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 shows you which ones are statistically tradable right now. The moment a fresh signal fires on one of them, the Scanner alerts you.

Setup:

  1. Drag the Scanner onto a chart of its own. The chart's symbol and timeframe do not decide what gets scanned: the Scanner works through the symbols in your Market Watch. A click on a symbol name in the panel switches exactly this chart, though, so keep the Scanner as the only EA on it (see "One EA per Chart" below).
  2. Every symbol you want scanned has to be active in your MT5 Market Watch. To scan only part of it, use the symbol filter (see "Configurable Inputs").
  3. The panel appears right after attaching. Since version 1.8 the list fills in one fast first pass, much faster than in 1.7. How long the pass takes depends on the number of symbols and on your computer. When it is done, the Experts journal shows the time for your own terminal: [Power Candles Scanner](/products/power-candles-scanner): first scan complete, N symbols in X.X s. This first scan sets the baseline for your alerts, and every alert after it reports a change (see "Two Alert Types"). From then on the Scanner re-optimizes a symbol whenever a new bar closes on the scan timeframe.
  4. Recommended: give the Scanner its own workspace tab and let it run in the background. It is built to work quietly.

The Scanner is decision support: it brings forward the symbols where the math is currently working and alerts you when one of them gives a setup. The click to the 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. A click on the name switches the Scanner's own chart to this symbol in the scan timeframe Yes
Strat MOM (Momentum) or REV (Reversal), 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
Spread Current spread in percent of the mid price, so forex, gold, indices and stocks sit on one scale (new in 1.8) Yes, first click puts the tightest spread on top
Last Time since the most recent signal Yes
SL > TP Live gauge for each active signal: a bar from stop to target, split at the entry, with a marker at the current price and the current R value next to it. Rows without a signal read "no active signal" Yes, by live R

Click a column header to sort. The first click sorts Symbol, Strat, SL%, TP% and Spread ascending and every other column descending, so the biggest value sits on top; for Last that means the newest signal on top. A second click on the same header flips the direction. By default the panel sorts by PF, descending.

Only the symbol name reacts to a click. A click on PF or any other cell does nothing.

The Spread column: The value refreshes at the pace of "Panel refresh interval (seconds)", so it is a snapshot. It shows four decimal places; below the last one the cell reads <0.0001%. Without a valid tick, and in rows without a result, the cell stays empty. Sorting uses the unrounded value. There is deliberately no spread threshold: the column shows the value, the decision is yours. With the new column the expanded panel is slightly wider than in 1.7.

"waiting for next" in the SL > TP column: When the best setup of a symbol changes (strategy, SL, TP or signal threshold), the Scanner drops the open trade it would have calculated backwards for the new setup. You never saw that arrow, and its entry price is long gone. The row reads waiting for next until a new arrow appears; only that arrow counts as an active signal again, and the fresh signal alert waits for it as well. A change of the calculation period counts as a setup change too.

Collapse and Status Line

The minus sign (−) on the right of the panel header collapses the panel to a narrow strip: header, one status line and footer. On the left, the status line shows the number of promising symbols (N / M promising, the same number and colour as in the footer). On the right, it shows the active signals the expanded list would show with its filters (no active signal, 1 active signal or N active signals). The square (□) in the same spot expands the panel again.

  • The strip stays at the nearer corner: a panel at the right chart edge keeps its right edge, one at the bottom keeps its bottom edge.
  • The gear in the collapsed footer expands the panel and opens the Settings page directly.
  • Each chart remembers its state, also across a terminal restart and a symbol or timeframe change of the chart.
  • Scan, live updates and alerts keep running while collapsed. Collapsing only frees chart space.

Promising-PF Highlighting

Rows whose Profit Factor reaches your Promising threshold (input "Highlight & alert when PF reaches this", default 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. Other rows have a setup that stays below the bar.

Use the "Show only promising rows" switch on the Settings page if you want a clean monitoring view that hides everything below the threshold.

Minimum win rate: The input "Min historical win rate (%) for list and alerts (0 = off)" sets a floor from 0 to 100, default 0 (off). Symbols whose win rate is below it leave the list and trigger no alert, neither the promising alert nor the fresh signal alert. The measure is the Win% column, the win rate the optimized configuration reached on past bars. The counter N / M promising in footer and status line still counts every symbol above the PF threshold, including the ones the filter hides.

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). Use it 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 alerts you when there is something tradable to look at right now. This is the action alert.

When an alert comes: Each alert comes once, however often you click a symbol in the list or restart the terminal.

