> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.hydravision.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.hydravision.ai/concepts/made-simple-guides/smartentry-made-simple.md).

# SmartEntry Made Simple

A plain-English guide to how Hydra Vision decides when to trade

### Who this guide is for

You've installed Hydra Vision, opened the inputs and found a long list of SmartEntry settings. This guide explains what SmartEntry does, what each setting changes, and which few settings are worth your attention first. You don't need any programming knowledge, and you don't need to understand indicators in depth.

If you only read one section, read **SmartEntry in one minute** and **If you only touch three settings**.

### SmartEntry in one minute

A grid strategy opens a first position and then adds more positions as price moves against it, so that a smaller move back in its favour can close the whole group in profit. The risky part is *when* those positions are added. Add them too eagerly into a strong one-way move and the grid gets heavy fast.

**SmartEntry is the gatekeeper.** It doesn't decide the strategy. It decides whether *now* is a good moment, and it asks that question twice:

1. **Opening a grid (the "anchor").** Is this a sensible moment to start a new grid at all?
2. **Growing a grid (the "re-entries").** Is this a sensible moment to add another position to a grid that's already open?

It gets more demanding the deeper the grid goes. Adding the second position needs little evidence. Adding the twelfth needs a lot. That's how a careful human trader thinks too.

**Think of it this way:** SmartEntry isn't there to stop you trading. It's there to wait for the better moments. Most of the time the market simply isn't offering a good entry, and SmartEntry is patient on your behalf.

### Part 1: Opening a grid (the anchor)

A new grid only opens when **no grid is currently running** on either side (buy or sell). Then three checks have to agree.

#### Check 1: The starting signal (moving-average cross)

SmartEntry watches two moving averages, a fast one and a slow one. When the fast one crosses the slow one, it's a sign that short-term momentum has turned. That cross is the starting signal for a new grid.

It doesn't act on the first wobble, though. After the cross, the two lines have to **pull apart by a minimum gap** before the signal counts. This filters out the many crosses that immediately cross back.

| Setting (as shown in the Online Setfile Builder) | Default | What it changes                                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Require MA Cross for Anchor                      | On      | Leave this on. Turning it off means a grid can open almost as soon as the previous one closes.                                                               |
| MA Preset                                        | 13 / 26 | How fast the two lines react. Smaller numbers (5/20, 7/14) give more, quicker signals. Larger numbers (50/100, 50/200) give few, slow ones.                  |
| MA Method                                        | EMA     | The type of average. EMA reacts faster than SMA.                                                                                                             |
| MA Timeframe                                     | M15     | The chart timeframe the lines are drawn on. Higher timeframes mean fewer, more meaningful signals.                                                           |
| MA Gap Factor                                    | 0.15    | How far the lines must pull apart, as a fraction of your step size. Higher means fewer, stronger signals. Lower means earlier signals but more false starts. |

#### Check 2: Where is price in its range? (Market Regime)

Even with a good signal, *where* you start a grid matters. **Market Regime** checks where price is before a grid starts. The default option, Market Context, looks at where today's price sits within the market's recent high-to-low range. By default that's the last 3 months, set by *Months to look back for Market Context*.

| Market Regime qualification  | What it does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Market Context** (default) | Allows buys only in the lower part of the range and sells only in the upper part (with Buy Low / Sell High on). Right in the middle of the range, and at the very extremes, it waits.                                                               |
| **MA Higher Time Frame**     | Compares price with a slow average on a higher timeframe: the *MA Period for Anchor Vetoes* (a 50-period EMA by default) on the *Market Regime Timeframe* (default H4). With Buy Low / Sell High on, it buys below that average and sells above it. |
| **No Regime Check**          | No regime check. Grids open on the starting signal and vetoes alone.                                                                                                                                                                                |

**Buy Low / Sell High** (default on) is the classic "buy cheap, sell dear" behaviour. Turn it off and the logic flips to following the trend: buying when price is already high in its range, and selling when it's low.

**Good to know:** with Market Context there's a neutral band around the middle of the range where neither side opens. The regime is re-measured every 15 minutes, and straight away when a grid closes.

