FourLeafClover from FourLeafClover FX
- Experts
- Gary William Flanagan
- Version: 2.3
- Updated: 4 July 2023
- Activations: 5
Overview
Consistent profit since 2015 - FourLeafClover is an EA designed to trade on the AUDCAD pair. It seeks to identify trade entries based on several indicators and a custom built indicator to identify the trend / trading opportunities. It also utilises the concept of 'baskets' to form winning trades.
Performance
The EA has been trading with consistent profit since 2015 - please refer to the screenshots tab for further info and associated MyFXBook reference accounts.
- Ten year backtest (1st May 2013 - 30th Apr 2023 $10k deposit), with default settings: 17,101 pips, $73,169 profit - see screenshots
- Ten year backtest (1st May 2013 - 30th Apr 2023 $50k deposit), with default settings: 17,054 pips, $468,818 profit - see screenshots
EA Requirements
- Minimum balance of $3,000 (Standard account), $30 (Cent account).
- Reasonable spread on AUD/CAD pair (3 or less recommended, but not essential - the EA will close trades faster with lower spreads and be more profitable).
- Hedging is preferable. Trading accounts that allow hedging will provide greater profit, but hedging is not essential for the EA to trade successfully (hedging can be switched on/off via EA settings).
EA Parameters
| Parameter Name | Description |
|---|---|
| equityStepForAutoLots | Controls trade lot size and when the opening lots are increased based on equity. For example if configured as 4000, then lots will increase with each equity step of 4000. If set to 4000 and available equity is less than 4000, or greater than 4000 but less than 8000, then Initial lot size will be 0.01 and subsequently, if equity increases to 8000 then the next starting lot size will be 0.02 and so on. The next starting lot size is displayed in the on-screen Trade Status Panel. NB. The minimum recommended starting balance is $3000 for a STANDARD account or $30 for a CENT account, with 1:100 leverage (higher leverage, such as 1:500 is ideal). NB. The definition of a Standard account is one where 1 lot is equivalent to 100,000 units of base currency. The definition of a CENT account is one where 1 lot is equivalent to 10,000 units of base currency. Tip: If your account is held in a currency other than $ (USD) then you can work out the recommended minimum balances in your currency by using a currency conversion site such as www.xe.com |
| maxTrades | Maximum number of trades (levels) that will be opened in the same direction. Do not change from the default value of 13 unless first proven via backtesting. Maximum value is 15. |
| allowNewTrades | True (default) – allows new trades to be opened. False – stops new trades from being opened (NB. if there are already open trades then FourLeafClover will still manage them and open new trades to support the sequence as required. When these trades close, no new trades will open). |
| hedge | True (default) – allows both Buy/Sell (long/short) trades to be open at once (should there be supporting trade signals). False – allows trades only in one direction at a time. If your broker supports trading in both directions (hedging), then leave this setting as True as it is proven to be more profitable. |
| maxSpread | FourLeafClover will not open new trade sequences if the broker’s current spread is higher than this value. NB. The lower the spread the better, as it makes it easier (quicker) for FourLeafClover to close trades. However, having exceptionally low spreads is not a requirement as the EA is not a scalper. Some brokers do have higher spreads and it may be necessary to adjust this setting to allow them to be traded (or find an alternative broker offering better spreads). |
| minEquityforNewSeq | FourLeafClover will not open new trade sequences if the current account equity is less than this value (e.g. due to any currently open trades, whether those be FourLeafClover initiated, from another EA, or manual trades). |
| floatingDDBasedExit | True – FourLeafClover will close all trades on the current pair if the floating drawdown reaches the level specified in the ‘floatingDDBasedExitValue’ parameter below. False – Floating drawdown based trade exits are disabled and the EA will continue to trade. NB. This is an important risk management feature. It is strongly recommended that this is set to True. If False, then you are effectively trading without any stoploss. |
| floatingDDBasedExitValue | Used in conjunction with the ‘floatingDDBasedExit’ parameter above. If drawdown based trade exits are enabled then should the floating drawdown of FourLeafClover trades on the current pair reach this level then FourLeafClover will close those trades. NB. This should be a negative value. Setting the value to a low level may seem like a good risk reduction strategy but it can result in more frequent trade closures for smaller losses that when totaled, actually leave you worse off. NB. For each higher trading mode adjust this level accordingly to give the required room to make the higher profits associated with the higher lots that will be traded. You may wish to backtest settings for this parameter and configure your risk accordingly. |
| smartExit | Smart Exits (trade closures) can be switched ON/OFF via this parameter. False (default) – Smart exits are disabled. True – Smart Exits are enabled and FourLeafClover will close all trades on the current pair if the floating profit/loss reaches the level specified in the ‘smartExitProfitLevelx’ parameter below at level ‘x’. |
