H1 Open Trap (the owner's H1_Open_Trap_Dashboard.mq4, trap signals, default settings) on XAUUSD 1-minute data (spec h1ot_spec.md). Run 2026-10-21T08:20:36.871Z; 500 control runs per variant. Results in R = the distance from the fill to the stop (the day's extreme); costs $0.3 an ounce a round trip.
data: 7067434 one-minute bars, 2004-06-11 00:19 .. 2026-10-07 16:57 New York (clock corrected, minute close stamps); 5736 broker days
signals: 11242 trap signals taken by the indicator's rules (5730 buy, 5512 sell); 7409 more were past the 3-a-day cap; blocked: 10834 (previous day's high/low 10824, 90-minute window 0, 2 M15 closes beyond the line 13, EMA stack alone 0); 4228 taken signals had the EMA stack against them (the indicator lets classic traps through)
  by year: 2004 198 | 2005 310 | 2006 333 | 2007 492 | 2008 498 | 2009 534 | 2010 510 | 2011 488 | 2012 491 | 2013 544 | 2014 521 | 2015 579 | 2016 528 | 2017 530 | 2018 560 | 2019 552 | 2020 535 | 2021 544 | 2022 538 | 2023 586 | 2024 558 | 2025 446 | 2026 367
FOLLOW-UP h1ot5_spec.md (chosen by the owner after seeing the first results): the stop at least $5.00 from the fill, target +1R, no trailing stop.

=== HOT-1R-S5: stop -1R (the day's extreme, at least $5.00 from the fill), target +1R; day-end exit ===
  DEV      n= 2071 net -85.59 R  avg -0.041 R  PF 0.91 t -2.10
  VAL      n= 1829 net -139.26 R  avg -0.076 R  PF 0.84 t -3.53
  HOLDOUT  n= 2158 net -161.44 R  avg -0.075 R  PF 0.86 t -3.54
  ALL      n=6058 net -386.29 R avg -0.064 R (gross -0.006 R, cost 0.058 R a trade); $ per ounce -2152.50; PF 0.87 t -5.31
  win rate 2981/6058 = 49.2% (95% Wilson 47.9-50.5%); ended by day end 925 (15.3%), target 2541 (41.9%), stop 2592 (42.8%)
  R in dollars: median $5.00, mean $5.51, under $1: 0.0%, under $2: 0.0%, over $10: 3.1%; filled at the open beyond the line (gap): 161; minutes held median 193 max 1063; the 10 best trades 15.36 R
  longs n=3114 net -168.59 R gross 10.00 R | shorts n=2944 net -217.70 R gross -46.86 R | trap #1 of the day n=4522 net -367.40 R
  drawdown on closed trades -391.69 R
  by year (n, net R): 2004 98 -6.84 | 2005 157 -14.60 | 2006 201 -22.33 | 2007 228 -28.00 | 2008 290 26.36 | 2009 278 -6.74 | 2010 272 10.60 | 2011 282 -31.32 | 2012 265 -12.73 | 2013 304 -33.54 | 2014 251 -11.67 | 2015 278 -31.68 | 2016 255 -10.58 | 2017 234 -29.15 | 2018 250 -15.80 | 2019 257 -6.83 | 2020 310 -15.03 | 2021 307 -38.75 | 2022 312 -13.15 | 2023 313 -10.05 | 2024 341 -44.10 | 2025 308 -2.27 | 2026 267 -38.09
  by entry hour, server (n, net R): 6h 1281 -148.83 | 7h 744 -30.26 | 8h 657 -65.91 | 9h 571 -36.77 | 10h 448 -3.15 | 11h 342 -16.37 | 12h 279 -37.77 | 13h 222 -36.36 | 14h 253 16.26 | 15h 313 0.91 | 16h 307 -8.11 | 17h 220 -10.53 | 18h 147 -6.47 | 19h 88 6.68 | 20h 74 -10.12 | 21h 60 0.28 | 22h 35 0.93 | 23h 17 -0.68
  control (entries moved to other days, same server time, same R in dollars, 500 runs, 6 s): mean trades 3717.87, median avg -0.060 R, 5-95% -0.085 .. -0.034 R; real avg -0.064 R at percentile 41.60
  [FAIL] 1 PF >= 1.2 in validation: VAL PF 0.84
  [PASS] 2 >= 50 trades in each period: 2071 / 1829 / 2158
  [FAIL] 3 t >= 2.0 on development: DEV t -2.10
  [FAIL] 4 above 95th pct of the control: percentile 41.60
  [FAIL] 5 positive without top-10 trades: -401.65 R
  [FAIL] 6 holdout net positive (flagged used): HOLDOUT net -161.44 R PF 0.86
  VERDICT Buried (1/6 gates)
  rule 3: 369 trades are open across a suspect or unclear gap; without them avg -0.063 R, gates passed 1/6 -> Buried (verdict unchanged)

buy and hold over the same data, for reference: 384 -> 4109.91