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.
Library for easy and quick development of MetaTrader programs (part III). Collection of market orders and positions, search and sorting
In the first part, we started creating a large cross-platform library simplifying the development of programs for MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4 platforms. Further on, we implemented the collection of history orders and deals. Our next step is creating a class for a convenient selection and sorting of orders, deals and positions in collection lists. We are going to implement the base library object called Engine and add collection of market orders and positions to the library.
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.
Pivot Points Helping to Define Market Trends
Pivot point is a line in the price chart that shows the further trend of a currency pair. If the price is above this line, it tends to grow. If the price is below this line, accordingly, it tends to fall.
Neural networks made easy (Part 9): Documenting the work
We have already passed a long way and the code in our library is becoming bigger and bigger. This makes it difficult to keep track of all connections and dependencies. Therefore, I suggest creating documentation for the earlier created code and to keep it updating with each new step. Properly prepared documentation will help us see the integrity of our work.
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.
Matrix and Vector operations in MQL5
Matrices and vectors have been introduced in MQL5 for efficient operations with mathematical solutions. The new types offer built-in methods for creating concise and understandable code that is close to mathematical notation. Arrays provide extensive capabilities, but there are many cases in which matrices are much more efficient.
Research of Statistical Recurrences of Candle Directions
Is it possible to predict the behavior of the market for a short upcoming interval of time, based on the recurring tendencies of candle directions, at specific times throughout the day? That is, If such an occurrence is found in the first place. This question has probably arisen in the mind of every trader. The purpose of this article is to attempt to predict the behavior of the market, based on the statistical recurrences of candle directions during specific intervals of time.
Self-organizing feature maps (Kohonen maps) - revisiting the subject
This article describes techniques of operating with Kohonen maps. The subject will be of interest to both market researchers with basic level of programing in MQL4 and MQL5 and experienced programmers that face difficulties with connecting Kohonen maps to their projects.
Can the Forex Market Be Forecasted? How to Create One's Own Trading Strategy?
Everyone starting to work in Forex tries to answer these questions. But not everyone finds the answer, even after many years of hard work and search. I personally have answered this question, as well as many other questions of this article. As a result of these answers a way of creating an efficient trading strategy was determined.
Build Self Optimizing Expert Advisors in MQL5 (Part 4): Dynamic Position Sizing
Successfully employing algorithmic trading requires continuous, interdisciplinary learning. However, the infinite range of possibilities can consume years of effort without yielding tangible results. To address this, we propose a framework that gradually introduces complexity, allowing traders to refine their strategies iteratively rather than committing indefinite time to uncertain outcomes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Better programmer (Part 05): How to become a faster developer
Every developer wants to be able to write code faster, and being able to code faster and effective is not some kind of special ability that only a few people are born with. It's a skill that can be learned, that is what I'm trying to teach in this article.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Graphics in DoEasy library (Part 83): Class of the abstract standard graphical object
In this article, I will create the class of the abstract graphical object. This object is to serve as a basis for creating the class of standard graphical objects. Graphical objects feature multiple properties. Therefore, I will need to do a lot of preparatory work before actually creating the abstract graphical object class. This work includes setting the properties in the library enumerations.
Graphics in DoEasy library (Part 86): Graphical object collection - managing property modification
In this article, I will consider tracking property value modification, as well as removing and renaming graphical objects in the library.
Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 19): ZigZag Analyzer
Every price action trader manually uses trendlines to confirm trends and spot potential turning or continuation levels. In this series on developing a price action analysis toolkit, we introduce a tool focused on drawing slanted trendlines for easy market analysis. This tool simplifies the process for traders by clearly outlining key trends and levels essential for effective price action evaluation.
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.
Developing Advanced ICT Trading Systems: Implementing Signals in the Order Blocks Indicator
In this article, you will learn how to develop an Order Blocks indicator based on order book volume (market depth) and optimize it using buffers to improve accuracy. This concludes the current stage of the project and prepares for the next phase, which will include the implementation of a risk management class and a trading bot that uses signals generated by the indicator.
Movement continuation model - searching on the chart and execution statistics
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.
Graphical Interfaces XI: Text edit boxes and Combo boxes in table cells (build 15)
In this update of the library, the Table control (the CTable class) will be supplemented with new options. The lineup of controls in the table cells is expanded, this time adding text edit boxes and combo boxes. As an addition, this update also introduces the ability to resize the window of an MQL application during its runtime.
HTML Walkthrough Using MQL4
HTML is nowadays one of the wide-spread types of documents. MetaTrader 4 Client Terminal allows you to save statements, test and optimization reports as .htm files. It is sometimes necessary to get information from such files in an MQL4 program. The article describes one of variations of how to get the tag structure and contents from HTML.
DoEasy. Controls (Part 1): First steps
This article starts an extensive topic of creating controls in Windows Forms style using MQL5. My first object of interest is creating the panel class. It is already becoming difficult to manage things without controls. Therefore, I will create all possible controls in Windows Forms style.
Reimagining Classic Strategies (Part 20): Modern Stochastic Oscillators
This article demonstrates how the stochastic oscillator, a classical technical indicator, can be repurposed beyond its conventional use as a mean-reversion tool. By viewing the indicator through a different analytical lens, we show how familiar strategies can yield new value and support alternative trading rules, including trend-following interpretations. Ultimately, the article highlights how every technical indicator in the MetaTrader 5 terminal holds untapped potential, and how thoughtful trial and error can uncover meaningful interpretations hidden from view.
How to Implement Auto Optimization in MQL5 Expert Advisors
Step by step guide for auto optimization in MQL5 for Expert Advisors. We will cover robust optimization logic, best practices for parameter selection, and how to reconstruct strategies with back-testing. Additionally, higher-level methods like walk-forward optimization will be discussed to enhance your trading approach.
Using Layouts and Containers for GUI Controls: The CGrid Class
This article presents an alternative method of GUI creation based on layouts and containers, using one layout manager — the CGrid class. The CGrid class is an auxiliary control that acts as a container for other containers and controls using a grid layout.
Trailing stop in trading
In this article, we will look at the use of a trailing stop in trading. We will assess how useful and effective it is, and how it can be used. The efficiency of a trailing stop largely depends on price volatility and the selection of the stop loss level. A variety of approaches can be used to set a stop loss.
Equivolume Charting Revisited
The article dwells on the method of constructing charts, at which each bar consists of the equal number of ticks.
Price Action Analysis Toolkit Development (Part 51): Revolutionary Chart Search Technology for Candlestick Pattern Discovery
This article is intended for algorithmic traders, quantitative analysts, and MQL5 developers interested in enhancing their understanding of candlestick pattern recognition through practical implementation. It provides an in‑depth exploration of the CandlePatternSearch.mq5 Expert Advisor—a complete framework for detecting, visualizing, and monitoring classical candlestick formations in MetaTrader 5. Beyond a line‑by‑line review of the code, the article discusses architectural design, pattern detection logic, GUI integration, and alert mechanisms, illustrating how traditional price‑action analysis can be automated efficiently.