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ForexBot2/backtest/research/daily_trend_campaign_2026-09-30.md
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Harwinder Sekhon 2cc5915b00 Daily-trend veto on M15 + lot-size / already-open lines (campaign 2026-09-30), and the 2026-10-01 whole-codebase bug review
Two bodies of work that touch the same files, so one commit.

Direction and setup-size campaign (2026-09-30 → 10-01, owner's RISK-FIRST rule,
written before the runs):
- SIGNAL: M15 daily-trend veto (factory override 7, xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto
  "both"). A finished setup against a clear daily trend (closed D1 bars, Sunday
  stubs dropped; close vs its 50-bar EMA AND vs the close 60 kept days earlier)
  is removed as the last step of the core. One definition
  (signal_aggregator.daily_trend_series) for live, the bar replay and the twin's
  host side; D1 is a required frame of the M15 scan; mirrored in
  cuda_signal_kernels.py K2. W3 824 / +205.12R / PF 1.73 / max DD 12.4R vs
  1105 / +195.79R / 1.49 / 20.9R; 2019 → 2026 1473 / +223.33R / 1.42 / 41.5R vs
  2091 / +192.53R / 1.24 / 64.8R; unseen holdout −4.62R vs −6.63R.
- FAILED, not shipped: the veto on M5 (W3 drawdown 10.1R → 15.2R) and on H1
  (−9.7R), buy-only and sell-only on M15, the wide-stop cap
  (xau_strategy.wide_stop_cap_atr stays 0.0, a research knob).
- New M15 pins: W2 dfc647ee…, OOS e87b6de1…, W3 ad3b0dbd…. M5 / H1 / H4 pins
  unchanged. --set xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto=off reproduces the previous M15
  pins byte for byte. Twin and reference script MD5-equal on every window;
  recorder and feature-export parity re-proved; base-rate table rebuilt.
- DISPLAY (books byte-identical): exposure.py — the lot size for
  trade_size.risk_per_trade (new config.json block, off by default, private to
  the owner) and the count of alerted same-direction plans still open
  (signals.alerted_at, read-only open_alerted_setups); the daily trend in words
  on Telegram, the CLI and the dashboard; signals.daily_trend logged.
- providers/oanda: a date window with no bars is an empty page, not an error
  (a D1 pad starting on a Saturday could not be fetched).
- Reports only, nothing shipped: seven context screens (no state nominated) and
  eight outside data sources (none adds a forecast to gold's own daily trend).
- Independent verification (report section 5.13): every figure reproduced on
  both scripts, scoring identical to the previous commit on all four
  timeframes, no look-ahead. Caveats recorded there: this is a risk filter, not
  a more accurate direction call; nine tenths of the 2019 → 2026 gain is 2022;
  the neighbour clause is thin (a simple 100-day average misses the R line by
  1.2R); "never adds a trade" is an observation, not a guarantee.

Bug review of the whole codebase (2026-10-01). Signal path clean. 17 defects
elsewhere, plus 4 found by an independent review of the fixes; all fixed, each
with a test; no trade book changed:
- telegram_bot: one _deliver_alert for the candle scan and the level break. The
  row is stamped alerted_at BEFORE the send, on a one-worker alert-db pool, and
  un-stamped when no chat received it or the task is cancelled mid-stamp, so
  two alerts at one candle close count each other and no SQLite write runs on
  the event loop. The 5-bar cooldown counts bars of the scan's own frame
  (== gpu_backtest._apply_cooldown; clock time released the 22:00 UTC bar after
  the settlement pause) and is restored from signals.db at start-up. The
  lot-size line goes to the owner's own chat only (a group the owner ran
  /autoscan in used to receive it). /status gains a news-model line and escapes
  failure details.
- signal_log: mark_alerted returns the stamp it wrote; unmark_alerted;
  last_alerted_bars (read-only).
- advisory_outcome: candle continuity is judged bar by bar inside the walk; a
  hole after a trade's exit no longer voids it. The stored-candle replay
  resolves 108 of 111 logged setups instead of 99, all equal to the live
  resolver's R.
- providers/oanda: an empty date window is accepted only when it is 5 days or
  shorter and no malformed candle was skipped; a longer one is retried, then
  refused, instead of being cached as history with a hole.
- news_engine: blank RSS titles skipped; one unreadable headline no longer
  costs the local model its whole batch (checked on the real bundle); model
  health recorded; no DeepSeek audit call in a process that does not archive;
  event-direction cache keyed per release; peek_week_events never fetches.
- llm_client: chat_json never raises and never logs the API key (requests
  quotes the Authorization value in InvalidHeader; error bodies are redacted).
- signal_aggregator: the scan's news block is guarded; the replay path
  (use_news=False) assigns exactly the values it did before.
- agent_panel: PANEL_PROMPT_VERSION v2.2 — same prompt text, corrected input
  (event timing over the cached calendar week, headlines newest first).
  scripts/panel_replay.py replays the logged payload per persona;
  scripts/label_scan_outcomes.py counts with an ISO cutoff.
- test_all.py: no ALTER TABLE … DROP COLUMN (the live box has SQLite 3.34);
  tests that write Parquet print a notice and return without pyarrow.

Verification after the last code change: suite 632 passed, 0 failed (also with
both Parquet engines blocked and FB2_BACKEND=cpu, the live box's view); the
five reference MD5s reproduce on both backtesters, 0 cache fallbacks; Module 37
green; static Python 3.9 / SQLite 3.34 check clean on every touched file.

Evidence: backtest/research/daily_trend_campaign_2026-09-30.md,
context_screens_2026-10.md, new_inputs_2026-10.md; CLAUDE.md sections 2, 4, 6,
8, 9, 10 and 11; pair_signals/xauusd.py docstring (M15 override 7).
2026-10-01 10:28:28 -04:00

42 KiB
Raw Blame History

Daily-trend veto and wide-stop cap — pre-registered campaign, 2026-09-30

Owner request (2026-09-30): improve the direction call and the trade setup size; anything may change if the evidence supports it. This file holds the rules first, then the results. Sections 1 to 4 were written before any formal run. Section 2 records what was already looked at while planning, so the reader knows which numbers are a confirmation and which are a first look.

1. What is tested

Candidate T — daily-trend veto. The engine sees at most the H1 chart (M5 confirms on M15 and H1, M15 on M5 and H1). None of the 65 decision-time features of the earlier campaigns reads the daily chart. The candidate drops a finished trade setup that goes against a clear daily trend.

