input validation on initialization
• Lot normalization to each symbol's min/max/step
• Margin check before every order
• Netting-account and Algo-Trading-disabled warnings
• No DLL calls, no external dependencies beyond standard MQL5 libraries

How It Works

1. Mini Trader waits for its filters (EMA, RSI, Bollinger Bands, ADX, spread) to align, then opens an initial position in the favored direction.
2. If price moves against the position by an ATR-adaptive (or fixed) step, the EA adds a new layer with a controlled lot increase — up to your configured maximum layers.
3. Every layer carries its own stop loss and optional take profit.
4. The basket is monitored continuously: it closes on your profit target (with optional trailing to protect gains), or is cut immediately by the emergency basket stop loss if losses exceed your chosen % of balance.
5. An account-level drawdown monitor pauses new entries if things get rough, and resumes automatically once equity recovers.

Inputs Summary

Recommended Use

• Best suited to range-bound, liquid pairs (major FX pairs) on M15–H1 timeframes.
• Start with the Arithmetic lot mode and conservative layer counts (4–6) on a demo account before enabling higher-risk settings.
• Martingale mode is provided for experienced traders only — it multiplies exposure quickly and should be tested thoroughly before live use.
• Use a broker with tight spreads and low commissions; grid strategies are sensitive to trading costs.

Risk Warning

Grid trading strategies, including Mini Trader, involve holding multiple positions simultaneously and can produce extended drawdowns during strong trending moves. While this EA includes stop-loss, basket stop-loss, and drawdown controls to manage risk, no risk-management system eliminates the possibility of loss. Past performance in backtests or live signals does not guarantee future results. Always test thoroughly on a demo account and trade only with capital you can afford to lose.