Contango OB Anchor Strategy

Family: hybrid · Regime: trending · Complexity: medium · Asset classes: Equities, Indices · Timeframes: H1, D1

Thesis

Institutional Order Blocks (OB) provide high-probability entry points when the market is in a structural state of stability (VIX/VIX3M < 1), as participants are more likely to defend liquidity levels. By filtering these OBs with a long-term anchor trend (UDF EMA) and ensuring the entry-candle momentum (Size Highs/Lows) is significant, the strategy captures institutional follow-through while avoiding the chaos of volatility spikes.

Components

• VIX Curve Regime (Simple) (regime) — Establishes the macro volatility regime; entries are only permitted in 'Contango' (Ratio < 1) where price discovery is orderly and technical patterns are more reliable.
• Unsupported UDF Final Switch Const Reassignment Qualifier (direction) — Provides a dynamic anchor for trend direction. As the session progresses, the EMA becomes increasingly smoothed, filtering out noise in favor of the session-wide institutional direction.
• OrderBlock FVG Detector (entry) — Identifies specific liquidity zones where institutional buy/sell interest was previously demonstrated.
• HiLo Activator (Pandini Version) (exit) — Acts as a trailing stop and trend-reversal trigger to ensure exits occur once the immediate impulsivity of the OB move exhausts.
• TMA Risk Panel (risk) — Standardizes risk by calculating lot sizes based on account equity and ATR-derived stop loss distances.
• Size Highs and Lows 2 (volatility_filter) — Filters for candle momentum; ensures the Order Block formation is backed by candle bodies that are large relative to the recent lookback window.

Known failure conditions

• Persistent VIX Backwardation (Ratio > 1) which locks the system out of trades indefinitely.
• Expansion of bar_index to high values (e.g., >5000) makes the Directional EMA so flat it fails to react to multi-month trend changes.
• Low volatility environments where candle body sizes (maxDelta) never exceed the required threshold for momentum.

Explore the full interactive blueprint with parameter ranges and evidence on WOBR StrategyVerse, or generate this strategy as an MT4/MT5 Expert Advisor with QuantMogul AI Engine (free download).