Complete User Guide

If you have read this and agree — turn the page. If not, please do not buy this or any other indicator.

What's New in Version 0.15

This guide describes TAP ABCD v0.15. If you used an earlier build, here is what changed and what to do about it.

• Key Settings on top. The nine inputs that move winrate and profit factor the most now sit in one group at the top of the settings window, each with a tooltip that says what it gives and what it costs. See Chapter 6.
• New defaults: Swing Detection Length 13, stop to breakeven at 25 % of the way to TP3, position closed 50 / 30 / 20 % at TP1 / TP2 / TP3, Confluence Gate on with a minimum of 4 stars.
• Statistics window. "Statistics From" now has a partner, "Statistics To": you can cut any period — tune the settings on one window and verify them on the next. See 6.1.
• Winrate no longer depends on costs. A stop after the stop was moved to breakeven, +1R or +2R counts as a win even if commissions left it a few dollars below zero. Costs show where they belong: in P&L, R, profit factor and expectancy. See 4.4.
• Dashboard: the Win and PF cells are highlighted; TP2 shares the colour of the other targets.

Chapter 1. What TAP ABCD is — and what it is not

1.1. In plain language

Trader Assistant PRO · ABCD is a complete trading strategy packed into one TradingView indicator. It watches the market structure, marks the start of an impulse (point A) and its end (point B), waits for the pullback (point C) and expects the continuation (point D). From that structure it builds the whole trade: a limit entry ahead of the price, a stop, three targets and the position size for your risk. When the trade is open, it moves the stop by your rules, books the targets in parts and writes the result — in money and in R, after commissions and spread — into the statistics on the chart.

The whole cycle is visible on the chart and arrives as alerts, so you do not have to sit in front of the screen. Your part is to read the checklist verdict, place the orders on your exchange and keep the stop there.

1.2. The problem it solves

Most losing trades are not lost on the setup. They are lost in the dozen decisions between "I see the structure" and "closed in profit" — where to enter, how much, where the stop goes, when to take profit, whether to re-enter after a loss. Each of those decisions, made under pressure, is where a good idea turns into a loss. The indicator takes those decisions out of the moment and puts them into rules you set once.

1.3. What it does NOT do

1.4. Markets and timeframes

The A-B-C-D structure is a property of price movement, not of one asset. The levels are built from the size of the move, so the same rules work on BTC at $80 000 and on EURUSD at 1.08. What differs between markets is the cost model and the position unit — and the indicator has a setting for each:

Timeframes: any TradingView timeframe from 1 minute to 1 week. The primary working range is 5 m – 1 H. For lower and higher charts you change one number — the swing size — and Chapter 6 tells you how.

1.5. Honest statistics — why the numbers look modest

Most indicators that show a winrate show the best case: no commissions, no spread, a target counted even when the same candle hit the stop first. TAP ABCD counts the opposite way. These eight things are either on by default or one checkbox away:

1. Commission of your exchange or broker — three models: % of value, per unit, per order.
2. Spread in ticks, paid on every fill.
3. Gaps through the stop or a target — filled at the open of the next bar, as on the exchange.
4. Stop on the entry bar — if the bar that fills the entry also reaches the stop, the trade is closed.
5. "Stop first" — when one bar touches both a target and the stop, the stop is counted.
6. Setups without a fill — counted separately as "No fill" next to the winrate, never hidden.
7. Maximum drawdown of the closed trades — in money, % of balance and R.
8. A statistics window — tune on one period, verify on the next, so the numbers are not a fit to the whole history.

1.6. How to read this guide

Every chapter answers three questions in the same order: what am I looking at, what do I click and when, and how do I adapt it to my chart. Settings are written in bold with their group in quotes, exactly as they appear in the indicator window.

1.7. Glossary — ten words you will meet everywhere

Chapter 2. First setup in 5 minutes

Follow the steps in this order. Steps 3 to 5 are the ones that make the numbers on your chart yours — do not skip them.

2.1. Step 1. Add the indicator to your chart

1. Open the chart of the instrument you trade. Pick a timeframe between 5 m and 1 H for the first run — 15 m is a good start.
2. Click Indicators at the top of the chart, open the Invite-only scripts tab and click Trader Assistant PRO · ABCD.
3. The indicator appears in the chart legend as TAP ABCD.

2.2. Step 2. Open the settings and meet the groups

Hover the legend TAP ABCD and click the gear icon, or double-click the legend. The window opens on the Inputs tab. The inputs are grouped; here is what each group is for and when you touch it:

Every input has a tooltip — the small i next to it. The tooltips repeat the essence of this guide, so you will not need to come back here for every field.

2.3. Step 3. Risk & Position — do this first

Open 💰 Risk & Position. Without this block the indicator still draws setups, but the position size, the money on the labels and the risk manager are meaningless.

Risk-based vs Margin-based — why it matters

2.4. Step 4. Trade Execution — make the statistics yours

Open 🧾 Trade Execution. Two things here decide whether the Win / PF numbers on your chart are real: the costs and the honest mode (next step).

Entries and targets are limit orders and pay the maker rate; the stop, a stale-trade close and a count-end close are market orders and pay the taker rate. The spread is paid half on every entry and every exit. All of it is subtracted from P&L, R and the statistics.

Contract Size and Qty Step are for bots only — leave them for now (8.6).

2.5. Step 5. Honest mode — one pair of switches

In the same group:

By default both are in the soft mode ("Target first", "Same bar") so that first-time users see the friendlier picture. For decisions — which settings to keep, which market to trade — use the honest mode only. You can switch back for a prettier screenshot; just know which mode you are looking at.

2.6. Step 6. Key Settings — leave them for now

Open 🎛 Key Settings · winrate & PF and just look. These nine inputs are the defaults you start with:

Do not change anything yet. Run the defaults for a few days, read Chapter 6, and then tune with a method — not by feel.

2.7. Step 7. Dashboard and checklist

Open 📊 Dashboard:

• Show Dashboard on; Dashboard Position — Top Right is the default, pick the corner that does not cover your price action.
• Dashboard Font Size — Small on a laptop, Normal on a large monitor.
• Statistics Rows on, Statistics Period — All for now.
• Show Trade Section on.
• Show Risk Section — on while you are learning: balance, today's result, streak and the daily limit stay in front of you.
• Entry Checklist — Bottom strip: the verdict and the nine checks along the bottom of the chart.

