MQL4 and MQL5 Programming Articles

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Study the MQL5 language for programming trading strategies in numerous published articles mostly written by you - the community members. The articles are grouped into categories to help you quicker find answers to any questions related to programming: Integration, Tester, Trading Strategies, etc.

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Optimizing a strategy using balance graph and comparing results with "Balance + max Sharpe Ratio" criterion

Optimizing a strategy using balance graph and comparing results with "Balance + max Sharpe Ratio" criterion

In this article, we consider yet another custom trading strategy optimization criterion based on the balance graph analysis. The linear regression is calculated using the function from the ALGLIB library.
To Sleep, or Not to Sleep?

To Sleep, or Not to Sleep?

An alternative use of the Sleep() function in the realization of pauses between EA's actions is proposed. The approach under consideration allows a smart use of machine time.
Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part I): Finding a basic pattern

Developing a self-adapting algorithm (Part I): Finding a basic pattern

In the upcoming series of articles, I will demonstrate the development of self-adapting algorithms considering most market factors, as well as show how to systematize these situations, describe them in logic and take them into account in your trading activity. I will start with a very simple algorithm that will gradually acquire theory and evolve into a very complex project.
Using text files for storing input parameters of Expert Advisors, indicators and scripts

Using text files for storing input parameters of Expert Advisors, indicators and scripts

The article describes the application of text files for storing dynamic objects, arrays and other variables used as properties of Expert Advisors, indicators and scripts. The files serve as a convenient addition to the functionality of standard tools offered by MQL languages.
Simple Methods of Forecasting Directions of the Japanese Candlesticks

Simple Methods of Forecasting Directions of the Japanese Candlesticks

Knowing the direction of the price movement is sufficient for getting positive results from trading operations. Some information on the possible direction of the price can be obtained from the Japanese candlesticks. This article deals with a few simple approaches to forecasting the direction of the Japanese candlesticks.
Using spreadsheets to build trading strategies

Using spreadsheets to build trading strategies

The article describes the basic principles and methods that allow you to analyze any strategy using spreadsheets (Excel, Calc, Google). The obtained results are compared with MetaTrader 5 tester.
Trading signals module using the system by Bill Williams

Trading signals module using the system by Bill Williams

The article describes the rules of the trading system by Bill Williams, the procedure of application for a developed MQL5 module to search and mark patterns of this system on the chart, automated trading with found patterns, and also presents the results of testing on various trading instruments.
Developing a cross-platform grider EA

Developing a cross-platform grider EA

In this article, we will learn how to create Expert Advisors (EAs) working both in MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. To do this, we are going to develop an EA constructing order grids. Griders are EAs that place several limit orders above the current price and the same number of limit orders below it simultaneously.
Order Strategies. Multi-Purpose Expert Advisor

Order Strategies. Multi-Purpose Expert Advisor

This article centers around strategies that actively use pending orders, a metalanguage that can be created to formally describe such strategies and the use of a multi-purpose Expert Advisor whose operation is based on those descriptions
MQL5 vs QLUA - Why trading operations in MQL5 are up to 28 times faster?

MQL5 vs QLUA - Why trading operations in MQL5 are up to 28 times faster?

Have you ever wondered how quickly your order is delivered to the exchange, how fast it is executed, and how much time your terminal needs in order to receive the operation result? We have prepared a comparison of trading operation execution speed, because no one has ever measured these values using applications in MQL5 and QLUA.
Practical application of correlations in trading

Practical application of correlations in trading

In this article, we will analyze the concept of correlation between variables, as well as methods for the calculation of correlation coefficients and their practical use in trading. Correlation is a statistical relationship between two or more random variables (or quantities which can be considered random with some acceptable degree of accuracy). Changes in one ore more variables lead to systematic changes of other related variables.
How to Export Quotes from МetaTrader 5 to .NET Applications Using WCF Services

How to Export Quotes from МetaTrader 5 to .NET Applications Using WCF Services

Want to organize export of quotes from MetaTrader 5 to your own application? The MQL5-DLL junction allows to create such solutions! This article will show you one of the ways to export quotes from MetaTrader 5 to applications written in .NET. For me it was more interesting, rational and easy to implement export of quotes using this very platform. Unfortunately, version 5 still does not support .NET, so like in old days we will use win32 dll with .NET support as an interlayer.
Library for easy and quick development of MetaTrader programs (part XXXI): Pending trading requests - opening positions under certain conditions

Library for easy and quick development of MetaTrader programs (part XXXI): Pending trading requests - opening positions under certain conditions

Starting with this article, we are going to develop a functionality allowing users to trade using pending requests under certain conditions, for example, when reaching a certain time limit, exceeding a specified profit or closing a position by stop loss.
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Visualize this! MQL5 graphics library similar to 'plot' of R language

