This is likely something specific to the Alpari platform, as I have never seen this issue on IBFX or FXCM, and I’ve found some threads online complaining about their EAs working on other platforms but not on Alpari.
Try an IBFX demo and let me know how it works:
Forex software for Forex trading. Free currency trading software system. - Interbank FX
I use FXCM UK as my broker.
Can the functionalities of my EA be transferred over to GFT?
I have no idea.
I’m a GFT user, and a fairly experienced developer. From my experience with GFT’s ‘Chart Studio’, building anything non-trivial would be impossible… Well, nothing’s [I]impossible[/I], but you might kill yourself trying lol 
I [I]can[/I] tell you it would be impossible without using a 3rd party DLL called ctldll, which the author does not give out for free.
Hope that helps,
mike.
Thanks Dodge for getting back to me. It looks like MT4 will be the best way to go. Can I ask why you use FXCM, do they have better spreads they alot of the other forex platforms.
Do you ever convert any of your coded EAs into a format usable with FXCM’s TS II platform (Marketscope)?
Thank you [B]Graviton[/B] for your previous reply.
However, I now find myself with a new quandry. Having relegated myself to trading the 4H and daily time frames, I now want to know if it is possible to compile a sort of definition of the Bollinger Band Squeeze region.
What, in your opinion, exactly is the ‘squeeze region’? Is it dictated by the presence of level Bollinger Bands? Or is it he region just after the ‘no trade zone’ of a bubble/sausage? (This query is aimed at all posters).
Thanks in advance for your responses,
xXTrizzleXx
As I understand it, every bubble or sausage ends in a squeeze. It may just quickly contract down and sharply expand again, or it may squeeze into a long pipe or tunnel formation.
Hi all, just to clarify are those areas in circle no trade areas? Because we are in a sausage?
That’s because the PA does not reach to the opp outer BB but only bounce off back at the middle BB? Thanks all.
Yes, i would agree with you. They look like they are in a sausage still with BB expanding.
on a side note, anyone know how i can save a chart to post up using GFT dealbook? i can’t find any save function?
thanks
Hi there, im sure tymen did gave us a link on how to upload charts.
I cant post it yet as im below 50 posts.
Well basically you save it use printscreen, thus go ms paint and save it there.
Upload to photobucket, and get the link and paste it here.
Image should appear, well if thats too brief, you can try searching the link which i believe is one of the earlier posts in this thread 
Hi all, first of all, i want to thank Dodge for his EA. But know i need help to benefit from it. Can someone pls explain to me the step by step process of installing this EA?
Thanks in advance.Happy weekend
Ade
Find your mt4 expert directory, for example (interbank) is C:\Program Files (x86)\Interbank FX Trader 4\experts
Place the Final_Tymen_Variable_SL_Bands_Anti_Drag.ex4 file in here.
Place the 4 mq4 files in C:\Program Files (x86)\Interbank FX Trader 4\experts\scripts folder.
Now restart your mt4 platform if it was open when you did this and it is installed.
Yes, I would agree also, although the 2nd expansion is really a small bubble - a cross between a bubble and a squeeze.
on a side note, anyone know how i can save a chart to post up using GFT dealbook? i can’t find any save function?
Here is the thread you need…
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/30564-how-post-charts-forum-upgraded.html
I am glad to see that just about every question/issue on this thread since I last posted, has been answered by another person.
This takes the full weight off me.
Our genius, DodgeV83 has competantly delt with all the technical questions arising from his EA work.
This thread is growing so fast I cannot keep up. :eek:
But I will continue to give input via the lessons or this thread.
I have still to post the macro method.
I am also working on an improvement to the DNA method using a new money management strategy, not a change in the method itself.
We will get there!!
Let me compliment [B]Graviton’s [/B]answer with some more information…
[B]A squeeze area is any area that is not…[/B]
[U]A NO TRADE area [/U]is the region of price action that occurs after the finish of a BB walk in a bubble or sausage.
The price action runs counter to the mid BB and finishes when the bubble/sausage has contracted again.