2.8. Done — what you should see

• The dashboard in the corner with the header TRADER ASSISTANT PRO · ABCD · <timeframe>, the State row, the trend rows and the statistics rows (Win, PF, No fill, Last).
• The checklist strip along the bottom with a verdict — most likely WAIT right now.
• If the chart has an active count, the points A, B (and C), the fib grid of the A→B leg, the OTE zone and the trade levels with prices, % and money.
• If there is no active count, the chart shows only the completed counts of the past (grey paths with ✓ / ✗ marks) and the dashboard says Scanning. That is normal — a setup is something you wait for. 12.1 covers the "empty chart" question.

2.9. What we did not touch — and why

Point Ranges, Reset, the zones, sweeps, VWAP, projection, colours — all of it works out of the box and is explained in Chapter 11. Changing them now would only make it harder to see what the defaults do.

2.10. Reset settings — when to press it

The Defaults → Reset settings command at the bottom of the settings window returns every input to the factory value — including balance and costs, so you will set those again. Press it:

• after the indicator is updated to a new version (the order of inputs may change);
• after an experiment you do not remember in full;
• when the chart looks different from the screenshots in this guide and you cannot say why.

Colours and the dashboard position are reset too. Alerts you created earlier keep the settings they were created with — recreate them after a reset (8.1).

Chapter 3. Anatomy of the screen

3.1. Map of the screen

1. Points A, B, C, D and the path between them — the count.
2. CHoCH mark — where the count started.
3. Fib grid of the A→B leg, the OTE zone (point C) and the target zone (point D).
4. Trade levels — Entry, SL, TP1 – TP3 with price, %, share and money.
5. Context zones of the count — FVG / iFVG, order blocks, breaker, sweeps, two VWAPs.
6. Long ▲ / Short ▼ label on the signal candle.
7. ✓ / ✗ marks on closed trades and the grey paths of completed counts.
8. Dashboard in the corner.
9. Checklist strip with the verdict.

3.2. Points A, B, C, D and the path

While the count is building, a dashed projection shows C? and D? — where the indicator expects the next points in price and in time. It is an expectation drawn from the current leg, not a prediction; it helps you see the shape of the trade before it exists. The spacing of the projection and where C? is placed inside its range are settings in 👻 Projection.

Point labels can be made larger in 👁 Chart Elements → Point Label Size; the path can be hidden with Path off.

3.3. CHoCH — the structure break

A CHoCH (change of character) line with a label marks the bar where the market broke its structure in the opposite direction. This is where a count is born. You will see CHoCH marks that did not become counts — a break alone is not a setup. The lines are kept on the chart up to the number set in 👁 Chart Elements → CHoCH · max.

3.4. Fib grid, OTE zone and target zone

The grid is drawn on the A→B leg: 1 = point A, 0 = point B, negative values are extensions beyond B. All trade levels are expressed on this grid, so "Entry 0.5" means the middle of the leg and "TP3 −0.5" means half a leg beyond B.

• The OTE zone (yellow by default) is the range of the pullback where point C is expected — and where the entry lives.
• The target zone (green) is the range beyond B where the count completes at point D.
• Single grid levels can be switched on and off in 📏 Fib Grid Levels A→B; the whole grid in 👁 Chart Elements → Fib Grid A→B.

3.5. Trade levels

The money on the labels is net of your costs. Labels can be shortened with Money in Target Labels off, and the whole trade layer hidden with 🎯 Trade Levels → Show Trade Levels off — note that this also switches off the virtual trades, the statistics and the trade alerts.

3.6. Context zones — only for the current count

The indicator draws the zones that belong to the count in progress, not every zone on the chart:

A zone near the entry earns the Zone star; a sweep after point B earns the Sweep star (4.6). Everything about their look — style, labels, when a used zone disappears — is in 11.1.

3.7. Long ▲ / Short ▼ labels

A small label on the candle that closes inside the entry zone against the pullback — a visual hint that the pullback may be ending. It changes nothing in the trade and is not a condition for the entry. Switch it off in 🎯 Trade Levels → Long / Short Labels if the chart feels busy.

3.8. Result marks and completed counts

Every closed virtual trade leaves a ✓ or ✗ at the bar where it closed. Hover the mark: the tooltip shows how it closed (Target / Stop / Stale trade / Count ended) and the result in R and money. Completed counts stay on the chart as grey paths, up to Keep Completed Counts · max. Together they are your visual journal.

3.9. Dashboard and checklist strip

The dashboard shows where the count is, the trend, the stars, the statistics and the open trade; the strip shows the nine checks and the verdict. Both are explained row by row in Chapter 9. For now, two things to notice: the State row tells you the stage of the count, and the verdict on the strip tells you what to do about it.

3.10. Quick colour reference

Colours adapt to the chart theme automatically (Theme: Auto). To use your own palette, switch 🎨 Colors → Use Custom Colors on.

Chapter 4. The A-B-C-D setup — the logic without the math

This chapter explains why the plan looks the way it does. It does not describe how the indicator detects the points — that is the engine's business. What you need is the market logic behind each element, so that you trust the plan enough to execute it the same way every time.

4.1. Impulse and pullback in plain words

A market that changes direction does it in a recognisable sequence: it breaks its previous structure (CHoCH), makes a strong leg in the new direction (A→B), pulls back (B→C) — and, if the new direction holds, continues beyond B (C→D). The pullback is where a disciplined trader enters: the move has already shown its hand, the price is better than at B, and the point where the idea is wrong (A) is close enough to define a stop.

The indicator trades exactly this: entry in the pullback, stop beyond the start of the impulse, targets on the continuation.

4.2. Why the entry is a limit order in the pullback

Chasing a move means buying near B — the worst price of the leg — with a stop far away. Waiting for the pullback means buying near C with a tight stop. The cost of waiting is that some pullbacks never come: the price turns at a shallower level and runs to the target without you. The indicator does not hide those cases; it counts them as No fill next to the winrate. A rising No fill number is a signal to look at a shallower entry (6.2), not a reason to chase.

4.3. Why three targets and partial closes

One target is a bet on one outcome. Three targets with shares turn the trade into a distribution: the first target is close and is reached often, the third is far and is reached rarely but pays for the misses. With the default 50 / 30 / 20 %, half of the position is banked early; the rest rides. Closer targets raise the winrate and lower the average profit; farther targets do the opposite. Both are legitimate — pick with the method in Chapter 6, not by taste.

