Articles with MQL5 programming examples

While analyzing a huge number of trading strategies, orders for development of applications for MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4 terminals and various MetaTrader websites, I came to the conclusion that all this diversity is based mostly on the same elementary functions, actions and values appearing regularly in different programs. This resulted in DoEasy cross-platform library for easy and quick development of МetaТrader 5 and МetaТrader 4 applications.

The article presents a simple and fast method of creating graphical windows using Visual Studio with subsequent integration into the Expert Advisor's MQL code. The article is meant for non-specialist audiences and does not require any knowledge of C# and .Net technology.

In the first part of the article, I have described a modified ZigZag indicator and a class for receiving data of that type of indicators. Here, I will show how to develop indicators based on these tools and write an EA for tests that features making deals according to signals formed by ZigZag indicator. As an addition, the article will introduce a new version of the EasyAndFast library for developing graphical user interfaces.

Many researchers do not pay enough attention to determining the price behavior. At the same time, complex methods are used, which very often are simply “black boxes”, such as machine learning or neural networks. The most important question arising in that case is what data to submit for training a particular model.

Horizontal diagrams are not a common occurrence on the terminal charts but they can still be of use in a number of tasks, for example when developing indicators displaying volume or price distribution for a certain period, when creating various market depth versions, etc. The article considers constructing and managing horizontal diagrams as arrays of graphical primitives.

The article describes the algorithm for implementing the OpenCL candlestick patterns tester in the "1 minute OHLC" mode. We will also compare its speed with the built-in strategy tester launched in the fast and slow optimization modes.

This article is a follow-up to the previous one called "Reversal patterns: Testing the Double top/bottom pattern". Now we will have a look at another well-known reversal pattern called Head and Shoulders, compare the trading efficiency of the two patterns and make an attempt to combine them into a single trading system.

Traders often look for trend reversal points since the price has the greatest potential for movement at the very beginning of a newly formed trend. Consequently, various reversal patterns are considered in the technical analysis. The Double top/bottom is one of the most well-known and frequently used ones. The article proposes the method of the pattern programmatic detection. It also tests the pattern's profitability on history data.

Using limit orders instead of conventional take profits has long been a topic of discussions on the forum. What is the advantage of this approach and how can it be implemented in your trading? In this article, I want to offer you my vision of this topic.

This article provides programmatic definition of one of the movement continuation models. The main idea is defining two waves — the main and the correction one. For extreme points, I apply fractals as well as "potential" fractals - extreme points that have not yet formed as fractals.

The main advantage of trading robots lies in the ability to work 24 hours a day on a remote VPS server. But sometimes it is necessary to intervene in their work, while there may be no direct access to the server. Is it possible to manage EAs remotely? The article proposes one of the options for controlling EAs via external commands.

MetaTrader 5 is a multi-asset platform. Moreover, it supports different position management systems. Such opportunities provide significantly expanded options for the implementation and formalization of trading ideas. In this article, we discuss methods of handling and accounting of position properties in the hedging mode. The article features a derived class, as well as examples showing how to get and process the properties of a hedge position.

The article dwells on Elder-Ray trading system based on Bulls Power, Bears Power and Moving Average indicators (EMA — exponential averaging). This system was described by Alexander Elder in his book "Trading for a Living".

Comparing several time series during a technical analysis is a quite common task that requires appropriate tools. In this article, I suggest developing a tool for graphical analysis and detecting correlations between two or more time series.

The article deals with the algorithm of developing stock indicators based on real volumes using the CopyTicks() and CopyTicksRange() functions. Some subtle aspects of developing such indicators, as well as their operation in real time and in the strategy tester are also described.

When developing trading algorithms, we often encounter a problem: how to determine where a trend/flat begins and ends? In this article, we try to create a universal indicator, in which we try to combine signals for different types of strategies. We will try to simplify the process of obtaining trade signals in an expert as much as possible. An example of combining several indicators in one will be given.

The article describes custom methods for assessing the trading history. Two classes have been written for downloading and analyzing history. The first of them collects the trading history and represents it as a summary table. The second one deals with statistics: it calculates a number of variables and builds charts for a more efficient evaluation of trading results.

This is the second part of the article showing the development of a multi-symbol signal Expert Advisor for manual trading. We have already created the graphical interface. It is now time to connect it with the program's functionality.

The article describes how to add the ability to work with Microsoft SQL Server database server to MQL5-based Expert Advisors. Import of functions from a DLL is used. The DLL is created using the Microsoft .NET platform and the C# language. The methods used in the article are also suitable for experts written in MQL4, with minor adjustments.

