Articles on the MQL5 programming and use of trading robots

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Expert Advisors created for the MetaTrader platform perform a variety of functions implemented by their developers. Trading robots can track financial symbols 24 hours a day, copy deals, create and send reports, analyze news and even provide specific custom graphical interface.

The articles describe programming techniques, mathematical ideas for data processing, tips on creating and ordering of trading robots.

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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 91): Using Skip Lists and a Hopfield Network in a Custom Trailing Class

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 91): Using Skip Lists and a Hopfield Network in a Custom Trailing Class

For our next Exploration on notions that are testable with the MQL5 Wizard we examine if Skip Lists and the Hopfield Network can give us a profit-guarding trailing strategy. Trailing Stop Management, as already argued, can be overlooked in most trading systems at the expense of Entry Signals or even Money Management. Trailing stops can make all the difference in certain situations such as trending markets, and thus we test this out with GBPJPY.
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Building A Candlestick Trend Constraint Model (Part 11): Revealing Lower-Timeframe Triggers Within Higher-Timeframe Candle Relationships

Building A Candlestick Trend Constraint Model (Part 11): Revealing Lower-Timeframe Triggers Within Higher-Timeframe Candle Relationships

This article develops an A-B-C-D candlestick constraint model for MetaTrader 5. Candles A and B establish a completed D1 relationship, Candle C supplies a historical M1 setup, and closed M1 candles inside the developing Candle D either confirm or invalidate the sequence. We implement the design as a visual Expert Advisor with optional trading disabled by default, sequence-specific chart objects, restart-safe history reconstruction, spread and position gates, normalized trade parameters, and a reproducible testing plan.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Decomposition Instead of Scaling — Building Modules

Neural Networks in Trading: Decomposition Instead of Scaling — Building Modules

In this article, we continue our hands-on exploration of SSCNN — a next-generation architectural solution capable of processing fragmented time series. Instead of blind scaling — smart modularity, attention to detail, and targeted normalization. Step by step, we are creating computational blocks in the MQL5 environment and laying the foundation for reliable predictive analysis.
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Building AI-Powered Trading Systems in MQL5 (Part 12): Giving the Assistant Chart Vision and Tool Access

Building AI-Powered Trading Systems in MQL5 (Part 12): Giving the Assistant Chart Vision and Tool Access

We give our AI chat assistant two new abilities in MQL5: sight and tool access. It can now capture the chart as a screenshot, attach it to a message, and view it in the panel, and it can call tools that read live positions, trade history, indicator values, chart objects, and the economic calendar. The assistant reasons from what it sees and queries rather than text alone.
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Graph Theory: Study of Graphs Generated by Some Random Process

Graph Theory: Study of Graphs Generated by Some Random Process

This article describes an MQL5 Expert Advisor that models the market as a random graph rather than a fixed structure. Bars are encoded into discrete states; bar-to-bar moves form a decaying, Laplace-smoothed transition matrix, and a k-step random walk yields a bounded directional signal gated by an Erdos–Renyi null-model test. A separate trade-outcome graph over R-milestones learns survival probabilities to manage exits, turning position management into evidence-based rules.
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Neural Networks in Trading: The Temporal Query Model (Conclusion)

Neural Networks in Trading: The Temporal Query Model (Conclusion)

We are pleased to present the final stage of the TQNet framework’s development and testing, where theory meets real-world trading practice. We will move from historical training to a stress test using recent market data, evaluating the model's robustness and accuracy. The final results are not just dry statistics, but also a clear demonstration of the practical value of the proposed approach.
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Python-MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester (Part 06): MQL5-Style Backtesting for Python Expert Advisors

Python-MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester (Part 06): MQL5-Style Backtesting for Python Expert Advisors