**Max Market Density % (0-100)** (default 60) is the one regime setting that acts on a grid that's already open. It compares how many positions the grid holds with how far price has travelled from the anchor. If the grid is already more crowded than that distance justifies, new dynamic positions wait until price moves further. That stops a grid bunching up while the market is still pushing to new highs or lows. It applies whenever Market Regime isn't set to No Regime Check, and never to static positions.

#### Check 3: The safety vetoes

Finally, SmartEntry can refuse to start a grid in market conditions that are known to be dangerous for grids. Each veto can be switched on or off independently. All of them are measured on *Timeframe for Anchor Vetoes* (default H1).

| Veto                                         | Default | What it protects you from                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| -------------------------------------------- | ------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Anchor Waterfall Protection**              | On      | Starting a grid in the middle of a steep, one-way cascade. If the last few candles have fallen hard (for a buy) or risen hard (for a sell), it waits.                                                                                          |
| **Check Micro Break Structure on Anchor**    | Off     | Starting before price has proven itself. It's a confirmation rather than a veto: when on, a buy waits until price breaks above its recent short-term highs, and a sell waits for a break below recent lows.                                    |
| **Block Late Entries (Extended Price)**      | Off     | Chasing a move that has already run. It blocks a buy when price is already stretched far above its average, and a sell when it's far below. The average is the slow line of your starting moving-average pair, measured on the veto timeframe. |
| **Block Exhausted Moves (Trend Exhaustion)** | Off     | Joining a trend that's running out of steam. It's similar to the one above, measured against a slower average set by *MA Period for Anchor Vetoes* (default 50).                                                                               |

Every veto makes the same trade: **fewer new grids, but safer ones.** Turning more on means more time waiting. These checks only apply when a new grid opens. They never hold back adds to a grid that's already open.

### Part 2: Growing a grid (re-entries)

Once a grid is open, SmartEntry decides when to add to it.

#### First: which grid strategy are you using?

The *Grid Strategy* setting decides how much of SmartEntry is involved in adding positions:

| Grid Strategy                                  | How positions are added                                                                                            |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Dynamic** (default)                          | SmartEntry's full re-entry logic: risk zones, signals, confirmation and spacing. **Everything in Part 2 applies.** |
| **Every Step**                                 | A new position every time price moves one step further. No signals. Simple and predictable.                        |
| **Step with Increasing / Decreasing distance** | Like Every Step, but the gap grows or shrinks with each position. No signals.                                      |

SmartEntry still decides when a grid *opens* under every strategy. Only **Dynamic** uses it to decide when to *add*.

#### Risk zones: green, yellow, red

SmartEntry measures how far the grid has stretched from its first position to its furthest one, counted in steps, and colours it:

* **Green** (up to 5 steps by default): low risk. SmartEntry is relaxed and adds readily.
* **Yellow** (up to 10 steps): medium risk. It wants clearer evidence before adding.
* **Red** (beyond 10 steps): high risk. It's at its most demanding.

You can move these boundaries with *Low Risk = Green zone upper bound* and *Medium Risk = Yellow zone upper bound. Above this - Red*. The zones are drawn on your chart so you can see where a grid stands.

#### The fixed start: static positions

Sometimes you want the first few positions placed exactly like a simple fixed grid, one step apart and no questions asked, with SmartEntry's judgement only taking over after that. That's what **Static Positions Before Dynamic** does (in MT5: *# Static positions before Dynamic (incl. the first)*).

* **0 or 1** (default 0): no static positions. SmartEntry judges every add.
* **3**: the first 3 positions (the opening one plus two more) sit exactly one step apart, without any signal check. From the 4th onward, SmartEntry decides.

If price jumps past the static area in one move, SmartEntry takes over from there.

#### The three signals SmartEntry looks for

Before adding in the dynamic part of a grid, SmartEntry looks for signs that price is turning in the grid's favour. It watches three things:

| Signal             | In plain words                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Micro Bounce**   | Price made a fresh low, bounced off it, and is now trading above that bounce. A rejection of lower prices.                                                                                              |
| **Momentum Shift** | A sharp V-turn: a quick drop followed straight away by a quick rise (for a buy). Each move must be bigger than the zone's ATR × *Momentum Shift ATR Sensitivity (lower = fires more)*, 0.75 by default. |
| **Range Breakout** | Price burst out of its recent trading range in the grid's favour.                                                                                                                                       |

Each zone looks at these on its own chart timeframe: green on M15, yellow on M30 and red on H1 by default. The deeper the grid, the slower and more meaningful the evidence it asks for.

