Articles with MQL5 programming examples

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Access a huge collection of articles with code examples showing how to create indicators and trading robots for the MetaTrader platform in the MQL5 language. Source codes are attached to the articles, so you can open them in MetaEditor and run them to see how the applications work.

These articles will be useful both for those who have just started exploring automated trading and for professional traders with programming experience. They feature not only examples, but also contain new ideas.

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Post-Factum trading analysis: Selecting trailing stops and new stop levels in the strategy tester

Post-Factum trading analysis: Selecting trailing stops and new stop levels in the strategy tester

We continue the topic of analyzing completed deals in the strategy tester to improve the quality of trading. Let's see how using different trailing stops can change our existing trading results.
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From Basic to Intermediate: The Include Directive

From Basic to Intermediate: The Include Directive

In today's article, we will discuss a compilation directive that is widely used in various codes that can be found in MQL5. Although this directive will be explained rather superficially here, it is important that you begin to understand how to use it, as it will soon become indispensable as you move to higher levels of programming. The content presented here is intended solely for educational purposes. Under no circumstances should the application be viewed for any purpose other than to learn and master the concepts presented.
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From Basic to Intermediate: Inheritance

From Basic to Intermediate: Inheritance

No doubt, this article will require a significant amount of your time to understand how and why the materials described here work. This is because everything that will be shown here is initially oriented toward object-oriented programming, but in fact it is based on the principles of structured programming.
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Reimagining Classic Strategies (Part 13): Taking Our Crossover Strategy to New Dimensions (Part 2)

Reimagining Classic Strategies (Part 13): Taking Our Crossover Strategy to New Dimensions (Part 2)

Join us in our discussion as we look for additional improvements to make to our moving-average cross over strategy to reduce the lag in our trading strategy to more reliable levels by leveraging our skills in data science. It is a well-studied fact that projecting your data to higher dimensions can at times improve the performance of your machine learning models. We will demonstrate what this practically means for you as a trader, and illustrate how you can weaponize this powerful principle using your MetaTrader 5 Terminal.
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Creating a Trading Administrator Panel in MQL5 (Part IV): Login Security Layer

Creating a Trading Administrator Panel in MQL5 (Part IV): Login Security Layer

Imagine a malicious actor infiltrating the Trading Administrator room, gaining access to the computers and the Admin Panel used to communicate valuable insights to millions of traders worldwide. Such an intrusion could lead to disastrous consequences, such as the unauthorized sending of misleading messages or random clicks on buttons that trigger unintended actions. In this discussion, we will explore the security measures in MQL5 and the new security features we have implemented in our Admin Panel to safeguard against these threats. By enhancing our security protocols, we aim to protect our communication channels and maintain the trust of our global trading community. Find more insights in this article discussion.
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Developing a Replay System (Part 49): Things Get Complicated (I)

Developing a Replay System (Part 49): Things Get Complicated (I)

In this article, we'll complicate things a little. Using what was shown in the previous articles, we will start to open up the template file so that the user can use their own template. However, I will be making changes gradually, as I will also be refining the indicator to reduce the load on MetaTrader 5.
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From Basic to Intermediate: Inheritance

From Basic to Intermediate: Inheritance

No doubt, this article will require a significant amount of your time to understand how and why the materials described here work. This is because everything that will be shown here is initially oriented toward object-oriented programming, but in fact it is based on the principles of structured programming.
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Matrix Factorization: The Basics

Matrix Factorization: The Basics

Since the goal here is didactic, we will proceed as simply as possible. That is, we will implement only what we need: matrix multiplication. You will see today that this is enough to simulate matrix-scalar multiplication. The most significant difficulty that many people encounter when implementing code using matrix factorization is this: unlike scalar factorization, where in almost all cases the order of the factors does not change the result, this is not the case when using matrices.
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Population optimization algorithms: Simulated Isotropic Annealing (SIA) algorithm. Part II

Population optimization algorithms: Simulated Isotropic Annealing (SIA) algorithm. Part II

The first part was devoted to the well-known and popular algorithm - simulated annealing. We have thoroughly considered its pros and cons. The second part of the article is devoted to the radical transformation of the algorithm, which turns it into a new optimization algorithm - Simulated Isotropic Annealing (SIA).
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Developing a Replay System — Market simulation (Part 07): First improvements (II)