4.4. Why the stop moves to breakeven — and how a win is counted

When the price has covered a set part of the way to the last target (25 % by default), the stop moves to the entry price. From that moment the trade cannot lose the planned R. Optional further moves lock in +1R and +2R.

With the default 25 % the stop can reach breakeven before TP1 is hit. Such a trade, stopped at breakeven with nothing banked, is counted as a win by the rule above. If you prefer "a win must have banked something", set Move SL to BE to a value at or above the TP1 distance — 6.2 shows how to read it.

4.5. What cancels a count

A count is a hypothesis; the market can reject it. You will see a reset in three ways: the path of the count turns grey and stops, the dashboard Reset row shows the reason, and (if Count Events are on) a cancel alert arrives with the instruction to remove pending orders.

Which line cancels the count — point A or the tighter 0.886 — is your choice in ⚙️ Main Settings → Invalidation Line. Point A gives the idea more room; 0.886 cancels earlier and keeps the stop tighter when SL at Invalidation Line is on.

4.6. Confluence stars — five questions before the entry

At the entry the indicator asks five questions and shows the answers as stars on the dashboard (Conf) and on the strip:

The stars are counted and frozen at the entry: what the checklist says at the moment of the fill is what the trade is judged by, and what you see later in the statistics (ODDS by stars). The Confluence Gate turns the stars into a filter: with the gate at 4, a setup with 3 stars is shown, reaches the entry and is then SKIPPED — on the strip, on the dashboard and as a blocked alert. You always see why.

4.7. ODDS — how similar setups ended

The last block of the checklist strip is ODDS: of the past trades on this chart with the same number of stars — how many reached TP1, how many reached TP3, and the average result in R. When there are too few setups with this star count, the strip says ODDS all and shows the figures for all trades instead. The number n is the sample size.

ODDS is a frequency from the history of your chart with your settings. It is not a probability for the next trade and not a forecast. Use it to compare setups with each other — "4-star setups on this chart reached TP1 twice as often as 2-star ones" — and to stop taking the kind that does not pay.

4.8. Summary

• The plan comes from the structure: entry in the pullback, stop beyond the impulse, three targets on the continuation.
• The entry is a limit order; a setup the price never returned to is counted as No fill, not hidden.
• Three targets with shares turn one trade into a distribution; breakeven removes the loss once the trade has proven itself.
• A count can be cancelled — you see the reason on the dashboard and get an alert.
• Five stars describe the quality at the entry and are frozen; the gate can block weak setups; ODDS shows how such setups ended before.

Chapter 5. The full trade cycle — what to click and when

This is the chapter to keep open while you trade. Every stage has three columns: what the indicator shows, which alert arrives, what you do. The stages are the same for a long and a short.

5.1. The cycle at a glance

5.2. Stage 2 — levels built: placing the orders

When point B is confirmed, the levels appear and the armed alert arrives: the text version carries the direction, the Entry and SL prices and the stars; the JSON version also carries TP1–TP3 and the planned size in units and contracts. The size is always on the chart too — the Size row of the trade section. On the chart the trade section reads WAITING ENTRY.

What to do, in this order:

1. Look at the checklist strip: Trend, HTF, Zone, Sweep, Leg. The stars are not final yet — they are counted at the fill — but if three of them are already against you, the gate will most likely block the trade. Save yourself the order.
2. Look at ODDS for this star count and at the Risk row: the size, the money at risk, the margin.
3. On the exchange: a limit order at the Entry price for the size from the alert or from the Size row, with the stop at the SL price attached (Bybit, Binance, OKX let you attach TP/SL to the order). If your exchange cannot attach a stop to a pending order, place the stop the moment the fill arrives — and not a minute later.
4. Do not place the targets yet. They are placed after the fill (stage 4).

5.3. Stage 3 — the pullback

Nothing to do while the price walks towards the entry. Two things can happen:

• relevel — point B moved higher (for a long) before the pullback started. The levels are rebuilt from the new leg and the alert carries the new prices. Cancel and re-place the limit order and the stop at the new levels. This is the only element of the plan that moves before the entry, and it is reported, not redrawn silently.
• Long ▲ / Short ▼ label — the candle inside the entry zone closed against the pullback. A visual hint, not a condition: the trade opens when the entry price is touched, label or not.

5.4. Stage 4 — the entry

The entry alert means the virtual trade is open: it carries the fill price, the size in units and contracts and the final stars. The strip reads ▶ IN TRADE, the trade section OPEN with P&L, the TP ladder and the stop.

1. Confirm on the exchange that the limit order is filled and the stop order is live. If the stop is not there — place it now, before anything else.
2. Place the three targets as reduce-only limit orders: TP1 for 50 % of the position, TP2 for 30 %, TP3 for 20 % (or your own shares from Key Settings). Prices — from the alert or the trade section.
3. From here on you only move the stop. You do not add, you do not take profit early, you do not widen the stop.

5.5. Stage 5 — blocked

The entry was touched, the stars were counted, and a rule said no. The strip shows ⛔ SKIPPED · reason, the trade section BLOCKED, and the blocked alert carries the same reason:

What you do: cancel the pending order; if it was filled, close at market and cancel the stop. Do not "take it anyway because the setup looks fine". The gate is your own rule, written down in advance precisely so that you do not negotiate with it in the moment. If you disagree with the rule — change the setting with the method in Chapter 6, not the trade.

5.6. Stage 6 — management

The trade is managed by alerts; the chart shows the same in the TP ladder and the stop label.

Two execution rules are in 🧾 Trade Execution and matter for how this is counted: Stop & Target on One Bar (which is counted when a bar reaches both) and Moved Stop Active From (whether a stop moved on this bar can already be hit on this bar). The honest values are Stop first and Next bar (2.5); the alerts for the stop and the targets are always sent on the bar close.

5.7. Stage 7 — close

The close alert carries the reason (tp, sl, zombie for a stale trade, end for a count that ended with the trade open), the result in R and money and the win / loss flag. On the chart: the ✓ / ✗ mark at the closing bar, the trade section CLOSED, the statistics rows updated, and the risk manager with today's result, the streak and the daily limit.

Your routine after every close: make sure the exchange is flat and no orders are left; write the trade into your journal with the stars and the reason; look at Today / Streak / Daily limit. If the panel says STOP TRADING — you are done for the day. That is not advice from the indicator; it is your own limit that you set in 2.3.

