Setup & First Steps
The Power Candles Strategy Scanner is the multi-symbol companion to the Power Candles indicator. It runs the same self-optimizing engine in parallel on every symbol in your Market Watch and tells you which ones are statistically tradable right now - plus pings you the moment a fresh signal fires on one of them.
Setup:
- Drag the Scanner onto any chart. The chart's symbol and timeframe are not relevant - the Scanner reads from your Market Watch list, not from the chart it sits on.
- Within seconds the panel populates with the symbols from your Market Watch, each starting its own auto-optimizer in the background.
- The first complete scan takes roughly two minutes per 35 symbols (default cap, raise as needed). After that the Scanner runs continuously - re-optimizing on every closed bar.
- Recommended: dedicate one chart to the Scanner and let it sit on a background workspace tab. It's built to run passively in the background.
The Scanner does not place trades. It is decision support: surface the symbols where the math is currently working, and ping you when one of them gives a setup. The click to chart and the trade decision stay with you.
The Multi-Symbol Panel
Every scanned symbol appears as one row, with these columns:
| Column | Content | Sortable |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Symbol name (click to switch the active chart to it) | Yes |
| Strat | MOM or REV - the winning strategy of the optimized setup | Yes |
| SL% | Optimized Stop Loss as percent of ATR | Yes |
| TP% | Optimized Take Profit as percent of ATR | Yes |
| Win% | Win rate of the optimized configuration | Yes |
| PF | Profit Factor of the optimized configuration | Yes |
| Pips | Total pips across the sample trades | Yes |
| Sigs | Number of sample trades (sample size) | Yes |
| Last | Time since the most recent signal | Yes |
Click any column header to sort ascending. Click again to flip direction. Sigs and Last default to descending; Symbol and Strat default to ascending.
Promising-PF Highlighting
Rows whose Profit Factor crosses your Promising threshold (default PF >= 2.0) are highlighted in green. This is the visual quick-check: green rows are the symbols where the optimizer found a setup with both consistency and edge. Non-green rows have a setup, but it does not clear the bar.
Use the "Show only promising rows" toggle in the Settings page if you want a clean monitoring view that hides everything below the threshold. The default Promising threshold is configurable from the Inputs (PF >= 2.0).
Two Alert Types
The Scanner has two independent alert types for two different jobs:
1. On New Promising Symbol
Fires once when a symbol's optimized Profit Factor crosses your threshold (default PF >= 2.0). Used to notice when a previously quiet symbol becomes worth watching - this is the research alert.
2. On Fresh Signal
Fires when an actual Momentum or Reversal entry signal triggers on a symbol whose optimized setup is already promising. This turns the Scanner into a passive background monitor: it only pings when there is something tradable to look at right now - this is the action alert.
Both types route through Popup, Push (mobile) and Sound. Each channel has its own toggle in the on-chart Settings page.
Example fresh-signal alert:
EURUSD: fresh REV signal (SL 250 / TP 290, PF 2.40)
Workflow with the Power Candles Indicator
The Scanner is the discovery layer. The Power Candles indicator is the execution layer. The two are designed to work together:
- Scanner pings you - example:
EURUSD: fresh REV signal (SL 250 / TP 290, PF 2.40) - You click the EURUSD row in the Scanner panel. The chart instantly switches to EURUSD on the scan timeframe.
- Power Candles indicator on that chart draws live Entry, Stop Loss and Take Profit rays at the exact prices the Scanner found. Direction-aware arrows confirm the trade direction. The decision to enter is yours.
The Scanner finds the symbol; the indicator shows you exactly when and where to enter. Both are sold separately on MQL5 Market - the Scanner can be used standalone, but the workflow is cleanest with both installed.
On-Chart Settings Page
The gear icon in the bottom-right of the panel opens the Settings page. Preferences flip live without re-opening the EA inputs dialog:
- Show only promising rows - hide everything below the PF threshold
- Alerts master + per-channel toggles (Popup / Push / Sound)
- Alert: On new promising - toggle the research alert
- Alert: On fresh signal - toggle the action alert
Click "< Back to Main" to return to the panel view.
