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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Neural Networks in Trading: An Agent with Layered Memory

Neural Networks in Trading: An Agent with Layered Memory

Layered memory approaches that mimic human cognitive processes enable the processing of complex financial data and adaptation to new signals, thereby improving the effectiveness of investment decisions in dynamic markets.
Working with Files. An Example of Important Market Events Visualization
Working with Files. An Example of Important Market Events Visualization

Working with Files. An Example of Important Market Events Visualization

The article deals with the outlook of using MQL4 for more productive work at FOREX markets.
Graphics in DoEasy library (Part 90): Standard graphical object events. Basic functionality
Graphics in DoEasy library (Part 90): Standard graphical object events. Basic functionality

Graphics in DoEasy library (Part 90): Standard graphical object events. Basic functionality

In this article, I will implement the basic functionality for tracking standard graphical object events. I will start from a double click event on a graphical object.
Graphical Control of External Parameters of Indicators
Graphical Control of External Parameters of Indicators

Graphical Control of External Parameters of Indicators

External variables of indicators are controlled using a special window where parameters can be changed and the indicator is then run again. The obvious inconvenience of these manipulations has given rise to the need for displaying the required parameters on the screen and controlling the indicator graphically.
Alternative Log File with the Use of HTML and CSS
Alternative Log File with the Use of HTML and CSS

Alternative Log File with the Use of HTML and CSS

In this article we will describe the process of writing a simple but a very powerful library for making the html files, will learn to adjust their displaying and will see how they can be easily implemented and used in your expert or the script.
Interview with Leonid Velichkovsky: "The Biggest Myth about Neural Networks is Super-Profitability" (ATC 2010)
Interview with Leonid Velichkovsky: "The Biggest Myth about Neural Networks is Super-Profitability" (ATC 2010)

Interview with Leonid Velichkovsky: "The Biggest Myth about Neural Networks is Super-Profitability" (ATC 2010)

The hero of our interview Leonid Velichkovski (LeoV) has already participated in Automated Trading Championships. In 2008, his multicurrency neural network was like a bright flash in the sky, earning $110,000 in a certain moment, but eventually fell victim to its own aggressive money management. Two years ago, in his interview Leonid share his own trading experience and told us about the features of his Expert Advisor. On the eve of the ATC 2010, Leonid talks about the most common myths and misconceptions associated with neural networks.
Effective Averaging Algorithms with Minimal Lag: Use in Indicators and Expert Advisors
Effective Averaging Algorithms with Minimal Lag: Use in Indicators and Expert Advisors

Effective Averaging Algorithms with Minimal Lag: Use in Indicators and Expert Advisors

The article describes custom averaging functions of higher quality developed by the author: JJMASeries(), JurXSeries(), JLiteSeries(), ParMASeries(), LRMASeries(), T3Series() and MASeries(). The author considers the hot substitution of these functions in indicators using the call of the SmoothXSeries() function.
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From Novice to Expert: Enhancing Liquidity Strategies with Multi-Timeframe Structural Confirmation in MQL5

From Novice to Expert: Enhancing Liquidity Strategies with Multi-Timeframe Structural Confirmation in MQL5

The alignment of higher-timeframe liquidity structures with lower-timeframe reversal patterns can greatly influence both the likelihood and direction of the next price movement. By integrating structural liquidity zones from higher timeframes with precise reversal confirmations on lower timeframes, traders can improve entry timing and overall trade quality. This article demonstrates how to reinforce liquidity-based trading strategies through higher-timeframe structural confirmation—and how to implement this approach effectively using MQL5.
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Integrating Discord with MetaTrader 5: Building a Trading Bot with Real-Time Notifications

Integrating Discord with MetaTrader 5: Building a Trading Bot with Real-Time Notifications

In this article, we will see how to integrate MetaTrader 5 and a discord server in order to receive trading notifications in real time from any location. We will see how to configure the platform and Discord to enable the delivery of alerts to Discord. We will also cover security issues which arise in connection with the use of WebRequests and webhooks for such alerting solutions.
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Developing a trading Expert Advisor from scratch (Part 22): New order system (V)