  • The first scan after attaching, a terminal restart, a change in the inputs dialog or a switch of the calculation period fills the list and sets the baseline. Every alert after it reports a change since that scan: a symbol that turns promising, or a new signal on a promising symbol.
  • A symbol that is already promising in the first scan is part of the baseline. It alerts you with its next new signal.
  • A signal that appeared while the terminal was closed belongs to the first scan after the restart. The row shows it as usual, and the alert comes with the next new signal.
  • After a click on a symbol name, a row whose scan was still running reads Loading and finishes its scan first; that scan is its baseline as well.

Both types route through Popup, Email, Push (mobile) and Sound. Popup, Push and Sound have their own switches on the on-chart Settings page; email is set in the inputs ("Send alert via email") and needs the email setup in MT5.

Both alerts carry the win rate next to the Profit Factor. The promising alert names symbol, strategy, PF, Win%, number of trades and pips; the fresh signal alert names symbol, strategy, SL%, TP%, PF and Win%. Trade direction and absolute prices are deliberately left out: you read them on the chart.

Instance name: Give a Scanner a name with the input "Instance name for panel header and alerts (empty = none)". The name appears in the panel header and in square brackets at the start of every alert, in Popup and Push as well as in email, whose subject then reads Power Candles Scanner [Name]. Without a name every alert stays as in 1.7. With several Scanners running, for example one per scan timeframe or per watchlist, you see at once which one sent the alert.

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:

  1. The Scanner alerts you to a fresh signal, for example on EURUSD.
  2. You click the symbol name EURUSD in the Scanner panel. The chart the Scanner sits on switches to EURUSD in the scan timeframe.
  3. With the Power Candles indicator on that chart, live Entry, Stop Loss and Take Profit lines are drawn at the prices of the setup the Scanner found. Direction-aware arrows confirm the trade direction. The decision to enter is yours.

Scanner and indicator show the same setup when the indicator applies the best one: "Auto-apply best" is on by default since Power Candles 4.5, otherwise a click on "Apply Best" in the indicator panel does it.

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.

One EA per Chart

In MT5 each chart runs exactly one Expert Advisor. The Scanner is an EA, and so is the Premium Trade Manager. Dragging the Premium Trade Manager or any other EA onto the Scanner's chart replaces the Scanner: its panel and alerts are gone, and if the profile is saved afterwards, the Scanner is also missing after the next start. Indicators such as Power Candles run fine on the same chart as the Scanner.

Put the Scanner on a chart of its own as the only EA there, and the Premium Trade Manager on a second chart where you set the symbol the Scanner reported. A click on a symbol name in the Scanner list always switches the Scanner's chart; the Trade Manager's chart stays as it is.

On-Chart Settings Page

The gear icon in the panel footer opens the Settings page. Preferences flip live without re-opening the EA inputs dialog:

  • Show only promising rows: hides everything below the PF threshold
  • Show only active signals: shows only rows with a currently running signal
  • Strategy: Both / MOM / REV: MOM shows only symbols where Momentum wins, REV only the Reversal winners, Both shows all. The alerts follow your choice
  • Alerts master and per-channel switches (Popup / Push / Sound)
  • On new promising (under Alerts master): switches the research alert
  • On fresh signal (under Alerts master): switches the action alert

The X in the footer, where the gear sat, takes you back to the panel view.

Settings per chart: Since 1.8 each chart stores the switches of this page for itself, also across a terminal restart. Up to 1.7 all Scanners in a terminal shared the same switches. On the first start after the update from 1.7, each chart takes the previous shared values once as its starting point and keeps its own from then on.

Calculation Period

The Period bar between the data rows and the panel footer shows the calculation period behind every row, "8 Hours" by default (input "Power calculation period (editable via panel)"). The chevrons step through the list from 10 minutes up to 3 years; periods shorter than the scan timeframe stay locked. The period applies to the whole panel, so every symbol is optimized against the same window. It is the same calculation period you know from the Power Candles indicator and FX Power.

Switching the period re-optimizes all rows against the new window. Rows that already had a setup read waiting for next until a new signal arrow appears, as after any other setup change (see "The Multi-Symbol Panel"). The scan in the new period also sets the baseline for your alerts (see "Two Alert Types").

Period per chart: Each chart keeps the period you choose in the panel, also after a click on a symbol name, any other change of the chart's symbol or timeframe and a terminal restart. Every row shows the values of this period.

  • Change the period in the inputs dialog, and that value takes over from the panel choice. If you leave the input untouched, the panel choice stays.
  • On the first start of 1.9 the Scanner uses the period from the input. Choose your period once with the chevrons, and the chart keeps it from then on.
  • The lock applies to a stored period as well: if it is shorter than the scan timeframe you set, the Scanner takes the shortest period this scan timeframe allows.
  • Custom in the input counts as the shortest period the scan timeframe allows.