Code and build Python-based trading robots just like MQL5 Expert Advisors (EAs). In this article, we develop a Python-based replica of the MetaTrader 5 Python package, providing methods that closely resemble those of MetaTrader 5 during simulation. This allows us to backtest Python EAs in a simplified environment, using an approach similar to developing and testing Expert Advisors in MQL5.
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Hierarchical Risk Parity: A Robust Portfolio Allocator and Expert Advisor

Hierarchical Risk Parity: A Robust Portfolio Allocator and Expert Advisor

We implement a Hierarchical Risk Parity allocator in MQL5 as a single class, validate each stage against an independent Python reference, and package it in a rebalancing Expert Advisor. The pipeline covers returns, covariance/correlation, clustering, quasi-diagonalization, and recursive bisection, and contrasts HRP with Markowitz on stressed data. You finish with a verified allocator and an EA ready for basket-level testing.
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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 96): Using Wavelet Thresholding and LSTM Network in a Custom Money Management Class

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 96): Using Wavelet Thresholding and LSTM Network in a Custom Money Management Class

In this article we consider a custom MQL5 Wizard class that processes Money Management. Our custom class is labelled ‘CMoneyWaveletLSTM’, and is developed by combining the Wavelet Thresholding algorithm with an LSTM network. As has been the case throughout these series, the developed model is testable with MQL5 Wizard-Assembled Expert Advisors that can be tuned with different trailing stops and entry Signals classes. We maintain our entry Signal, as in past articles as the built-in 'Envelopes' class and the RSI class.
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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 99): Using a KD-Tree and an Echo State Network in a Custom Money Management Class

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 99): Using a KD-Tree and an Echo State Network in a Custom Money Management Class

This article lays out 'CMoneyKDTreeESN' custom money management class usable with the MQL5 Wizard, that combines the KD-Tree algorithm and the Echo State Network. We use the KD-Tree on log returns and ATR to give us a risk score, while the ESN tracks recent flow to give us a bounded lot size multiplier. Our class is usable in a variety of Wizard assembled Expert Advisors as shown here with the Envelopes and RSI signals, with a broad objective of modulating exposure in high-volatility and tail-risk environments.
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Motifs and Discords: Building a Matrix Profile from Scratch

Motifs and Discords: Building a Matrix Profile from Scratch

We build the Matrix Profile for MQL5 from the ground up and keep it numerically stable on real prices. The library includes rolling statistics, a radix-2 FFT powering MASS, and a STOMP self-join, with results matched to stumpy. A compact facade, an indicator that draws the profile and flags discords, and a demonstration Expert Advisor show how to read and use the signal in practice.
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Honest Backtesting of Swing Strategies on Index CFDs: Financing Costs, Swap Modes, and What the Strategy Tester Cannot Model

Honest Backtesting of Swing Strategies on Index CFDs: Financing Costs, Swap Modes, and What the Strategy Tester Cannot Model

Financing drives multi‑day index‑CFD results: in one full‑history test, swap consumed 44% of gross profit and all profit on one symbol. We convert swaps to annualized rates, contrast four brokers and two financing models with a read‑only script, and quantify a Strategy Tester issue where a single current swap is used for all history, inflating implied rates by up to seven times. The piece provides a repeatable cost‑audit method.
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Foundation Models for Trading (Part III): Running a Generative AI Forecaster Inside MetaTrader 5

Foundation Models for Trading (Part III): Running a Generative AI Forecaster Inside MetaTrader 5

We demonstrate live forecast charting with Kronos in MQL5 and an evaluation pipeline designed to be look‑ahead‑safe. Deterministic dumps are scored per horizon against a random‑walk baseline (15,113 predictions), then fed to a simple Strategy Tester rule on EURUSD H1. The findings show no edge, and illustrate how a high threshold can yield a persuasive but low‑information backtest with very few trades.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Robust Trading Signals in Any Market Regime (Conclusion)

Neural Networks in Trading: Robust Trading Signals in Any Market Regime (Conclusion)

