Straddle EA MT5 Settings Guide – Complete Parameter Explanation
Straddle EA is a professional automated trading Expert Advisor designed to execute advanced grid, adaptive price scaling, trend rescue, hedge recovery, basket averaging, trailing stop, and risk management strategies.
Every parameter has been carefully developed to help traders customize order placement, exposure control, recovery logic, execution quality, and overall portfolio protection. The following guide explains every setting shown in the screenshots so you can configure Straddle EA more efficiently.
Backtest Throttle (Debug)
🔹 REAL SECONDS to stall per NEW candle in Strategy Tester (0=off) = 0 – Delays execution by 0 seconds on each new Strategy Tester candle; 0 disables the delay.
Identification
🔹 Magic number (unique per chart instance) = 26011001 – Unique Expert Advisor identifier used to distinguish trades opened by this chart instance.
Grid
🔹 Stop orders per side = 12 – Maximum number of pending stop orders allowed for each market direction.
🔹 Spacing between levels (price units) = 3.0 – Distance of 3.0 price units between adjacent grid levels.
🔹 Pause NEW cycle starts during a strong directional move (avoid) = false – Disabled; the EA continues opening new cycles even during strong trends.
🔹 Bars (chart TF) over which to measure the directional move = 8 – Uses the previous 8 candles to evaluate market direction.
🔹 Raw USD move over the lookback that counts as "trending" (scale) = 30.0 – A movement of 30.0 USD defines a strong directional trend.
🔹 Levels 1..NearCount use LotNear = 4 – The first 4 grid levels use the Near lot size.
🔹 Next MidCount levels use LotMid (rest LotFar) = 4 – The next 4 levels use the Mid lot size before switching to Far lots.
🔹 Lots, nearest tier (flat conservative default) = 0.01 – Initial grid lot size.
🔹 Lots, middle tier = 0.03 – Lot size for the middle grid levels.
🔹 Lots, furthest tier = 0.06 – Largest lot size used on the outer grid levels.
Adaptive Price Scale
🔹 Scale raw price-distance inputs by current price/ATR context = true – Enables adaptive scaling based on price and ATR.
🔹 0=price+ATR blend, 1=price only, 2=ATR only = 0 – Uses a blended calculation combining both price and ATR.
🔹 Reference XAU price for raw price-distance inputs = 5000.0 – Uses 5000.0 as the Gold reference price.
🔹 Blend weight for current/reference price scale = 0.5 – Price scaling weight is 50%.
🔹 Blend weight for current/reference ATR scale = 0.5 – ATR scaling weight is 50%.
🔹 ATR period for price-distance scaling = 14 – ATR calculation period.
🔹 ATR timeframe for price-distance scaling = 15 Minutes – ATR is calculated on the M15 timeframe.
🔹 Reference ATR for raw price-distance inputs = 8.0 – Reference ATR value.
🔹 Minimum adaptive price-distance multiplier = 0.6 – Lowest scaling multiplier allowed.
🔹 Maximum adaptive price-distance multiplier = 1.8 – Highest scaling multiplier allowed.
Basket
🔹 Cycle NET target (banked + floating) - full-close trigger = 10.0 – Basket closes when total profit reaches 10.0.
🔹 Pause after cycle close before rebuild = 3 – Waits 3 seconds before rebuilding the next cycle.
🔹 Fallback commission estimate per open lot = 0.0 – Commission estimation disabled.
🔹 0=auto, 1=normal account money, 100=USD/cent-style account = 0.0 – Automatic account-type detection.
🔹 Include current spread estimate in cleanup close-cost budgets = true – Spread costs are included during cleanup calculations.
🔹 Estimate open round-trip commission from entry deal history = true – Estimates commissions from trade history.
🔹 Use surplus profit to reduce losing-side exposure = true – Excess profits help reduce losing positions.
🔹 Profit to keep before spending on losers = 10.0 – Keeps the first 10.0 profit before funding recovery.