When studying trading logic, visual representation in the form of graphs is of great importance. A number of programming languages popular among the scientific community (such as R and Python) feature the special 'plot' function used for visualization. It allows drawing lines, point distributions and histograms to visualize patterns. In MQL5, you can do the same using the CGraphics class.
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Use of Resources in MQL5

MQL5 programs not only automate routine calculations, but also can create a full-featured graphical environment. The functions for creating truly interactive controls are now virtually the same rich, as those in classical programming languages. If you want to write a full-fledged stand-alone program in MQL5, use resources in them. Programs with resources are easier to maintain and distribute.
Native Twitter Client: Part 2

Native Twitter Client: Part 2

A Twitter client implemented as MQL class to allow you to send tweets with photos. All you need is to include a single self contained include file and off you go to tweet all your wonderful charts and signals.
Patterns available when trading currency baskets

Patterns available when trading currency baskets

Following up our previous article on the currency baskets trading principles, here we are going to analyze the patterns traders can detect. We will also consider the advantages and the drawbacks of each pattern and provide some recommendations on their use. The indicators based on Williams' oscillator will be used as analysis tools.
Studying candlestick analysis techniques (part I): Checking existing patterns

Studying candlestick analysis techniques (part I): Checking existing patterns

In this article, we will consider popular candlestick patterns and will try to find out if they are still relevant and effective in today's markets. Candlestick analysis appeared more than 20 years ago and has since become quite popular. Many traders consider Japanese candlesticks the most convenient and easily understandable asset price visualization form.
Library for easy and quick development of MetaTrader programs (part XIII): Account object events

Library for easy and quick development of MetaTrader programs (part XIII): Account object events

The article considers working with account events for tracking important changes in account properties affecting the automated trading. We have already implemented some functionality for tracking account events in the previous article when developing the account object collection.
Library for easy and quick development of MetaTrader programs (part XXI): Trading classes - Base cross-platform trading object

Library for easy and quick development of MetaTrader programs (part XXI): Trading classes - Base cross-platform trading object

In this article, we will start the development of the new library section - trading classes. Besides, we will consider the development of a unified base trading object for MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4 platforms. When sending a request to the server, such a trading object implies that verified and correct trading request parameters are passed to it.
A DLL for MQL5 in 10 Minutes (Part II): Creating with Visual Studio 2017

A DLL for MQL5 in 10 Minutes (Part II): Creating with Visual Studio 2017

The original basic article has not lost its relevance and thus if you are interested in this topic, be sure to read the first article. However much time has passed since then, so the current Visual Studio 2017 features an updated interface. The MetaTrader 5 platform has also acquired new features. The article provides a description of dll project development stages, as well as DLL setup and interaction with MetaTrader 5 tools.
Comparing speeds of self-caching indicators

Comparing speeds of self-caching indicators

The article compares the classic MQL5 access to indicators with alternative MQL4-style methods. Several varieties of MQL4-style access to indicators are considered: with and without the indicator handles caching. Considering the indicator handles inside the MQL5 core is analyzed as well.
Better Programmer (Part 07): Notes on becoming a successful freelance developer

Better Programmer (Part 07): Notes on becoming a successful freelance developer

Do you wish to become a successful Freelance developer on MQL5? If the answer is yes, this article is right for you.
Why Is It Important to Update MetaTrader 4 to the Latest Build by August 1?

Why Is It Important to Update MetaTrader 4 to the Latest Build by August 1?

From August 1, 2014, MetaTrader 4 desktop terminals older than build 600 will no longer be supported. However, many traders still work with outdated versions and are unaware of the updated platform's features. We have put a lot of effort into development and would like to move on with traders and abandon the older builds. In this article, we will describe the advantages of the new MetaTrader 4.
Thomas DeMark's contribution to technical analysis

Thomas DeMark's contribution to technical analysis

The article details TD points and TD lines discovered by Thomas DeMark. Their practical implementation is revealed. In addition to that, a process of writing three indicators and two Expert Advisors using the concepts of Thomas DeMark is demonstrated.
Extract profit down to the last pip

Extract profit down to the last pip

The article describes an attempt to combine theory with practice in the algorithmic trading field. Most of discussions concerning the creation of Trading Systems is connected with the use of historic bars and various indicators applied thereon. This is the most well covered field and thus we will not consider it. Bars represent a very artificial entity; therefore we will work with something closer to proto-data, namely the price ticks.
Econometric approach to finding market patterns: Autocorrelation, Heat Maps and Scatter Plots

Econometric approach to finding market patterns: Autocorrelation, Heat Maps and Scatter Plots

The article presents an extended study of seasonal characteristics: autocorrelation heat maps and scatter plots. The purpose of the article is to show that "market memory" is of seasonal nature, which is expressed through maximized correlation of increments of arbitrary order.
Processing of trade events in Expert Advisor using the OnTrade() function