#### Signal Confirmation: the one dial that matters

**Re-Entry Signal Confirmation** sets how much evidence SmartEntry needs, and how fresh that evidence must be, before it adds in each zone. It's the most important re-entry setting.

| Setting                | Green zone                       | Yellow zone               | Red zone                             | Feels like                                   |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------- |
| **Lenient**            | Any 1 signal in the last 40 bars | Any 1 in the last 20 bars | Any 1 in the last 10 bars            | Trusting. Adds readily, even deep in a grid. |
| **Balanced** (default) | Any 1 in the last 20 bars        | Any 1 in the last 10 bars | **2 signals in the last 5 bars**     | Measured. Easy early on, careful when deep.  |
| **Strict**             | 2 signals in the last 10 bars    | 2 in the last 5 bars      | **All 3 signals in the last 5 bars** | Very selective.                              |

"Bars" means candles on that zone's timeframe, counting the one that's forming now. "2 signals" means two *different* signals have each fired within that window. They don't have to fire at the same moment. Signals only count if they fired since the grid's last position opened, so every add needs fresh evidence of its own, and nothing carries over from one grid to the next.

**About Strict:** in the red zone, Strict waits for all three signals within five candles. That takes a genuine turn in the market, so **Strict adds far fewer deep positions than the other settings.** That can be exactly what you want if you'd rather a grid grow slowly once it's deep.

#### Re-entry spacing: how far apart the positions are

**Re-Entry Spacing Mode** decides how far price must travel past the last position before SmartEntry even considers adding another.

| Mode                               | How the distance is set                                                                         | Best for                                                     |
| ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Fixed Step** (default)           | Always one step size.                                                                           | Predictability. You always know where the next add could be. |
| **ATR – Current**                  | Scales with how volatile the market is right now. Wider in fast markets, tighter in quiet ones. | Reacting quickly to volatility. Can swing around.            |
| **ATR – Average/Baseline**         | Scales with the market's *typical* volatility.                                                  | Adapting to volatility, but smoothly.                        |
| **ATR – Baseline × Clamped Ratio** | Typical volatility, nudged up or down by current conditions within limits.                      | A middle ground between the two above.                       |

In the ATR modes the gap also widens as the grid deepens: 2× ATR in green, 3× in yellow and 4× in red by default. By default it's always kept between one step size and 10 times your step size, so it's never tighter than a fixed step. Spacing only applies to the dynamic part of the grid; static positions always use the fixed step.

**Good to know:** *Maximum missing steps gap* (default 5) counts in rungs of whatever spacing the grid is using. With ATR spacing, "5" means price ran five ATR-sized rungs past the last position, not five fixed steps, so wide ATR spacing never closes a grid before it can add.

#### Custom confirmation: for when you know exactly what you want

Lenient, Balanced and Strict cover most traders. **Custom** (listed as *Uses advanced weight inputs directly*) exists for experienced users who want to shape the evidence rules themselves. In Custom mode you can:

* decide how much each signal counts (its *weight*), or switch one off completely (weight 0)
* set your own required score for each zone
* set how many candles back a signal may have fired and still count

All of these sit together under **Custom Confirmation Only** in the settings, and they have no effect in the other modes.

**An example of why someone would use it:** suppose that from your own testing you trust Range Breakouts more than the other two signals on your pair. In Custom you could give Range Breakout a weight of 2 and set the red-zone score to 2. Then, deep in a grid, a single breakout is enough to add, while the two weaker signals only qualify if they appear together. None of the presets can express that preference.

**Before you go Custom:** the presets are calibrated and tested. Custom's starting values ask for a score of 3 at the moment of the add in the red zone. All three signals rarely fire at the same moment, so that means very few deep adds, or none. Always test Custom settings in the Strategy Tester before using them live.