Definition (fixed; signal_aggregator.daily_trend_series):

  • daily candles from the provider (UTC-aligned, label = 00:00 UTC of the day), closed bars only: a bar labelled D is used once D + 1 day ≤ the close of the primary bar;
  • bars labelled Sunday are dropped first (Oanda's 1 to 2 hour reopening stub);
  • ema = Close.ewm(span=50, adjust=False).mean(), change = Close / Close.shift(60) − 1;
  • state +1 when Close > ema and change > 0; −1 when Close < ema and change < 0; else 0;
  • after every setup archetype has run (gold ATR, swing, pullback, chart pattern) a setup against a non-zero state is removed: grade D, no setup, warning DAILY TREND FILTER: …. Switch xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto: off (default, books byte-identical), both, buy (only buys against a falling daily trend are removed), sell.

Candidate C — wide-stop cap. xau_strategy.wide_stop_cap_atr = K caps the stop distance of the swing (GENERIC) and chart-pattern setups at max(K × ATR, the existing floor), applied after the min-RR and spread gates so the set of trades cannot change. K = 6, with 5, 7 and 8 declared as neighbours. M15 only (the exit-only screen was negative on M5).

2. What was already seen (planning phase, 2026-09-30, read-only, in memory)

Prototype: K1 and K2 of the CUDA twin, then a host-side mask on the final candidates before the 5-bar cooldown, then the shared resolver. The control rows of the prototype reproduce the pinned books (M15 W3 1105 / +195.79R, M5 W3 870 / +153.64R, H1 W3 253 / +70.02R).

Book ($0.65) Control Veto, both directions
M15 W3 2023-09-05 → 2026-09-05 1105 / +195.8R / PF 1.49 / DD 20.9 824 / +205.1R / PF 1.73 / DD 12.4
M15 LONG 2019-01-01 → 2026-08-07 2091 / +192.5R / PF 1.24 / DD 64.8 1473 / +223.3R / PF 1.42 / DD 41.5
M15 rising window 2024-06-01 → 2025-03-30 313 / +68.5R / PF 1.67 258 / +63.8R / PF 1.80
M5 W3 870 / +153.6R / PF 1.50 / DD 10.1 668 / +159.1R / PF 1.70 / DD 15.2
M5 W3, buy side only 741 / +156.5R / PF 1.60 / DD 9.6
M5 LONG 1052 / +128.1R / PF 1.34 / DD 18.4 790 / +127.5R / PF 1.45 / DD 25.2
H1 W3 253 / +70.0R / PF 1.98 / DD 4.4 231 / +60.3R / PF 1.90 / DD 4.4

Also seen: neighbouring definitions on M15 (60-day change alone +188.3R W3 / +228.1R LONG; 90-day +196.1 / +228.8; 120-day +199.4 / +233.2; 100-day average +201.2 / +227.3); the share of M15 W3 trades reaching +1R before −1R (58.6% → 61.4%); the live September 2026 setups with the veto applied after the fact (cooldown view −11.6R → −6.0R to −8.8R); an exit-only re-simulation of 25 stop and exit variants (cap 6 × ATR on M15 W3 +14.0R, LONG +11.8R; cap 5 negative on LONG); two variants dropped at this stage and NOT tested formally: lifting the SELL gates when the daily trend is down (worse on LONG on both timeframes), and removing the existing M15 short blocks under the veto (costs 4 to 22R).

So the windows W3, W2, the rising window and LONG are a CONFIRMATION through the real code path. First looks are: the HOLDOUT window through the backtester, the $0.30 numbers on LONG, and every number produced by the shipped code rather than the prototype.

3. Harness

venv/bin/python backtest/cudaBasedBacktesting.py --pair XAUUSD --primary-tf <tf> --start <s> --end <e> --spread <0.65|0.30> [--set xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto=<mode>] [--set xau_strategy.wide_stop_cap_atr=<K>] --export-csv <out>; factory configuration otherwise. Twin numbers count only with the paired backtest/gpu_backtest.py MD5 (same flags plus --workers 12). Neighbouring trend definitions are not shipped code: they run on the research harness (the prototype), after the harness book for the shipped definition is shown identical to the twin's.

Windows: W3 2023-09-05 → 2026-09-05 (halves at 2025-03-05); W2 2024-09-05 → 2026-09-05 (halves at 2025-09-05); RISING 2024-06-01 → 2025-03-30 (the old out-of-sample window; a rising market throughout); LONG 2019-01-01 → 2026-08-07; HOLDOUT 2026-09-05 → 2026-10-01 (fetched for this campaign, never seen by any tuning or by the prototype).

4. Acceptance rules (written before the runs)

Rule T (risk-first; owner decision 2026-09-30). Candidate T on a timeframe PASSES only if, against the same-harness control:

  • (a) W3 total R ≥ 97% of the control's at $0.65;
  • (b) W3 profit factor ≥ control + 0.10;
  • (c) W3 max drawdown ≤ the control's;
  • (d) LONG: total R ≥ control, max drawdown ≤ control, and 2021 + 2022 combined R better;
  • (e) HOLDOUT total R ≥ control − 0.5R;
  • (f) clauses (a) to (c) also hold at $0.30;
  • (g) at least 3 of the 4 neighbouring definitions (60-day change alone, 90-day, 120-day, 100-day average alone) satisfy (a) and (c): a plateau, not a spike;
  • (h) at least 20 trades differ on W3. Reported, NOT clauses (the owner accepted this cost on 2026-09-30): the W2 halves and the RISING window, where the veto is expected to give up some R. The 2026-09-26 template (every half and the old out-of-sample window must not lose) would reject this candidate by construction; that is the difference between the two rules and it is deliberate. Decision per timeframe: both if it passes; else buy if that passes; else no veto (the daily trend is then shown on the alert as information only). H1 is run for the record.

Rule C (standard). K = 6 on M15 against the post-T control PASSES only if: W3 ΔR ≥ +5R; both W3 halves ≥ control − 1R; PF ≥ control − 0.02; W3 max drawdown ≤ control + 10%; LONG total R ≥ control; the same sign of ΔR at $0.30; at least 20 trades differ; and the neighbours K = 5 and K = 7 are not negative on W3 or on LONG.

No rescue for either rule: no second definition, no other K, no window shopping after the result.

5. Results

All runs 2026-09-30 on the dev box, branch sql-integration, working tree = HEAD 0c56b4e plus this campaign's code. Every twin log reads Backend: CuPy GPU (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, cupy 14.0.1) and GPU cache fallbacks: 0 (no per-bar recompute path in cudaBasedBacktesting); every reference log reads the same Backend: line and GPU cache fallbacks: 0. 86 formal twin books (5 windows × 2 costs × the variants below, plus the fixed-1R-target books). R is per trade in units of the initial risk; "DD" is the largest peak-to-trough fall of the running total, in R.