The article provides a detailed examination of the integration of the ST-Expert framework's approaches into the Extralonger architecture, which enables the simultaneous analysis of temporal and spatial representations of data. The results of testing on real historical data are presented, demonstrating the model's effectiveness and its robustness to market anomalies. The article describes the framework's modular structure, which ensures reproducibility, flexibility for research, and the ability to optimize components in stages.
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Neural Networks in Trading: A Spiking-Semantic Approach to Spatiotemporal Identification (S3CE-Net)

Neural Networks in Trading: A Spiking-Semantic Approach to Spatiotemporal Identification (S3CE-Net)

We invite you to explore the S3CE-Net framework and its SSAM and STFS mechanisms, which accurately process spiking events while taking causality into account. The model is lightweight, parallel, and capable of identifying complex relationships across time and space.
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Defining your Edge (Part 3): Using HMM and GRU in an Expert Advisor

Defining your Edge (Part 3): Using HMM and GRU in an Expert Advisor

We examine how a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) estimates latent market regimes while basing on observable price and indicator sequences. This is done by estimating the probability of state transitions. A Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) network models time dependencies and keeps important information over several observations. In an Expert Advisor, HMM-based regime probabilities, can be merged with GRU-based sequence learning to better classify increments in accumulation, distribution, and momentum prior to their showing up in regular price confirmations.
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Intrinsic Time: From the Directional-Change Scaling Laws to the Alpha Engine

Intrinsic Time: From the Directional-Change Scaling Laws to the Alpha Engine

The article implements intrinsic-time analysis in MQL5: an event-based directional-change operator that splits ticks into directional-change and overshoot sections. We reproduce the core scaling laws on 17.8 million live EUR/USD ticks and compare them to a random-walk baseline. Finally, we build a hedging-account Expert Advisor that trades the Alpha Engine with limit orders, detailing thresholds, inventory skew, and liquidity control for practical reuse.
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Larry Williams Market Secrets (Part 18): Automating the Greatest Swing Value Breakout Strategy in MQL5

Larry Williams Market Secrets (Part 18): Automating the Greatest Swing Value Breakout Strategy in MQL5

This article converts the Greatest Swing Value breakout rules into a configurable MQL5 Expert Advisor. It implements measurable setup conditions, failure-swing calculations, one-bar setup validity, and M1 breakout confirmation. The EA also supports broker-compatible risk management, manual or percentage-risk sizing, position control, and trade-server validation, providing a reproducible framework for independent Strategy Tester research across different markets and historical periods.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Generalizing Time Series Without Data-Specific Dependence (Core Model Modules)

Neural Networks in Trading: Generalizing Time Series Without Data-Specific Dependence (Core Model Modules)

We continue our acquaintance with the Mamba4Cast framework. Today, we will delve into the practical implementation of the proposed approaches. Mamba4Cast was designed not for lengthy warm-up on every new time series, but for immediate deployment. Thanks to the concept of Zero-Shot Forecasting, the model can produce high-quality forecasts on real-world data without additional training or hyperparameter tuning.
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Neural Networks in Trading: A Unified View of Space and Time (Conclusion)

Neural Networks in Trading: A Unified View of Space and Time (Conclusion)

The Extralonger framework demonstrates a unique ability to integrate spatial and temporal factors into a single model, ensuring high forecast accuracy. Its architecture allows it to adapt to different planning horizons and financial instruments while maintaining the system's transparency and manageability.
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Neural Networks in Trading: From Transformers to Spiking Neurons (SpikingBrain)

Neural Networks in Trading: From Transformers to Spiking Neurons (SpikingBrain)

The SpikingBrain framework demonstrates a unique approach to data processing: neurons respond only to significant events, effectively filtering out noise. Its event-driven architecture reduces computational costs while preserving key information about price movements. Adaptive thresholds and the ability to use pre-trained modules ensure the model's flexibility and scalability.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Adaptive Periodic Segmentation (Conclusion)