#### When the market breaks out of its range

The most dangerous moment for a grid is a breakout: price leaves its recent range and keeps going, and the grid on the wrong side keeps adding into the move. Breakout handling lets you decide what that grid does while the breakout lasts. It's off by default and takes two settings to switch on.

**Step 1: Breakout Lag.** Normally the recent range includes today, so in a fast move the range stretches along with price and a breakout never looks like one. *Breakout Lag* tells Hydra Vision to leave the last few days out when it measures the range. With a lag of 5, a move that started this week is measured against the range from before it, so it shows up as a breakout. The Market Context check for opening grids then uses that same range as well.

Once price breaks out, the level it broke through is **held**. A move that jumps, pauses and jumps again counts as one breakout, even as the range slowly catches up. The breakout ends when price comes back through the held level by more than a tenth of your Minimum Step Size (2 units with a 20-unit step, and never less than the spread), so price hovering right at the edge of the range doesn't end and restart it tick by tick.

**Step 2: Breakout Re-entries.** This decides what happens to the grid that's trading *against* the breakout (sells while price breaks upward, buys while it breaks downward):

| Breakout Re-entries | What the grid on the wrong side does                                                                                                                         |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Off** (default)   | Adds as normal.                                                                                                                                              |
| **Freeze**          | Adds nothing until the breakout ends.                                                                                                                        |
| **Frontier lot**    | Keeps adding, but no position is larger than the grid's current outermost one, so the grid stops growing in size. Partial Close can still pair positions up. |
| **Base lot**        | Keeps adding, but every new position uses the starting lot.                                                                                                  |

It applies to every add on that side, whatever your Grid Strategy, static positions included. Positions that Partial Close puts back after trimming are never held back. The grid trading *with* the breakout isn't affected at all.

**Optional: Breakout Ease.** With *Breakout Ease* at 0, the breakout lasts until price retraces all the way back through the level it broke. After a big move that can take a long time. Ease moves the held level from the broken level towards the furthest point price reached, spread evenly over the number of days you set. Early on it takes a deep pullback to end the breakout, and later a small one is enough. If a breakout ends this way while price is still outside the old range, a new breakout needs price to go beyond that furthest point (or to come back inside the range first).

**Good to know:** Breakout Re-entries needs Breakout Lag above 0. A setfile with a re-entry mode and no lag is rejected. Each breakout is written to the Journal as it starts and ends, together with how many adds were frozen or placed at a capped lot.

### Part 3: Built-in protections

These settings sit around SmartEntry and can also hold an entry back.

| Setting                                                                                        | Default     | What it does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Market Cooldown/Delay Trading** + **Cooldown Timing**                                        | Off, H4     | When on, allows at most one add per side per candle of the chosen timeframe. It slows a grid down in fast markets.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| **Extreme DD Veto** + **Extreme DD Threshold %**                                               | Off, 30%    | When your account's open drawdown (what the positions open right now are losing, on every symbol, as a % of balance) is above the threshold, no new grid opens. Grids already open keep adding positions. Once the open trades recover or close, new grids can open again. It's milder than the hard stop in Risk Policies, which closes the grid side that hit its max loss and then stops new grids on that chart. |
| **Maximum positions (0 for infinite)**                                                         | 0           | A hard cap on how many positions a grid can hold.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Maximum missing steps gap**                                                                  | 5           | Closes the whole grid if price runs this many rungs past the last position in one go: a move too fast for the grid (one add per candle with Market Cooldown) to keep up with. Counted in the grid's own spacing, so it works the same with Fixed Step and ATR.                                                                                                                                                       |
| **Max Spread**                                                                                 | 4           | No new grids and no adds while the spread is wider than this. Check your Asset Profile for a sensible value.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| **Enable Session Filter (initial entries only)** + **Trade Asian / London / New York Session** | Off; all on | The session switches only act when *Enable Session Filter* is on, and it's off by default. Then they control when **new grids** may open, using the clock set in *Session Time Base* (GMT by default). Open grids keep being managed and can still add positions outside these sessions.                                                                                                                             |

### If you only touch three settings

Start from the defaults, then adjust these three first. Always test changes in the Strategy Tester before you trade them live.

