MQL4 and MQL5 Programming Articles
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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Changing the External Parameters of MQL4 Programs without Restarting
The article describes a method of changing the external parameters of MQL4 programs on-the-fly, without restarting.
Controlling the Slope of Balance Curve During Work of an Expert Advisor
Finding rules for a trade system and programming them in an Expert Advisor is a half of the job. Somehow, you need to correct the operation of the Expert Advisor as it accumulates the results of trading. This article describes one of approaches, which allows improving performance of an Expert Advisor through creation of a feedback that measures slope of the balance curve.
Developing a trading Expert Advisor from scratch (Part 19): New order system (II)
In this article, we will develop a graphical order system of the "look what happens" type. Please note that we are not starting from scratch this time, but we will modify the existing system by adding more objects and events on the chart of the asset we are trading.
How to deal with lines using MQL5
In this article, you will find your way to deal with the most important lines like trendlines, support, and resistance by MQL5.
How to visualize multicurrency trading history based on HTML and CSV reports
Since its introduction, MetaTrader 5 provides multicurrency testing options. This possibility is often used by traders. However the function is not universal. The article presents several programs for drawing graphical objects on charts based on HTML and CSV trading history reports. Multicurrency trading can be analyzed in parallel, in several sub-windows, as well as in one window using the dynamic switching command.
Automating Trading Strategies in MQL5 (Part 24): London Session Breakout System with Risk Management and Trailing Stops
In this article, we develop a London Session Breakout System that identifies pre-London range breakouts and places pending orders with customizable trade types and risk settings. We incorporate features like trailing stops, risk-to-reward ratios, maximum drawdown limits, and a control panel for real-time monitoring and management.
Trader-friendly stop loss and take profit
Stop loss and take profit can have a significant impact on trading results. In this article, we will look at several ways to find optimal stop order values.
Adaptive indicators
In this article, I will consider several possible approaches to creating adaptive indicators. Adaptive indicators are distinguished by the presence of feedback between the values of the input and output signals. This feedback allows the indicator to independently adjust to the optimal processing of financial time series values.
MQL5 Cookbook: Indicator Subwindow Controls - Scrollbar
Let's continue exploring various controls and this time turn our attention to scrollbar. Just like in the previous article entitled "MQL5 Cookbook: Indicator Subwindow Controls - Buttons", all operations will be performed in the indicator subwindow. Take a moment to read the above mentioned article as it provides a detailed description of working with events in the OnChartEvent() function, while this point will only be casually touched upon in this article. For illustrative purposes, this time around we will create a vertical scrollbar for a large list of all financial instrument properties that can be obtained using MQL5 resources.
Learn how to design a trading system by OBV
This is a new article to continue our series for beginners about how to design a trading system based on some of the popular indicators. We will learn a new indicator that is On Balance Volume (OBV), and we will learn how we can use it and design a trading system based on it.
Extending MQL5 Standard Library and Reusing Code
MQL5 Standard Library makes your life as a developer easier. Nevertheless, it does not implement all the needs of all developers in the world, so if you feel that you need some more custom stuff you can take a step further and extend. This article walks you through integrating MetaQuotes' Zig-Zag technical indicator into the Standard Library. We get inspired by MetaQuotes' design philosophy to achieve our goal.
Building a Professional Trading System with Heikin Ashi (Part 1): Developing a custom indicator
This article is the first installment in a two-part series designed to impart practical skills and best practices for writing custom indicators in MQL5. Using Heikin Ashi as a working example, the article explores the theory behind Heikin Ashi charts, explains how Heikin Ashi candlesticks are calculated, and demonstrates their application in technical analysis. The centerpiece is a step-by-step guide to developing a fully functional Heikin Ashi indicator from scratch, with clear explanations to help readers understand what to code and why. This foundational knowledge sets the stage for Part Two, where we will build an expert advisor that trades based on Heikin Ashi logic.
Graphical Interfaces I: Testing Library in Programs of Different Types and in the MetaTrader 4 Terminal (Chapter 5)
In the previous chapter of the first part of the series about graphical interfaces, the form class was enriched by methods which allowed managing the form by pressing its controls. In this article, we will test our work in different types of MQL program such as indicators and scripts. As the library was designed to be cross-platform so it could be used in all MetaTrader platforms, we will also test it in MetaTrader 4.