5.1 Proofs before any formal number

  • Baseline. Before any code change the five reference MD5s of CLAUDE.md §9 were reproduced on both scripts (ten books).
  • Default-off neutrality. With the new code and both knobs at their defaults the same ten books are byte-identical to the pins (e599c8a8… M5 W2, 5b65ecf6… M15 W2, 09b8a8e7… M15 OOS, a44fd19b… H1 W3, f3587bae… H4 W3).
  • Twin = reference on every new path (--spread 0.65, W3 2023-09-05 → 2026-09-05, equal MD5 from backtest/gpu_backtest.py --workers 12 and backtest/cudaBasedBacktesting.py):
Flags Trades / R / DD MD5 (both scripts)
M15 --set xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto=both 824 / +205.12 / 12.39 ad3b0dbda0bf77b659caea1c53be6a50
M15 …=buy 999 / +188.21 / 20.87 6e0f3b742d9690f78c97319d1b1c8a43
M15 …=sell 930 / +212.70 / 13.72 31aa5762964d846f15d111cd4a718adc
M15 --set xau_strategy.wide_stop_cap_atr=6 1105 / +209.78 / 19.32 4ec0e4450d5dab143a4ed37e80545626
M5 --set xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto=both 668 / +159.07 / 15.20 39cc0f198d38b532720dce4f98d99452
M5 --set xau_strategy.wide_stop_cap_atr=6 870 / +141.57 / 13.95 4da0997256b272ffcd11a90bf9658eef

The M15 both book equals the planning prototype trade for trade (824 / +205.1R / PF 1.73 / DD 12.4), so the shipped definition is the one that was screened.

  • Suite. 595 passed / 0 failed after Stage 1 (Module 39 new, Module 37 extended).

5.2 Candidate T — every window, both costs

Command per row: venv/bin/python backtest/cudaBasedBacktesting.py --pair XAUUSD --primary-tf <15min|5min> --start <s> --end <e> --spread <0.65|0.30> [--set xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto=<mode>] --export-csv <out>. "control" = no --set.

M15

Window Cost Variant Trades Total R Win rate PF Max DD First half Second half MD5 (8)
W3 $0.65 control 1105 +195.79 61.1% 1.49 20.9 +76.87 +118.92 70195fb0
W3 $0.65 both 824 +205.12 63.1% 1.73 12.4 +76.72 +128.40 ad3b0dbd
W3 $0.65 buy 999 +188.21 61.3% 1.52 20.9 +60.40 +127.81 6e0f3b74
W3 $0.65 sell 930 +212.70 62.7% 1.66 13.7 +93.19 +119.52 31aa5762
W3 $0.30 control 1105 +216.53 61.4% 1.55 19.6 +88.86 +127.67 ce074a1b
W3 $0.30 both 824 +221.18 63.6% 1.81 11.4 +86.41 +134.77 96a87454
W3 $0.30 buy 999 +207.23 61.7% 1.59 19.6 +71.83 +135.41 2ada14e4
W3 $0.30 sell 930 +230.48 63.1% 1.73 12.8 +103.45 +127.03 49665c41
W2 $0.65 control 813 +154.15 62.2% 1.53 15.6 +70.10 +84.04 5b65ecf6
W2 $0.65 both 597 +155.89 64.3% 1.78 11.4 +61.83 +94.06 dfc647ee
W2 $0.65 buy 718 +154.67 63.0% 1.62 14.4 +65.03 +89.65 f23bfda4
W2 $0.65 sell 692 +155.36 63.3% 1.65 13.7 +66.91 +88.46 1a071ac7
W2 $0.30 control 813 +167.53 62.6% 1.59 14.5 +78.61 +88.91 15486607
W2 $0.30 both 597 +166.22 64.8% 1.85 11.0 +68.82 +97.39 d2f678bf
W2 $0.30 buy 718 +166.64 63.4% 1.68 14.0 +73.12 +93.52 f3abc1e8
W2 $0.30 sell 692 +167.10 63.7% 1.71 12.8 +74.31 +92.79 d7d038fd
RISING $0.65 control 313 +68.50 63.6% 1.67 12.4 +18.87 +49.63 09b8a8e7
RISING $0.65 both 258 +63.78 64.3% 1.80 9.1 +23.97 +39.81 e87b6de1
RISING $0.65 buy 303 +60.15 63.0% 1.60 12.4 +18.87 +41.28 f001a0a6
RISING $0.65 sell 268 +72.13 64.9% 1.89 9.1 +23.97 +48.16 cbe4cb24
RISING $0.30 control 313 +76.21 64.5% 1.77 11.1 +22.92 +53.29 5fc34cef
RISING $0.30 both 258 +70.24 65.5% 1.91 7.9 +27.31 +42.92 5de32f51
RISING $0.30 buy 303 +67.59 64.0% 1.70 11.1 +22.92 +44.67 69b41026
RISING $0.30 sell 268 +78.86 66.0% 2.00 7.9 +27.31 +51.54 3631466e
LONG $0.65 control 2091 +192.53 57.8% 1.24 64.8 c2228398
LONG $0.65 both 1473 +223.33 59.7% 1.42 41.5 aa5253aa
LONG $0.65 buy 1762 +214.62 58.9% 1.33 34.5 952d64d8
LONG $0.65 sell 1802 +201.23 58.3% 1.30 76.4 d3965ab8
LONG $0.30 control 2091 +240.00 58.8% 1.31 49.6 0c58b300
LONG $0.30 both 1473 +257.25 60.8% 1.50 37.2 1835b341
LONG $0.30 buy 1762 +254.33 59.9% 1.40 29.5 a2b519bd
LONG $0.30 sell 1802 +242.92 59.4% 1.37 62.3 f6edb469
HOLDOUT $0.65 control 24 −6.63 50.0% 0.42 7.0 c42470a0
HOLDOUT $0.65 both 18 −4.62 50.0% 0.50 4.8 fa50bcd0
HOLDOUT $0.65 buy 22 −6.81 45.5% 0.41 7.0 548a4bf4
HOLDOUT $0.65 sell 20 −4.44 55.0% 0.52 4.8 1459ef5f
HOLDOUT $0.30 control 24 −6.29 50.0% 0.44 6.7 d7fbee9d
HOLDOUT $0.30 both 18 −4.35 50.0% 0.52 4.5 2179c08c
HOLDOUT $0.30 buy 22 −6.49 45.5% 0.43 6.7 0b90faeb
HOLDOUT $0.30 sell 20 −4.15 55.0% 0.54 4.5 70932b7e