1. **Re-Entry Signal Confirmation.** Your main risk dial for growing grids.
   * **Lenient:** more activity; grids grow readily.
   * **Balanced:** the default; a good fit for most conditions.
   * **Strict:** fewer adds; grids grow slowly once they're deep.
2. **Market Regime qualification + Buy Low / Sell High.** Decides where grids are allowed to start. Market Context with Buy Low / Sell High on suits markets that swing within a range.
3. **Re-Entry Spacing Mode.** Fixed Step for predictability. ATR – Average/Baseline if your pair has calm and wild periods and you'd like the grid to breathe with it.

**A starting map:**

| If your market is…                             | Try                                                                                          |
| ---------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Swinging in a range                            | Balanced or Lenient confirmation, Market Context, Buy Low / Sell High on                     |
| Trending strongly                              | Balanced or Strict confirmation, Anchor Waterfall Protection on, consider Block Late Entries |
| Prone to sudden breakouts that don't come back | Breakout Lag (for example 5) with Breakout Re-entries on Frontier lot or Freeze              |
| Prone to sudden volatility                     | Balanced confirmation, ATR – Average/Baseline spacing                                        |
| …and you want the least drawdown               | Strict confirmation, plus Market Cooldown on                                                 |
| …and you want the most grid activity           | Lenient confirmation, Fixed Step spacing                                                     |

### Why didn't it…?

#### …open a new grid?

Work down this list. The first one that applies is usually the answer.

1. **A grid is still open.** New grids only start when both sides are flat.
2. **Trading is switched off.** Check AutoTrading in MT5 and the EA's own trading permission.
3. **The market is closed or the spread is too wide** (*Max Spread*).
4. **You're outside your enabled trading sessions** (only when *Enable Session Filter* is on).
5. **The direction isn't allowed** by your *Bias Selection*.
6. **The EA has been told to stop**, by a graceful stop, a suspend command, or "buy off" / "sell off".
7. **No starting signal yet.** The averages haven't crossed, or have crossed but not pulled far enough apart. If a cross arrives while something else on this list is blocking, SmartEntry keeps it ready and opens the grid once the block clears, as long as the averages haven't crossed back in the meantime.
8. **Market Regime says wait.** Price is in the neutral middle of its range, at an extreme, or on the wrong side for your Buy Low / Sell High setting.
9. **A safety veto is active:** Waterfall, Extended Price or Exhausted Moves, or Micro Break is waiting for its breakout.
10. **Extreme DD Veto is on** and your account's open drawdown, across all symbols, is above the threshold.
11. **Not enough free margin.**

#### …add a position to my grid?

1. **The market is closed or the spread is too wide.** (Sessions don't stop adds.)
2. **The cooldown hasn't passed** (*Market Cooldown*, one add per candle).
3. **Price hasn't moved far enough** past the last position (your step, or the ATR spacing).
4. **The signals haven't confirmed** for the current zone (Dynamic strategy only). Deep in a grid on Balanced, two signals must have fired in the last 5 candles. On Strict, all three must.
5. **A breakout is running against the grid** and *Breakout Re-entries* is on Freeze. (On Frontier lot or Base lot it still adds, just at a smaller lot.) Look for "\[REGIME BREAKOUT]" lines in the Journal.
6. **The grid is already crowded for how far price has moved** (*Max Market Density % (0-100)*, when Market Regime isn't No Regime Check).
7. **You've reached *****Maximum positions*****.**
8. **The grid was closed by *****Maximum missing steps gap***: price ran too many rungs past the last position in one move.
9. **The EA has been told "entries off"**, or there isn't enough margin.

### Glossary

* **Anchor:** the first position of a new grid.
* **Re-entry:** any position added to a grid that's already open.
* **Step / step size:** the basic distance between grid positions (*Minimum Step Size*).
* **Static positions:** the first positions of a dynamic grid that are placed one step apart with no signal check.
* **Risk zones:** green, yellow and red bands measuring how far a grid has stretched from its first position to its furthest one.
* **ATR (Average True Range):** a standard measure of how much the market typically moves in one candle. Higher ATR means a more volatile market.
* **Moving average (MA):** the average price over a number of recent candles, drawn as a smooth line.
* **Bar / candle:** one period on the chart, for example 15 minutes on M15.
* **Drawdown:** how much your account is down. The Extreme DD Veto uses *open* drawdown: what the positions open right now are losing, on every symbol, as a % of balance. Closed losses don't count.
* **Breakout:** price leaving its recent range (measured without the last *Breakout Lag* days) and staying beyond the level it broke.