🔹 Safety buffer for spread/slippage/costs = 2.0 – Extra 2.0 cost buffer.
🔹 Minimum losing tickets before cleanup engages = 2 – Cleanup starts after 2 losing trades.
🔹 0.0.38: close ALL EA positions (orphans included) once TOTAL floating profit = 0.0 – Disabled because threshold is 0.0.
Orphan Release
🔹 0.0.42: release a structurally-dead, dwell-aged, deep-DD cycle = false – Automatic orphan release disabled.
🔹 Require cycle floating DD >= this USD before release = 0.0 – No drawdown threshold.
🔹 Minimum cycle dwell (hours since cycle start) before release = 24 – Minimum age is 24 hours.
🔹 Cap on TOTAL orphan-bucket lots (0=uncapped) = 0 – Unlimited orphan lot capacity.
🔹 0.0.43: 0=OFF (byte-identical to 0.0.42) = 0 – Feature disabled.
🔹 Stale-release ONLY when abs(CycleNet) <= 5.0 USD = 5.0 – Releases only if basket net value is within 5.0 USD.
🔹 Minimum hours between stale releases = 24 – Waits 24 hours between releases.
Float Re-anchor
🔹 0.0.44 master gate = false – Float re-anchor feature disabled.
🔹 Per-ticket green-only float close = 0.0 – Disabled.
🔹 Cap on TOTAL floated-leg lots (0=uncapped) = 0 – Unlimited.
Rescue
🔹 Throttle periodic rescue status logs (s) = 60 – Rescue logs every 60 seconds.
🔹 During rescue, optionally hedge current net exposure = true – Hedge protection enabled.
🔹 Rescue hedge lot request (never rounded up) = 0.01 – Rescue hedge opens 0.01 lots.
🔹 Seconds between accepted rescue hedge opens = 300 – Minimum interval 300 seconds.
🔹 Maximum open rescue hedge positions = 1 – Only one rescue hedge allowed.
🔹 Minimum margin level before opening a rescue hedge = 300.0 – Requires at least 300% margin level.
🔹 Open hedge only after rescue loss reaches this size = 50.0 – Hedge activates after 50.0 loss.
🔹 Close rescue hedge only when its own P/L is at least = 5.0 – Hedge closes after 5.0 profit.
🔹 0.0.37: rescue/equity hedge target as fraction of net lots (0=) = 0.0 – Disabled.
🔹 0.0.37: hold a profitable rescue hedge = 0.0 – Disabled.
🔹 0.0.37: force-release a held hedge after this many hours = 0.0 – Disabled.
🔹 0.0.37: arm equity backstop when equity DD = 0.0 – Disabled.
🔹 0.0.37: disarm backstop when equity DD recedes = 0.0 – Disabled.
Trend Rescue
🔹 Unsafe grid break switches to trend-side-only recovery = true – Uses trend-only recovery after unsafe grid breaks.
🔹 Trend rescue market-entry lot request = 0.01 – Trend rescue entry size.
🔹 Minimum trend continuation between rescue entries = 3.0 – Requires 3.0 movement before another rescue trade.
🔹 Maximum open trend rescue recovery entries = 12 – Maximum 12 recovery positions.
🔹 Seconds between accepted trend rescue entries = 180 – Waits 180 seconds between entries.
🔹 Minimum projected margin level before trend rescue entry = 300.0 – Requires 300% margin level.
🔹 Optional per-entry profit harvest target = 5.0 – Individual recovery trades target 5.0 profit.
🔹 Size trend rescue toward losing-side frozen exposure = true – Rescue lot adapts to losing exposure.
🔹 Target active trend lots as ratio of losing-side lots = 1.0 – Maintains a 1:1 lot ratio.
🔹 Per-entry trend rescue lot cap = 0.06 – Maximum rescue lot size 0.06.
🔹 Coverage-gap money request threshold = 150.0 – Coverage activates at 150.0.
🔹 Current-direction entries allowed while pressure remains active = 12 – Maximum 12 pressure entries.
