Automating Larry Williams Swing-Point Entries with Structural Stops

Summary

This article translates Larry Williams’s short-term and intermediate-term market structure concepts into an MQL5 Expert Advisor. A short-term swing low is a low surrounded by higher lows, while a swing high is surrounded by lower highs; intermediate swings are formed by more extreme short-term swings. The EA looks for a newly confirmed intermediate swing and opens a long or short position when its direction matches the corresponding short-term swing signal, checking only at the start of a bar.

The system also offers direction filters, fixed or balance-risk-based sizing, structure-based stop placement, minimum and maximum stop distances, risk-to-reward targets, and optional step trailing. The article describes a backtesting framework and says results support testing this rule-based approach, but the supplied excerpt gives no performance figures or testing details. Its claims therefore cannot establish robustness or profitability. Long-term swings are explicitly outside this installment, and the described entries and risk controls still require evaluation across instruments and timeframes.

Key ideas

• Short-term swing highs and lows are defined by neighboring price highs or lows.
• Intermediate swings are identified by comparing short-term swing points on either side.
• The EA enters when a short-term swing confirms an intermediate swing, and it evaluates signals at new-bar openings.
• Stops can reference recent market structure, while sizing and targets are configurable.
• The excerpt presents a testing framework but does not provide enough results to judge performance.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.