Testing Grid Expert Advisor Setka Limit
7 minutes for reading
Today, we will talk about a grid trading algorithm; it is peculiar in the sense that it is more meant for speeding-up the deposit and is based on luck. Hence, it will not suit those who count on smooth and stable work. The Setka Limit expert advisor is a robot that only trades pending limit orders and is solely based on mathematical calculations.
Trading algorithm of Setka Limit
The name of the expert advisor makes it clear that the trading algorithm places a grid of orders and works with them when they are triggered, moving the Stop Losses and placing reversed orders of larger volume.
There are quite a lot of expert advisors with such tactics as the grid strategy may be realized in several ways. This version differs from others because it trades only limit orders in both directions at once, i.e. common buying and selling positions are monitored separately.
Note that the grid is “trending up”, i.e. each next averaging order has a larger volume (usually 2 times larger) than the previous one. Many might argue that this is an ordinary Martingale, and there is nothing good to expect from it. However, when you master the trading system you will see how important it is to increase the lot in this case. I have also warned you that it is fully based on mathematical calculations.
I did not manage to get the initial code of the expert advisor, so I had to study its work right in the MetaTrader 4 strategy tester. Judging by the results of testing, right after you add the expert advisor to the chart, it places the nearest limit orders for buy and sale; it places them so close that they are triggered at once, so it seems that the orders have been open by the market.
At a certain distance from the point where it opened the first orders, Setka Limit places 2 more buying and selling limit orders (respectively). The distance to those far orders is calculated automatically based on the current volatility of the currency pair, thus this distance changes constantly and may not be set once and forever.
Setka Limit places neither Stop Losses nor Take Profits. After one of the “far” orders is triggered – suppose a selling limit order – the open buying order is transferred to the breakeven, and on the chart, a mark appears at the breakeven level for the two open selling orders. It is easy to guess that this mark is closer to the second order.
Then all orders are closed by the built-in algorithm and all pending orders are deleted from the account. Then the trading algorithm starts the process again – from the moment you’ve installed the expert advisor on the chart.
Technical characteristics of Setka Limit
This robot does not have any special requirements, just remember that your account may experience drawdowns while you are trading, so match the size of your deposit and the lot so that the former withstood the load.
Trading the minimal lot, you may start with just 100 USD regardless of the chosen timeframe because it does not influence the work of this robot in any way as Setka Limit is based on the distance between orders in points.
The most important thing is to have leverage because the expert advisor averages sometimes, so it must always have a marginal “space” on your account.
Setka Limit parameters
- ProfitStartTrall activates Trailing Stop upon the profit reaches a certain level in the currency of the deposit.
- TrailingPercentProfit is the Trailing Stop that depends on the size of the profit and is set in percent of its maximal size.
- TakeProfit is set in points.
- LocProfit “freezes” the profit at a certain level.
- Buy: allow the expert advisor to open long positions.
- Sell: allow the expert advisor to open short positions.
- OrdersLimit, OrdersStop is the number of orders.
- lotLimit, lotStop are the lots for the corresponding orders.
- riskLimit, riskStop arethe maximal risk for all orders.
- PlusLotStop, PlusLotLimit are the number of lots by which the previous orders are increased.
- K_LotStop, K_LotLimit are the lot increasing factors for the orders.
- DigitsLot is the number of decimals in the chosen lot size.
- maxLot is the maximal possible volume for the order.
- MoveStepGread is the size of the grid step.
- FirstStepLimit, FirstStepStop are the first steps for the orders.
- StepLimit, StepStop are the steps of order changes.
- K_StepLimit, K_StepStop are the multipliers of the lot factors.
- MaxPips is the maximal distance between the orders.
- SLossLimit, SLossStop are the sizes of Stop Losses for corresponding orders.
- TProfitLimit, TProfitStop are the sizes of Take Profits for corresponding orders.
- NoLoss is the breakeven size.
- MinProfitNoLoss is the distance from the entry point to the SL after transferring the order to the breakeven.
- TrailingPercentStep is the size of Trailing Stop in percent.
- magic is the “magic number” for the trades of the expert advisor copy.
- TrailingOn: activate Trailing Stop at the very beginning.
- trailingStop is the type of Trailing Stop: by candlesticks, by fractals, by, the ATR indicator, and over – fixed in points.
- TF_Tralling is the timeframe for Trailing Stop: 1 is M1, 5 is M5, 15 is M15, 30 is M30, 60 is H1, 240 is H4, 1440 is D1, 10080 is W1, 43200 is monthly.
- StepTralling is the step of the Trailing Stop.
- period_ATR is the period of the ATR indicator.
- AlertOn activates sound and text alerts.
- SendMailInfo activates sending alerts to e-mail.
- DrawInfo activates drawing the information on the chart.
- font_size sets the size of the font on the chart.
- Corner positions the info window on the chart.
- text_color sets the color of the info on the chart.
- Monday is the day of the week.
- TimeStartMonday is the time trade starts on Monday.
- TimeEndMonday is the time trade ends on Monday.
- NoLossLoc locks the breakeven.
- MinPipsLoc is the minimal size of locking in points.
- Key is the digital key for the commercial version of the expert advisor.
Testing and optimizing Setka Limit
I must admit that I got two versions of the expert advisor at once – v2a and v9b. The v2a version showed perfect results on EUR/USD during a year even with standard settings.
With the v9b version, things were not that simple. After launching it on the same period, the expert advisor drained the whole deposit at once. Upon decreasing the initial lot from 0.1 to 0.01, the situation became a bit better, however, the deposit was soon lost again.
I had no time to optimize it as even a test on H1 for a year takes quite a lot. In the end, I decided to enable increasing the lot, i.e. set the multiplying factor as 1.0 with the maximal lot remaining at 0.01 and the starting depo – 10,000. Even this way testing took too long – several hours later, I switched it off, before it ended. However, I did test it but for a month only:
We normally get such results when some order gets stuck on the deposit and close forcefully when stopped. Anyway, real trading could be different, so we cannot do without back-testing.
Closing thoughts
Setka Limit expert advisor will suit those traders who prefer speeding up their deposits. However, it is clearly very risky, so I advise you to withdraw your profit regularly.