🔹 Total STR TRB/TRS entries safety cap across both directions = 18 – Total limit 18 entries.
🔹 Let large unresolved gaps raise recovery exposure pressure = true – Enables adaptive pressure.
🔹 Coverage gap that activates recovery pressure = 200.0 – Trigger threshold 200.0.
🔹 Pressure target active trend lots ratio = 1.5 – Uses 1.5x exposure ratio.
🔹 Minimum extra entries allowed while pressure remains active = 1 – At least 1 additional entry.
🔹 Bypass early continuation step under confirmed pressure = true – Skips early continuation restriction.
🔹 Normal pressure-bypass cap = 2 – Allows 2 bypass entries.
🔹 M1 bars for pressure-only continuation confirmation = 2 – Uses 2 M1 candles.
🔹 Move required for pressure-only continuation confirmation = 1.0 – Minimum 1.0 move.
🔹 Tighten cooldown/step when coverage gap is large = true – Reduces waiting period automatically.
🔹 Minimum adaptive trend rescue cooldown = 20 – Minimum cooldown 20 seconds.
🔹 Minimum adaptive continuation step = 1.0 – Minimum continuation distance.
🔹 Coverage gap above this logs entry skips = 100.0 – Skip logging begins at 100.0.
🔹 Raise harvest target when coverage gap is large = true – Profit target increases dynamically.
🔹 Gap share used for adaptive harvest target = 0.1 – Uses 10% of the gap.
🔹 Minimum adaptive harvest target = 15.0 – Minimum target 15.0.
🔹 Maximum adaptive harvest target = 150.0 – Maximum target 150.0.
🔹 Spend booked rescue profit on old losing tickets = true – Recovery profits fund losing trades.
🔹 Extra booked-profit buffer before loser cleanup = 2.0 – Keeps 2.0 extra profit.
🔹 Max old-loser cleanup closes per tick = 2 – Maximum 2 cleanup actions.
🔹 Allow funded minimum-lot partial cleanup = true – Allows partial cleanup.
🔹 Spend booked rescue profit on losing STR TRB/TRS entries = true – Rescue profits reduce recovery trades.
🔹 Extra booked-profit buffer before STR cleanup = 2.0 – Additional 2.0 buffer.
🔹 Max STR TRB/TRS cleanup closes per tick = 2 – Maximum 2 closures.
🔹 Allow funded minimum-lot STR TRB/TRS partial cleanup = true – Partial cleanup enabled.
🔹 Do not cleanup active-direction recovery entries before age = 300 – Minimum age 300 seconds.
🔹 Close profitable STR TRB/TRS first = true – Profitable recovery trades close first.
🔹 Minimum profit+swap before pairing a recovery ticket = 5.0 – Requires 5.0 profit.
🔹 Fresh booked-profit buffer before paired loser cleanup = 2.0 – Extra 2.0 profit reserve.
🔹 Max profit/loser pairs per tick = 2 – Maximum 2 pairs.
🔹 Pair cleanup targets old grid losers before aged STR TRB/TRS = true – Prioritizes grid losers.
🔹 Seconds to keep orphaned pair-profit reserve = 600 – Holds reserve for 600 seconds.
🔹 Book favorable floating STR TRB/TRS profit to reduce stale exposure = true – Floating profit offsets stale losses.
🔹 Share of favorable floating profit usable = 0.8 – Uses 80% of floating profit.
🔹 Max profitable STR TRB/TRS tickets to book per tick = 4 – Maximum 4 tickets.
🔹 Max stale loser chunks funded per tick = 2 – Funds 2 cleanup chunks.
🔹 Minimum margin level before floating pair cleanup = 500.0 – Requires 500% margin.
🔹 Minimum equity buffer above voluntary-loss floor = 150.0 – Keeps 150.0 equity reserve.
🔹 Slow/reduce recovery entries when floating equity DD is high = true – Slows recovery under heavy DD.