M5

Window Cost Variant Trades Total R Win rate PF Max DD First half Second half MD5 (8)
W3 $0.65 control 870 +153.64 53.3% 1.50 10.1 +16.73 +136.91 d20ec8a3
W3 $0.65 both 668 +159.07 53.9% 1.70 15.2 +14.01 +145.06 39cc0f19
W3 $0.65 buy 741 +156.53 53.4% 1.60 9.6 +15.68 +140.85 631f25ac
W3 $0.30 control 870 +172.40 54.3% 1.57 8.9 +21.08 +151.32 5acafcba
W3 $0.30 both 668 +174.43 54.8% 1.79 14.3 +18.09 +156.34 34f2e282
W3 $0.30 buy 741 +172.72 54.3% 1.69 8.9 +19.87 +152.86 c8bdc9e2
W2 $0.65 control 781 +146.07 52.9% 1.52 10.1 +26.42 +119.65 e599c8a8
W2 $0.65 both 585 +153.82 53.7% 1.78 15.2 +33.16 +120.66 b9fa356c
W2 $0.65 buy 656 +151.09 53.0% 1.66 9.6 +27.42 +123.66 30e243b0
W2 $0.30 control 781 +162.09 53.9% 1.60 8.9 +31.71 +130.37 7ab48db9
W2 $0.30 both 585 +166.59 54.7% 1.87 14.3 +38.05 +128.54 3427b933
W2 $0.30 buy 656 +164.66 54.0% 1.74 8.9 +32.58 +132.08 7dd9e2a2
RISING $0.65 control 86 +9.47 53.5% 1.33 8.2 +0.01 +9.46 65c46e62
RISING $0.65 both 81 +9.07 54.3% 1.34 7.5 +0.67 +8.40 e20fdef2
RISING $0.65 buy 85 +10.55 54.1% 1.39 7.2 +0.01 +10.54 de24b2e8
RISING $0.30 control 86 +12.42 54.7% 1.46 6.7 +1.65 +10.77 5c154360
RISING $0.30 both 81 +11.91 55.6% 1.47 6.1 +2.28 +9.63 3b1a8f9e
RISING $0.30 buy 85 +13.46 55.3% 1.52 5.7 +1.65 +11.81 21ffab88
LONG $0.65 control 1052 +128.10 50.5% 1.34 18.4 3f0c091c
LONG $0.65 both 790 +127.47 50.4% 1.45 25.2 9872c068
LONG $0.65 buy 871 +123.37 49.9% 1.39 27.1 613dcf0e
LONG $0.30 control 1052 +153.02 51.7% 1.41 13.0 6708d8cc
LONG $0.30 both 790 +147.13 51.5% 1.54 19.6 201d968f
LONG $0.30 buy 871 +144.02 51.1% 1.47 22.3 d9cba459
HOLDOUT $0.65 control 33 −2.45 51.5% 0.82 6.1 351f7149
HOLDOUT $0.65 both 26 −2.04 50.0% 0.81 5.4 b9c8cb82
HOLDOUT $0.65 buy 33 −2.45 51.5% 0.82 6.1 351f7149
HOLDOUT $0.30 control 33 −1.85 51.5% 0.86 5.6 5a6aea9c
HOLDOUT $0.30 both 26 −1.56 50.0% 0.85 5.0 ddd29068
HOLDOUT $0.30 buy 33 −1.85 51.5% 0.86 5.6 5a6aea9c

H1, for the record ($0.65): W3 control 253 / +70.02R / PF 1.98 / DD 4.4 (a44fd19b), both 231 / +60.28R / PF 1.90 / DD 4.4 (cdac563b); HOLDOUT 3 / −3.04R in both (no trade removed). Fails (a) (60.28 < 67.92) and (b). H4 was not run: it confirms on the daily chart already.

5.3 Per calendar year ($0.65), total R / trades

M15, LONG 2019-01-01 → 2026-08-07:

Variant 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
control +9.0 / 117 +48.8 / 283 −25.6 / 210 −24.6 / 267 +11.7 / 211 +53.3 / 343 +81.2 / 425 +38.7 / 235
both +14.0 / 88 +45.1 / 207 −27.3 / 121 +3.2 / 149 +1.8 / 163 +53.5 / 275 +92.5 / 341 +40.6 / 129
buy +7.6 / 111 +44.2 / 253 −21.4 / 135 +7.4 / 166 +1.6 / 189 +46.4 / 335 +83.1 / 416 +45.9 / 157
sell +15.4 / 94 +49.7 / 237 −31.5 / 196 −28.8 / 250 +11.9 / 185 +60.4 / 283 +90.6 / 350 +33.4 / 207

M5, LONG:

Variant 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
control −1.0 / 20 −2.8 / 95 −1.7 / 32 −2.2 / 50 −2.8 / 61 +1.0 / 102 +40.5 / 332 +97.0 / 360
both +0.2 / 17 −6.9 / 76 −3.4 / 14 −4.7 / 28 −3.5 / 54 +1.5 / 96 +43.2 / 297 +101.0 / 208
buy +0.2 / 17 −6.7 / 83 −3.2 / 16 −6.0 / 30 −4.6 / 56 +2.1 / 101 +40.5 / 329 +101.0 / 239

M15, W3 per calendar year (total R / trades / max DD inside the year):

Variant 2023 (from 09-05) 2024 2025 2026 (to 09-05)
control +10.8 / 66 / 9.0 +53.3 / 343 / 16.3 +81.2 / 425 / 15.6 +50.5 / 271 / 10.3
both +9.3 / 47 / 6.9 +53.5 / 275 / 11.0 +92.5 / 341 / 11.4 +49.9 / 161 / 8.3

M15, R per month from 2025-09 (W3):

Variant 2025-09 10 11 12 2026-01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 (to 09-05)
control +14.7 −1.4 +3.7 +19.4 +29.1 −2.2 +9.5 +4.4 +0.0 +1.7 −4.6 +12.4 +0.2
both +19.4 +0.6 +8.4 +18.7 +32.4 −2.4 +1.5 +7.2 −2.4 +5.1 +2.3 +5.9 +0.2

Losing runs on M15: longest run of losing trades 9 → 8 (W3 and LONG); worst calendar month −10.1R → −6.1R (W3, 2024-01) and −11.7R → −10.0R (LONG); losing months 11 → 8 of 37 on W3, 39 of 92 → 37 of 91 on LONG.