Processing of trade events in Expert Advisor using the OnTrade() function

MQL5 gave a mass of innovations, including work with events of various types (timer events, trade events, custom events, etc.). Ability to handle events allows you to create completely new type of programs for automatic and semi-automatic trading. In this article we will consider trade events and write some code for the OnTrade() function, that will process the Trade event.
Forecasting Time Series (Part 2): Least-Square Support-Vector Machine (LS-SVM)

Forecasting Time Series (Part 2): Least-Square Support-Vector Machine (LS-SVM)

This article deals with the theory and practical application of the algorithm for forecasting time series, based on support-vector method. It also proposes its implementation in MQL and provides test indicators and Expert Advisors. This technology has not been implemented in MQL yet. But first, we have to get to know math for it.
EA remote control methods

EA remote control methods

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.
A Virtual Order Manager to track orders within the position-centric MetaTrader 5 environment

A Virtual Order Manager to track orders within the position-centric MetaTrader 5 environment

This class library can be added to an MetaTrader 5 Expert Advisor to enable it to be written with an order-centric approach broadly similar to MetaTrader 4, in comparison to the position-based approach of MetaTrader 5. It does this by keeping track of virtual orders at the MetaTrader 5 client terminal, while maintaining a protective broker stop for each position for disaster protection.
Developing Pivot Mean Oscillator: a novel Indicator for the Cumulative Moving Average

Developing Pivot Mean Oscillator: a novel Indicator for the Cumulative Moving Average

This article presents Pivot Mean Oscillator (PMO), an implementation of the cumulative moving average (CMA) as a trading indicator for the MetaTrader platforms. In particular, we first introduce Pivot Mean (PM) as a normalization index for timeseries that computes the fraction between any data point and the CMA. We then build PMO as the difference between the moving averages applied to two PM signals. Some preliminary experiments carried out on the EURUSD symbol to test the efficacy of the proposed indicator are also reported, leaving ample space for further considerations and improvements.
The Implementation of a Multi-currency Mode in MetaTrader 5

The Implementation of a Multi-currency Mode in MetaTrader 5

For a long time multi-currency analysis and multi-currency trading has been of interest to people. The opportunity to implement a full fledged multi-currency regime became possible only with the public release of MetaTrader 5 and the MQL5 programming language. In this article we propose a way to analyze and process all incoming ticks for several symbols. As an illustration, let's consider a multi-currency RSI indicator of the USDx dollar index.
The Drawing Styles in MQL5

The Drawing Styles in MQL5

There are 6 drawing styles in MQL4 and 18 drawing styles in MQL5. Therefore, it may be worth writing an article to introduce MQL5's drawing styles. In this article, we will consider the details of drawing styles in MQL5. In addition, we will create an indicator to demonstrate how to use these drawing styles, and refine the plotting.
Graphical Interfaces X: The Multiline Text box control (build 8)

Graphical Interfaces X: The Multiline Text box control (build 8)

The Multiline Text box control is discussed. Unlike the graphical objects of the OBJ_EDIT type, the presented version will not have restrictions on the number of input characters. It also adds the mode for turning the text box into a simple text editor, where the cursor can be moved using the mouse or keys.
Statistical distributions in the form of histograms without indicator buffers and arrays

Statistical distributions in the form of histograms without indicator buffers and arrays

The article discusses the possibility of plotting statistical distribution histograms of market conditions with the help of the graphical memory meaning no indicator buffers and arrays are applied. Sample histograms are described in details and the "hidden" functionality of MQL5 graphical objects is shown.
Risk Evaluation in the Sequence of Deals with One Asset. Continued

Risk Evaluation in the Sequence of Deals with One Asset. Continued

The article develops the ideas proposed in the previous part and considers them further. It describes the problems of yield distributions, plotting and studying statistical regularities.
Working with Doubles in MQL4

Working with Doubles in MQL4

In this note we will consider a typical programming errors, that occurs while working with double numbers in MQL4 programs.
Interview with Rogério Figurelli (ATC 2012)

Interview with Rogério Figurelli (ATC 2012)

Today we are going to talk with Rogério Figurelli (figurelli), a regular participant from Brazil that has not missed any Automated Trading Championship since 2007. This year, he also began to sell his Championship's Expert Advisor in the Market along with his other products. Rogério believes that MetaTrader 5 platform certification on the largest Brazilian exchange BM&FBOVESPA will reveal new professional developers and traders, who do not yet know the full potential of robot investors.
Money-Making Algorithms Employing Trailing Stop

Money-Making Algorithms Employing Trailing Stop

This article's objective is to study profitability of algorithms with different entries into trades and exits using trailing stop. Entry types to be used are random entry and reverse entry. Stop orders to be used are trailing stop and trailing take. The article demonstrates money-making algorithms with a profitability of about 30% per annum.