Conservative Scalper EA — MT4

A disciplined, rule-based MT4 Expert Advisor for conservative intraday scalping on major FX pairs. Capital preservation is the top priority. No martingale, no grid, no averaging into losers.

Strategy Overview

| Layer | Logic | |---|---| | Bias filter | M15 EMA 50 vs EMA 200 — long bias when fast > slow (and rising), short bias when fast < slow (and falling) | | Execution filter | M5 EMA 20 — price must be above EMA for longs, below for shorts | | Momentum trigger | RSI 14 crosses above 50 (long) or below 50 (short) | | Entry confirm | Current bar closes above prior bar high (long) or below prior bar low (short) | | Trade filters | Spread cap, ATR minimum, session hours, day-of-week, rollover block, one trade per symbol, total open risk cap |

Risk Management

Fixed-fractional sizing: risk a set % of equity per trade (default 0.25%)
Hard stop loss + hard take profit on every trade
No martingale, no grid, no averaging
Break-even logic (optional, default on)
Trailing stop (optional, default off)
Time-based exit for stalled trades (default 20 min)
Session-end close option

Daily Guardrails

| Limit | Default | |---|---| | Max trades per day | 6 | | Max daily loss | 1.5% | | Max consecutive losses | 3 (pause) | | Max equity drawdown (hard stop) | 8% | | Max total open risk | 1.0% |

Recommended Settings

EURUSD M5

BiasTimeframe     = M15
BiasFastEMA       = 50
BiasSlowEMA       = 200
ExecEMA_Period    = 20
RSI_Period        = 14
ATR_Period        = 14
MinATR_Pips       = 3.0
MaxSpreadPips     = 1.5
StopLossMode      = 1   (ATR)
StopLossATRMult   = 1.2
TakeProfitMode    = 1   (ATR)
TakeProfitATRMult = 1.2
RiskPercent       = 0.50
MaxDrawdownPercent= 20.0
MaxDailyLossPercent = 2.0
SessionStartHour  = 8
SessionEndHour    = 17
UseBreakEven      = true
BreakEvenTriggerR = 0.8
UseTimeExit       = true
MaxTradeMinutes   = 20
AllowFriday       = false

GBPUSD M5

BiasTimeframe     = M15
BiasFastEMA       = 50
BiasSlowEMA       = 200
ExecEMA_Period    = 20
RSI_Period        = 14
ATR_Period        = 14
MinATR_Pips       = 4.0
MaxSpreadPips     = 2.0
StopLossMode      = 1   (ATR)
StopLossATRMult   = 1.4
TakeProfitMode    = 1   (ATR)
TakeProfitATRMult = 1.4
RiskPercent       = 0.50
MaxDrawdownPercent= 20.0
MaxDailyLossPercent = 2.0
SessionStartHour  = 8
SessionEndHour    = 17
UseBreakEven      = true
BreakEvenTriggerR = 0.8
UseTimeExit       = true
MaxTradeMinutes   = 25
AllowFriday       = false

GBPUSD is more volatile — slightly wider ATR multipliers and longer time exit are recommended.

USDJPY M5 — increase MaxSpreadPips to 2.0, MinATR_Pips to 4.0

Performance Targets

| Metric | Target | |---|---| | Win rate | 55–60% | | Reward : Risk | 1.0 to 1.2 | | Profit factor | 1.3 to 1.6 | | Max drawdown | < 20% (hard cutoff) | | Monthly return | 4–8% at 0.5% risk/trade |

Note: No EA can guarantee profits. These are design targets for a conservative system tested across varied market conditions. Past backtest results do not guarantee future performance.

Broker Requirements

MT4 platform (build 600+)
Low spread on EURUSD: ideally < 1.0 pip raw/ECN spread
Fast execution (STP/ECN preferred over dealing desk)
Supports 4-digit or 5-digit pricing — EA handles both automatically
NFA/FIFO compliant brokers supported (one trade per symbol mode)

Installation

Copy ConservativeScalper.mq4 to your MT4 MQL4/Experts/ folder
Open MetaEditor → compile → confirm no errors
Attach to an M5 EURUSD (or other pair) chart
Enable Allow automated trading and Allow DLL imports if required
Set MagicNumber to a unique value if running multiple instances

Backtesting

Use Strategy Tester in MT4
Select Every tick model for best accuracy
Enable Use date to limit range
Start with default inputs, then optimize in small increments
Validate on out-of-sample period before going live

Key metrics to review: profit factor, max drawdown, trade count, expectancy, average trade duration.

Risks & Limitations

Scalping EAs are sensitive to spread and execution quality — results vary by broker
Strategy may underperform in strong trending or choppy, ranging markets
Requires a stable VPS for 24/5 operation
Backtest quality depends on tick data quality; prefer 99% modelling quality data
RSI + EMA signals can produce false positives in low-volume periods
No news filter is built in — manually disable the EA before high-impact news events using the AllowNewTrades = false input

Input Reference

| Input | Default | Description | |---|---|---| | MagicNumber | 20260409 | Unique order identifier | | TradeComment | CScalp | Order comment | | EnableLong | true | Allow buy trades | | EnableShort | true | Allow sell trades | | OneTradePerSymbol | true | Prevent stacking | | AllowNewTrades | true | Master on/off | | SessionStartHour | 8 | Server hour to start | | SessionEndHour | 17 | Server hour to stop | | AllowFriday | false | Skip thin Friday close | | RolloverBlockBefore | 30 | Mins before 00:00 server | | RolloverBlockAfter | 30 | Mins after 00:00 server | | BiasTimeframe | M15 | Trend filter TF | | BiasFastEMA | 50 | Trend fast EMA | | BiasSlowEMA | 200 | Trend slow EMA | | ExecEMA_Period | 20 | Local direction EMA | | RSI_Period | 14 | RSI period | | MinATR_Pips | 3.0 | Min ATR — skip dead market | | MaxSpreadPips | 1.5 | Max allowed spread | | MaxSlippagePts | 3 | Max allowed slippage | | LotSizingMode | 1 | 0=Fixed 1=Risk% | | RiskPercent | 0.25 | % equity per trade | | StopLossMode | 1 | 0=Pips 1=ATR mult | | StopLossATRMult | 1.2 | ATR multiplier for SL | | TakeProfitATRMult | 1.2 | ATR multiplier for TP | | UseBreakEven | true | Enable BE logic | | BreakEvenTriggerR | 0.8 | Move BE after 0.8R | | UseTrailingStop | false | Enable trail | | UseTimeExit | true | Close stalled trades | | MaxTradeMinutes | 20 | Max trade duration | | CloseAtSessionEnd | true | Close at session end | | MaxTradesPerDay | 6 | Daily trade cap | | MaxDailyLossPercent | 1.5 | Daily loss cap % | | MaxConsecutiveLosses | 3 | Consecutive loss pause | | MaxDrawdownPercent | 8.0 | Hard stop equity DD % |

License

MIT — free to use and modify. No warranty expressed or implied.

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