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Presets, Trading Styles and Risk Profiles

There are three separate controls that shape how MSP behaves, and they are easy to confuse. This page explains what each one actually changes so you can stop guessing.

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The three controls, and what each one does

Section 01, Start Here

Trading Style

Timing

How fast MSP expects the market to move. This drives stop sizing, how long a signal is held, and how many candles it looks back over. Leave it on AUTO TIMEFRAME unless you have a specific reason.

Risk Profile

Strictness

How much agreement MSP demands before granting permission. This changes how often you get a signal, not how big your position is.

Quick Setup Preset

Instrument

Tunes the thresholds for the kind of instrument you are on. Gold behaves nothing like EURUSD and neither behaves like Bitcoin.

The Risk Profile does not size your trades. Nothing in MSP sizes your trades. Aggressive means more signals, not bigger ones.

Trading Style

AUTO TIMEFRAME is the recommended setting and it is the default. Drop MSP on an M5 chart and it configures itself for scalping; drop it on a D1 chart and it configures itself for swing. You do not have to think about it.

Set it manually only when you want deliberate mismatch, for example swing-style patience on an M15 chart because you are trading a slow instrument.

What each style changes

Scalping

M1 to M5

Tight stops at 0.75x ATR, short signal hold, fast lookbacks. Expect more signals and more of them stopping out.

Intraday

M15 to H1

Stops at 1.5x ATR. The middle ground and the setting most users end up on.

Swing

H4 to D1

Stops at 2.5x ATR, long signal hold. Few signals, each with room to breathe.

AUTO TIMEFRAME

Recommended

Picks one of the three from the chart you are on. Change the timeframe and the engine reconfigures itself.

Risk Profile

Three settings that move the thresholds MSP needs before it grants permission.

Safe waits for more agreement. Fewer signals, higher average quality, more days with nothing at all.
Moderate is the default and a sensible place to stay.
Aggressive accepts thinner evidence. More signals, more C grades among them.

If you are new, start on Safe for a fortnight. Seeing three good setups a week teaches you more than seeing thirty mediocre ones.

Which preset for which instrument

Section 01, Quick Setup Preset

Forex

EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY

Tuned for the tighter ranges and session-driven behaviour of the major currency pairs.

Indices

US30, NAS100, DAX

Wider tolerances. Indices gap at the open and move in bursts around the cash open.

Crypto

BTC, ETH

Widest tolerances, and no session logic, because crypto never closes.

Balanced

General

The default. A reasonable middle setting for anything not covered above, including gold.

Conservative

Cautious

Raises every threshold. Use it if you are getting more signals than you can properly assess.

Scalping / Swing

By horizon

Alert-profile shortcuts that match the trading style of the same name.

Strategy: the one advanced setting worth knowing about

Section 02 has a setting called "What type of trader are you?". It changes which modules carry the most weight.

Trend Follower is the default. Weights trend and momentum most heavily.
Breakout favours expansion out of ranges.
Mean Reversion favours fades back toward value.
Divergence Hunter weights price and momentum disagreement.
VWAP and Volume Bias weights volume-based context.
Rebound and Rejection Only ignores trend-continuation entries entirely and signals only at key levels.
Custom lets you set every weight by hand.

If you pick Rebound and Rejection Only, you will get far fewer signals by design, and MSP will tell you in the why-lines when your own setting is the reason a trade did not fire. That message is not a fault, it is the tool being honest about your configuration.

Common questions

Which Market Structure Pro preset should I use for gold?

Balanced is a good starting point for gold. Indices is worth trying if you find the Balanced thresholds too tight during the US session.

Does the Aggressive risk profile increase my position size?

No. It lowers the thresholds MSP needs before showing a signal, so you get more signals. Position size is always set by you.

Should I leave Trading Style on AUTO?

Yes, for almost everyone. AUTO reads the timeframe of the chart and configures the engine to match, so changing timeframe reconfigures it automatically.

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Every Market Structure Pro Setting, Explained

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