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 2026-10-23T06:49:20.948Z; 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 01:19 .. 2026-10-07 16:57 New York (clock corrected, minute close stamps); 5743 broker days
signals: 11352 trap signals taken by the indicator's rules (5769 buy, 5583 sell); 7534 more were past the 3-a-day cap; blocked: 10866 (previous day's high/low 10858, 90-minute window 0, 2 M15 closes beyond the line 11, EMA stack alone 0); 4245 taken signals had the EMA stack against them (the indicator lets classic traps through)
  by year: 2004 199 | 2005 315 | 2006 349 | 2007 495 | 2008 516 | 2009 547 | 2010 544 | 2011 493 | 2012 491 | 2013 547 | 2014 525 | 2015 579 | 2016 533 | 2017 532 | 2018 560 | 2019 555 | 2020 535 | 2021 544 | 2022 538 | 2023 586 | 2024 558 | 2025 446 | 2026 365
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= 2092 net -77.81 R  avg -0.037 R  PF 0.92 t -1.88
  VAL      n= 1831 net -146.56 R  avg -0.080 R  PF 0.83 t -3.71
  HOLDOUT  n= 2159 net -160.43 R  avg -0.074 R  PF 0.86 t -3.52
  ALL      n=6082 net -384.80 R avg -0.063 R (gross -0.006 R, cost 0.058 R a trade); $ per ounce -2117.52; PF 0.87 t -5.26
  win rate 2997/6082 = 49.3% (95% Wilson 48.0-50.5%); ended by day end 916 (15.1%), target 2561 (42.1%), stop 2605 (42.8%)
  R in dollars: median $5.00, mean $5.52, under $1: 0.0%, under $2: 0.0%, over $10: 3.1%; filled at the open beyond the line (gap): 173; minutes held median 196 max 1064; the 10 best trades 15.32 R
  longs n=3130 net -170.03 R gross 9.42 R | shorts n=2952 net -214.78 R gross -43.43 R | trap #1 of the day n=4546 net -357.50 R
  drawdown on closed trades -392.19 R
  by year (n, net R): 2004 97 -2.96 | 2005 159 -15.98 | 2006 208 -20.21 | 2007 237 -26.38 | 2008 295 24.45 | 2009 277 6.01 | 2010 274 3.27 | 2011 280 -33.21 | 2012 265 -12.80 | 2013 305 -35.17 | 2014 251 -11.68 | 2015 277 -29.17 | 2016 258 -15.76 | 2017 234 -30.63 | 2018 248 -14.24 | 2019 258 -9.89 | 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 268 -37.08
  by entry hour, server (n, net R): 6h 1275 -168.34 | 7h 758 -8.46 | 8h 610 -53.98 | 9h 561 -57.04 | 10h 475 12.38 | 11h 346 -3.83 | 12h 288 -36.86 | 13h 215 -43.66 | 14h 225 9.81 | 15h 302 -11.03 | 16h 326 -2.18 | 17h 248 -8.11 | 18h 153 -11.56 | 19h 95 9.64 | 20h 80 -11.86 | 21h 65 0.62 | 22h 38 0.74 | 23h 22 -1.06
  control (entries moved to other days, same server time, same R in dollars, 500 runs, 6 s): mean trades 3733.28, median avg -0.060 R, 5-95% -0.084 .. -0.035 R; real avg -0.063 R at percentile 41.20
  [FAIL] 1 PF >= 1.2 in validation: VAL PF 0.83
  [PASS] 2 >= 50 trades in each period: 2092 / 1831 / 2159
  [FAIL] 3 t >= 2.0 on development: DEV t -1.88
  [FAIL] 4 above 95th pct of the control: percentile 41.20
  [FAIL] 5 positive without top-10 trades: -400.12 R
  [FAIL] 6 holdout net positive (flagged used): HOLDOUT net -160.43 R PF 0.86
  VERDICT Buried (1/6 gates)
  rule 3: 362 trades are open across a suspect or unclear gap; without them avg -0.061 R, gates passed 1/6 -> Buried (verdict unchanged)

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