Impulse User Manual
A setup and operation guide for the Impulse Expert Advisor on MetaTrader 5. This manual covers installation, configuration, and day-to-day use only. Strategy logic is fixed inside the EA and is not user-configurable.
Quick Start Guide
Follow these steps to have Impulse live and trading in under ten minutes. The trading logic itself is pre-configured and fixed — you only need to set a few account-specific options below.
Step 1 — Add XAUUSD to Market Watch
Impulse trades XAUUSD exclusively. Open Market Watch (Ctrl+M) and make sure your broker's Gold symbol is visible before attaching the EA.
XAUUSD, GOLD, or similar. Impulse must be attached to a chart of whichever name your broker uses, or it will fail to initialise.
Step 2 — Attach the EA
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Open a XAUUSD chart Any timeframe is fine — the chart timeframe does not affect how the EA operates.
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Drag Impulse onto the chart Find it in the Navigator panel under Expert Advisors and drag it onto the chart, or double-click it. The Properties dialog opens at the Inputs tab.
Step 3 — Set Your Inputs
See the Input Reference section for the full list. At minimum, check:
- Lot size — start conservatively (e.g. 0.01 on accounts under $1,000).
- Magic numbers — defaults are fine unless you run other EAs on the same account.
- Which strategy modules to enable — all five are on by default.
Step 4 — Whitelist the News Filter URL (Recommended)
The News Filter is on by default. Before clicking OK, see News Filter Setup below to whitelist the required URL — otherwise Impulse falls back to MT5's built-in calendar automatically, which works but is less complete.
Step 5 — Enable Algo Trading and Click OK
In the Common tab, ensure "Allow Algorithmic Trading" is checked, then click OK. A smiley face icon should appear top-right on the chart confirming the EA is running.
The Control Panel
When the on-chart panel is enabled, Impulse displays a live overlay in the top-left corner of the chart showing current status, which of the five strategy modules is currently running a grid, account P&L, and a couple of key price levels while a position is open. A CLOSE EA TRADES button at the bottom of the panel lets you manually close everything Impulse currently has open, without removing the EA from the chart.
Two short-lived reference lines may also appear directly on the chart while a position is active, marking the next likely trading level and the current target — both disappear automatically once the position closes.
New in v1.60, the panel also includes a strategy readiness display — a row of status boxes, one per strategy, showing at a glance whether each is waiting, armed and watching for its trigger, actively running the current grid, or locked out while another strategy's basket is open. An H4 trend indicator sits alongside for quick market context.
The panel now also scales automatically to your screen's display resolution so it stays crisp on high-DPI and scaled monitors. If you prefer manual control, the scale, font, and base font size can each be overridden from the inputs.
New in v1.70, the panel's News Filter row shows much richer detail: while a block is active it names the blocking event and the time trading resumes, and while clear it shows the next upcoming event and when its block window begins, along with a staleness warning if calendar data hasn't refreshed recently. A configuration row also shows whether the EA is running in Single or Parallel grid mode, and when parallel mode is enabled the status line, P&L totals, readiness boxes, and chart lines all track each strategy's basket independently.
Input Reference
The table below lists every user-configurable input in Impulse v1.70.
| Input | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Strategy 1 | Turns Strategy 1 on or off. At least one strategy must stay enabled. | true |
| Strategy 1 magic number | Unique ID attached to Strategy 1's trades. Don't change it while a position is open. | 7001 |
| Enable Strategy 2 | Turns Strategy 2 on or off. | true |
| Strategy 2 magic number | Unique ID attached to Strategy 2's trades. Must differ from the other magic numbers. | 7002 |
| Enable Strategy 3 | Turns Strategy 3 on or off. | true |
| Strategy 3 magic number | Unique ID attached to Strategy 3's trades. Must differ from the other magic numbers. | 7003 |
| Enable Strategy 4 | Turns Strategy 4 on or off. | true |
| Strategy 4 magic number | Unique ID attached to Strategy 4's trades. Must differ from the other magic numbers. | 7004 |
| Enable Strategy 5 | Turns Strategy 5 on or off. | true |
| Strategy 5 magic number | Unique ID attached to Strategy 5's trades. Must differ from the other magic numbers. | 7005 |
| Only one strategy grid open at a time (false = parallel grids) | When true (default), only one strategy's grid basket can be open at a time. Set to false to allow each strategy to run its own basket simultaneously — advanced users only; see the callout below. | true |
| Lot calculation method | Chooses how position size is determined (fixed lot, fixed per balance, or automatic risk level). | Fixed Lot |
| Fixed lot size | The lot size used when a fixed-size mode is selected. | 0.01 |
| Balance per lot unit (Fixed per Balance mode) | Balance per lot unit when "Fixed per Balance" mode is selected. | 1000.0 |
| Risk level (Automatic mode only) | Sets the aggressiveness of the Automatic sizing mode (Very Low → Extreme). See the table below. | Very Low |
| Grid & TP spacing mode | Selects whether trade spacing/targets stay fixed or adjust with market conditions. | Adaptive |
| Maximum grid steps (0 = no maximum) | Optional cap on how many positions can be open at once. 0 = no cap. | 0 |
| Custom TP in points from WAP (0 = use strategy default) | Optional fixed target distance, in broker points from the basket's average price, used in place of the default adaptive target. 0 = use the default. | 0 |