Graphics in DoEasy library (Part 78): Animation principles in the library. Image slicing
In this article, I will define the animation principles to be used in some parts of the library. I will also develop a class for copying a part of the image and pasting it to a specified form object location while preserving and restoring the part of the form background the image is to be superimposed on.
Graphical Interfaces X: Word wrapping algorithm in the Multiline Text box (build 12)
We continue to develop the Multiline Text box control. This time our task is to implement an automatic word wrapping in case a text box width overflow occurs, or a reverse word wrapping of the text to the previous line if the opportunity arises.
Graphics in DoEasy library (Part 73): Form object of a graphical element
The article opens up a new large section of the library for working with graphics. In the current article, I will create the mouse status object, the base object of all graphical elements and the class of the form object of the library graphical elements.
MQL5 Cookbook: Handling BookEvent
This article considers BookEvent - a Depth of Market event, and the principle of its processing. An MQL program, handling states of Depth of Market, serves as an example. It is written using the object-oriented approach. Results of handling are displayed on the screen as a panel and Depth of Market levels.
Practical Use of Kohonen Neural Networks in Algorithmic Trading. Part II. Optimizing and forecasting
Based on universal tools designed for working with Kohonen networks, we construct the system of analyzing and selecting the optimal EA parameters and consider forecasting time series. In Part I, we corrected and improved the publicly available neural network classes, having added necessary algorithms. Now, it is time to apply them to practice.
Timeseries in DoEasy library (part 36): Object of timeseries for all used symbol periods
In this article, we will consider combining the lists of bar objects for each used symbol period into a single symbol timeseries object. Thus, each symbol will have an object storing the lists of all used symbol timeseries periods.
An Example of Developing a Spread Strategy for Moscow Exchange Futures
The MetaTrader 5 platform allows developing and testing trading robots that simultaneously trade multiple financial instruments. The built-in Strategy Tester automatically downloads required tick history from the broker's server taking into account contract specifications, so the developer does not need to do anything manually. This makes it possible to easily and reliably reproduce trading environment conditions, including even millisecond intervals between the arrival of ticks on different symbols. In this article we will demonstrate the development and testing of a spread strategy on two Moscow Exchange futures.
Graphical Interfaces X: Sorting, rebuilding the table and controls in the cells (build 11)
We continue to add new features to the rendered table: data sorting, managing the number of columns and rows, setting the table cell types to place controls into them.
Swaps (Part I): Locking and Synthetic Positions
In this article I will try to expand the classic concept of swap trading methods. I will explain why I have come to the conclusion that this concept deserves special attention and is absolutely recommended for study.
Custom Graphical Controls. Part 3. Forms
This is the last of the three articles devoted to graphical controls. It covers the creation of the main graphical interface component - the form - and its use in combination with other controls. In addition to the form classes, CFrame, CButton, CLabel classes have been added to the control library.
Learn how to design a trading system by Accelerator Oscillator
A new article from our series about how to create simple trading systems by the most popular technical indicators. We will learn about a new one which is the Accelerator Oscillator indicator and we will learn how to design a trading system using it.
Promote Your Development Projects Using EX5 Libraries
Hiding of the implementation details of classes/functions in an .ex5 file will enable you to share your know-how algorithms with other developers, set up common projects and promote them in the Web. And while the MetaQuotes team spares no effort to bring about the possibility of direct inheritance of ex5 library classes, we are going to implement it right now.
Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 44): Building a VWMA Crossover Signal EA in MQL5
This article introduces a VWMA crossover signal tool for MetaTrader 5, designed to help traders identify potential bullish and bearish reversals by combining price action with trading volume. The EA generates clear buy and sell signals directly on the chart, features an informative panel, and allows for full user customization, making it a practical addition to your trading strategy.
Combinatorics and probability theory for trading (Part II): Universal fractal
In this article, we will continue to study fractals and will pay special attention to summarizing all the material. To do this, I will try to bring all earlier developments into a compact form which would be convenient and understandable for practical application in trading.
