Bulls and Bears Power Settings for MT4: 0 of 18 Made Money on EURUSD M5, and 14 of 18 Did on Gold M15

The full test of the indicator is in Elder-Ray Bulls and Bears Power tested: 0 of 12 default runs passed, and on most bars both histograms pointed the same way. This page is the practical part: how to put Elder-Ray on an MT4 chart and whether a different period changed the result.

How do I add Bulls Power and Bears Power to MT4?

1. In MT4, open Insert, Indicators, Oscillators, Bears Power. In the Parameters tab leave Period at 13 and Apply to at Close. It opens in its own window under the chart.
2. Open Insert, Indicators, Oscillators, Bulls Power, and drag it from the Navigator into the Bears Power window, so both histograms share one window. Give them two colours.
3. Elder’s rule also needs the EMA itself. Add Insert, Indicators, Trend, Moving Average with Period 13, MA method Exponential, Apply to Close.
4. Save the chart as a template (right-click the chart, Template, Save Template) so the three pieces load together.

MT5 has both indicators in the same menu with the same inputs. If your MT4 is still empty, the setup from scratch is in MT4 first chart setup, and a saved multi-indicator layout is in the multi-indicator MT4 template.

What levels should I watch?

None are fixed. Bulls and Bears Power are measured in price, so a reading of -0.0005 on EURUSD is 5 pips, and on gold the same window shows dollars. A level that works on one symbol means nothing on another. The only line that matters is zero: Bears Power above zero means the whole bar is above the EMA, Bulls Power below zero means the whole bar is below it.

If you want to compare readings across symbols, divide by ATR in your head: a Bears Power about one ATR below zero was normal on these charts, not extreme. The same unit problem applies to Momentum, see Momentum indicator settings for MT4.

How was it tested?

• Data: EURUSD M5 from June 3 to August 26, 2026, 16,926 bars; gold M5 from June 16 to August 26, 13,736 bars. M15 built from the same bars.
• Grid: EMA periods 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55. “Classic”: buy when the EMA rises and Bears Power is negative but rising, sell on the mirror. “Classic + EMA 200”: the same, only on the EMA 200 side. “Zero”: buy on the first bar fully above the EMA, sell on the first bar fully below.
• Exit and cost: stop 1.5 ATR, target 3 ATR, 48 bars at most. 1 pip on EURUSD, $0.30 an ounce on gold, from spread and swap costs in MT4. Halves split on July 15.

How many settings made money?

15 of 72 settings ended above zero, and 14 of them sit on one chart. When nearly every rule makes money on gold M15 and nearly none on the other three, the chart is doing the work, not the setting. Even random entries with the same exit had a median of only -$0.23 an ounce there, against -0.99 to -1.20 pips on EURUSD.

On EURUSD M5 every period lost about a pip a trade: changing the EMA from 5 to 55 moved the zero-cross result by 0.2 pips at most. There is no setting to find there, only the spread to pay.

Which rule worked better?

• The zero cross beat Elder’s classic setup in 20 of 24 period and chart pairs. All 6 on both EURUSD charts, 5 of 6 on gold M15, 3 of 6 on gold M5.
• The EMA 200 filter helped the classic setup in only 10 of 24 pairs, and on gold M15 it made all 6 periods worse.
• Elder’s classic setup made money in both halves on just 2 settings, periods 8 and 55 on gold M15, and period 55 had only 103 trades.

Is the best setting worth using?

Picking the best setting from the past is the trap, so I checked it the honest way: choose on the first half, judge on the second, as in EA optimization, in sample and out of sample.

The two first-half winners that had made money both lost in the second half and fell to the middle of the table. On EURUSD M5 the “best” setting stayed best, but it lost in both halves, so it was only the least bad. The settings that held up on gold M15 in both halves were the plain zero cross at 8, 13 and 34, and the default 13 was one of them. Same lesson as in optimized vs default settings.

What would I set?

• Leave the period at 13. No other period was better in a way that survived both halves on more than one chart.
• Use the zero line, not the classic setup. It lost less, or made more, in 20 of 24 pairs.
• Skip EURUSD M5. 0 of 18 settings made money there after a 1-pip spread.
• Do not stack it on MACD. The two move together; see Elder-Ray vs MACD.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best setting for Bears Power?

The default 13 is as good as any in this test. Periods 5 to 55 moved the EURUSD M5 zero-cross result by 0.2 pips a trade at most, and on gold M15 the default zero cross was one of 5 settings positive in both halves.

What period does Elder use for Elder-Ray?

A 13-bar exponential moving average. MetaTrader uses the same 13 by default for both Bulls Power and Bears Power.

Can I show Bulls Power and Bears Power in one window?

Yes. Add Bears Power, then drag Bulls Power from the Navigator into the same window. Both are histograms around one zero line.

Why do Bulls Power and Bears Power look so different on gold and EURUSD?

They are in price units. On EURUSD a reading is a fraction of a cent, on gold it is dollars. On both, a Bears Power about one ATR below zero was typical.