Per-Symbol Period Switch
The Period bar between the data rows and the panel footer shows the current strength calculation period (default 8 Hours). Click the chevrons to cycle through alternative analysis windows (8H, 1D, 1W and others). The selected period is remembered per symbol and persists across chart reloads.
This is the same calculation period concept you know from the Power Candles indicator and FX Power. Switching to a different period re-optimizes the panel against that window.
Configurable Inputs
The Scanner runs out of the box with the defaults. The most useful inputs to tune:
| Input | Default | When to change |
|---|---|---|
| InpScanTF | M15 | Switch to M5 for shorter holding windows, M30/H1 for swing-style monitoring |
| InpMaxSymbols | 35 | Raise if your Market Watch has more entries (no hard cap in the code) |
| InpSymbolFilter | "" | Comma-separated list (e.g. "EURUSD,XAUUSD") to scan only specific symbols |
| InpFilterAffectsPanel | false | true = filter hides rows from the panel; false = filter only narrows alerts |
| InpRefreshSeconds | 3 | Lower for faster panel refresh; raise to ease CPU |
| InpSymbolsPerTick | 3 | Raise to optimize more symbols per second; lower to ease CPU |
| InpPromisingPF | 2.0 | Raise to be stricter (fewer promising rows); lower to widen the funnel |
| InpBtSearchSLMin | 100 | Default 100% of ATR filters out noise-stops; lower if you want to allow tight stops despite the noise risk |
| InpBtMinTrades | 20 | Minimum sample trades for a valid setup. Raise if you want statistical robustness over freshness |
The default of 100% of ATR for the SL floor is intentional - sub-100% configurations consistently win on optimization but lose in live trading because ordinary intra-bar noise hits them. The Scanner filters those out at the source.
Practical Tips
- Run the Scanner on a background workspace tab and trade off the alerts. It is built to be passive.
- Sort by Last (descending) to see which symbols had the most recent signal.
- Sort by PF (descending) to see your strongest setups first.
- Use the Symbol Filter to focus on a personal watchlist - e.g. "EURUSD,GBPUSD,XAUUSD,US30,NAS100".
- Pair the Scanner with the Power Candles indicator on a separate chart. Click a row in the Scanner panel and the indicator chart picks up the SL/TP/strategy automatically on next bar.
- Default scan timeframe is M15 - that produces clean signals across most asset classes. M5 generates more signals but more noise; M30 is the sweet spot for swing monitoring.
- Raise the Promising threshold to 2.5 or 3.0 if you want only A-grade setups in green and a quieter watchlist.
Common Issues
The panel shows "Loading..." for a long time - The first complete scan takes roughly two minutes per 35 symbols. Larger Market Watch lists scale linearly. If a symbol is stuck on "Loading..." after several minutes, check that the symbol has enough history bars on the scan timeframe.
No promising symbols show up - The market may simply be in a low-edge regime right now. Either lower InpPromisingPF temporarily, switch InpScanTF, or wait for volatility to return. The Scanner is honest about flat markets - it won't manufacture a signal.
Same-second alert spam at session-open - Multiple symbols can flip into promising-state when liquidity returns. This is normal. The on-chart channel toggles let you mute the noise during specific hours if needed.
My EA can't read the Scanner's signals via buffers - The Scanner is built for manual decision-making. Buffers expose the raw momentum direction, not the strategy-aware trade direction (Reversal inversion, threshold filtering, SL/TP placement stay inside the panel by design). For automation on these signals, a dedicated EA running the same engine is in development - that will be the right home for systematic execution.
The first scan completes but later rows still say "Loading..." - Symbols are optimized in batches of InpSymbolsPerTick (default 3) per second. Raise InpSymbolsPerTick to speed up the catchup, or just wait - within a few minutes all rows have been processed at least once.