Graphical Interfaces IX: The Color Picker Control (Chapter 1)
With this article we begin chapter nine of series of articles dedicated to creating graphical interfaces in MetaTrader trading terminals. It consists of two chapters where new elements of controls and interface, such as color picker, color button, progress bar and line chart are presented.
Contest of Expert Advisors inside an Expert Advisor
Using virtual trading, you can create an adaptive Expert Advisor, which will turn on and off trades at the real market. Combine several strategies in a single Expert Advisor! Your multisystem Expert Advisor will automatically choose a trade strategy, which is the best to trade with at the real market, on the basis of profitability of virtual trades. This kind of approach allows decreasing drawdown and increasing profitability of your work at the market. Experiment and share your results with others! I think many people will be interested to know about your portfolio of strategies.
Implementing an ARIMA training algorithm in MQL5
In this article we will implement an algorithm that applies the Box and Jenkins Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model by using Powells method of function minimization. Box and Jenkins stated that most time series could be modeled by one or both of two frameworks.
Developing Zone Recovery Martingale strategy in MQL5
The article discusses, in a detailed perspective, the steps that need to be implemented towards the creation of an expert advisor based on the Zone Recovery trading algorithm. This helps aotomate the system saving time for algotraders.
MQL5 Cookbook: Analyzing Position Properties in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester
We will present a modified version of the Expert Advisor from the previous article "MQL5 Cookbook: Position Properties on the Custom Info Panel". Some of the issues we will address include getting data from bars, checking for new bar events on the current symbol, including a trade class of the Standard Library to a file, creating a function to search for trading signals and a function for executing trading operations, as well as determining trade events in the OnTrade() function.
Graphical Interfaces XI: Integrating the Standard Graphics Library (build 16)
A new version of the graphics library for creating scientific charts (the CGraphic class) has been presented recently. This update of the developed library for creating graphical interfaces will introduce a version with a new control for creating charts. Now it is even easier to visualize data of different types.
Decreasing Memory Consumption by Auxiliary Indicators
If an indicator uses values of many other indicators for its calculations, it consumes a lot of memory. The article describes several methods of decreasing the memory consumption when using auxiliary indicators. Saved memory allows increasing the number of simultaneously used currency pairs, indicators and strategies in the client terminal. It increases the reliability of trade portfolio. Such a simple care about technical resources of your computer can turn into money resources at your deposit.
Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 53): Pattern Density Heatmap for Support and Resistance Zone Discovery
This article introduces the Pattern Density Heatmap, a price‑action mapping tool that transforms repeated candlestick pattern detections into statistically significant support and resistance zones. Rather than treating each signal in isolation, the EA aggregates detections into fixed price bins, scores their density with optional recency weighting, and confirms levels against higher‑timeframe data. The resulting heatmap reveals where the market has historically reacted—levels that can be used proactively for trade timing, risk management, and strategy confidence across any trading style.
How to create a simple Multi-Currency Expert Advisor using MQL5 (Part 2): Indicator Signals: Multi Timeframe Parabolic SAR Indicator
The Multi-Currency Expert Advisor in this article is Expert Advisor or trading robot that can trade (open orders, close orders and manage orders for example: Trailing Stop Loss and Trailing Profit) for more than 1 symbol pair only from one symbol chart. This time we will use only 1 indicator, namely Parabolic SAR or iSAR in multi-timeframes starting from PERIOD_M15 to PERIOD_D1.
Graphical Interfaces V: The List View Element (Chapter 2)
In the previous chapter, we wrote classes for creating vertical and horizontal scrollbars. In this chapter, we will implement them. We will write a class for creating the list view element, a compound part of which will be a vertical scrollbar.
A scientific approach to the development of trading algorithms
The article considers the methodology for developing trading algorithms, in which a consistent scientific approach is used to analyze possible price patterns and to build trading algorithms based on these patterns. Development ideals are demonstrated using examples.
Prices in DoEasy library (Part 64): Depth of Market, classes of DOM snapshot and snapshot series objects
In this article, I will create two classes (the class of DOM snapshot object and the class of DOM snapshot series object) and test creation of the DOM data series.