5.4 Rule T, clause by clause

M15 both — PASS

Clause Result Numbers (candidate vs control)
(a) W3 R ≥ 97% of control PASS +205.12 vs +195.79 (97% = +189.92)
(b) W3 PF ≥ control + 0.10 PASS 1.734 vs 1.488
(c) W3 max DD ≤ control PASS 12.39 vs 20.87
(d) LONG R ≥ control PASS +223.33 vs +192.53
(d) LONG max DD ≤ control PASS 41.54 vs 64.77
(d) 2021 + 2022 better PASS −24.12 vs −50.21
(e) HOLDOUT R ≥ control − 0.5 PASS −4.62 (18 trades) vs −6.63 (24)
(f) (a) at $0.30 PASS +221.18 vs +216.53 (97% = +210.04)
(f) (b) at $0.30 PASS 1.809 vs 1.551
(f) (c) at $0.30 PASS 11.44 vs 19.56
(g) ≥ 3 of 4 neighbours pass (a) and (c) PASS 3 of 4 (table 5.5)
(h) ≥ 20 trades differ on W3 PASS 281 removed, 0 added

M15 buy — FAIL: (a) +188.21 < +189.92; (b) 1.523 < 1.588; the same two at $0.30. M15 sell — FAIL: (d) LONG max DD 76.39 > 64.77 and 2021 + 2022 −60.29 < −50.21. It has the best W3 total (+212.70R) and that is exactly the trap the long window was there to catch: in the falling years the buys against the daily trend are the losers, and sell keeps them. M5 both — FAIL: (c) W3 DD 15.20 > 10.11 (also at $0.30: 14.30 > 8.88); (d) LONG R +127.47 < +128.10, LONG DD 25.25 > 18.39, 2021 + 2022 −8.02 < −3.91; (g) 0 of 4. M5 buy — FAIL: (d) LONG R +123.37 < +128.10, LONG DD 27.14 > 18.39, 2021 + 2022 −9.13 < −3.91; (g) 1 of 4. H1 both — FAIL (a), (b).

5.5 Clause (g): neighbouring definitions (research harness)

The harness (K1 + K2 of the twin with the veto OFF, a host-side mask on the final candidates before the cooldown, the shared resolver) reproduces the twin's --set books byte for byte for the shipped definition, so it is the same thing as the shipped path for a final veto:

Book ($0.65) Harness CSV MD5 Twin CSV MD5
M15 W3 control 70195fb0e6865b3a46ee8a9aa8844e51 same
M15 W3 both ad3b0dbda0bf77b659caea1c53be6a50 same
M15 LONG control c222839878f791e980b2dbc99fb6dfbd same
M15 LONG both aa5253aab206fd21fa6a8d5ba25b75b5 same
M5 W3 control / both / buy d20ec8a3… / 39cc0f19… / 631f25ac… same
M5 LONG control / both / buy 3f0c091c… / 9872c068… / 613dcf0e… same

M15, veto in both directions, each neighbour replacing the definition of "clear daily trend":

Definition W3 trades W3 R W3 PF W3 DD (a) (c) LONG trades LONG R LONG PF LONG DD
control 1105 +195.79 1.49 20.87 (97% = +189.92) 2091 +192.53 1.24 64.77
shipped: 50-day average AND 60-day change 824 +205.12 1.73 12.39 PASS PASS 1473 +223.33 1.42 41.54
60-day change alone 752 +188.25 1.73 11.89 FAIL PASS 1328 +228.11 1.49 27.30
90-day change alone 782 +196.14 1.72 12.46 PASS PASS 1412 +228.75 1.46 37.36
120-day change alone 781 +199.36 1.75 12.26 PASS PASS 1397 +233.19 1.47 34.79
100-day average alone 796 +201.23 1.74 12.26 PASS PASS 1375 +227.30 1.47 32.56

3 of 4 pass. Every neighbour beats the control on PF and on drawdown in both windows; the one miss is 1.7R under the 97% line. It is a plateau. (Each neighbour has a lower LONG drawdown than the shipped definition; switching to one now would be the rescue the rule forbids.)

M5: both 0 of 4 (every neighbour keeps the 15.2R drawdown), buy 1 of 4 (90-day, 120-day and 100-day average all fall under the 97% line). No plateau on M5.

5.6 What the veto removes (M15, $0.65)

Zero trades are added in any window (W3 and LONG, every variant, both timeframes): the setups inside a vetoed setup's 5-bar cooldown point the same way under the same daily state and are vetoed with it, so the cooldown displaces nothing.

Slice W3 trades W3 R W3 mean R LONG trades LONG R LONG mean R
all removed 281 −9.32 −0.033 618 −30.80 −0.050
BUY against a falling daily trend 106 +7.59 +0.072 329 −22.10 −0.067
SELL against a rising daily trend 175 −16.91 −0.097 289 −8.70 −0.030
removed, grade B 210 −11.53 −0.055 408 −25.69 −0.063
removed, grade A 46 +1.28 +0.028 164 −1.12 −0.007
removed, grade A+ 14 +4.26 +0.304 26 +1.81 +0.069
removed, grade C 11 −3.34 −0.304 20 −5.80 −0.290
kept (the new book) 824 +205.12 +0.249 1473 +223.33 +0.152
kept BUY 763 +194.20 +0.255 1302 +222.50 +0.171
kept SELL 61 +10.91 +0.179 171 +0.83 +0.005

Reading: the removed trades are close to break-even after costs (−0.03 to −0.05R each) while the kept trades earn +0.15 to +0.25R each. The veto does not find big losers; it drops about a quarter of the trades, the ones with no edge, and with them the long flat-to-down stretches. The two halves of the veto are carried by different windows: the SELL half by the rising 3-year window, the BUY half by the falling years of the long window. Only the symmetric rule holds on both.

Share of trades that reach +1R before −1R (same entries, fixed 1R target, --fixed-rr-tp 1.0, $0.65): M15 W3 58.6% → 61.4% (1105 → 824 trades), M15 LONG 55.9% → 58.2%; M5 W3 56.8% → 58.2%, M5 LONG 55.3% → 56.1%.

Checklist breakdowns, M15 W3 → with the veto (trades / R), $0.65:

Slice Control Veto Change in R
regime ranging 140 / +46.75 106 / +49.23 +2.48
regime transitioning 264 / +47.05 199 / +49.47 +2.42
regime trending_down 165 / −4.39 43 / +9.71 +14.10
regime trending_up 536 / +106.38 476 / +96.70 −9.68
volatility extreme 508 / +103.91 361 / +95.86 −8.05
volatility high 228 / +4.00 135 / +18.32 +14.32
volatility normal 202 / +58.96 177 / +57.01 −1.96
volatility low 167 / +28.92 151 / +33.94 +5.01
BUY 869 / +201.79 763 / +194.20 −7.59
SELL 236 / −6.00 61 / +10.91 +16.91
setup GENERIC 1004 / +184.73 757 / +192.15 +7.42
setup XAU_ATR 101 / +11.07 67 / +12.97 +1.90
Monday 188 / +36.54 145 / +52.46 +15.92
Tuesday 240 / +44.89 186 / +41.82 −3.07
Wednesday 234 / +12.08 165 / +13.36 +1.28
Thursday 216 / +63.84 157 / +70.36 +6.51
Friday 214 / +33.51 162 / +21.04 −12.47
Sunday evening 13 / +4.94 9 / +6.08 +1.14

By entry hour (UTC), change in R on W3 / on LONG: 03 +0.3 / +1.5; 04 −2.1 / −0.1; 05 −0.2 / +2.6; 06 +1.9 / −1.5; 07 +2.9 / +0.9; 08 −5.3 / −0.3; 09 −6.6 / −4.0; 12 −2.9 / +2.7; 14 +11.8 / +12.9; 15 −4.0 / +1.8; 17 −0.5 / −2.4; 18 +11.4 / +11.3; 19 +0.9 / +2.7; 20 +0.8 / +2.9; 22 +0.8 / −0.1. The weekday and hour changes are not stable in sign between the two windows except hours 14 and 18 (positive in both) and hour 9 (negative in both); none of it is a reason to act.