Configurable Inputs

The Scanner runs out of the box with the defaults. The most useful inputs to tune:

Input Default When to change
Instance name for panel header and alerts (empty = none) "" Name each Scanner when you run several, so every alert shows which one sent it
Scan timeframe per symbol M15 Switch to M5 for shorter holding windows, M30/H1 for swing-style monitoring
Symbols, comma separated (empty = Market Watch) "" Comma-separated list to scan only specific symbols. Leave empty to scan your whole Market Watch. The filter always narrows panel and alerts together. Up to 1.7 this field was called "Symbol filter (e.g. EURUSD,XAUUSD)"
Symbol filter, continued (two fields with the same label) "" Two more fields for long watchlists. The Scanner merges all three into one list and removes spaces and duplicates; upper and lower case do not matter, and it makes no difference how you spread the symbols across the fields
Panel refresh interval (seconds) 3 Pace of the regular timer for display, spreads and active signals. Values below 5 act as 5 seconds, so the default runs every 5 seconds. Raise it to ease CPU
Symbols (re)optimized per timer tick 3 Raise to bring new scan bars into the list faster; lower to ease CPU. Has no effect during the fast first pass
Highlight & alert when PF reaches this 2.0 Raise to be stricter (fewer promising rows); lower to widen the funnel
Min historical win rate (%) for list and alerts (0 = off) 0 Set a floor if you only want setups with a higher historical win rate in the list and in your alerts
Min SL (% of ATR) 100 Default 100% of ATR filters out noise stops; lower it if you want to allow tight stops despite the noise risk
Min sample trades for valid setup 20 Minimum sample trades for a valid setup. Raise it if you want statistical robustness over freshness

The default of 100% of ATR for the SL floor is intentional: configurations below 100% consistently win in 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.
  • Collapse the panel to its status line when you need chart space. Scan and alerts keep running.
  • Sort by Last (descending) to see which symbols had the most recent signal.
  • Sort by PF (descending) to see your strongest setups first.
  • Sort by Spread to see the tightest spreads on top.
  • Use the symbol filter to focus on a personal watchlist, for example "EURUSD,GBPUSD,XAUUSD,US30,NAS100". A long list continues in the two extra fields.
  • Run several Scanners with one instance name each, for example one per scan timeframe or per watchlist. Each chart keeps its own settings.
  • Put the Power Candles indicator on the Scanner's chart. A click on a symbol name switches that chart, and the indicator draws its lines there.
  • Default scan timeframe is M15, which 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, or set a minimum win rate, if you want only A-grade setups in green and a quieter watchlist.

Common Issues

The list takes a while to fill. Since 1.8 the first pass is much faster than in 1.7; its duration depends on the number of symbols and on your computer. The Experts journal line Power Candles Scanner: first scan complete, N symbols in X.X s shows the time for your terminal. If the loading line stays for good, at least one symbol in the scan has no price data. With the filters released (minimum win rate 0, Strategy on Both, both show-only switches off) its row reads Loading or No OHLC; check that the symbol has enough history bars on the scan timeframe.

The panel reads "All symbols hidden by the current filters (M scanned)". Together, your filters hide every row. Lower the minimum win rate or loosen the switches on the Settings page.

The panel reads "Symbol filter matches 0 Market Watch symbols, add one to start scanning". None of the symbols in your filter is in the Market Watch. Add a matching symbol to the Market Watch (the Scanner picks it up without a restart) or correct a typo in the filter inputs.

No promising symbols show up. The market may simply be in a low-edge regime right now. Either lower "Highlight & alert when PF reaches this" or the minimum win rate for a while, switch "Scan timeframe per symbol", or wait for volatility to return. The Scanner is honest about flat markets: a row turns promising only when the numbers earn it.

Green rows, but no alert after attaching or a restart. The first scan after attaching or a restart sets the baseline for your alerts. From then on every alert reports a change since that scan: a symbol that turns promising, or a new signal on a promising symbol (see "Two Alert Types").

Several alerts in the same second at session open. Multiple symbols can flip into the promising state when liquidity returns. This is normal. The on-chart channel switches let you mute the noise during specific hours if needed.

The Scanner is gone after I added the Trade Manager. Each chart runs one EA, so the Trade Manager replaced the Scanner. Put the Scanner back on a chart of its own and the Trade Manager on a second chart (see "One EA per Chart").

My EA can't read the Scanner's signals via buffers. The Scanner is an Expert Advisor built for manual decision-making, and its results live in the panel. Buffers come with the Power Candles indicator and carry the raw momentum direction; the strategy-aware trade direction (Reversal inversion, threshold filtering, SL/TP placement) stays inside the panel by design.