Developing a Replay System — Market simulation (Part 07): First improvements (II)

In the previous article, we made some fixes and added tests to our replication system to ensure the best possible stability. We also started creating and using a configuration file for this system.
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Permuting price bars in MQL5

Permuting price bars in MQL5

In this article we present an algorithm for permuting price bars and detail how permutation tests can be used to recognize instances where strategy performance has been fabricated to deceive potential buyers of Expert Advisors.
All about Automated Trading Championship: Registration
All about Automated Trading Championship: Registration

All about Automated Trading Championship: Registration

This article comprises useful materials that will help you learn more about the procedure of registration for participation in the Automated Trading Championship.
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Mastering Log Records (Part 4): Saving logs to files

Mastering Log Records (Part 4): Saving logs to files

In this article, I will teach you basic file operations and how to configure a flexible handler for customization. We will update the CLogifyHandlerFile class to write logs directly to the file. We will conduct a performance test by simulating a strategy on EURUSD for a week, generating logs at each tick, with a total time of 5 minutes and 11 seconds. The result will be compared in a future article, where we will implement a caching system to improve performance.
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Developing a Replay System (Part 72): An Unusual Communication (I)

Developing a Replay System (Part 72): An Unusual Communication (I)

What we create today will be difficult to understand. Therefore, in this article I will only talk about the initial stage. Please read this article carefully, it is an important prerequisite before we proceed to the next step. The purpose of this material is purely didactic as we will only study and master the presented concepts, without practical application.
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From Basic to Intermediate: Recursion

From Basic to Intermediate: Recursion

In this article we will look at a very interesting and quite challenging programming concept, although it should be treated with great caution, as its misuse or misunderstanding can turn relatively simple programs into something unnecessarily complex. But when used correctly and adapted perfectly to equally suitable situations, recursion becomes an excellent ally in solving problems that would otherwise be much more laborious and time-consuming. The materials presented here are intended for educational purposes only. Under no circumstances should the application be viewed for any purpose other than to learn and master the concepts presented.
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How to implement AutoARIMA forecasting in MQL5

How to implement AutoARIMA forecasting in MQL5

This article presents an MQL5 implementation of AutoARIMA that builds ARIMA models without manual tuning. It estimates d via a variance-based heuristic, fits ARMA(p,q) by gradient optimization with Adam, and selects p and q using AICc. The code returns a one-step-ahead price forecast by differencing, model estimation, and integration back to price level, ready to call on a Close series.
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Adaptive Social Behavior Optimization (ASBO): Schwefel, Box-Muller Method

Adaptive Social Behavior Optimization (ASBO): Schwefel, Box-Muller Method

This article provides a fascinating insight into the world of social behavior in living organisms and its influence on the creation of a new mathematical model - ASBO (Adaptive Social Behavior Optimization). We will examine how the principles of leadership, neighborhood, and cooperation observed in living societies inspire the development of innovative optimization algorithms.
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From Novice to Expert: Adaptive Risk Management for Liquidity Strategies

From Novice to Expert: Adaptive Risk Management for Liquidity Strategies

In this article, we explore practical and robust risk management techniques specifically tailored for liquidity-based trading. You will learn how to protect positions during retests, handle false breakouts with confidence, and identify signs of potential level manipulation. By the end, you will have built an adaptive Expert Advisor capable of managing zone flips and executing strategic pending orders with integrated risk control.
Idleness is the Stimulus to Progress, or How to Work with Graphics Interacively
Idleness is the Stimulus to Progress, or How to Work with Graphics Interacively

Idleness is the Stimulus to Progress, or How to Work with Graphics Interacively

An indicator for interactive working with trend lines, Fibo levels, icons manually imposed on a chart. It allows you to draw the colored zones of Fibo levels, shows the moments of the price crossing the trend line, manages the "Price label" object.
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Developing a Replay System (Part 47): Chart Trade Project (VI)

Developing a Replay System (Part 47): Chart Trade Project (VI)