Developing a trading Expert Advisor from scratch (Part 22): New order system (V)

Today we will continue to develop the new order system. It is not that easy to implement a new system as we often encounter problems which greatly complicate the process. When these problems appear, we have to stop and re-analyze the direction in which we are moving.
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Automating Trading Strategies in MQL5 (Part 38): Hidden RSI Divergence Trading with Slope Angle Filters

Automating Trading Strategies in MQL5 (Part 38): Hidden RSI Divergence Trading with Slope Angle Filters

In this article, we build an MQL5 EA that detects hidden RSI divergences via swing points with strength, bar ranges, tolerance, and slope angle filters for price and RSI lines. It executes buy/sell trades on validated signals with fixed lots, SL/TP in pips, and optional trailing stops for risk control.
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Category Theory in MQL5 (Part 1)

Category Theory in MQL5 (Part 1)

Category Theory is a diverse and expanding branch of Mathematics which as of yet is relatively uncovered in the MQL community. These series of articles look to introduce and examine some of its concepts with the overall goal of establishing an open library that attracts comments and discussion while hopefully furthering the use of this remarkable field in Traders' strategy development.
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Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 11): Heikin Ashi Signal EA

Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 11): Heikin Ashi Signal EA

MQL5 offers endless opportunities to develop automated trading systems tailored to your preferences. Did you know it can even perform complex mathematical calculations? In this article, we introduce the Japanese Heikin-Ashi technique as an automated trading strategy.
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Timeseries in DoEasy library (part 54): Descendant classes of abstract base indicator

Timeseries in DoEasy library (part 54): Descendant classes of abstract base indicator

The article considers creation of classes of descendant objects of base abstract indicator. Such objects will provide access to features of creating indicator EAs, collecting and getting data value statistics of various indicators and prices. Also, create indicator object collection from which getting access to properties and data of each indicator created in the program will be possible.
Trend-Hunting
Trend-Hunting

Trend-Hunting

The article describes an algorithm of volume increase of a profit trade. Its implementation using MQL4 means is presented in the article.
Selection and navigation utility in MQL5 and MQL4: Adding "homework" tabs and saving graphical objects
Selection and navigation utility in MQL5 and MQL4: Adding "homework" tabs and saving graphical objects

Selection and navigation utility in MQL5 and MQL4: Adding "homework" tabs and saving graphical objects

In this article, we are going to expand the capabilities of the previously created utility by adding tabs for selecting the symbols we need. We will also learn how to save graphical objects we have created on the specific symbol chart, so that we do not have to constantly create them again. Besides, we will find out how to work only with symbols that have been preliminarily selected using a specific website.
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Data Science and Machine Learning (Part 06): Gradient Descent

Data Science and Machine Learning (Part 06): Gradient Descent

The gradient descent plays a significant role in training neural networks and many machine learning algorithms. It is a quick and intelligent algorithm despite its impressive work it is still misunderstood by a lot of data scientists let's see what it is all about.
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Experiments with neural networks (Part 5): Normalizing inputs for passing to a neural network

Experiments with neural networks (Part 5): Normalizing inputs for passing to a neural network

Neural networks are an ultimate tool in traders' toolkit. Let's check if this assumption is true. MetaTrader 5 is approached as a self-sufficient medium for using neural networks in trading. A simple explanation is provided.
Technical Analysis: How Do We Analyze?
Technical Analysis: How Do We Analyze?

Technical Analysis: How Do We Analyze?

This article briefly describes the author's opinion on redrawing indicators, multi-timeframe indicators and displaying of quotes with Japanese candlesticks. The article contain no programming specifics and is of a general character.
CCI indicator. Three transformation steps
CCI indicator. Three transformation steps

CCI indicator. Three transformation steps

In this article, I will make additional changes to the CCI affecting the very logic of this indicator. Moreover, we will be able to see it in the main chart window.
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Trend Prediction with LSTM for Trend-Following Strategies