### Settings reference

All SmartEntry-related settings, as they appear in the Online Setfile Builder. The MT5 inputs window sometimes uses a different label; where it differs a lot, the MT5 label is given in brackets.

#### Opening a grid

<table data-search="false"><thead><tr><th>Setting</th><th>Default</th><th>Plain meaning</th><th>When you might change it</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Require MA Cross for Anchor</td><td>On</td><td>Require the starting signal</td><td>Rarely. Leave on.</td></tr><tr><td>MA Preset</td><td>13/26</td><td>Speed of the starting signal</td><td>Faster for more grids, slower for fewer</td></tr><tr><td>Fast MA Period / Slow MA Period</td><td>13 / 26</td><td>Your own speeds (with the Custom preset)</td><td>Only with the Custom preset</td></tr><tr><td>MA Method</td><td>EMA</td><td>Type of average</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>MA Timeframe</td><td>M15</td><td>Chart timeframe for the signal</td><td>Higher for fewer, stronger signals</td></tr><tr><td>MA Gap Factor</td><td>0.15</td><td>How decisive the cross must be</td><td>Raise to cut false starts</td></tr><tr><td>Market Regime qualification</td><td>Market Context</td><td>Where in its range price must be to start</td><td>None to start anywhere</td></tr><tr><td>Buy Low/Sell High</td><td>On</td><td>Buy cheap, sell dear (off = follow the trend)</td><td>Off for a trend-following style</td></tr><tr><td>Months to look back for Market Context</td><td>3</td><td>How much history defines "the range"</td><td>Longer for a broader view</td></tr><tr><td>Breakout Lag: range ignores the last N days (0 = off)</td><td>0</td><td>Leaves recent days out of the range so a fast move registers as a breakout</td><td>Set it (for example 5) to use Breakout Re-entries</td></tr><tr><td>Market Regime Timeframe</td><td>H4</td><td>Timeframe for the MA Higher Time Frame option</td><td>Only with that option</td></tr><tr><td>Max Market Density % (0-100)</td><td>60</td><td>Holds dynamic adds back while the grid is crowded for how far price has moved</td><td>Lower to space adds out more in strong moves; needs a Market Regime other than No Regime Check</td></tr><tr><td>Timeframe for Anchor Vetoes</td><td>H1</td><td>Timeframe the vetoes look at</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>MA Period for Anchor Vetoes</td><td>50</td><td>Slow average used by the Exhausted Moves veto and by MA Higher Time Frame</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>Anchor Waterfall Protection</td><td>On</td><td>Don't start in a cascade</td><td>Keep on</td></tr><tr><td>ATR Multiplier / Lookback Bars (Anchor Waterfall Protection)</td><td>2.0 / 10</td><td>How steep counts as a cascade, over how many candles</td><td>Lower the multiplier to be more cautious</td></tr><tr><td>Check Micro Break Structure on Anchor</td><td>Off</td><td>Wait for a short-term breakout first</td><td>On for later, confirmed starts</td></tr><tr><td>Block Late Entries (Extended Price)</td><td>Off</td><td>Don't chase stretched moves</td><td>On in strongly trending markets</td></tr><tr><td>Max ATR Distance from Slow MA</td><td>1.5</td><td>How stretched is too stretched</td><td>Lower to be stricter</td></tr><tr><td>Block Exhausted Moves (Trend Exhaustion)</td><td>Off</td><td>Don't join tired trends</td><td>On if you see late-trend entries</td></tr><tr><td>Exhaustion ATR Multiplier</td><td>2.0</td><td>How tired is too tired</td><td>Lower to be stricter</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Growing a grid