The squeeze areas tend to be characterised by [U]a level mid BB.[/U]
[B]You can score all 4 types of trades from a squeeze area…[/B]
a simple OO price action in which the trade ends by touching the opposite BB.
an OBB price action in which the mid BB shows signs of going up/down during the trade and hence [U]proceeding on in a grand way by going on a BB walk.[/U]
an OM price action in which mid BB is reached for a TP1 but after that the [U]price action retraces[/U] and contact with the opposite BB (TP2) is not reached.
an RO price action in which the price action does not even reach the mid BB before retracing.
Trades 1,2 + 3 are profit trades while 4 is a loss trade.
[B]Tymen and Graviton,[/B]
Thank you so much for clarifying that for me. This information has been duly noted, and seems to make so much more sense in setting oneself up for a high probability trade.
It will be interesting to see what improvements you come up with. Regarding Money Management and whatnot, I too have also been thinking up some optimizations, but will need some data from backtesting. Exams are due to be done on Thursday,afterwhich I will burn the midnight oil in MT4 as opposed to textbooks. 
Thanks,
xXTrizzleXx
Tymen I have a question regarding CBL entries and when is it too late to enter the trade.
This is a 4 hr chart. At point A there is a CBL drawn with the red line. If we miss entering at the red line is there a rule on how long do you have to enter the trade before you have to declare the trade missed?
For instance, in this trade I could have entered at any time before TP2 and made pips, but that trade scenario is not always the case. There have been many trades where the PA already crossed below the CBL but PA is on the 2nd or 3rd candle after CBL and heading in the right direction but still above TP1 or TP2.
So is there a rule we should incorporate about entering a trade too late after the CBL or can it be considered safe to enter a CBL trade at least before TP1 is reached?
I’m very interested in backtesting results on the 1H TF since that’s where I make the vast majority of my entries. Even if I want to trade the 4H or daily charts, I’ll usually enter on the 1H chart. I have a method for that 
So please, share your backtesting results when you get them. Thanks in advance!
Hi all,
Over the past few week, I’ve been backtesting various pairs with Dodge’s wonderful EA.
I have backtested both the multi-lot and the 2 lot strategy on 4 hour charts from 02/03/2010 until 02/06/2010.
You may find the results attached.
Notes:
I used a 2CBL approach and cut candles if they were too close to the mid-BB.
Trades were not only taken in squeezes but also in bubbles and sausages, but a trade with more than 90pips of SL (for a single lot) was never taken.
The multi-lot strategy used increments of 50 pips and took profits as soon as the trade was 180 pips in profit (total profit from all contracts at this point is 340 pips). This figure seemed like a sweet spot, as many trades began reversing after hitting 180-200 pips profit. Sometimes this worked favourably and sometimes it didn’t.
Problems I encountered:
Most of the drawdowns occured in sausages with many fake CBLs.
The squeeze zones were not perfect for the multi-lot strategy - this is where the multi-lot strategy kept failing. Price would go in my favour for 100-120 pips, causing 1 lot to be exit at 50pips and 1 to be bought at 100 pips…then PA would retrace back to 50, causing a premature exit from the trade and only a 50 pip profit. More often than not, this occurred when taking trades in squeeze zones and hitting the opposite BB, causing price to retrace a little before continuing the move in the favoured direction. It’s impossible to predict just how much its going to retrace - but I can definitely say that the 2-contract strategy yielded more on these occasions than the multi-lot.
A general issue with the 2-contract strategy is that TP1 is taken and the break even point is set too quickly. It would be silly to just take TP1 and not move your SL to break even. However, the mid-BB acted as support/resistance on many occasions, causing very premature exists from trades with only small TP1 profits. On these occasions, the multi-lot strategy was more resilient and yielded more.
My proposed solution:
If you normally trade with 2% risk to your capital with either the 2-contract or the multi-lot strategies - halve your risk to 1% and take the same trade with both money management strategies. That way, you will be risking 1% using the 2-contract strategy and 1% using the multi-lot strategy.
The reason I propose this is because it will average out the performance of both strategies and for the reason that we don’t know how well each strategy will perform in the future. It seems like a good “money-management diversification” plan.
Hordane, generally a CBL entry should remain valid until a more extreme candle is set, or until the opposite BB is touched. So you could have entered this trade a little late and made very good pips. In my opinion though, the highest probability of a good trade is a return to mean trade, where the trade is taken before the price touches the Mid BB 20SMA average. Others may have a different opinion on this and I welcome any differing opinions