5.7 Verdict T

  • M15: both PASSES every clause and SHIPS (pair_signals/xauusd.py, M15 override 7).
  • M5: no veto. both deepens the worst losing run (10.1R → 15.2R) and loses the long window; buy passes the 3-year window and fails the long one, with no plateau. The M5 book earns almost all of its R in 2025–2026 and the daily trend adds nothing reliable to it.
  • H1 / H4: no veto. H1 loses 10R of 70R; H4 already confirms on the daily chart.
  • On the timeframes without the veto the daily trend is shown on the alert as information only.

What the owner gives up, as agreed: in the purely rising stretch the veto costs R. W2 first half (2024-09 → 2025-09) +61.83R vs +70.10R; the RISING window +63.78R vs +68.50R; W2 at $0.30 +166.22R vs +167.53R. What it buys: the worst losing run on the 3-year window falls from 20.9R to 12.4R, on the 7.6-year window from 64.8R to 41.5R, 2022 turns from −24.6R to +3.2R, and the three weeks after the test window (HOLDOUT, never seen by any tuning) lose 4.6R instead of 6.6R. 2021 does not improve (−27.3R vs −25.6R) and 2023 is worse (+1.8R vs +11.7R): in a year that chops sideways the daily trend flips late and the veto cannot help.

5.8 Candidate C — wide-stop cap on M15 (post-T control)

Control = the factory configuration after the M15 flip (daily-trend veto on). Command per row: venv/bin/python backtest/cudaBasedBacktesting.py --pair XAUUSD --primary-tf 15min --start <s> --end <e> --spread <0.65|0.30> [--set xau_strategy.wide_stop_cap_atr=<K>] --export-csv <out>. Paired proof on this control: W3, K = 6, gpu_backtest.py --workers 12 and the twin both give f94f1429fb4c9172427ea34c2f4d92a1 (824 / +216.87R / DD 11.37).

Window Cost K Trades Total R Win rate PF Max DD First half Second half MD5 (8)
W3 $0.65 off 824 +205.12 63.1% 1.73 12.4 +76.72 +128.40 ad3b0dbd
W3 $0.65 5 824 +211.26 61.4% 1.74 15.0 +81.77 +129.48 055d72a4
W3 $0.65 6 824 +216.87 62.9% 1.78 11.4 +80.67 +136.20 f94f1429
W3 $0.65 7 824 +213.15 63.1% 1.76 11.8 +79.08 +134.07 5ea4ab4b
W3 $0.65 8 824 +208.01 62.9% 1.74 12.3 +77.18 +130.84 372ac298
W3 $0.30 off 824 +221.18 63.6% 1.81 11.4 +86.41 +134.77 96a87454
W3 $0.30 5 824 +228.46 62.1% 1.82 14.0 +92.27 +136.18 7453b5f7
W3 $0.30 6 824 +233.37 63.6% 1.86 11.0 +90.67 +142.70 bf7e4157
W3 $0.30 7 824 +229.37 63.7% 1.84 11.0 +88.88 +140.48 e44cb5b5
W3 $0.30 8 824 +224.12 63.5% 1.82 11.3 +86.91 +137.22 c214455b
W2 $0.65 off 597 +155.89 64.3% 1.78 11.4 +61.83 +94.06 dfc647ee
W2 $0.65 5 597 +156.59 63.3% 1.79 11.4 +62.63 +93.96 5e5c0207
W2 $0.65 6 597 +160.79 64.0% 1.81 11.4 +61.31 +99.48 3614c98a
W2 $0.65 7 597 +158.70 64.3% 1.79 11.4 +60.19 +98.51 afa7eb01
W2 $0.65 8 597 +156.58 64.2% 1.78 11.4 +60.54 +96.04 ba29cc41
RISING $0.65 off 258 +63.78 64.3% 1.80 9.1 +23.97 +39.81 e87b6de1
RISING $0.65 5 258 +57.68 61.6% 1.71 8.0 +22.85 +34.83 295731a3
RISING $0.65 6 258 +58.03 64.0% 1.72 8.6 +23.84 +34.19 8dba71d7
RISING $0.65 7 258 +62.18 64.3% 1.78 8.8 +26.44 +35.74 c461380f
RISING $0.65 8 258 +62.12 63.6% 1.77 9.1 +24.06 +38.07 fce21577
LONG $0.65 off 1473 +223.33 59.7% 1.42 41.5 aa5253aa
LONG $0.65 5 1473 +204.76 58.4% 1.38 53.1 b365f28f
LONG $0.65 6 1473 +233.56 59.7% 1.44 47.2 4aa12918
LONG $0.65 7 1473 +228.83 59.8% 1.43 46.5 6e91e0dd
LONG $0.65 8 1473 +223.79 59.7% 1.42 43.2 36267a43
LONG $0.30 off 1473 +257.25 60.8% 1.50 37.2 1835b341
LONG $0.30 5 1473 +241.64 59.8% 1.46 44.9 6a346020
LONG $0.30 6 1473 +268.63 60.8% 1.52 41.6 526ffa4a
LONG $0.30 7 1473 +263.16 60.9% 1.51 42.1 3f42a60e
LONG $0.30 8 1473 +257.84 60.8% 1.50 38.9 ffbba3e4
HOLDOUT $0.65 off, 6, 7, 8 18 −4.62 50.0% 0.50 4.8 fa50bcd0
HOLDOUT $0.65 5 18 −4.62 50.0% 0.50 4.8 3ff32a0d

(W2 and RISING at $0.30 and the HOLDOUT at $0.30 are in the same direction as the $0.65 rows: W2 +171.35 vs +166.22 for K = 6; RISING +64.66 vs +70.24; HOLDOUT unchanged.)