5.8. Stage 8 — cancelled before the entry

A count can end before the price ever reaches the entry: the structure breaks the other way, the price closes beyond point A, a timeout fires. The cancel alert says so and asks you to remove the pending orders; the dashboard Reset row shows the reason (4.5). Nothing else to do — a cancelled count is not a loss, and it does not enter the statistics.

5.9. Verdicts explained

The verdict on the strip is the one line that tells you what to do right now:

CAUTION is advice — the indicator still opens the virtual trade and counts it. SKIPPED is a decision — no virtual trade, no statistics, and a blocked alert.

5.10. The nine checks on the strip

5.11. Full example — one trade from armed to breakeven

The chart in 5.1 is a real long on SOLUSDT.P 15 m with scale-in on, caught in Bar Replay just after TP2. Here is how it unfolded, with the numbers from that chart.

1. armed. "TAP ABCD SOLUSDT.P 15: LONG armed · entry 101.33 / 101.16 · SL 100.63 · ★★★★☆". Two entry lines (scale-in): Entry 1 at 101.33 for 50 % and Entry 2 at 101.16 for the rest; stop 100.63; targets 101.70 / 102.11 / 102.56. Strip: Trend ✓, HTF ✓, Zone ✓ (OB / FVG), Sweep ✗, Leg ✓; ODDS 4★ n = 104, TP1 59 %. The Size row says 162 SOL for a $100 risk. You place two limit buys — 81 at 101.33 and 81 at 101.16 — each with the stop at 100.63.
2. The pullback reaches the OTE zone. Two "Long ▲" labels print as the price closes against the pullback. Nothing to do.
3. entry, then entry2. "LONG entry 50% 101.33 · SL 100.63 · TP3 102.56 · ★★★★☆", then "LONG second 50% filled 101.16 · average 101.25". Verdict ▶ IN TRADE; the trade section shows Entry 1 ✓, Entry 2 ✓, Avg 101.25. You confirm both fills and the stop and place the targets reduce-only: 81 SOL at 101.70, 48.6 at 102.11, 32.4 at 102.56.
4. tp1. "TP1 101.70 hit · closed 50% · +$36.74". Your TP1 order filled. Nothing to do.
5. sl_moved. "SL → BE 101.25". You move the stop order to 101.25. From here the trade cannot lose — the stop label on the chart reads SL→BE, Σ Banked shows +$36.74.
6. tp2. "TP2 102.11 hit · closed 30% · +$41.87". Σ Banked +$78.61 · +0.79R; the last 20 % rides to TP3 with the stop at breakeven. This is the moment on the chart.
7. close. On this chart the price went on to TP3: "trade closed (tp) · +1.21R · +$120.9 · win". Had it turned, the remainder would have been stopped at 101.25 for +0.79R — and still counted a win. Mark ✓ on the chart, Today +1.21R, journal: long, 4★, scale-in, all three targets.

5.12. Two more examples — skipped and cancelled

Skipped. (The dashboard and the strip of a blocked trade are shown in 3.1 and 9.6.) armed at 09:00, you place the order. At 10:30 the price touches the entry; the HTF star is lost on the way and the count has 3 stars against a gate of 4. The strip flips to ⛔ SKIPPED · stars, blocked arrives. Your limit order was filled a second earlier — you close at market for −$4 of spread and cancel the stop. No virtual trade, nothing in the statistics. Correct behaviour.

Cancelled. armed at 11:00, order placed. At 13:45 the price closes beyond point A. cancel arrives: "levels cancelled — below point A · cancel the pending orders". You cancel the order and the stop. The path turns grey, Reset shows BELOW_A. Nothing in the statistics.

5.13. The stop lives on the exchange — non-negotiable

Chapter 6. Tuning for your chart and timeframe

The defaults are a good start on 15 m – 1 H. Every market and timeframe has its own rhythm, and the indicator gives you both the knobs and the way to check them honestly. This chapter is the method first, then the recipes.

6.1. The method: tune on one window, verify on the next

Changing a setting and looking at the whole history is how people fool themselves: the best-looking settings are usually the ones that fit the past, not the ones that work next month. The indicator has a tool against that — the statistics window.

1. Set the honest mode and your costs (2.4, 2.5). Never tune with costs off.
2. In 🧾 Trade Execution switch on Statistics From and Statistics To and set a tuning window — for example the last three full months except the most recent one. Only trades closed inside the window count in Win, PF, Expectancy, Max DD and No fill.
3. Change one setting. Write down Win, PF, Expectancy, Max DD, number of trades and No fill. Change it back, try the next value.
4. Pick the value that is best on the tuning window — and then move the window to the month you kept aside. If the pick still beats the default there, keep it. If it does not, it was a fit to the past.
5. Read all five numbers together. A higher winrate with a lower PF is not an improvement; a higher PF on half the trades may not be either.

6.2. Key Settings — what each one trades off

Change one at a time. The strongest two are the swing length and the gate; start there.

6.3. One number for the timeframe — Swing Detection Length

The swing length tells the indicator how large a structure to follow. The right value depends on the timeframe and, less, on the market. Starting points:

How to tell the value is wrong:

• Too small: the A→B legs are tiny, counts start and reset every few hours, Reset shows FALSE_CHOCH and OPPOSITE_CHOCH often, No fill grows because the pullbacks are too shallow to matter.
• Too large: a setup once a week, A→B legs that span days, the stop far from the entry and the position tiny.

Beginner's rule: start on 15 m – 1 H, one instrument, swing 13. Change the swing only after a month of trades and only with the method in 6.1.

6.4. Market recipes

Starting sets that were either verified by the author or follow from how the market is traded. Costs are mandatory; the rest are starting points.

Crypto perpetuals (Bybit, Binance, OKX)

• Costs: Commissions on, % of value, maker 0.02 / taker 0.055 (check your tier).
• Key Settings on 15 m: swing 13, gate 4, Trend Filter HTF Trend with HTF 60, Entry 0.5, SL at Invalidation Line on, targets 0.236 / 0 / −0.272, shares 50 / 30 / 20, BE 25 %, +1R at 75 % — this set was verified on BTCUSDT.P 15 m with the window method.
• 24/7 market: no session needed; direction Both.

