Gator-Darvas Structural Breakout

Family: breakout · Regime: trending · Complexity: medium · Asset classes: Crypto, Forex, Equities · Timeframes: H1, H4

Thesis

Market structure cycles through periods of 'compressed' volatility (Darvas Boxes) followed by 'expanded' volatility (Gator Eating phase). By entering when a price breakout aligns with multi-timeframe structural support (Ichimoku), we catch the meat of the trend and exit once momentum begins to fade (MACD), assuming that volatility levels (GAS) provide a statistically significant boundary for risk.

Components

• Gator Oscillator (regime) — Filters for the 'Eating' phase (both histograms green) to ensure we enter during volatility expansion, avoiding the 'Sleeping' (range) phase.
• Darvas Boxes Modern/Classic (direction) — Provides the structural breakout trigger. We only trade when price breaks out of a confirmed price consolidation box.
• MMT Ichi Workflow Overlay Profiles (entry) — Acts as a multi-timeframe filter. The 'Score' ensures the breakout aligns with broader Ichimoku trend structure (Tenkan/Kijun/Cloud).
• MACD (exit) — Provides the momentum exhaustion signal. We exit when the MACD signal line crosses, indicating the trend impulse is fading.
• GAS Price Levels (risk) — Uses dynamic Bollinger Band and Alpha-weighted levels to set stops at structural volatility boundaries.

Known failure conditions

• Prolonged sideways 'choppy' price action where Darvas boxes frequently break out but fail to sustain momentum (whipsaw).
• Failure of the MMT Ichimoku Score to provide meaningful filtering in low-liquidity environments where spreads exceed ATR.

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