For most simple strategies, most of the work is done in this section.
First, you should set a “Robot Name” to distinguish a specific plan. Use a short, unique name for your robot to differentiate it from other plans. If you need to run two instances of ESB on the same symbol, you must use different magic numbers to avoid conflicts between positions. Note that if ESB is activated on different symbols with the same magic number, there will be no conflict, and ESB can correctly identify its positions.
The next option is “Trade Action Type”. To mark or check entry points without running an expert, you can select “No Action” or “Indicator Mode,” which acts solely as an indicator (in Indicator Mode, ESB ignores limitations such as time restrictions, sessions, or news, and marks all entries on the chart). To mark entry points, set the “Mark Entry Points on Chart” option to true. In “Logger Mode”, ESB logs signals and indicators in log files without executing trades. If you want to be notified directly on your phone or via an alarm or message box when a new position or rally is entered, set “Notify Entries” to true.
“Max Open Positions or Max Open Martingale/Grid Rallies”: One of the crucial options is “Maximum Allowed Open Positions.” This option determines the maximum number of open positions and rallies for martingale and grid strategies. For example, if you set “Buy and Sell” as the action type and choose 2 for this parameter, and you currently have two open trades, ESB will reject any new entry signals. It’s essential to check this option each time you implement a plan. For instance, if you have a candle-based strategy that opens trades whenever RSI is above 70, and RSI crosses 70, ESB will enter a new trade. Without setting “Max Open Positions,” ESB may open multiple trades if RSI remains above 70. In a tick-based plan, ESB could open hundreds of trades per hour!
Design Steps: Automating your strategy with ESB involves 7 simple steps, similar to those required if you were manually designing a strategy. The first step is to set all the indicators and functions used in your strategy. You can use any of the indicator fields (Indicator 1 to Indicator 33). For example, you might use one RSI, two moving averages, and one ATR, each with its parameters.
The second step involves setting the entry conditions. For example, you might enter a buy position when MA1 crosses MA2, RSI is greater than 70, and ATR is less than 20. This should be written as an expression in one of the Buy expression fields. Similarly, you can write expressions for the sell conditions.
The third step is to set your Take Profit (TP) and Stop Loss (SL), which can also be defined as expressions.
The fourth step involves money management settings, where you determine the risk for each position, such as a percentage of your current balance.
The fifth step is to define position closing conditions, which can be checked on each tick or each candle, and can be set as logical or functional expressions.
The sixth step is to set parameters for half break-even and break-even. This means you can specify conditions under which the risk of your position is reduced to half of the initial value by moving the Stop Loss level. You can also set conditions for moving the Stop Loss to the entry point to achieve a break-even position.
The seventh step involves configuring the trailing stop loss, where you set conditions for trailing the Stop Loss.
By completing these seven steps, you are programming the robot to execute your strategy as intended. We will now explain these steps in more detail with examples.
Note that for Martingale and Grid strategies, you only need to set Step 1 and Step 2. The remaining options are configured separately in the Martingale and Grid sections.