Gold and forex CFD

• Costs: Spread in ticks on — gold 20–40 ticks, majors 10 ticks (1 pip); Commissions only if your broker charges per order.
• Key Settings on 15 m: swing 13, gate 4, Trend Filter Trend Bands, Entry 0.382, SL 0.886, targets 0.114 / −0.18 / −0.5, shares 50 / 30 / 20, BE 25 – 38.6 % — verified on XAUUSD 15 m.
• Consider a Trading Session around London and New York hours; the Asian session on gold produces shallow legs.

Indices CFD and index futures

• Costs: Spread in ticks (CFD) or Commissions Per unit (futures, per contract).
• Trading Session on: regular trading hours of the underlying. Direction: Longs only is a reasonable first profile on equity indices.
• Swing 13 on 15 m; verify.

Stocks

• Costs: Commissions Per unit (per share) or Per order, as your broker charges.
• Trading Session on: regular hours. Direction: Longs only unless you short.
• Leverage 1; the position in shares is rounded down by Qty Step = 1 for bots.

Futures (ES, NQ, GC, CL)

• Costs: Commissions Per unit, per contract, round-trip split per side.
• Contract Size = the contract multiplier of the instrument if you want the size in contracts for bots; the money on the chart uses the chart's price per unit, so check the risk row against your broker's margin table once.

6.5. Picking the higher timeframe

The HTF timeframe (next to the Trend Filter in Key Settings) is used by the HTF star, by the HTF Trend filter and by the HTF line on the chart. It must be above the chart timeframe, or the dashboard shows TF too low and the star is empty. Sensible pairs: 15 m → 1 H, 1 H → 4 H, 4 H → 1 D, 1 D → 1 W. A higher timeframe that is too far away (15 m → 1 D) makes the filter slow and blocks good counter-moves; one step up is usually right.

6.6. Session and direction

Trading Session (🧾 Trade Execution) allows new entries only inside the hours you set, in the exchange's time zone; a trade that is already open is managed to the end outside them. Trade Direction takes only longs or only shorts. Both show up on the strip as Filter · blocks · session / direction and as blocked alerts, so you always know why a setup was skipped. Use them when your market has a dead session, when a prop firm forbids holding through the close, or when you only trade with a long-term bias.

6.7. Point Ranges, Reset — when (rarely) to touch

📐 Point Ranges define where point C and point D are expected on the A→B grid. Moving them changes what counts as a valid pullback and where the count completes; the trade levels are not tied to them, but a narrower C range means fewer counts and a wider one means more. Leave them until you have at least a hundred trades on the defaults.

♻️ Reset: Cooldown pauses new counts for N bars after one ends — useful on choppy charts that restart counts every few bars. Timeout cancels a count that stalls at its stage for longer than N durations of the A→B leg — useful on slow markets where a pullback drags for days. Both are off by default.

6.8. Three profiles

Switch profiles with the window method, not after a bad week.

6.9. Did the change help? — a checklist

☐ Costs on and honest mode on during the whole test

☐ Only one setting changed between two readings

☐ At least thirty trades in the tuning window

☐ The pick was checked on a window it was not tuned on

☐ Win, PF, Expectancy, Max DD and No fill all read, not one of them

Chapter 7. Risk management with the indicator

7.1. The principles — to be burned in

1. Fixed risk per trade. 1 % of balance, the same on every trade, every market. The indicator sizes the position for it; you do not round up.
2. A stop on the exchange, always. The plan has a stop; your account must have the same stop. No exceptions, no "I'll watch it".
3. Never widen a stop, never add to a loser. The indicator moves the stop in one direction only — towards profit. So do you.
4. A daily limit and a losing-streak limit. Set them in advance; obey them without discussion.
5. One plan, many trades. The edge is in the repetition. Any single trade is noise.

7.2. How the indicator protects you — and what it does not block

7.3. Daily limit: R or % of balance

Daily Loss Limit (💰 Risk & Position) is counted on today's closed trades. In R it is independent of the account size — 3 R means three full losses. In % of balance it matches how prop firms count: a 3 % daily limit on a $100 000 account is $3 000 of closed loss, whatever the stops were. Pick the unit your rules are written in. The bar on the risk manager fills as the limit is used; amber from two thirds, red at the limit.

7.4. Leverage and margin — what the numbers mean

The Size row shows the position in units, its notional value, the margin at your leverage (M) and the leverage itself. Leverage changes the margin, not the risk: with Risk-based sizing the loss at the stop is 1 % whatever the leverage. The only thing leverage decides is whether the margin fits your account. If M is larger than your free balance, the trade cannot be opened at this size — reduce the risk % for that trade or skip it.

7.5. Several instruments at once

Five instruments with 1 % each are 5 % of the account at risk if all stops hit on the same day. That is acceptable for uncorrelated markets and dangerous for five crypto pairs that move together. A simple rule: total open risk at any moment ≤ 3 % on correlated instruments, ≤ 5 % overall. The indicator counts per chart; the sum is your job — write it on a sticky note on the monitor.

7.6. After STOP TRADING

A limit that is hit is not a failure of the plan; it is the plan working. What to do with the rest of the day: nothing on the exchange. Review the trades — were they taken by the rules? If yes, the day was statistics. If no, the day was a lesson, and the lesson is cheaper than the next one would have been.

7.7. Pre-trade risk checklist

☐ Balance in the settings equals the real balance of this account

☐ Sizing Mode is Risk-based, Allocation 1 %

☐ The Size row shows a margin that fits the account

☐ Risk ≤ 5 % on the strip is green

☐ Day limit on the strip is green, Streak is not red

☐ Total open risk across all charts is within your rule

☐ The stop order will be on the exchange the moment the entry is filled

Chapter 8. Alerts — trading without sitting at the screen

8.1. One alert per instrument

All events of the indicator go through a single TradingView alert. You create it once per chart:

1. Set up the indicator on the chart and the timeframe you will trade (the alert keeps the settings it was created with).
2. Click Alert (the clock icon) or press <span class="g-kbd">Alt</span>+<span class="g-kbd">A</span>.
3. Condition: TAP ABCD → Any alert() function call.
4. Expiration: Open-ended. A dated alert expires silently and you will miss trades.
5. Name: the instrument and timeframe, e.g. TAP ABCD · BTCUSDT.P 15m.
6. Notifications: app, pop-up, e-mail, webhook — as you need. Create.

The alert lives on TradingView's servers: you can close the chart and the browser. Two rules to remember:

• Changing the indicator settings does not change an existing alert. It fires with the settings it was created with. After any change — including Reset settings — delete the alert and create it again.
• One alert per chart. For five instruments, five charts and five alerts; TradingView plans limit the number of active alerts, which is the practical reason a paid plan is needed for a multi-instrument routine.