🔹 Equity DD where pressure mode starts = 1500.0 – Pressure starts at 1500.0.
🔹 Equity DD where severe pressure limits entries = 3000.0 – Severe mode at 3000.0.
🔹 Multiplier for recovery cooldown while under pressure = 2.0 – Cooldown doubles.
🔹 Multiplier for continuation step while under pressure = 1.5 – Step increases 1.5x.
🔹 Multiplier for trend-rescue lot requests while under pressure = 0.5 – Rescue lots reduced by half.
🔹 Pressure-continuation override during severe equity DD = true – Override enabled.
Stale Loser Cleanup
🔹 Severe-pressure current-direction entry cap = 8 – Maximum 8 entries.
🔹 Close oldest stale losers in capped mini-lot chunks = true – Cleanup enabled.
🔹 Minimum age before old-grid trend losers are stale = 240 – 240 minutes minimum age.
🔹 Stale loser count required before cleanup = 20 – Needs 20 stale losers.
🔹 Largest age-qualified stale loser loss = 400.0 – Maximum single loss.
🔹 Total age-qualified stale loser loss = 1200.0 – Total cleanup threshold.
🔹 Realized-loss spend cap per ticket = 25.0 – Maximum 25.0 spending.
🔹 Realized-loss spend cap per hour = 100.0 – Hourly cap 100.0.
🔹 Equity DD required before cleanup = 1000.0 – Requires 1000.0 DD.
🔹 Maximum stale cleanup closes per tick = 2 – Maximum 2 closes.
🔹 Spend only protected booked profit = true – Uses protected profits only.
🔹 Booked profit to keep untouched = 25.0 – Preserves 25.0.
🔹 Extra booked-profit buffer = 2.0 – Additional reserve.
🔹 Maximum protected old-loser cleanup closes = 2 – Maximum 2.
🔹 Large-gap fallback cleanup = true – Backup cleanup enabled.
🔹 Coverage gap before cleanup spends = 500.0 – Gap threshold.
🔹 Extra balance cushion = 100.0 – Balance reserve.
🔹 Share of confirmed balance/equity allowed to spend = 0.25 – Uses 25%.
🔹 Absolute cleanup spend cap per tick = 75.0 – Maximum 75.0.
🔹 Minimum equity buffer above floor = 100.0 – Equity reserve.
🔹 Maximum stuck-cleanup partial closes = 2 – Maximum 2 partial closes.
🔹 Confirmed reversal can switch recovery direction = true – Recovery direction may change.
🔹 Reset trend-rescue cooldown after direction switch = true – Cooldown resets.
🔹 M1 bars for rolling recovery confirmation = 3 – Uses 3 candles.
🔹 Minimum price move to switch direction = 2.0 – Requires 2.0 movement.
🔹 Seconds between rolling direction switches = 120 – Minimum 120 seconds.
🔹 Block recovery entries with insignificant cleanup improvement = true – Prevents inefficient entries.
🔹 Minimum projected improvement percent = 2.5 – Requires 2.5% improvement.
🔹 Minimum expected funding = 35.0 – Funding threshold.
🔹 Favorable ATR share used = 0.5 – Uses 50% ATR.
🔹 Allow first recovery when no EA positions exist = true – Recovery can start immediately.
🔹 Cap simultaneous opposite STR TRB/TRS buildup = true – Opposite buildup limited.
🔹 Opposite STR lots allowed before proof = 0.08 – Lot threshold.
🔹 Require new opposite entry to reduce stale exposure = true – Exposure reduction required.
🔹 Hard absolute ceiling = 0.0 – No ceiling.
🔹 Throttle noisy continuation logs = 10 – Logging every 10.
Basket Averaging
🔹 Master OFF switch = false – Basket averaging enabled.
🔹 Start averaging when buried side net floating P/L <= 0.0 – Starts immediately.
🔹 Minimum adverse move = 0.0 – No minimum move.
🔹 Lots per averaging add = 0.0 – Uses default grid sizing.