Trend Prediction with LSTM for Trend-Following Strategies

Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) is a type of recurrent neural network (RNN) designed to model sequential data by effectively capturing long-term dependencies and addressing the vanishing gradient problem. In this article, we will explore how to utilize LSTM to predict future trends, enhancing the performance of trend-following strategies. The article will cover the introduction of key concepts and the motivation behind development, fetching data from MetaTrader 5, using that data to train the model in Python, integrating the machine learning model into MQL5, and reflecting on the results and future aspirations based on statistical backtesting.
Enhancing the Quality of the Code with the Help of Unit Test
Enhancing the Quality of the Code with the Help of Unit Test

Enhancing the Quality of the Code with the Help of Unit Test

Even simple programs may often have errors that seem to be unbelievable. "How could I create that?" is our first thought when such an error is revealed. "How can I avoid that?" is the second question which comes to our mind less frequently. It is impossible to create absolutely faultless code, especially in big projects, but it is possible to use technologies for their timely detection. The article describes how the MQL4 code quality can be enhanced with the help of the popular Unit Testing method.
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Reimagining Classic Strategies (Part 16): Double Bollinger Band Breakouts

Reimagining Classic Strategies (Part 16): Double Bollinger Band Breakouts

This article walks the reader through a reimagined version of the classical Bollinger Band breakout strategy. It identifies key weaknesses in the original approach, such as its well-known susceptibility to false breakouts. The article aims to introduce a possible solution: the Double Bollinger Band trading strategy. This relatively lesser known approach supplements the weaknesses of the classical version and offers a more dynamic perspective on financial markets. It helps us overcome the old limitations defined by the original rules, providing traders with a stronger and more adaptive framework.
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Neural networks made easy (Part 67): Using past experience to solve new tasks

Neural networks made easy (Part 67): Using past experience to solve new tasks

In this article, we continue discussing methods for collecting data into a training set. Obviously, the learning process requires constant interaction with the environment. However, situations can be different.
Electronic Tables in MQL5
Electronic Tables in MQL5

Electronic Tables in MQL5

The article describes a class of dynamic two-dimensional array that contains data of different types in its first dimension. Storing data in the form of a table is convenient for solving a wide range of problems of arrangement, storing and operation with bound information of different types. The source code of the class that implements the functionality of working with tables is attached to the article.
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Creating an MQL5-Telegram Integrated Expert Advisor (Part 3): Sending Chart Screenshots with Captions from MQL5 to Telegram

Creating an MQL5-Telegram Integrated Expert Advisor (Part 3): Sending Chart Screenshots with Captions from MQL5 to Telegram

In this article, we create an MQL5 Expert Advisor that encodes chart screenshots as image data and sends them to a Telegram chat via HTTP requests. By integrating photo encoding and transmission, we enhance the existing MQL5-Telegram system with visual trading insights directly within Telegram.
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Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 70): Turning Flag Pattern Signals into Automated Trade Execution

Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 70): Turning Flag Pattern Signals into Automated Trade Execution

The article defines a buffer-based signal architecture for flag breakouts and an EA that consumes it. Breakout arrows and pole height are written to dedicated buffers only after confirmation, preventing repainting and ambiguity. The EA polls buffers with CopyBuffer(), validates signals using configurable filters, and executes trades with fixed or dynamic SL/TP.
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Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 41): Building a Statistical Price-Level EA in MQL5

Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 41): Building a Statistical Price-Level EA in MQL5

Statistics has always been at the heart of financial analysis. By definition, statistics is the discipline that collects, analyzes, interprets, and presents data in meaningful ways. Now imagine applying that same framework to candlesticks—compressing raw price action into measurable insights. How helpful would it be to know, for a specific period of time, the central tendency, spread, and distribution of market behavior? In this article, we introduce exactly that approach, showing how statistical methods can transform candlestick data into clear, actionable signals.
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Econometric tools for forecasting volatility: GARCH model

Econometric tools for forecasting volatility: GARCH model

The article describes the properties of the non-linear model of conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH). The iGARCH indicator has been built on its basis for predicting volatility one step ahead. The ALGLIB numerical analysis library is used to estimate the model parameters.
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Data Science and Machine Learning (Part 07): Polynomial Regression