8.2. The events

Every text alert starts with TAP ABCD <ticker> <timeframe>:; every JSON alert carries the event name, the instrument, the timeframe, the count id — the number of the count the event belongs to, so that your bot can match entry with its close — the direction, the bar time and the current price.

The last three are Count Events and can be switched off separately; the rest are Trade Events.

8.3. Filters

In 🔔 Alerts:

8.4. Timing: Bar close or Immediately

Entry Alerts Timing decides when armed, relevel, cancel, entry, entry2, cancel2 and blocked are sent:

• Bar close — once the bar has closed. Final, never reversed; up to one bar late.
• Immediately — at the moment of the touch, inside the bar. Earlier, but the bar can still close differently: an entry sent intrabar can be followed by a stop on the same bar, or a count can be reset before the close.

Targets, stop moves and closes are always sent on the bar close — they are counted there.

For manual trading Bar close is calmer. For a bot that must place the stop the moment the entry fills, Immediately for the entry is the right choice, with the bot handling blocked and close properly.

8.5. Text vs JSON

Message Format switches every alert between a readable line and a JSON object. Examples of the same events:

TAP ABCD BTCUSDT.P 15: LONG armed · entry 80350.0 · SL 79617.3 · ★★★★☆

TAP ABCD BTCUSDT.P 15: LONG entry 80350.0 · SL 79617.3 · TP3 82250.0 · ★★★★☆

TAP ABCD BTCUSDT.P 15: TP1 81083.4 hit · closed 50% · +$50.0

TAP ABCD BTCUSDT.P 15: SL → BE 80350.0

TAP ABCD BTCUSDT.P 15: trade closed (sl) · +1.08R · +$108.2

TAP ABCD BTCUSDT.P 15: LONG blocked (stars 3/5) at 80350.0 · ★★★☆☆

TAP ABCD BTCUSDT.P 15: levels cancelled — below point A · cancel the pending orders

{"event":"armed","ticker":"BTCUSDT.P","tf":"15","id":67,"dir":"long","time":1730210100000,"price":80912.5,"entry":80350.0,"sl":79617.3,"tp1":81083.4,"tp2":81642.0,"tp3":82250.0,"qty":0.2507,"contracts":0.25,"stars":4}

{"event":"entry","ticker":"BTCUSDT.P","tf":"15","id":67,"dir":"long","time":1730219100000,"price":80350.0,"entry":80350.0,"sl":79617.3,"tp1":81083.4,"tp2":81642.0,"tp3":82250.0,"qty":0.2507,"contracts":0.25,"stars":4}

{"event":"tp1","ticker":"BTCUSDT.P","tf":"15","id":67,"dir":"long","time":1730223600000,"price":81120.0,"tp":81083.4,"part":0.5,"left":0.5,"stars":4}

{"event":"sl_moved","ticker":"BTCUSDT.P","tf":"15","id":67,"dir":"long","time":1730224500000,"price":81205.0,"sl":80350.0,"stage":"BE","stars":4}

{"event":"close","ticker":"BTCUSDT.P","tf":"15","id":67,"dir":"long","time":1730250900000,"price":80350.0,"reason":"sl","r":1.082,"pnl":108.2,"win":true,"stars":4}

Prices use the tick precision of the instrument; quantities keep full precision. The complete field list by event is in Appendix B.

8.6. The bot flow — the right order

Other rules for bots:

• Keep the stop on the exchange. sl_moved moves it; close with reason sl comes on the bar close, which is after the stop was hit.
• Use contracts when the exchange trades in contracts. Set Contract Size (units per contract) and Qty Step (the exchange's quantity step) in 🧾 Trade Execution; the alert carries both qty in units and contracts rounded down to the step.
• Match events by id. All events of one count carry the same count id; a new count starts a new id.
• Partial targets: part is the share of the original position closed at this target, left the share that remains.

8.7. Where to send the alerts

8.8. Recommended alert setups

8.9. When an alert arrives — the routine

armed → open the chart, read the strip, place or skip (5.2). entry → confirm the stop, place the targets. blocked → cancel / close. sl_moved → move the stop. tp → check. close → flat, journal, risk manager. cancel / relevel → cancel / re-place. Anything else → read, do nothing.

Chapter 9. The dashboard — your onboard computer

The dashboard is one table in the corner of the chart with up to four blocks: the state of the count, the statistics, the open trade and the risk manager. The checklist strip is its companion along the edge of the chart. Hover any cell — every one has a tooltip.

9.1. Header and state

9.2. Statistics

The period is Statistics Period in 📊 Dashboard (24 h / 7 d / 30 d / All) and, on top of it, the Statistics From / To window in 🧾 Trade Execution (6.1). The Win and PF cells are highlighted so that they are the first thing you see.

9.3. The trade section

9.4. The risk manager

Switched on with Show Risk Section. Prop traders keep it on permanently.

9.5. The checklist strip

☑ CHECKLIST · verdict · nine checks · ODDS. The verdict and the checks are explained in 5.9 and 5.10; ODDS in 4.7. The first cell shows the stars and the rule count (e.g. 3/5 · 4/4 — three stars of five, four rules of four pass). The strip can sit at the bottom, at the top or inside the dashboard (Entry Checklist).

9.6. Typical pictures

9.7. Display settings

📊 Dashboard: position (four corners and Middle Right), font size, Secondary Text (one step smaller for column titles, %, R and the version row), the statistics rows, the trade section and its own font size, the risk section, the checklist position. 👁 Chart Elements → Theme adapts the colours to a light or dark chart automatically. If the panel covers the price action, move it to the corner opposite to where the trade levels are, or make the font Tiny on a small screen.

Chapter 10. Common mistakes and how to avoid them

10.1. Entering by hand on SKIPPED

The setup looked perfect, the gate said 3 stars of 4, you entered anyway. The gate is your rule, written in advance. If it is wrong, change it with the method (6.1) and let the statistics prove it. If you override it in the moment, the statistics on the chart no longer describe your trading, and you lose the one thing the indicator gives you — an honest ledger.

10.2. Placing orders on armed and ignoring blocked

A limit order placed when the levels are built can be filled and then blocked (5.2). Traders who do not handle blocked end up in trades the plan never took — and wonder why their account diverges from the chart. Either react to blocked by closing at market, or do not place orders before entry.