<table data-search="false"><thead><tr><th>Setting</th><th>Default</th><th>Plain meaning</th><th>When you might change it</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Grid Strategy</td><td>Dynamic</td><td>How positions are added (only Dynamic uses SmartEntry for adds)</td><td>Every Step for a simple fixed grid</td></tr><tr><td>Static Positions Before Dynamic (MT5: # Static positions before Dynamic (incl. the first))</td><td>0</td><td>Fixed-step positions before SmartEntry takes over</td><td>Raise for a fixed start</td></tr><tr><td>Low Risk = Green zone upper bound</td><td>5</td><td>Steps of "green"</td><td>Wider to stay relaxed for longer</td></tr><tr><td>Medium Risk = Yellow zone upper bound. Above this - Red</td><td>10</td><td>Steps before "red"</td><td>Wider to delay the strictest zone</td></tr><tr><td>Re-Entry Signal Confirmation</td><td>Balanced</td><td>How much evidence before adding</td><td>Your main risk dial</td></tr><tr><td>Green / Yellow / Red Zone Timeframe</td><td>M15 / M30 / H1</td><td>Chart each zone reads its signals from, and measures ATR on for ATR spacing. Applies in every mode</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>Momentum Shift ATR Sensitivity (lower = fires more)</td><td>0.75</td><td>How sharp a V-turn must be (lower = fires more)</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>Re-Entry Spacing Mode</td><td>Fixed Step</td><td>How far apart dynamic adds are</td><td>ATR modes to adapt to volatility</td></tr><tr><td>Green / Yellow / Red Zone ATR Multiplier</td><td>2 / 3 / 4</td><td>Spacing per zone in ATR modes</td><td>Wider for more caution when deep</td></tr><tr><td>Spacing ATR Period (current) / (baseline/average)</td><td>14 / 50</td><td>How ATR is measured for spacing only. The signals and safety vetoes always use a 14-candle ATR, so changing these never retunes them</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>Ratio Mode: min / max current/baseline</td><td>0.75 / 1.50</td><td>Limits for the Ratio spacing mode</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>Safety: min / max spacing (x Step Size)</td><td>1 / 10</td><td>Hard limits on ATR spacing. At 1, ATR spacing is never tighter than one step</td><td>Rarely</td></tr><tr><td>Micro Bounce / Momentum Shift / Range Breakout Weight</td><td>1 / 1 / 1</td><td>How much each signal counts</td><td>Custom mode only</td></tr><tr><td>Green / Yellow / Red Zone Signal Threshold</td><td>3 / 3 / 3</td><td>Score needed per zone</td><td>Custom mode only</td></tr><tr><td>Green / Yellow / Red Confirm Window (bars, 0=tick)</td><td>10 / 5 / 0</td><td>How fresh signals must be</td><td>Custom mode only</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Protections

<table data-search="false"><thead><tr><th>Setting</th><th>Default</th><th>Plain meaning</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Market Cooldown/Delay Trading</td><td>Off</td><td>At most one add per candle</td></tr><tr><td>Cooldown Timing</td><td>H4</td><td>The candle size used by the cooldown</td></tr><tr><td>Extreme DD Veto</td><td>Off</td><td>No new grids while the account's open drawdown is above the threshold. Open grids keep adding</td></tr><tr><td>Extreme DD Threshold %</td><td>30</td><td>The open drawdown, as a % of balance, that triggers it</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum positions (0 for infinite)</td><td>0</td><td>Hard cap on positions per grid</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum missing steps gap</td><td>5</td><td>Close the grid if price runs this many rungs past the last position</td></tr><tr><td>Breakout Re-entries (needs Breakout Lag > 0)</td><td>Off</td><td>What the grid against a breakout does: Off, Freeze, Frontier lot or Base lot</td></tr><tr><td>Breakout Ease: release over N days (0 = back in range)</td><td>0</td><td>Lets a breakout end on a smaller pullback as days pass</td></tr><tr><td>Max Spread</td><td>4</td><td>No entries while the spread is wider</td></tr><tr><td>Enable Session Filter (initial entries only)</td><td>Off</td><td>Switches the session filter on. The session switches below do nothing while it's off</td></tr><tr><td>Trade Asian / London / New York Session</td><td>On</td><td>When new grids may open (only with the session filter on)</td></tr></tbody></table>

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Written for Hydra Vision 6.5. Settings and defaults may change in later versions.
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