Apex Pinch

Apex Pinch is a pattern indicator for MT5 that finds symmetrical triangles on the price chart. It draws their two converging trendlines and marks the formation and the breakout with arrows, plus target and invalidation ticks. In the Lab's repaint test, 0 of 43 signals changed after they appeared.

What Apex Pinch draws on your chart

A symmetrical triangle forms when price makes lower highs and higher lows, so a falling resistance line and a rising support line meet at a point called the apex. Apex Pinch looks for this shape and draws everything in the main chart window, not in a subwindow:

• Triangle Lines: the falling resistance and the rising support. They stop extending at the breakout and turn grey when the breakout fails or the triangle expires.
• Triangle Formed arrow: a new triangle passed every quality check.
• Breakout Up / Breakout Down arrows: a closed bar broke out of the triangle.
• Target Levels: TP1, TP2 and an invalidation tick, drawn at the breakout bar.
• Triangle Label: a label on each triangle. It is deleted together with its triangle when more than 20 triangles are on the chart.
• Triangle Status panel: a summary of the current pattern and its levels, explained in How it works.

How the Lab tested it

The Lab ran version 1.03 (130.2 KB) on MT5 build 6230 on 2026-10-12. The test covered EURUSD M15 from 2026-07-13 to 2026-10-09, using real tick data from Raw Trading Ltd. Each of the 43 signals was logged when it appeared and checked again later. 0 of 43 arrows moved or vanished after they appeared.

0-bar delay: each arrow is drawn on the closed bar that triggered it. The Formed arrow is still PivotLen bars after its pivot by design.

The Lab also ran a 1 ATR test: after each arrow, did price move 1 ATR in the signal's direction before it moved 1 ATR against it? The Lab data does not say how a Formed arrow's direction was scored, so the Formed result is shown for comparison only. Across all 43 signals, 51.1% moved the right way first. That is barely better than a coin flip. The split by arrow type tells you more:

What this means for you: the two breakout arrows did better than the Formed arrow in this sample (57.1% and 53.8% against 47.8%), but 7 and 13 signals are too few to call it an edge. The Triangle Formed arrow did slightly worse than a coin flip, so treat it as a warning to watch the chart, not as an entry.

Who it is for

Apex Pinch fits traders who already trade triangle breakouts and want three jobs done for them: finding the pattern, scoring it, and placing the targets and invalidation level the moment a bar closes outside the triangle. It also fits anyone who wants a closed-bar alert instead of watching charts for a squeeze.

Install in one line

Copy the file into the MQL5/Indicators folder (File > Open Data Folder), refresh the Navigator, and drag Apex Pinch onto a chart.

How one triangle becomes a signal

Every arrow is based on closed bars. Here is the order of events, taken from the indicator's own rules:

Reading the Triangle Formed arrow

This arrow means a triangle passed every check. It does not tell you which way price will break. The arrow always comes PivotLen bars after the last pivot, because a pivot can only be confirmed once that many bars have closed after it. Expect it to look "late" next to the high or low it is based on. That delay is part of the design, not repainting.

Reading the Breakout Up and Breakout Down arrows

A breakout arrow appears when a closed bar finishes beyond the line by more than BreakBufATR × ATR. Breakout Up needs a close above the falling resistance, and Breakout Down needs a close below the rising support. A wick through the line does not count.

If the breakout happens after LateBreakFrac (default 0.9) of the way to the apex, it is marked Late and no arrow is drawn. Near the apex the two lines are so close together that a "break" means little.

At the breakout bar, the indicator draws TP1, TP2 and an invalidation tick (when ShowTargets is on). The invalidation level is the opposite line at the breakout bar, plus or minus InvalidBufATR × ATR.

Reading the lines and the panel

• Coloured lines that keep extending: the triangle is still active.
• Lines that stop at a bar: that bar was the breakout.
• Grey lines: the breakout failed, or the triangle expired MaxAgeBars bars after its last anchor without breaking.

A common misread is treating a grey triangle as a live setup. It is history.

The Triangle Status panel shows:

• the last Formed or breakout event
• the pattern status, with its score and number of touches
• the up and down confirm levels
• the invalidation level, TP1 and TP2
• the reward to risk to TP1
• the prior move
• the bars left to the apex
• historical statistics: pattern count, up-break share and TP1 hit rate

Those statistics only cover the bars loaded on your chart (HistoryBars, default 3000). They describe the past, not the next trade.

Inputs to change first

• MinScore (default 50, range 0-90): the main filter. Raise it for fewer, cleaner triangles. Lower it to see more shapes.
• PivotLen (default 4, range 2-12): how far a swing must stand out from nearby bars. It is also the detection delay in bars. A higher value means bigger swings and later Formed arrows.
• BreakBufATR (default 0.1, range 0-0.5): how far past the line a close must be. Raise it if you see too many breakouts that fail straight away.
• LateBreakFrac (default 0.9, range 0.6-1.0): lower it to ignore breakouts that happen closer to the apex.
• MaxAgeBars (default 40) and TrackBars (default 50): how long an unbroken triangle stays valid, and how long targets are tracked after a breakout.
• Theme (default Dark): changes the chart's colours. Set it to None to keep your own. RestoreTheme puts the original colours back when you remove the indicator.

Alerts

AlertOnFormed and AlertOnBreak are both on by default, and both fire on closed bars only. A popup is the default. You can also turn on AlertPush (MT5 mobile app), AlertEmail (uses your terminal's email settings) and AlertSound.

A decision rule for each arrow

• Triangle Formed: never enter on it. Mark the triangle, check the score on the panel, and wait.
• Breakout Up / Down: take it only if three things are true. There is an arrow, so the breakout was not Late. The reward to risk to TP1 on the panel meets your minimum. And you can place your stop beyond the invalidation tick without breaking your risk limit.
• Skip a breakout when price closes back inside the triangle on the next bars, or when the invalidation tick is so far away that TP1 is not worth the risk.