10.3. Tuning with costs off

Every setting looks better without commissions. The gap between "with" and "without" is exactly the money you will not see on the exchange. Set the costs once (2.4) and never compare settings with them off.

10.4. Tuning on the whole history

The settings that look best on all of the past are the ones that fit the past. Tune on one window, verify on the next (6.1). If the verification fails, the default was better than your idea — that is a result too.

10.5. Lowering the swing length "for more signals"

More signals means more noise: more resets, shallower pullbacks, more No fill, a lower PF. The swing length is a timeframe setting, not a volume knob (6.3).

10.6. Judging the plan on ten trades

Ten trades can be all wins or all losses by chance. Below about thirty trades, Win and PF are a mood, not a measurement. Keep trading the plan; read the numbers monthly.

10.7. The stop only in the indicator

The indicator sees the stop on the bar close; the exchange sees the price every tick. A trade without an exchange stop has a different, worse risk than the one on the chart (5.13).

10.8. Widening the stop, adding to a loser

The plan moves the stop in one direction — towards profit — and never adds after the entry (scale-in is a planned second part, not an addition to a loser). Any other stop management is a different plan with unknown statistics.

10.9. Taking profit early

TP1 is close for a reason; the rest of the position is what pays for the losses. Closing everything at TP1 turns a positive-expectancy plan into a coin flip with costs.

10.10. Trading after STOP TRADING

The limit is hit; the next trade is taken "to get it back". This single habit ends more accounts than any strategy. The indicator shows the red panel; the hands are yours (7.6).

10.11. Too many instruments at once

Five charts, five 1 % risks, one correlated move — 5 % gone in an hour. Cap the total open risk (7.5).

10.12. Not writing it down

The chart keeps ✓ / ✗ marks and the statistics; it does not keep why you deviated. A journal with the stars, the reason and one line of honesty per trade is the fastest teacher you will have.

10.13. Not resetting after an update

The order of inputs can change between versions. If after an update the chart looks odd — the swing length is 0.5, the entry is 13 — press Reset settings and set balance and costs again (2.10).

10.14. Symptom → cause → fix

Chapter 11. Advanced layers and small switches

Everything in this chapter is about what is drawn, not about how the trade is decided. None of these settings change the entries, the stops or the statistics — with two exceptions that are marked.

11.1. Zones: FVG, iFVG, order blocks, breaker

Group 🧱 Imbalances & Order Blocks.

11.2. Liquidity sweeps

Group 🧹 Liquidity Sweeps: show or hide the sweeps inside the count, only in the count's direction or both, the Swing Length of the swings that can be swept (higher — fewer, more significant sweeps), the line from the swept swing to the sweep, and the colours. A sweep after point B earns the Sweep star — so the Swing Length here is the second setting in this chapter that can change a star.

11.3. Anchored VWAP ×2

Group 〰️ Anchored VWAP: two volume-weighted average price lines anchored at point A, on different price sources, with their colours. They are context: a pullback that holds above the VWAP of the leg is healthier than one that cuts through it. They are shown while the count is active.

11.4. Projection

Group 👻 Projection: the dashed C? and D? while the count builds, where C? is drawn inside its range (middle / near / far edge) and the horizontal step of the projection in durations of the A→B leg. Purely visual.

11.5. Chart Elements and the Fib Grid

Group 👁 Chart Elements is the list of everything drawn, each with an on / off: Theme (Auto / light / dark), the fib grid, the OTE zone, the target zone, the point labels and the path, the invalidation line, zone midlines, CHoCH lines with their maximum, the ✓ / ✗ result marks, money in the labels, completed counts with their maximum, two font sizes, the watermark and its place. 📏 Fib Grid Levels switches single grid levels.

For a clean chart: path, labels, trade levels and the dashboard on; zones in Clean style; grid off; completed counts max 5. For a slow computer: lower the maxima of CHoCH and completed counts first.

11.6. Colours and theme

With Theme: Auto the colours follow the chart background. 🎨 Colors → Use Custom Colors switches to your own palette for points, path, CHoCH; the trade, grid, zone and trend colours are always yours to set. TP2 can have a colour of its own if you want to see the middle target at a glance.

11.7. Level Break Mode and Invalidation Line

Group ⚙️ Main Settings — the two settings that change the character of a count:

• Level Break Mode: Close confirms a break of a level (point B, the 0.886 line) only with a closed bar beyond it — later, no repaint. Wick takes any touch — earlier, reacts to spikes. Point A cancels the count on any wick beyond it in both modes.
• Invalidation Line: Point A gives the count the whole leg of room. Fib 0.886 cancels earlier and, with SL at Invalidation Line on, gives a tighter stop.

These two change which counts exist and how long they live, so they change the statistics. Treat them like Key Settings: one at a time, with the window (6.1).

11.8. Stale trades, cooldown, timeout

Close Stale Trade After, bars (🧾 Trade Execution) closes a trade that reached neither the stop nor TP3 within N bars at the market price, reason zombie. Cooldown and Timeout (♻️ Reset) are described in 6.7. All three are off or generous by default; use them when a market produces counts that never resolve.

11.9. The statistics window as a research tool

Beyond tuning, the From / To window lets you answer questions about your own trading: how did the plan do in the last month versus the previous quarter; how did it behave in the sideways market of a specific month; what are the ODDS of 4-star setups in the London session only (combine the window with the Trading Session). Take a screenshot of the dashboard for each window — the panel with the window dates is the cleanest trading report you will get.

11.10. What to enable, when

Chapter 12. FAQ, checklists and the memo

12.1. Frequently asked questions

Does the indicator repaint?

No. Points are confirmed on the close of the bar, a level break is confirmed by close (or by wick, if you choose), the higher-timeframe trend is taken from the closed higher-timeframe bar, and every trade event is processed on confirmed bars. What you see on history is what was shown in real time. The one element that can move while a count is forming — point B can extend until the pullback starts — is reported as a relevel event with new prices, not redrawn silently.

The chart is empty — no points, no levels

There is no active count on this chart right now. The dashboard says Scanning and the strip WAIT. That is normal: a setup is something you wait for, and it comes with an alert. If the chart has been empty for a long time, check the swing length (6.3) — it may be too large for this timeframe — or look at another instrument.

Win and PF show "—"

No closed trades in the statistics period or window. Set Statistics Period to All, switch Statistics From / To off, or wait.