| Block new trades below % margin (0 = disabled) | Blocks new entries and grid additions when the account margin level drops below this percentage, and sends a one-time push notification when the threshold is crossed. 0 = disabled. | 120.0 |
| Emergency close basket below % margin (0 = disabled) | Force-closes the entire basket if the account margin level falls below this percentage — a last-resort safeguard below the block level. 0 = disabled. | 75.0 |
| Max drawdown mode | Optional drawdown safeguard — closes or pauses trading if floating loss reaches a set threshold. The floating loss is measured across all open EA baskets combined. | OFF |
| Max DD threshold (% or $, netted across ALL open baskets) | The threshold used by MaxDDMode, as a percentage or dollar amount. Applies to the combined floating P&L of every open basket, not per strategy. | 0.0 |
| Trade direction | Restricts the EA to buy-only or sell-only entries, or allows both directions (default). | Buy & Sell |
| Additional trend filter protection | Optional extra filter that can reduce buy-side entries in unfavourable conditions. | true |
| Block new entries FROM hr / UNTIL hr (0-23 server time, -1 = off) | Optional time window (server time) during which no new positions will open. | -1 / -1 (disabled) |
| Enable News Filter (ForexFactory, MQL5 Calendar) | Master switch for pausing new entries around major USD news events. | true |
| Filter High Impact events | Pause entries around high-impact calendar events. | true |
| Filter Medium Impact events | Also pause entries around medium-impact calendar events. | false |
| Minutes before news to stop trading / Minutes after news to resume trading | How long before/after a matching event new entries are paused. | 60 / 30 |
| Treat as high impact if name contains (e.g. "FOMC,NFP,CPI") | Extra keywords always treated as high-impact news. | FOMC, NFP, CPI, etc. |
| Max allowed spread in points (0 = disabled) | Blocks new trades when the live spread is above this many broker points. 0 = disabled. | 100.0 |
| Allow new entries on Friday | Allows or blocks new positions from opening on Fridays. | true |
| Block new entries on Friday FROM hr (-1 = off) | When Friday trading is allowed, stops new positions from opening after this hour (server time) on Fridays. -1 = disabled. | -1 (disabled) |
| Trade comment prefix (blank = default) | Optional custom prefix for the comment shown on each trade in MT5. | (blank) |
| Show info panel on chart | Shows or hides the on-chart control panel. | false |
| Show logo watermark on chart | Displays a scaled Starpoint logo watermark centred behind the chart, resizing automatically with the chart window. Purely cosmetic. Off by default. | false |
| Scale override (0 = auto, typical 1.0–1.5) | Manually sets the on-chart panel's scale. 0 = auto-fit to your screen's display scaling. | 0.0 (auto) |
| Dashboard font | Font used for the on-chart panel text. | Arial |
| Base font size (points) | Base font size, in points, for the on-chart panel. | 9 |
Block new trades below % margin and Emergency close basket below % margin and is enabled by default — leave both on unless you have a specific reason to disable them. This is especially important when parallel grid mode is enabled.
Automatic Lot Sizing — Risk Levels
When Lot calculation method is set to Automatic (Risk Level), position size scales with account balance. Each level opens 0.01 lots per fixed dollar amount of balance, as shown below.
| Risk Level | Sizing | Example — $10,000 balance |
|---|---|---|
| Very Low | 0.01 lots per $3,000 | ≈ 0.03 lots |
| Low | 0.01 lots per $2,000 | ≈ 0.05 lots |
| Low-Medium | 0.01 lots per $1,500 | ≈ 0.06 lots |
| Medium | 0.01 lots per $1,000 | ≈ 0.10 lots |
| Medium-High | 0.01 lots per $750 | ≈ 0.13 lots |
| High | 0.01 lots per $550 | ≈ 0.18 lots |
| Very High | 0.01 lots per $400 | ≈ 0.25 lots |
| Extreme | 0.01 lots per $300 | ≈ 0.33 lots |
Parallel Grid Mode — New in v1.70
By default, Impulse runs one grid basket at a time — when any strategy opens a basket, the others wait until it closes. Setting Only one strategy grid open at a time to false enables an experimental parallel mode in which each enabled strategy can run its own basket simultaneously, with fully independent grid spacing, take-profit targets, and cooldowns per basket. The panel and chart lines track each basket separately.
Max drawdown mode, and remember the drawdown threshold applies to all baskets combined. Recommended only after you are comfortable with single-basket behaviour on your account.
News Filter Setup
The News Filter pauses new entries around major USD economic releases. It works out of the box using MT5's built-in calendar, but for the most complete event coverage, whitelist the URL below once per installation.
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Open Tools → Options in MetaTrader 5 Press Ctrl+O, or use the Tools menu.
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Go to the Expert Advisors tab Tick "Allow WebRequest for listed URL" if it isn't already checked.
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Add the URL Click Add and enter exactly:
https://nfs.faireconomy.media/ -
Click OK, then restart the EA Remove Impulse from the chart and re-attach it (or restart MT5) so the new permission takes effect.
Strategy Tester
Impulse can be backtested in MetaTrader 5's Strategy Tester.
| Setting | Recommended Value |
|---|---|
| Model | 1 Minute OHLC |
| Symbol | XAUUSD (your broker's name) |
| Date Range | 2025 onward, for best tick data quality |
Support
All purchases include access to ongoing updates, priority support, and an invite to the Starpoint Trading private community.
Please include your broker name, account type (ECN / STP / market maker), and a brief description of the issue. A screenshot of the EA's Experts log tab in MetaTrader 5 is always helpful.
Starpoint Trading — Algorithmic systems built for the serious retail trader.