Data Science and Machine Learning (Part 07): Polynomial Regression

Unlike linear regression, polynomial regression is a flexible model aimed to perform better at tasks the linear regression model could not handle, Let's find out how to make polynomial models in MQL5 and make something positive out of it.
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Manual Backtesting with On-Chart Buttons in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester

Manual Backtesting with On-Chart Buttons in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester

Learn how to build a manual backtesting EA for MetaTrader 5's visual tester by adding chart buttons with CButton, executing orders through CTrade, and filtering positions with a magic number. The article implements Buy/Sell and Close All controls, configurable lot size and initial SL, and a trailing stop via CPositionInfo. You will also see how to load indicators with tester.tpl to validate ideas faster before automation and narrow optimization ranges.
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Multiple indicators on one chart (Part 03): Developing definitions for users

Multiple indicators on one chart (Part 03): Developing definitions for users

Today we will update the functionality of the indicator system for the first time. In the previous article within the "Multiple indicators on one chart" we considered the basic code which allows using more than one indicator in a chart subwindow. But what was presented was just the starting base of a much larger system.
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Automated exchange grid trading using stop pending orders on Moscow Exchange (MOEX)

Automated exchange grid trading using stop pending orders on Moscow Exchange (MOEX)

The article considers the grid trading approach based on stop pending orders and implemented in an MQL5 Expert Advisor on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX). When trading in the market, one of the simplest strategies is a grid of orders designed to "catch" the market price.
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Python, ONNX and MetaTrader 5: Creating a RandomForest model with RobustScaler and PolynomialFeatures data preprocessing

Python, ONNX and MetaTrader 5: Creating a RandomForest model with RobustScaler and PolynomialFeatures data preprocessing

In this article, we will create a random forest model in Python, train the model, and save it as an ONNX pipeline with data preprocessing. After that we will use the model in the MetaTrader 5 terminal.
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Advanced resampling and selection of CatBoost models by brute-force method

Advanced resampling and selection of CatBoost models by brute-force method

This article describes one of the possible approaches to data transformation aimed at improving the generalizability of the model, and also discusses sampling and selection of CatBoost models.
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Bill Williams Strategy with and without other indicators and predictions

Bill Williams Strategy with and without other indicators and predictions

In this article, we will take a look to one the famous strategies of Bill Williams, and discuss it, and try to improve the strategy with other indicators and with predictions.
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Neural networks made easy (Part 21): Variational autoencoders (VAE)

Neural networks made easy (Part 21): Variational autoencoders (VAE)

In the last article, we got acquainted with the Autoencoder algorithm. Like any other algorithm, it has its advantages and disadvantages. In its original implementation, the autoenctoder is used to separate the objects from the training sample as much as possible. This time we will talk about how to deal with some of its disadvantages.
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Sentiment Analysis and Deep Learning for Trading with EA and Backtesting with Python

Sentiment Analysis and Deep Learning for Trading with EA and Backtesting with Python

In this article, we will introduce Sentiment Analysis and ONNX Models with Python to be used in an EA. One script runs a trained ONNX model from TensorFlow for deep learning predictions, while another fetches news headlines and quantifies sentiment using AI.
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Build Self Optimizing Expert Advisors in MQL5 (Part 6): Stop Out Prevention

Build Self Optimizing Expert Advisors in MQL5 (Part 6): Stop Out Prevention

Join us in our discussion today as we look for an algorithmic procedure to minimize the total number of times we get stopped out of winning trades. The problem we faced is significantly challenging, and most solutions given in community discussions lack set and fixed rules. Our algorithmic approach to solving the problem increased the profitability of our trades and reduced our average loss per trade. However, there are further advancements to be made to completely filter out all trades that will be stopped out, our solution is a good first step for anyone to try.
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Neural networks made easy (Part 32): Distributed Q-Learning

Neural networks made easy (Part 32): Distributed Q-Learning

We got acquainted with the Q-learning method in one of the earlier articles within this series. This method averages rewards for each action. Two works were presented in 2017, which show greater success when studying the reward distribution function. Let's consider the possibility of using such technology to solve our problems.