HTF says "TF too low"

The higher timeframe in Key Settings must be above the chart timeframe. On a 1 H chart, 60 is not higher — set 240.

Why was a 4-star setup skipped with the gate at 4?

The stars are counted at the moment the entry is touched; the strip before that showed the current, not the final, count. A star can be lost on the way — most often HTF or Zone. The blocked alert and the strip show the final stars.

Why does the winrate not change when I switch commissions on, but PF does?

Winrate counts a trade by its outcome — target, profit, or a stop after breakeven. Costs are subtracted from P&L and R, so they show in PF and expectancy. Both are right; read them together (1.5).

The levels moved before the entry — is that repainting?

No — that is relevel: point B extended, the leg is longer, the plan is rebuilt and reported. After the entry nothing moves except the stop, by your rules.

The money on a TP label and in the trade table differ slightly

Both are net of your costs; the table shows the value for the exact share and the current price, the label for the planned share. Small rounding differences are normal.

No setup for a week — is something broken?

No setup means no setup. On a single instrument on 1 H a week without a count is normal. Put alerts on 5–10 instruments and let the setups come to you.

Which deposit size is needed?

Any. The position is sized from your balance and risk %; the lot step and minimum size of your exchange decide whether the smallest position is possible — on crypto perpetuals it is possible from a few hundred dollars.

Do I need to know Elliott waves or Smart Money concepts?

No. The indicator marks and labels everything itself, every setting and cell has a tooltip, and the start takes two numbers: balance and risk %. The names (CHoCH, FVG, OB) are explained in the glossary (1.7) and in Chapter 3.

Does it work on the phone?

The chart elements, the dashboard and the strip are drawn by TradingView, so they show in the mobile app the way any indicator does; the panel is large on a phone — set the font to Tiny. Alerts arrive in the TradingView app. Trading the full cycle from a phone is possible; tuning is better done on a desktop.

Heikin Ashi, Renko, range bars?

Use standard candles. The structure, the fills and the statistics assume real OHLC bars; synthetic bars make the fills and the stops fictitious.

Bar Replay?

The indicator draws and trades in Bar Replay like on a live chart, which makes Replay a good way to watch a whole cycle in minutes. Alerts do not fire in Replay.

Can I keep my other indicators on the chart?

Yes. TAP ABCD draws only its own objects. If the chart gets busy, move the dashboard, switch the zones to Clean and the grid off (11.5).

Can a bot trade it?

Yes: every trade event comes as JSON with the count id and the size in units and contracts, for any webhook service. Keep the stop on the exchange; the indicator reports the stop on the bar close (Chapter 8).

Is the code open?

No. The indicator is invite-only; the chart carries drawings and labels only, no data another script could read.

An update arrived — what do I do?

Updates reach your chart automatically. After an update open the settings, press Reset settings, set balance and costs again and recreate your alerts (2.10, 8.1).

12.2. Pre-trade checklist

☐ The alert came from the chart and timeframe I trade with these settings

☐ Balance, risk 1 %, costs and honest mode are set on this chart

☐ The strip verdict is READY or WAIT · entry — not SKIPPED, not CAUTION I have not thought about

☐ Stars and ODDS for this star count are acceptable by my rules

☐ Size from the alert, margin fits, total open risk within my cap

☐ The entry order has the stop attached, or the stop goes in the second the fill arrives

☐ Targets will be placed as reduce-only with the shares from Key Settings

☐ I know what I do on blocked, relevel and cancel

☐ Day limit is green, Streak is not red

☐ I will write the trade down after close

12.3. Printable memo

The cycle: armed → place limit + stop → entry → place TP1 / TP2 / TP3 → sl_moved → move the stop → close → journal. blocked → cancel / close at market. relevel → re-place. cancel → cancel.

Verdicts: ✓ READY TO ENTER — the fill is coming · ✋ WAIT · entry — orders in, wait · ⚠ CAUTION — think before the fill · ▶ IN TRADE — manage by alerts · ⛔ SKIPPED — no trade.

Key Settings, higher →: Swing: cleaner, fewer · Gate: cleaner, fewer · BE %: more losses, more full targets · Entry deeper: better price, more No fill · Targets farther: more R, lower winrate · TP1 share higher: smoother, lower ceiling.

Honesty: costs on · Stop first · Next bar · tune on one window, verify on the next · ≥ 30 trades.

Risk: 1 % · stop on the exchange · never widen · daily limit · streak · total open risk.

12.4. Final thoughts

The indicator does not make you a trader. It removes the hundred small decisions that break traders, and it tells you the truth about the result. What is left is the part no tool can do: taking the same trade, the same way, with the same risk, a thousand times — and reading the numbers without flinching. One setup, one risk, an honest ledger. The rest is repetition.

Appendix A. Settings reference — every input in one place

Groups in the order of the settings window. What it changes is what you see on the chart or in the statistics; nothing here describes how the indicator computes anything.

A.1. 🎛 Key Settings · winrate & PF

A.2. ⚙️ Main Settings

A.3. 📐 Point Ranges (fib)

A.4. ♻️ Reset

A.5. 🎯 Trade Levels

A.6. 💰 Risk & Position

A.7. 🧾 Trade Execution

A.8. 📈 Trend Filter & Confluence

A.9. 📊 Dashboard

A.10. 🔔 Alerts

A.11. 🧱 Imbalances & Order Blocks · 🧹 Liquidity Sweeps · 〰️ Anchored VWAP · 👻 Projection

See 11.1–11.4: each setting is a drawing switch, a style or a colour. Two of them can change a star: Mitigation Type (a removed zone cannot be the Zone star) and the sweeps' Swing Length (which swings can be swept for the Sweep star).

A.12. 👁 Chart Elements · 📏 Fib Grid Levels A→B · 🎨 Colors

See 11.5 and 11.6. Drawing switches, maxima of kept objects, font sizes, the watermark, single grid levels and the colour palette. None of them changes a trade or a number.

Appendix B. Alert payload reference

Every JSON message starts with the same fields: event, ticker, tf, id (count number), dir (long / short / none), time (bar time, Unix ms), price (the close of the bar). Trade events end with stars; in relevel and cancel the stars field is a placeholder (5) and carries no information. Text messages start with TAP ABCD <ticker> <tf>:. Prices are in the tick precision of the instrument; qty and contracts keep full precision. Fields as of v0.15.

Text messages carry the same information in one readable line; the exact wording is shown in 8.5.