LONG per calendar year ($0.65), total R (trades are identical: 88 / 207 / 121 / 149 / 163 / 275 / 341 / 129):

K 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
off +14.0 +45.1 −27.3 +3.2 +1.8 +53.5 +92.5 +40.6
5 +19.0 +27.9 −32.4 −1.0 +2.5 +63.1 +89.2 +36.6
6 +19.5 +46.7 −31.8 +1.8 +4.7 +59.8 +88.1 +44.8
7 +16.5 +45.4 −32.2 +4.3 +1.8 +59.2 +91.1 +42.7
8 +14.5 +43.9 −29.0 +3.4 +2.9 +54.4 +92.3 +41.4

Trades the cap touches (the trade set is identical by construction; only stops, and through them results, move). All of them are swing (GENERIC) setups; the gold ATR setup is never capped:

Window K Stops changed R of those trades: control → capped
W3 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 281 / 168 / 89 / 44 +66.4 → +72.5 / +49.2 → +60.9 / +25.6 → +33.6 / +12.2 → +15.1
LONG 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 597 / 350 / 170 / 83 +97.5 → +78.9 / +56.7 → +66.9 / +37.0 → +42.5 / +12.5 → +13.0
RISING 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 97 / 58 / 25 / 12 +28.1 → +22.0 / +21.0 → +15.3 / +13.1 → +11.5 / +5.7 → +4.0
HOLDOUT 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 3 / 0 / 0 / 0 −3.03 → −3.04

Rule C, K = 6

Clause Result Numbers
W3 change in R ≥ +5R PASS +11.75 (+216.87 vs +205.12)
W3 first half ≥ control − 1R PASS +80.67 vs +76.72
W3 second half ≥ control − 1R PASS +136.20 vs +128.40
W3 PF ≥ control − 0.02 PASS 1.777 vs 1.734
W3 max DD ≤ control + 10% PASS 11.37 vs 12.39
LONG total R ≥ control PASS +233.56 vs +223.33 (but max DD 47.19 vs 41.54)
same sign at $0.30 PASS +12.19 (+233.37 vs +221.18)
≥ 20 trades differ PASS 168 stops and results changed
neighbour K = 5 not negative on W3 PASS +6.14
neighbour K = 5 not negative on LONG FAIL −18.57
neighbour K = 7 not negative on W3 PASS +8.04
neighbour K = 7 not negative on LONG PASS +5.50

Verdict C: FAIL. Nothing ships; wide_stop_cap_atr stays 0.0 (research knob only). K = 6 is a narrow peak, not a plateau: one step tighter loses 18.6R over the long window (2020 alone −17R), one step wider keeps half the gain, two steps wider keeps none. The cap also costs R in the rising window at every K (−1.6R to −6.1R), deepens the long-window drawdown at every K (41.5R → 43.2R to 53.1R) and changes nothing in the unseen three weeks. This agrees with the planning-phase screen of 25 stop and exit variants: the stop geometry is at a plateau, and tightening it is the one direction that reliably loses. No second K is tried (the rule's no-rescue clause).

5.9 What shipped, and the re-pinned books

Shipped: pair_signals/xauusd.py M15 override 7, config.xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto = "both" on M15 only. Not shipped: any veto on M5 / H1 / H4; the wide-stop cap (knob kept at 0.0).

Reference books after the flip, factory configuration, --spread 0.65, regenerated with BOTH scripts (gpu_backtest.py --workers 12 and cudaBasedBacktesting.py), Backend: CuPy GPU (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, cupy 14.0.1), GPU cache fallbacks: 0:

Book Window Trades / R / PF / DD MD5 (reference = twin)
M5 W2 2024-09-05 → 2026-09-05 781 / +146.07 / 1.52 / 10.1 e599c8a8652f95b7fcdf5a7ef2b564f5 unchanged
M15 W2 2024-09-05 → 2026-09-05 597 / +155.89 / 1.78 / 11.4 dfc647ee02afd179dd9e031f344ed380 re-pinned (was 5b65ecf6…, 813 / +154.15 / 1.53)
M15 OOS 2024-06-01 → 2025-03-30 258 / +63.78 / 1.80 / 9.1 e87b6de12f90f3b5a5d41a953ee9ff7a re-pinned (was 09b8a8e7…, 313 / +68.50 / 1.67)
H1 W3 2023-09-05 → 2026-09-05 253 / +70.02 / 1.98 / 4.4 a44fd19b4067f46e5bd98d50cc3eff92 unchanged
H4 W3 2023-09-05 → 2026-09-05 114 / +21.7 / 1.59 f3587bae3c5dc3eda468ea3588b17dcb unchanged
M15 W3 2023-09-05 → 2026-09-05 824 / +205.12 / 1.73 / 12.4 ad3b0dbda0bf77b659caea1c53be6a50 was 70195fb0…, 1105 / +195.79 / 1.49

The factory books are byte-identical to the --set xau_strategy.daily_trend_veto=both books of section 5.2, as they must be.

5.10 A fetch bug found on the way (fixed, not a signal change)

The first HOLDOUT and RISING runs with the daily frame failed with OandaDataError: XAU/USD 1d: 3 consecutive failures fetching window 2020-08-01–2020-08-01 … (Empty candle response). Since 2026-09-13 fetch_range retries a failing page and aborts after three tries, while the Oanda provider raised on an EMPTY date window. A padded window that starts on a closed day (the daily pad is 1,400 days = exactly 200 weeks, so a window starting on a Saturday pads to a Saturday) begins with a page nothing traded in, and the whole fetch aborted. Fix in providers/oanda.py: a DATE-WINDOW request with no candles returns an empty frame (a count request, the live path, still raises); two Module 15 tests. Books are unaffected (every pinned window was already cached; the ten MD5s reproduce). New cache files fetched for this campaign: the daily frames oanda_XAU_USD_1d_20201105_20260905, _20150303_20260807, _20200801_20250330, _20221105_20261001, and the HOLDOUT window 5min / 15min / 1h _20260705_20261001 and 4h_20260114_20261001. The two interior gaps the HOLDOUT fetch logged are market closures (Labor Day 2026-09-07, Good Friday 2026-04-02), not dropped pages.

5.11 Setup size: what the evidence supports, and the display lines that shipped

"Trade setup size" was tested two ways.

The stop itself. Candidate C (section 5.8) fails its rule, and the planning-phase screen of 25 stop and exit variants found nothing better than the shipped geometry (a flat 2 × ATR stop on M15 turns +196R into +3R). The stops stay as they are.