| smartExitProfitLevel5 | These parameters are used in conjunction with the ‘smartExit’ parameter above. If Smart Exits are enabled, then FourLeafClover continually monitors the current floating profit/loss and current trade level. If the current profit/loss is greater than or equal to (>=) the value of the particular ‘smartExitProfitLevelx’ parameter and trading is currently on level ‘x’, then all trades will be closed. This can be useful if you want to be able to get out of trades for a small profit, break even or a small loss when a specific trade level has been reached. Values can be positive, negative or zero. For example, if you wanted to get out of trade sequences at breakeven on trades that reach level 8 or higher, then turn on Smart Exits using the ‘smartExit’ parameter above and set ‘smartExitProfitLevel8’ through to ‘smartExitProfitLevel15’ to 0. Remember to also set the values for lower levels to ensure an exit is not triggered when at one of those levels – e.g. a value of 99999999. That will mean that an exit will not trigger from level 5 through to level 7 if such a high value is populated as floating profit/loss will not reach this level. It is also possible to specify different values for different levels – e.g. you may be happy to exit out of a trade sequence at level 7, 8 and 9 at breakeven (set to 0), but would accept a small loss at levels above those so you can specify a negative value for levels 10 to 15 (remembering to set some high value like 99999999 for levels 5 and 6 so no exits are triggered at those levels). It is perfectly fine to use the Smart Exit function in conjunction with the ‘floatingDDBasedExit’ exit mechanism discussed previously. So you will also have the overarching safety net of that hard drawdown-based exit (stoploss). Floating profit/loss value at level 5 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. |
| smartExitProfitLevel6 | Floating profit/loss value at level 6 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel7 | Floating profit/loss value at level 7 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel8 | Floating profit/loss value at level 8 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel9 | Floating profit/loss value at level 9 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel10 | Floating profit/loss value at level 10 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel11 | Floating profit/loss value at level 11 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel12 | Floating profit/loss value at level 12 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel13 | Floating profit/loss value at level 13 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel14 | Floating profit/loss value at level 14 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| smartExitProfitLevel15 | Floating profit/loss value at level 15 at which a Smart Exit will trigger to close all trades on the current pair. NB. Remember to set an appropriate value for lower levels if you do not want to trigger an exit prior to this level. |
| enableEmail | False (default) – FourLeafClover emails are disabled. True – FourLeafClover emails are enabled (used in conjunction with the ‘emailLevel’ parameter below). |
| emailLevel | Used in conjunction with the ‘enableEmail’ parameter above. Specifies the trade level where an email will be generated. If emails are enabled, then FourLeafClover will send a message when a trade reaches this particular level, and every level above. Default level is 8, but this can range from 1 to 15. Bear in mind you will be swamped with emails if you set this value too low. It is designed to help you monitor and track higher level trade sequences. A trade sequence closure email will also follow when the sequence closes. |
| closeAllTrades | False (default) – Open trades are left open. True – All open FourLeafClover trades for the current pair are closed immediately (assuming the market is open) regardless of current floating profit/loss. While True, no new trades will be opened so to re-enable trading remember to set back to False once all trades have been closed. This parameter allows you to immediately close all open trades for the current pair. There may be a number of reasons to want to do this, but also note the ‘allowNewTrades’ parameter described earlier which can be utilised to stop new trade sequences from opening but will leave open trades to reach their conclusion (i.e. exit at target profit or exit based on floatingDDBasedExit or smartExit settings). |
| verboseDisplay | False (default) – Does not display additional trade history data within the on-screen FourLeafClover trade status window. True – Displays supplemental trade history data within the on-screen FourLeafClover trade status window. This data includes the levels that trades have reached, the lot sizes, the maximum floating loss of those trades and the minimum free account margin at each level. NB. It takes time for this data to build and it is flushed when MetaTrader is restarted. You can switch back and forth to have this option enabled / disabled and the data will still be retained (e.g. in case you just want to see this extra information temporarily but do not want to clutter your charts with it fulltime). |
| logoPixelOffset | Used purely for presentational purposes to control the horizontal position of the FourLeafClover on-screen logo. Sometimes when viewed on different displays, the green FourLeafClover logo can appear skewed to the left/right. Putting a negative number into this parameter moves it left, whereas a positive number moves it right. If you want your charts to look tidy then you can use this feature if required. |
Forex Risk Warning
Forex trading by its very nature involves a degree of risk. The price of any traded instrument (or currency pair) can go up or down – this price movement is how money is made from the forex markets. Capital can be accrued, but losses can also occur.
FourLeafClover is a fully automated trading system designed to consistently pull in profits from the forex market. Even though FourLeafClover has proven itself to be very profitable, we cannot guarantee future performance nor accept any liability for losses incurred through its use.
All that being said, FourLeafClover does have a very robust trading strategy at its heart, as well as built in risk-management features to limit losses. We use it successfully on our own live accounts and sincerely hope that you also enjoy profitable trading with the FourLeafClover EA.
