T3 SSL Trend Signals is a trend-following indicator for MT4 and MT5 that runs a complete trade plan on your chart. Two T3 moving averages give the entry, an SSL channel and an ADX filter decide whether that entry is allowed, and every trade gets a stop, a target and an exit rule you can see.
Most crossover indicators print an arrow and leave the rest to you. Where's the stop, and when is the trade over? You end up running half the system in your head.
T3 SSL Trend Signals vs a plain T3 or SSL crossover
| What a trend entry needs | What the common versions do | What T3 SSL Trend Signals does |
|---|---|---|
| A smooth line that doesn't lag like a slow SMA | EMA or SMA cross, noisy on the fast side and late on the slow side | Two T3 averages (40 and 90 by default), each built from six chained EMAs with a 0.7 volume factor |
| A trend filter that agrees with the entry | SSL channel shown next to the arrows, arrows ignore it | A LONG needs the SSL channel pointing up, a SHORT needs it pointing down |
| A strength filter that adapts to the market | "ADX above 25", the same number on gold, EURUSD and M5 | ADX compared with its own 80-period EMA. It passes when trend strength is rising, whatever the level |
| A stop and target fixed when you enter | None, or a fixed number of pips | Stop 10 × ATR(120) and target 20 × ATR(120) from the signal close, drawn until the trade ends |
| A rule for getting out early | None | Exit when the T3 averages cross back or the SSL channel flips, whichever comes first |
The third row is the one worth a second look. With a fixed 25 threshold, a trend that's waking up at ADX 15 gets blocked and a trend that's dying at ADX 35 gets through. Here the question is only "is ADX higher than it has been lately?" On the EURUSD chart below the panel reads PASS at ADX 17.5. A fixed 25 would have blocked it.
What it draws
SSL channel. Two thick lines, green and red, built from a 140-period average of the highs and one of the lows. The channel only changes direction when a bar closes outside it. A close back inside the channel changes nothing, so the direction holds through pullbacks. When it does flip, the two lines swap colours in a single bar, which is why you'll see short vertical steps.
T3 lines. A thin blue fast T3 and a thin red slow T3. Their cross is the entry trigger.
LONG / SHORT arrows. Green up arrow with "LONG" below the bar, red down arrow with "SHORT" above it. They print only when the cross, the SSL direction and the ADX filter all agree.
Stop and target lines. Dotted red and green lines start at the entry bar with the price written on them, and stop at the exit bar. Consecutive trades use separate line pairs, so one trade's levels never get joined to the next one's.
Exit marks. A cross at the exit price: green for target, red for stop, grey for an early exit. A small "TP", "SL" or "Exit" sits above it.
Status panel. SSL direction, which T3 is on top, whether ADX passes (with both numbers), and the open position with its stop and target.
It doesn't plot ADX itself on the price chart, doesn't colour candles, and doesn't trail the stop. The stop you see at entry is the stop until the trade ends.
Alerts fire on LONG, SHORT and every exit (target, stop, exit signal), each at most once per bar, and by default only after the bar closes. On MT5 they go out as a terminal alert, email, mobile push, Telegram, or Telegram with a chart screenshot. MT4 has the terminal alert, push and email.
How to read a trade
| On the chart | What it means |
|---|---|
| Green LONG arrow | Fast T3 crossed above slow T3, SSL is up, ADX is above its average |
| Red SHORT arrow | The mirror image |
| Dotted lines from the arrow | The trade's stop and target, fixed at entry |
| Green cross, "TP" | Target reached |
| Red cross, "SL" | Stop reached |
| Grey cross, "Exit" | T3 crossed back or SSL flipped before either level was hit |
| T3 cross, no arrow | Filtered out. The panel shows which filter said no |
The EURUSD trade above is typical of how exits work in practice. The target is 20 ATRs away, which on H1 means hundreds of pips, so most trades don't end there. They end at the grey cross, when the trend loses its shape. You give back part of the move. In exchange the rule never has to guess where the top is.
If both the stop and the target sit inside the same bar's range, the indicator decides the order from the open: an open nearer the high means the high came first. It's a guess either way, but it's a fixed guess, so reloading the chart never changes the outcome.
What it can't do
It's slow on purpose, and that has a cost. Six chained EMAs over 90 bars need roughly 530 bars before the slow line appears at all, and signals are rare. On USDJPY H1 there was one trade in the first week of September. If you want something every session, this isn't it.
Slow also means late. On the USDJPY H4 chart below the SHORT only prints after the big drop is already done. Price drifts back up and the exit rule closes the trade at a loss three weeks later. The ADX filter passed that one because strength was rising: the drop had just happened.
The default stop is wide too, 10 × ATR(120). Size your position from that distance, not from habit.
And the forming bar isn't final. An arrow or an exit can appear and vanish while the bar is still open. Closed bars don't change, because every piece of state (channel direction, position, stop, target) is stored per bar. That's also why alerts wait for the close unless you switch it off.
You won't find a win rate table here, and I'd be careful with any indicator listing that has one. This shows you a rule-based trade plan. Whether you take the trades, and how big, is yours.
Honestly, the slow part wasn't the drawing. It was making sure the trade replay was right. I wrote the whole calculation twice, independently, and ran both against each other on 20 random price histories with five parameter sets until every signal, stop, target and exit matched bar for bar.
Questions you'll have
Does T3 SSL Trend Signals repaint? Closed bars don't. Every value the logic carries forward is stored per bar, so reloading the chart gives the same arrows, levels and exits. The bar that's still forming can change until it closes.
T3 SSL Trend Signals on MT4? Both platforms are included, one download each, same logic and same defaults. On MT4 the three exit types are three separate arrow colours instead of one colour-coded arrow, and there's no Telegram alert.
Why did the T3 lines cross with no arrow? One of the filters said no. Look at the panel: either the SSL channel points the other way or ADX is below its own average.
Why is nothing showing on my chart? The slow T3 needs about 530 bars of history before it draws. Scroll back or load more history on that timeframe.
What timeframe works best? H1 and H4 with the defaults. On M15 and below the same settings cover only a day or two per trend and the channel flips often. Lower the periods if you want to use it there.
Why is the target so far away? It's 20 × ATR(120) by default. Most trades end on the exit rule long before that. Set a smaller multiplier if you'd rather take profit at a fixed distance.
Can an EA use it? Yes. On MT5, buffer 34 is +1 on a LONG and -1 on a SHORT, 35 the open position, 36 to 38 entry, stop and target, and 39 the exit reason (1 target, 2 stop, 3 exit signal). On MT4 the same values sit one buffer higher, 35 to 40.
Support
Send me a screenshot of the chart with the symbol and timeframe visible. That's usually enough for me to see what's going on. Updates are free.
Analysis tool. It places no trades and makes no profitability claim. Past price behaviour is not a guide to future price behaviour.