Finally, our Chart Trade indicator starts interacting with the EA, allowing information to be transferred interactively. Therefore, in this article, we will improve the indicator, making it functional enough to be used together with any EA. This will allow us to access the Chart Trade indicator and work with it as if it were actually connected with an EA. But we will do it in a much more interesting way than before.
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Creating a Trading Administrator Panel in MQL5 (Part XI): Modern feature communications interface (I)

Creating a Trading Administrator Panel in MQL5 (Part XI): Modern feature communications interface (I)

Today, we are focusing on the enhancement of the Communications Panel messaging interface to align with the standards of modern, high-performing communication applications. This improvement will be achieved by updating the CommunicationsDialog class. Join us in this article and discussion as we explore key insights and outline the next steps in advancing interface programming using MQL5.
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Resampling techniques for prediction and classification assessment in MQL5

Resampling techniques for prediction and classification assessment in MQL5

In this article, we will explore and implement, methods for assessing model quality that utilize a single dataset as both training and validation sets.
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Bivariate Copulae in MQL5 (Part 2): Implementing Archimedean copulae in MQL5

Bivariate Copulae in MQL5 (Part 2): Implementing Archimedean copulae in MQL5

In the second installment of the series, we discuss the properties of bivariate Archimedean copulae and their implementation in MQL5. We also explore applying copulae to the development of a simple pairs trading strategy.
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Developing Market Entropy Indicator: Trading System Based on Information Theory

Developing Market Entropy Indicator: Trading System Based on Information Theory

This article explores the development of a Market Entropy Indicator based on principles from Information Theory to measure the uncertainty and information content within financial markets. By applying concepts such as Shannon Entropy to price movements, the indicator quantifies whether the market is structured (trending), transitioning, or chaotic.
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Developing a Replay System (Part 50): Things Get Complicated (II)

Developing a Replay System (Part 50): Things Get Complicated (II)

We will solve the chart ID problem and at the same time we will begin to provide the user with the ability to use a personal template for the analysis and simulation of the desired asset. The materials presented here are for didactic purposes only and should in no way be considered as an application for any purpose other than studying and mastering the concepts presented.
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From Basic to Intermediate: Array (II)

From Basic to Intermediate: Array (II)

In this article, we will look at what a dynamic array and a static array are. Is there a difference between using one or the other? Or are they always the same? When should you use one and when the other type? And what about constant arrays? We will try to understand what they are designed for and consider the risks of not initializing all the values in the array.
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Developing a Replay System (Part 62): Playing the service (III)

Developing a Replay System (Part 62): Playing the service (III)

In this article, we will begin to address the issue of tick excess that can impact application performance when using real data. This excess often interferes with the correct timing required to construct a one-minute bar in the appropriate window.
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The Group Method of Data Handling: Implementing the Combinatorial Algorithm in MQL5

The Group Method of Data Handling: Implementing the Combinatorial Algorithm in MQL5

In this article we continue our exploration of the Group Method of Data Handling family of algorithms, with the implementation of the Combinatorial Algorithm along with its refined incarnation, the Combinatorial Selective Algorithm in MQL5.
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Population optimization algorithms: Boids Algorithm

Population optimization algorithms: Boids Algorithm

The article considers Boids algorithm based on unique examples of animal flocking behavior. In turn, the Boids algorithm serves as the basis for the creation of the whole class of algorithms united under the name "Swarm Intelligence".
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Simplifying Databases in MQL5 (Part 2): Using metaprogramming to create entities

Simplifying Databases in MQL5 (Part 2): Using metaprogramming to create entities

We explored the advanced use of #define for metaprogramming in MQL5, creating entities that represent tables and column metadata (type, primary key, auto-increment, nullability, etc.). We centralized these definitions in TickORM.mqh, automating the generation of metadata classes and paving the way for efficient data manipulation by the ORM, without having to write SQL manually.
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Artificial Bee Hive Algorithm (ABHA): Theory and methods

Artificial Bee Hive Algorithm (ABHA): Theory and methods

In this article, we will consider the Artificial Bee Hive Algorithm (ABHA) developed in 2009. The algorithm is aimed at solving continuous optimization problems. We will look at how ABHA draws inspiration from the behavior of a bee colony, where each bee has a unique role that helps them find resources more efficiently.
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MetaTrader 5 Machine Learning Blueprint (Part 7): From Scattered Experiments to Reproducible Results