In the article, we continue to develop the MQL application for working with optimization results. This time, we will show how to form the table of the best results after optimizing the parameters by specifying another criterion via the graphical interface.

Are you trading using your own strategy? If your system rules can be formally described as software algorithms, it is better to entrust trading to an automated Expert Advisor. A robot does not need sleep or food and is not subject to human weaknesses. In this article, we show how to create Requirements Specification when ordering a trading robot in the Freelance service.

The reasons for moving an indicator code to an Expert Advisor may vary. How to assess the pros and cons of this approach? The article describes implementing an indicator code into an EA. Several experiments are conducted to assess the speed of the EA's operation.

Despite the fact that many traders still prefer manual trading, it is hardly possible to completely avoid the automation of routine operations. The article shows an example of developing a multi-symbol signal Expert Advisor for manual trading.

The trade Signals service develops in leaps and bounds. Trusting our funds to a signal provider, we would like to minimize the risk of losing our deposit. So how to puzzle out in this forest of trade signals? How to find the one that would produce profits? This paper proposes to create a tool for visually analyzing the history of trades on trade signals in a symbol chart.

In this article, we continue studying the use of CAppDialog. Now we will learn how to set color for the background, borders and header of the dialog box. Also, this article provides a step-by-step description of how to add transparency for an application window when dragging it within the chart. We will consider how to create child classes of CAppDialog or CWndClient and analyze new specifics of working with controls. Finally, we will review new Projects from a new perspective.

The article demonstrates the development of the ZigZag indicator in accordance with one of the sample specifications described in the article "How to prepare Requirements Specification when ordering an indicator". The indicator is built by extreme values defined using an oscillator. There is an ability to use one of five oscillators: WPR, CCI, Chaikin, RSI or Stochastic Oscillator.

Random Forest (RF) with the use of bagging is one of the most powerful machine learning methods, which is slightly inferior to gradient boosting. This article attempts to develop a self-learning trading system that makes decisions based on the experience gained from interaction with the market.

When making trading decisions, we often have to analyze charts on several timeframes. At the same time, these charts often contain graphical objects. Applying the same objects to all charts is inconvenient. In this article, I propose to automate cloning of objects to be displayed on charts.

The article provides an example of an MQL application with its graphical interface featuring multi-symbol balance and deposit drawdown graphs based on the last test results.

The article considers the possibility to apply Bayesian optimization to hyperparameters of deep neural networks, obtained by various training variants. The classification quality of a DNN with the optimal hyperparameters in different training variants is compared. Depth of effectiveness of the DNN optimal hyperparameters has been checked in forward tests. The possible directions for improving the classification quality have been determined.

Most often the first step in the development of a trading system is the creation of a technical indicator, which can identify favorable market behavior patterns. A professionally developed indicator can be ordered from the Freelance service. From this article you will learn how to create a proper Requirements Specification, which will help you to obtain the desired indicator faster.

The article is an intermediate step for those who still writes in MQL4 and has no desire to switch to MQL5. We continue to search for opportunities to write code in MQL4 style. This time, we will look into the macro substitution of the #define preprocessor.

The article describes the way to create a custom strategy tester and a custom analyzer of the optimization passes. After reading it, you will understand how the math calculations mode and the mechanism of so-called frames work, how to prepare and load custom data for calculations and use effective algorithms for their compression. This article will also be interesting to those interested in ways of storing custom information within an expert.

Price trends form price channels that can be observed on financial symbol charts. The breakout of the current channel is one of the strong trend reversal signals. In this article, I suggest a way to automate the process of finding such signals and see if the channel breakout pattern can be used for creating a trading strategy.

In this article, we continue to consider writing the code to trading systems described in a book by Linda B. Raschke and Laurence A. Connors “Street Smarts: High Probability Short-Term Trading Strategies”. This time we study Momentum Pinball system: there is described creation of two indicators, trade robot and signal block on it.

In this article we look at the possibility of creating a flexible news feed that offers more options in terms of the type of news and also its source. The article will show how a web API can be integrated with the MetaTrader 5 terminal.

The article considers one of the variants for Expert Advisor practical realization to trade DiNapoli levels using MQL5 standard tools. Its performance is tested and conclusions are made.

The article considers an example of applying the fuzzy logic to build a simple trading system, using the Fuzzy library. Variants for improving the system by combining fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms and neural networks are proposed.

The main difference of the trading system proposed in the article is the use of mathematical tools for analyzing stock quotes. The system applies digital filtering and spectral estimation of discrete time series. The theoretical aspects of the strategy are described and a test Expert Advisor is created.