New York
Breaker EA.
A focused opening range breakout system for the NASDAQ 100 during the New York session. One symbol. One session. One clean edge — operated with EMA-confirmed breakouts on the M15 timeframe.
The simplest EA I make.
The New York Breaker does one thing: it captures opening range breakouts on the NASDAQ 100 during the New York session. No multi-symbol logic. No multi-strategy ensemble. No regime detection. Just a clean implementation of one of the most studied edges in modern markets.
The NASDAQ open at 9:30 AM EST is one of the most reliable volatility events of the global trading day. Index futures and CFDs trading at this time experience directional moves that often persist for hours. The EA captures these moves with a simple opening range methodology, confirmed by an EMA-based trend filter to reduce false signals.
This EA is intentionally narrow. It's not designed to be your only trading system — it's designed to do one job extraordinarily well, and to be combined with other uncorrelated strategies (like Gold Breakout Fusion or Range Breakout Fusion) to form a complete portfolio.
Index breakouts have unique characteristics — driven by institutional flow, opening auctions, and tech-sector momentum. Building a generic multi-asset EA dilutes the edge. By focusing exclusively on US100, the EA's parameters are tuned for exactly one kind of price behavior, and only that.
Backtested across multiple market regimes.
The strategy was validated across multiple years of US100 / NAS100 historical data, covering bull runs, corrections, and the 2022 tech sell-off. Performance metrics reflect realistic spread and slippage conditions on the M15 timeframe.
What to expect
Roughly 1 trade per day maximum during the NY session window. Many days produce no setup at all — by design. The EA only acts when the opening range breakout aligns with the EMA trend filter, filtering out the majority of false breakouts that destroy lower-quality systems.
Wins tend to be larger than losses (positive expectancy from R:R, not from hit rate). Win rate is moderate; what matters is the average win-to-loss ratio, which the strategy is tuned to maximize.
Backtest results are not a prediction of future performance. Index CFD execution quality varies significantly between brokers, especially during high-volatility moments at the NY open. Always demo test before deploying live capital.
One simple three-stage process.
Stage 1 — Range formation
Beginning at 9:30 AM EST (NY open), the EA observes the NASDAQ's first M15 candles to construct an "opening range" — the high and low established during this initial window. This range becomes the reference structure for the rest of the session.
Stage 2 — Breakout setup
Once the formation window closes, the EA places two pending stop orders: a buy stop above the range high and a sell stop below the range low. Both orders are sized identically with hard stop losses set at the opposite end of the range.
Stage 3 — EMA confirmation
Before any pending order can trigger into a live trade, the EA checks the prevailing trend via an EMA filter. Trades only execute if the breakout direction agrees with the higher-timeframe trend. This eliminates most counter-trend false breakouts — the single biggest source of loss for naïve ORB strategies.
Trade management
Every position has a hard stop loss attached at entry. A take profit is set at a defined R-multiple of the range size. Optional break-even trailing activates once the trade reaches a defined profit level. No martingale. No grid. No averaging.
Pure ORB systems are vulnerable to "head fakes" — initial breakouts that reverse. Adding a higher-timeframe trend filter (EMA) drops the win count slightly but significantly improves win rate and average trade quality. This single filter is responsible for most of the strategy's edge.
Minimal inputs. Maximum focus.
All strategy-critical parameters are internal. User inputs cover risk allocation, filter strength, and execution preferences.
| Input | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| RiskPct | Risk percentage per trade | 0.5% |
| MagicNumber | Unique identifier for this EA's trades | 30000 |
| RangeFormation | Minutes used to build the opening range | 30 |
| EMAFilter | Use EMA trend confirmation | true |
| EMAPeriod | EMA period for trend filter | 50 |
| RewardRiskRatio | Take profit as multiple of stop distance | 2.0 |
| BreakEvenEnabled | Move SL to break-even at 1R profit | true |
| MaxTradesPerDay | Maximum trades per session | 1 |
| ShowPanel | Display on-chart status panel | true |
The defaults are pre-tuned for typical NASDAQ M15 conditions. Most users should leave them untouched and adjust only RiskPct based on account size and risk tolerance.
NASDAQ exposure, simplified.
Activation steps
- Buy the EA on MQL5 — it appears in your
Navigator / Expert Advisors / Market - Open a US100 (or your broker's NASDAQ symbol) chart and set the timeframe to M15 (required)
- Drag the EA onto the chart
- Confirm settings (defaults work for most users) and click OK
- Make sure AutoTrading is enabled (green button in MT5 toolbar)
- The on-chart panel will display range formation status, daily P&L, and EA state
Setups form once per day during the NY session. The EA will sit idle outside that window — this is by design.
Common questions.
USTEC for the NASDAQ 100.
Want to confirm execution quality? Run Broker XRay on your current broker for a week — focus on the News Behavior and Spread dimensions during NY open hours. The data tells you if the broker can handle this strategy.
Disclosure: We're an Introducing Broker for IC Markets. If you open an account through my link, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend brokers I use myself.
Ready to deploy New York Breaker?
Available now on the MQL5 Marketplace. 10 activations included. Free updates for life.