An integer that MetaTrader 5 attaches to every order placed by Ducat, allowing it to identify and manage its own trades separately from manual orders or other EAs. Each symbol slot is assigned a sequential magic number from this base: Slot 1 uses the base number exactly, Slot 2 uses base+1, up to Slot 5 at base+4.

When true, the real-time information panel is rendered on the chart. When false, the panel is hidden and no panel objects are created or updated. Disabling the panel has no effect on the EA's trading logic whatsoever.

When left blank, Ducat labels each order with its standard format — the EA name, symbol, direction, and grid step number (for example, Ducat US500 Buy S2). Entering any text here replaces the entire comment on every order with whatever you type.

This setting is purely cosmetic and has no effect on trading logic. It is most useful when running multiple EAs on the same account and you want to distinguish Ducat's trades in the trade history or for reporting purposes.

When enabled, Ducat adjusts all lot sizes proportionally as your account balance grows or shrinks from a starting reference point. The reference balance is recorded the first time Ducat initialises on the account and stored in a MetaTrader 5 Global Variable so it persists across restarts.

Example: if the starting balance is $10,000 and you configure an initial lot of 0.01 for XAUUSD, then once the account grows to $12,000 the raw scaled lot would be 0.012. If it falls to $8,000 the raw scaled lot would be 0.008. The current effective lot for each symbol is displayed in brackets next to the symbol name in the panel whenever it differs from the configured value.

However, brokers enforce a minimum volume step for each instrument — on XAUUSD this is typically 0.01 lots, meaning valid lot sizes are 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, and so on. A raw scaled value of 0.012 cannot be placed, so Ducat rounds it down to the nearest valid step: 0.01. This means scaling only produces a visible change in lot size once the balance has grown enough to cross a full volume step. On instruments with a finer volume step (such as forex pairs at 0.001 lots) the scaling effect is more granular and responsive. The practical consequence is that on XAUUSD, balance scaling has no real effect until the account has grown by at least 100% — at which point the lot would step up from 0.01 to 0.02.

Resetting the Scaling Reference Balance

The reference balance is stored in a MetaTrader 5 Global Variable named DC_StartBalance_ACCOUNTNUMBER (where ACCOUNTNUMBER is your MT5 login number — for example, DC_StartBalance_12345678). To update it, go to Tools → Global Variables (or press F3), find the variable, and set it to your desired new reference balance. The change takes effect immediately on the next tick — no EA restart is required.

You may want to reset this baseline if your account balance has grown significantly and you want lot sizes to be calculated from the new higher level rather than the original starting point, or conversely if a drawdown has reduced your balance and you want to recalibrate the scaling to the current reality rather than chasing a higher historical reference.

Sets a maximum allowable drawdown as a percentage of the session starting balance — the account balance recorded when Ducat was last initialised. If the current account equity falls below this threshold, Ducat immediately closes all open positions across all symbols and permanently deactivates itself for the session. No further trades are placed until the EA is removed and re-attached.

Example: a value of 15.0 means all trading halts if the floating equity drawdown from the session start exceeds 15%. With a $10,000 session start balance, the EA shuts down if equity drops below $8,500.

When active, the system status bar in the panel displays the current drawdown percentage alongside the threshold, and changes colour as it approaches — orange at 50%, red at 80%. Setting this to 0 disables the feature entirely.

By default, every time you remove and re-attach the EA, the session start balance used by the Hard Stop Loss resets to whatever the account balance is at that moment. If the account has taken a loss, this effectively lowers the safety threshold relative to the original balance.

When this option is enabled, the session start balance is stored in a MetaTrader 5 Global Variable and survives restarts, VPS reboots, and re-attachments. The Hard Stop Loss threshold stays anchored to the same original balance until you manually clear the stored value.

This is particularly useful in the scenario where the Hard Stop Loss triggered, you re-attach to resume, and you want the threshold to remain based on the pre-drawdown balance rather than the reduced post-drawdown balance — preventing the safety net from silently drifting lower each time you restart.

When set to false, this slot is completely ignored — no monitoring occurs, no positions are opened, and the slot shows as DISABLED in the panel. Disabling unused slots is recommended to avoid unnecessary resource consumption.

You can also effectively disable a slot by clearing the symbol name field. Both approaches have the same result.

In v1.40, Slots 1 (XAUUSD) and 5 (USDCHF) are both disabled by default. To activate either, set S1_Enabled = true or S5_Enabled = true respectively. If you are upgrading from an earlier version and have open positions on either symbol, enable the relevant slot before attaching v1.40 so the EA can recover and continue managing those positions.

Enter the exact symbol name as it appears in your broker's Market Watch, including any suffix your broker appends — for example US500.cash, GER40m, or XAUUSDz.

If the symbol is not found in Market Watch at startup, Ducat will attempt to add it automatically. If it still cannot be found, the slot will be skipped and logged as a failed initialisation — all other slots continue to operate normally.

The lot size used for the opening position of each grid cycle on this symbol. This is the most important risk parameter you will configure — it directly determines base exposure on this instrument, and all subsequent grid additions are sized relative to it.

Before setting this, understand that a fully loaded grid represents a meaningfully larger total exposure than this initial lot alone. Refer to the FAQ for guidance on calculating your maximum theoretical exposure per symbol.

If balance scaling is enabled, this value serves as the reference from which scaled lots are calculated. The effective lot in use is always visible in the panel.

Sets the maximum spread, measured in points (the instrument's minimum price movement), at which Ducat will open new positions on this symbol. If the live spread exceeds this value at the moment of an intended entry or grid addition, that specific trade is silently skipped — no order is placed, and no log noise is produced. The EA checks again on the next candle or tick as normal.

Default thresholds are pre-set for each instrument slot and calibrated to typical ECN conditions. You may need to widen these if your broker consistently shows higher spreads, particularly during the Asian session or around rollover. Setting a slot's value to 0 disables the filter entirely for that slot.

When enabled, Ducat begins monitoring each active symbol during the window before its daily trading session closes. The check evaluates the combined profit and accrued swap of all open positions on that symbol. If the net result is positive, all positions are closed immediately.

If the basket is not yet in net profit when the window opens, no action is taken — the basket continues to run normally and the standard virtual take profit or stop loss closes it as usual.

After a pre-rollover close, the slot will not open a new grid for the remainder of that calendar day. Normal trading resumes the following day.

Sets the window, in minutes, before the end of the trading session during which Ducat checks whether a basket should be closed. A value of 30 means the check begins 30 minutes before the session closes.

During this window, the check runs on every new candle. The first moment the basket shows a positive net result, the close fires. If the basket never turns positive within the window, it is left open and continues under normal management.