How much is at risk at once. If every alert is taken, the plans pile up. Shipped books, W3, $0.65 (M15 = veto on):

Books taken together Trades Same-direction plans already open at an entry: mean median max Entries with ≥ 1 open with ≥ 3 open Open at once while anything is open: mean max Share of the time something is open
M15 alone 824 1.17 1 6 62% 15% 1.70 7 41%
M5 alone 870 0.69 0 6 40% 7% 1.36 7 23%
M5 + M15 1694 1.70 1 12 66% 26% 1.97 13 51%
M5 + M15 + H1 1947 2.75 2 15 78% 43% 2.60 16 65%

The stacked entries are not worse trades (M5 + M15, by the number of same-direction plans already open at the entry: 0 → +0.154R per trade over 577; 1 → +0.218R over 410; 2 → +0.241R over 271; 3–4 → +0.282R over 267; 5 or more → +0.236R over 169). So there is no evidence for skipping them, and the 2026-09-06 sizing campaign already showed that varying the stake by signal features does not pay. What the numbers do say is that "1% per alert" is in practice several percent on one move of gold. That is a sizing fact for the reader, so it ships as information, not as a gate:

  • Size line (exposure.py, off until config.json trade_size.risk_per_trade is set): the number of lots that keeps the loss at the printed stop inside the owner's risk limit, rounded DOWN to the lot step. Private by default (owner chats and the CLI); the channel and the public dashboard get it only with trade_size.telegram_channel / trade_size.dashboard.
  • Already-open line: how many ALERTED plans in the same direction are still open in the advisory outcome model (signal_log.open_alerted_setups, a read-only query; the bot stamps alerted_at on a row once its alert reached a chat).
  • Daily-trend line on every surface (main.daily_trend_words): on M15 the veto has already removed a plan against a clear daily trend; on M5 / H1 / H4, where the veto failed its rule, the line is context ("Daily trend: falling — this buy goes against it"). The live wrapper stamps the trend on every logged scan row (signals.daily_trend), so the live record can answer the M5 question again after a few months.

None of the three is read by a gate, the backtester or the twin.

5.12 Final verification (2026-10-01)

  • venv/bin/python test_all.py: 607 passed, 0 failed (40 modules: Module 39 daily-trend veto and wide-stop cap, Module 40 the display lines, Module 37 extended, two Module 15 tests for the empty-window fetch).
  • The five reference books regenerated with both scripts after the last code change: ten MD5s equal the table in section 5.9.
  • Recorder and feature export with the veto on, M15 2024-06-01 → 2025-03-30, --export-features --record DIR --record-bars on both scripts: feature CSV 732f396bb3ee6036b62750a8c755194e on both; trades 258 × 137, indicators 5900 × 15, events 5098 × 14 and bars 12315 × 172 identical; both manifests carry book MD5 e87b6de12f90f3b5a5d41a953ee9ff7a and differ only in cli, created_at, replay_seconds, workers; replay_scorecard.py DIR --check: all invariants held.
  • agent_panel_base_rates.json rebuilt from the re-pinned books (M15 timeframe row 597 trades, 64.3% winners, +0.261R; was 813 / 62.2% / +0.190R).

5.13 Independent verification (2026-10-01)

An agent that had not done the work re-derived the change list from git diff HEAD and re-ran the books itself (24 on the twin, 9 on the reference script, all offline, 0 cache fallbacks). Every figure of sections 5.2 to 5.9 it was given matched to the cent, on both scripts where it ran both: the M15 books with the veto on and off (W3, W2, the 2024-06-01 → 2025-03-30 window, LONG with its per-year R, the holdout), the unchanged M5 / H1 / H4 pins, the failed M5, H1, buy and sell variants, and the removed-trade tables (281 removed on W3, 0 added, all 63 columns of the 824 kept trades identical). Its own implementation of the rule from closed daily bars predicts the removed trades exactly (281 / 281, 618 / 618, 55 / 55); the same rule fed the still-forming day mis-predicts 52, 129 and 14 of them, so there is no look-ahead. The scoring configuration is identical to HEAD on all four timeframes; the only decision-side difference is the M15 veto.

It also raised four points this report did not make clearly enough. They change no verdict; they are recorded so the size of the claim is not overstated.

  1. Clause (g) is thinner than "3 of 4" reads. The "100-day average alone" neighbour of table 5.5 is an EXPONENTIAL average, the same kind as the shipped 50-day one (harness key e100). With a SIMPLE 100-day average the M15 W3 book is 781 / +188.68R / PF 1.70 / drawdown 12.27R: it beats the control on profit factor and drawdown like the others, but sits 1.2R under the 97% line (+189.92R), so with that reading the count would be 2 of 4. The four definitions were fixed before the runs in the harness's own form and the clause passes as written; the honest summary is "five alternative definitions, all better than the control on profit factor and drawdown, two of them 1.2R and 1.7R short on total R".
  2. "The veto never adds a trade" is an observation, not a guarantee. The rule itself only removes a plan. In a book, removing an entry also moves the 5-bar cooldown, which could free a later entry; that happened 0 times in every control / candidate pair compared (13).
  3. It is a risk filter, not a better direction call. Nothing in how direction is scored changed, and a vetoed bar still shows its buy or sell reading. The removed plans were close to break-even (−0.03R each on W3, −0.05R on LONG; 55% winners against 63% for the kept ones), so total R barely moves while profit factor and the losing runs improve.
  4. The help is concentrated. Effect of the rule by year on LONG (shipped minus off): 2019 +4.9R, 2020 −3.7R, 2021 −1.8R, 2022 +27.8R, 2023 −10.0R, 2024 +0.1R, 2025 +11.4R, 2026 +1.9R; total +30.8R, of which 2022 (buys against a falling daily trend) is nine tenths. On W3 the whole gain in R comes from sells removed in 2025, and the drawdown cut from 20.9R to 12.4R is one episode: 13 sells between 2023-12-01 and 2024-02-23 (−8.5R). In a year where the daily trend flips often (2023) the rule costs. The multi-year windows had been looked at with the prototype before rule T was written (section 2), and the only period nobody had seen is four weeks long and differs by six trades.

Cross-checked here from the formal books (a filter on the control book reproduces the shipped book and the exponential neighbour exactly, and gives the simple-average figure above).

6. Summary of decisions

Item Verdict
Daily-trend veto, M15, both directions PASSED rule T on every clause, SHIPPED (factory M15 override 7)
Daily-trend veto, M15, buy-only / sell-only FAILED (W3 R and PF / LONG drawdown and 2021–22)
Daily-trend veto, M5 (both, buy-only) FAILED (W3 drawdown; LONG R, drawdown, 2021–22; no plateau)
Daily-trend veto, H1 FAILED (W3 −9.7R); H4 not run
Wide-stop cap K = 6 on M15 FAILED rule C (neighbour K = 5 loses 18.6R on LONG); knob kept at 0.0, research-only
Lot-size, already-open and daily-trend lines SHIPPED, display only (books byte-identical)
Oanda empty date window FIXED (fetch_range no longer aborts on a closed-day page)
Seven further context screens no state nominated, nothing shipped (context_screens_2026-10.md)
Eight outside data sources (dollar, silver, bonds, real yield, fund flows, futures and Oanda client positioning) none adds a forecast to gold's own daily trend; broad dollar index on M5 = WATCH; nothing shipped, no feed added (new_inputs_2026-10.md)