ICT Turtle Soup Indicator: False Breaks of the 20-Bar Extreme

Written by Dominic Walsh · Published 11 Jun 2026 · Last updated 26 Aug 2026

The ict turtle soup indicator hunts one specific event: a break of a recent extreme that fails. Price runs past the prior 20-bar high, then closes back underneath it. Traders who bought that break are now offside, and their stops sit right above. The tool marks that bar so you can see the failed break rather than hunting for it yourself.

This build ships as a compiled .ex4 for MT4 and .ex5 for MT5; the screenshots below come from EURUSD H1.

Platforms	MT4 (.ex4) + MT5 (.ex5)
Chart window	Main price chart
Plots	2: TurtleSoup Buy, TurtleSoup Sell
Alerts	popup
Inputs	4

What the Ict Turtle Soup Indicator draws on the chart

TurtleSoup Buy places a lime arrow below a bar that pierced the prior low and closed back above it.

TurtleSoup Sell places a red arrow above the mirror case at the prior high.

Nothing else appears on the chart. There are no zones, lines or labels.

• TurtleSoup Buy: arrow, lime, width 2, arrow code 233
• TurtleSoup Sell: arrow, red, width 2, arrow code 234

How the Ict Turtle Soup Indicator calculates its values

Establishing the reference extreme

The code calls iHighest and iLowest over `InpLookback` bars, starting from refStart rather than the current bar. That gives priorHigh and priorLow. Anchoring the search behind the candidate bar matters, because a bar cannot break an extreme that includes itself.

Requiring the pierce and the close-back together

A sell needs three conditions on the same evaluation. high[pierceIdx] must clear priorHigh, close[i] must sit back under priorHigh, and close[i] must fall below open[i] so the bar itself finished bearish. The buy case mirrors all three against priorLow. Dropping any one of them turns this into an ordinary breakout tool.

Allowing the close-back to lag

The pierce and the recovery do not have to land on one candle. cbMax takes MathMax(1, MathMin(3, InpCloseBackBars)), clamping the window between 1 and 3 bars whatever you type. The loop then walks k across that window, so a wick that ran through the level two bars ago still counts when this bar closes back inside.

How to read the signals

An arrow means a recent extreme got taken and rejected inside the close-back window.

The wider you set the window, the more arrows appear, because the recovery gets more time to happen.

No arrow on a clean break through the level is correct behaviour. This tool ignores breaks that hold.

The offset keeps the arrow clear of the wick, so the marker sits above the pierce rather than on it.

Alert channels in this build: popup, one message per closed bar.

One channel exists: a terminal popup under `InpAlertOnSignal`, which ships `true`. The code waits for the bar to close before it speaks, which is essential here because the close-back test reads close[i]. A wick that recovers mid-bar and fails by the close raises nothing.

Every Ict Turtle Soup Indicator input

Core settings

Setting	What it does	Default
InpLookback	Bars to scan for swing high/low. Bars searched for the reference high and low, default `20`. Shorten it and the extremes become easier to pierce, so arrow counts climb.	20
InpCloseBackBars	Close-back window (1..3). How many bars the recovery may take, default `3`. The code clamps this between 1 and 3, so a larger number changes nothing.	3

Display settings

Setting	What it does	Default
InpArrowOffsetPts	Arrow vertical offset (points). Vertical gap between candle and arrow, default `12.0` points.	12.0

Alert settings

Setting	What it does	Default
InpAlertOnSignal	Alert on new signal (closed bar).	on

Settings that fit your chart

Failed breaks need a level that enough traders watch, so liquid instruments work best. EURUSD on H1 is the reference chart, where a 20-bar lookback covers most of a trading day. On the daily chart the same setting reaches back a month and arrows become rare but weightier. Below M15 the extremes turn over quickly and many pierces mean nothing.

When the Ict Turtle Soup Indicator fails

A pierce that recovers can still resolve in the breakout direction later. The pattern describes a rejection, not an outcome.

During a strong trend the extreme gets taken repeatedly and holds each time, so the tool goes quiet exactly when the market is moving most.

The 3-bar cap on the close-back window means a slower recovery never registers, however clean the reversal looks afterwards.

Copy the compiled Ict Turtle Soup Indicator file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, and the MT5 build into MQL5/Indicators, then restart the terminal and drag it onto a chart. The step-by-step guide with screenshots is at how to install MT4 and MT5 indicators.

Related on forexmt4systems.com: ICT Style Strategy.

Download the Ict Turtle Soup Indicator for MT4 and MT5

The zip holds the compiled Ict Turtle Soup Indicator build for MT4 and MT5, plus a short README. Compiled files only, no source. Enter your email below and the download link arrives in your inbox.

FAQ

Why must close[i] finish below open[i] for a TurtleSoup Sell?

Because a rejection should look like one. Price can poke above the prior high and still close green, which reads as strength stalling rather than a failed break. Requiring a bearish body makes the bar itself agree with the story. The buy side demands the mirror: close above open plus a close back over priorLow.

What does InpLookback at 20 measure?

The window the code searches for the reference extreme, using iHighest and iLowest. On H1 that reaches back about a trading day. The search starts behind the candidate bar, so the bar being tested never contributes to the level it is trying to break. Shorten it and extremes become easier to pierce.

Can I set InpCloseBackBars higher than 3?

You can type a larger number but the code ignores it. cbMax applies MathMax(1, MathMin(3, InpCloseBackBars)), which clamps the window to the 1 to 3 range. Three bars is the practical limit for calling a recovery part of the same event rather than a separate move.

Does the ict turtle soup indicator repaint its arrows?

No. Every test reads completed bar data, and the alert waits for the close. Once an arrow prints it stays where it printed. What can happen is a new arrow appearing a bar or two later, when the close-back window catches a pierce that happened earlier.

Are results guaranteed?

No. Trading involves risk. Results are not guaranteed; past performance is not indicative of future results. Use the Ict Turtle Soup Indicator as one input. Always backtest before trading live.