ForexPhantom FAQs
Clear answers about how the EA trades, what a “cycle” means, risk controls, licensing, and key settings like trade spacing, trailing systems, trend filters and RSI modes.
1. What is ForexPhantom and how does it trade?
Q: What does the ForexPhantom EA actually do?
A: ForexPhantom is an automated grid-based trading system that opens trades in both directions (buys and sells) based on configurable distances in points. It can scale lot sizes, trail profits, manage daily profit and loss, and use filters such as RSI and trend direction. It handles full “cycles” of trades per direction and can automatically close an entire basket when profit or loss conditions are met.
2. What is a “cycle” in this EA?
Q: What do you mean by a “cycle” of trades?
A: A cycle is a group of trades in a single direction (either buy or sell) that starts with the first trade in that direction and ends when all trades in that direction are closed. Cycle-level profit and loss is tracked and used by features like TakeProfitAmount, PhantomRecovery, and Cycle Max Loss.
3. How does the License Key work?
Q: How do I use the License Key and what happens if it’s invalid?
A: You enter your License Key in the EA inputs. The EA periodically calls the ForexPhantom license server using your account number and EA name. If the license is valid, trading continues normally. If it’s denied or cannot be verified beyond the grace period, the EA stops opening new trades (and may show a “License: DENIED/ERROR” status on the dashboard).
4. What do Allow Buy and Allow Sell do?
Q: What happens if I turn Allow Buy / Allow Sell on or off?
A:
Allow Buy = true → the EA is allowed to open buy cycles.
Allow Buy = false → no new buy trades or buy cycles are opened.
Allow Sell = true → the EA is allowed to open sell cycles.
Allow Sell = false → no new sell trades or sell cycles are opened.
Existing trades in that direction will still be managed (e.g. trailing, PhantomRecovery) unless you manually close them.
5. What is Distance Between Trades?
Q: How does the “Distance Between Trades” setting work?
A: It is the minimum distance (in points, not pips) between the adverse extreme price of the current cycle and the next trade in that direction. Once price moves against your existing positions by at least this distance (adjusted by the Distance Step Multiplier, if used), the EA is allowed to open another trade in the same direction.
6. What is First Order Distance vs Open Distance?
Q: What’s the difference between First Order Distance and Open Distance?
A:
First Order Distance: When there are no trades open in a direction, this is the distance (in points) used to place the very first pending order for that new cycle.
Open Distance: For additional trades, once the grid spacing condition is met, the EA places a new pending order at this distance from current price so that the pending order “follows” price until it gets triggered.
7. What does Move Step do?
Q: What is the Move Step and how does it affect pending orders?
A: Move Step (in points) controls how often a pending order is adjusted as price moves. As price trends away, the EA “chases” price with the pending order, keeping it at the configured distance. It only moves the pending order if price has moved at least MoveStep points since the last adjustment, which avoids excessive modifications.
8. What is the Distance Step Multiplier?
Q: How does the Distance Step Multiplier affect new trades?
A: This multiplier makes each additional trade further apart than the last. A value of 1.0 means even spacing (classic grid). Larger than 1.0 spreads trades further apart and can reduce risk in extreme trends.
9. How does Order Lot Size and Multiply Lot Size work?
Q: How are lot sizes calculated for each new trade?
A: The initial trade in a cycle uses Order Lot Size (or the Auto Lots value, if enabled). Each subsequent trade multiplies the previous lot size by Multiply Lot Size.
10. What is Auto Lots and the risk levels?
Q: What does Auto Lots do and what are Low/Medium/High risk?
A: With Use Auto Lots enabled, the EA calculates lot size based on account balance (Low/Medium/High). This is recalculated before every new trade, so lot sizes can change as the account grows. Multiply Lot Size still applies on top.
11. How does Take Profit Amount work?
Q: What is the Take Profit Amount setting?
A: Take Profit Amount is a basket target in money for each direction. When Trailing Profit is off, the EA sums the floating profit of all trades in a direction; if it’s ≥ TakeProfitAmount, it closes all trades in that direction, ending the cycle and locking that profit.
12. What’s the difference between Trailing Profit and Trailing Stop?
Q: How are Trailing Profit and Trailing Stop different?
A: Trailing Profit works on the first trade in a cycle and trails once activation conditions are met, ignoring TakeProfitAmount. Trailing Stop applies to later trades individually once they reach a profit threshold.
13. How does the Daily Target Amount work?
Q: What happens when the Daily Target Amount is hit?
A: When daily net PnL reaches the target, open trades and pendings for that symbol/EA are closed and trading pauses for the rest of that server day.
14. What is Max Daily Loss?
Q: How does Max Daily Loss protect my account?
A: If daily net PnL falls to or below -MaxDailyLoss, trades and pendings are closed and the EA stops trading for the day. There’s an option to override minimum trade time so loss protection can act immediately.
15. What is Cycle Max Loss and how is it different from Max Daily Loss?
Q: How does Cycle Max Loss work compared to MaxDailyLoss?
A: Cycle Max Loss caps loss for a single directional cycle (buy or sell). Max Daily Loss caps the full day’s loss for the symbol/EA and stops all trading for the day once hit.
16. What is PhantomRecovery?
Q: What does PhantomRecovery actually do?
A: When enabled, if a cycle has reached a minimum number of trades and the cycle’s net PnL meets your breakeven/profit threshold, the EA can close the entire cycle — even if some trades are in loss — to escape messy grid situations.
17. What is the Trend filter and TradeMarketTrend option?
Q: How does the EA use the market trend?
A: When Trade Market Trend Only is enabled, the EA uses a trend model (EMA-based) to decide trend direction and restrict cycle creation accordingly.
18. How does the RSI filter work, including Regular vs Inverted modes?
Q: What is the RSI filter and what’s the difference between Regular and Inverted?
A: Regular mode is contrarian (buy oversold / sell overbought). Inverted mode flips the logic (buy into strength / sell into weakness), allowing a more trend-following approach.
19. What does “One Trade Per Candle” do?
Q: What does the One Trade Per Candle option enforce?
A: It limits the EA to opening only one new trade per direction per candle, helping reduce over-trading on fast timeframes.
20. What is Min Trade Time?
Q: Why is there a minimum trade time setting?
A: Min Trade Time prevents closing logic (basket TP, trailing, PhantomRecovery) from exiting too early. If enabled, Max Daily Loss can still override it to protect equity.
21. What does Bypass Pending do?
Q: What are “Bypass Pending First Trade” and “Bypass Pending Subsequent” options?
A: These options open the first and/or subsequent trades as market orders instead of using pending orders that follow price. More aggressive, but you lose “follow” entries.
22. What does Max Open Trades Per Direction do?
Q: How does Max Open Trades Per Direction limit exposure?
A: It caps the number of open positions per direction (0 = unlimited). Useful for controlling maximum exposure per symbol.