MetaTrader 5 Machine Learning Blueprint (Part 7): From Scattered Experiments to Reproducible Results

In the latest installment of this series, we move beyond individual machine learning techniques to address the "Research Chaos" that plagues many quantitative traders. This article focuses on the transition from ad-hoc notebook experiments to a principled, production-grade pipeline that ensures reproducibility, traceability, and efficiency.
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Overcoming The Limitation of Machine Learning (Part 3): A Fresh Perspective on Irreducible Error

Overcoming The Limitation of Machine Learning (Part 3): A Fresh Perspective on Irreducible Error

This article takes a fresh perspective on a hidden, geometric source of error that quietly shapes every prediction your models make. By rethinking how we measure and apply machine learning forecasts in trading, we reveal how this overlooked perspective can unlock sharper decisions, stronger returns, and a more intelligent way to work with models we thought we already understood.
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Visual assessment and adjustment of trading in MetaTrader 5

Visual assessment and adjustment of trading in MetaTrader 5

The strategy tester allows you to do more than just optimize your trading robot's parameters. I will show how to evaluate your account's trading history post-factum and make adjustments to your trading in the tester by changing the stop-losses of your open positions.
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Analyzing binary code of prices on the exchange (Part II): Converting to BIP39 and writing GPT model

Analyzing binary code of prices on the exchange (Part II): Converting to BIP39 and writing GPT model

Continuing tries to decipher price movements... What about linguistic analysis of the "market dictionary" that we get by converting the binary price code to BIP39? In this article, we will delve into an innovative approach to exchange data analysis and consider how modern natural language processing techniques can be applied to the market language.
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Self Optimizing Expert Advisors in MQL5 (Part 12): Building Linear Classifiers Using Matrix Factorization

Self Optimizing Expert Advisors in MQL5 (Part 12): Building Linear Classifiers Using Matrix Factorization

This article explores the powerful role of matrix factorization in algorithmic trading, specifically within MQL5 applications. From regression models to multi-target classifiers, we walk through practical examples that demonstrate how easily these techniques can be integrated using built-in MQL5 functions. Whether you're predicting price direction or modeling indicator behavior, this guide lays a strong foundation for building intelligent trading systems using matrix methods.
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Causal analysis of time series using transfer entropy

Causal analysis of time series using transfer entropy

In this article, we discuss how statistical causality can be applied to identify predictive variables. We will explore the link between causality and transfer entropy, as well as present MQL5 code for detecting directional transfers of information between two variables.
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From Novice to Expert: Market Periods Synchronizer

From Novice to Expert: Market Periods Synchronizer

In this discussion, we introduce a Higher-to-Lower Timeframe Synchronizer tool designed to solve the problem of analyzing market patterns that span across higher timeframe periods. The built-in period markers in MetaTrader 5 are often limited, rigid, and not easily customizable for non-standard timeframes. Our solution leverages the MQL5 language to develop an indicator that provides a dynamic and visual way to align higher timeframe structures within lower timeframe charts. This tool can be highly valuable for detailed market analysis. To learn more about its features and implementation, I invite you to join the discussion.
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Developing an MQL5 RL agent with RestAPI integration (Part 3): Creating automatic moves and test scripts in MQL5

Developing an MQL5 RL agent with RestAPI integration (Part 3): Creating automatic moves and test scripts in MQL5

This article discusses the implementation of automatic moves in the tic-tac-toe game in Python, integrated with MQL5 functions and unit tests. The goal is to improve the interactivity of the game and ensure the reliability of the system through testing in MQL5. The presentation covers game logic development, integration, and hands-on testing, and concludes with the creation of a dynamic game environment and a robust integrated system.
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Formulating Dynamic Multi-Pair EA (Part 7): Cross-Pair Correlation Mapping for Real-Time Trade Filtering

Formulating Dynamic Multi-Pair EA (Part 7): Cross-Pair Correlation Mapping for Real-Time Trade Filtering

In this part, we will integrate a real-time correlation matrix into a multi-symbol Expert Advisor to prevent redundant or risk-stacked trades. By dynamically measuring cross-pair relationships, the EA will filter entries that conflict with existing exposure, improving portfolio balance, reducing systemic risk, and enhancing overall trade quality.