🔹 Hard cap on averaging adds = 0 – Unlimited.
🔹 Hard cap on total averaging lots = 0.0 – Unlimited.
🔹 Do NOT add if projected margin level < 500.0 = 500.0 – Margin protection.
🔹 Minimum seconds between averaging adds = 60 – Waits 60 seconds.
Trailing
🔹 Enable per-leg broker-side trailing SL = true – Broker-side trailing enabled.
🔹 Open positions on a side to trail-activate = 2 – Requires 2 positions.
🔹 Per-leg trail distance = 1 – Trailing distance.
🔹 STR TRB/TRS positions can trail = 1 – Recovery trades use trailing.
🔹 Minimum seconds between trailing SL modifications = 10 – Waits 10 seconds.
🔹 Minimum favorable SL improvement before modifying = 0.5 – Requires 0.5 improvement.
Execution
🔹 Bounded retries per trade operation = 3 – Maximum 3 retries.
🔹 Base backoff on TOO_MANY_REQUESTS (ms) = 300 – Waits 300 ms.
🔹 Max deviation = 50 – Maximum slippage 50 points.
🔹 Back-off after failed build = 30 – Waits 30 seconds.
🔹 Process every tick (0=skip unchanged ticks) = 0 – Processes every tick.
🔹 Teardown marker older than this is stale (h) = 72 – Markers expire after 72 hours.
Market Validation Safety
🔹 Extra publish-safety gates for MQL5 Market validation accounts = true – Enables additional validation protection.
🔹 Treat equity/free margin ≤ 1000.0 as small validator = 1000.0 – Small-account threshold.
🔹 Abort grid if broker minimum lot inflates requested lot beyond = 3.0 – Stops oversized requests.
🔹 Abort small-account grid if inflated lot exceeds = 0.1 – Small-account safety.
🔹 Minimum projected free margin after pending OrderCheck = 200.0 – Free margin requirement.
🔹 Minimum projected margin level after pending OrderCheck = 500.0 – Margin level requirement.
Logging
🔹 Log level (0=errors only, 1=normal, 2=debug) = 0 – Records only error messages.
Chart UI
🔹 Show branded dashboard/logo layer on the chart = true – Displays dashboard.
🔹 Apply Straddle navy/gold/red chart colors = true – Uses Straddle theme.
🔹 Reserved for compatibility; chart animations disabled = false – Compatibility option.
🔹 Mark candles where positive profit was booked = true – Marks profitable candles.
🔹 Dashboard refresh cadence = 2 – Refresh interval.
🔹 History lookback for profit markers = 14 – Reviews 14 candles.
🔹 Maximum candle profit labels to keep = 40 – Stores 40 labels.
Conclusion
Straddle EA MT5 provides one of the most comprehensive configuration systems available for automated trading. Its extensive controls over grid management, adaptive scaling, trend rescue, hedge recovery, basket averaging, stale-position cleanup, trailing stop management, execution quality, and risk protection allow experienced traders to fine-tune nearly every aspect of the trading process. Properly understanding these parameters can significantly improve stability, optimize recovery performance, and help adapt the EA to different brokers, account sizes, and market conditions.
FAQs
❓ What is the Magic Number used for in Straddle EA MT5?
It uniquely identifies trades opened by the EA, allowing multiple EA instances to operate independently.
❓ Can I disable adaptive price scaling?
Yes. Set Scale raw price-distance inputs by current price/ATR context = false to disable adaptive scaling.
❓ What does Trend Rescue do?
Trend Rescue opens controlled recovery positions that follow strong market momentum to help reduce drawdown during trending conditions.
❓ Why is the minimum margin level set to 300.0 or 500.0 in several settings?
These thresholds help prevent overleveraging and ensure sufficient free margin before opening additional positions.
❓ Is Straddle EA MT5 suitable for beginners?
The EA can be used by beginners, but due to its large number of advanced parameters, it is recommended to start with the default settings and thoroughly backtest any modifications before trading on a live account.
