Using Fractal Pivots to Detect BOS and ChoCH Structure Signals
Summary
This article describes an MQL5 system that uses confirmed fractal pivots as price-structure anchors. It defines Break of Structure (BOS) as a closed-bar break beyond a previous swing high or low, and Change of Character (ChoCH) as an earlier warning that the prevailing bias may be weakening. The proposed workflow scans completed bars, stores pivot prices and times, checks for crosses, marks each event once, draws chart objects, logs or alerts the event, and prunes old pivots to limit stored history.
The article presents the detector as reproducible and non-repainting because it evaluates closed bars after the fractal confirmation window is available. It describes historical testing and live chart observations, but the excerpt provides no quantified trading-performance evidence. This is a signal and visualization tool rather than a complete trade manager; spreads, slippage, fills, and the uncertain meaning of ChoCH warnings limit direct use as a trading system. The author recommends validating it on the trader’s own instruments and broker settings.
Key ideas
- Confirmed fractal pivots provide local swing highs and lows for tracking market structure.
- BOS marks a closed-bar break beyond a stored swing level, while ChoCH serves as an earlier bias-change warning.
- Using completed bars and confirmed pivots supports reproducible signals that do not depend on the forming bar.
- Each stored fractal should be processed once, with old records pruned to bound memory use.
- The detector does not manage positions, and observed signals do not establish profitable execution.
Tags
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.