Neural Networks in Trading: Adaptive Periodic Segmentation (Conclusion)

We invite you to dive into the exciting world of LightGTS — a lightweight yet powerful framework for time-series forecasting, where adaptive convolution and RoPE encoding are combined with innovative attention mechanisms. In our article, you will find a detailed description of all components — from creating patches to the complex mixture of experts in the decoder — ready for integration into MQL5 projects. Discover how LightGTS takes automated trading to a whole new level!
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Neural Networks in Trading: The Adaptive Graph Diffusion Model (Attention Module)

Neural Networks in Trading: The Adaptive Graph Diffusion Model (Attention Module)

In this article, we will take a detailed look at the practical implementation of the key components of the SAGDFN framework. We will show how sparse attention and the selection of significant neighbors are organized for time series forecasting. The approaches presented strike a balance between forecast accuracy and computational efficiency.
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Automating Classic Market Methods in MQL5 (Part 9): Linda Bradford Raschke's 3/10 Oscillator System

Automating Classic Market Methods in MQL5 (Part 9): Linda Bradford Raschke's 3/10 Oscillator System

The article implements two swing setups in MQL5: Anti, which enters on the first 3/10 oscillator pullback after a signal line zero confirmation with price confirmation, and Holy Grail, which enters on the first pullback to the 20 EMA in a strong rising ADX trend. A single EA runs two independent state machines with precise entry and exit rules, ATR-based stops, and state recovery. You get runnable code and traceable logging.
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Inside MetaEditor's AI Assistant: Writing, Repairing and Testing MQL5 with an Agent

Inside MetaEditor's AI Assistant: Writing, Repairing and Testing MQL5 with an Agent

We use the MetaTrader 5 AI Assistant to execute the full workflow end to end: create an EA from a natural‑language prompt, compile it, break and watch it self‑correct from compiler output, backtest it, and compare a controlled re‑run. The article details the underlying MCP extensions, configuration and safety limits, and how to connect external AI clients. Readers get a repeatable process for building and testing EAs inside the platform.
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Building a Type-Safe Event Bus in MQL5: Decoupling EA Components Without Global Variables

Building a Type-Safe Event Bus in MQL5: Decoupling EA Components Without Global Variables

A typed publish-subscribe event bus in MQL5 replaces global variables and direct cross-references. Using an abstract listener interface and an enum-indexed subscription table, a signal engine, order manager, and drawdown monitor communicate only through the bus, with no shared state. The article analyzes dispatch overhead, pointer validation, and recursive publish risks, helping you design decoupled, testable EAs.
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Swing Extremes and Pullbacks (Part 5): Filtering Weak Swings Using Candle Imbalance

Swing Extremes and Pullbacks (Part 5): Filtering Weak Swings Using Candle Imbalance

This article implements an MQL5 Expert Advisor that scores each impulse leg behind a swing extreme with a 0–100 Candle Imbalance Score. The score combines four bounded components—body dominance, directional consistency, leg efficiency, and Fair Value Gap coverage—to filter weak swings before any pullback setup is armed. You will see enforced swing alternation, a state machine for first-clean-retest-only entries, and a three-mode trailing stop, enabling consistent setup selection and exit management.
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Path Signatures for Lead-Lag Detection

Path Signatures for Lead-Lag Detection

Build a level-2 path-signature engine in pure MQL5 to read the lead-lag ordering between two data streams without choosing a lag and without a linear model. The article delivers a reusable library, an indicator that plots the Levy‑area oscillator, and a simple rule‑based Expert Advisor. Code is cross‑checked against closed‑form cases, and the components are ready to plug into your projects.
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Neural Networks in Trading: A Cross-Domain Time Series Forecasting Framework (Conclusion)

Neural Networks in Trading: A Cross-Domain Time Series Forecasting Framework (Conclusion)

The article focuses on the practical implementation of the TimeFound model for time series forecasting. The key stages of implementing the framework's main approaches using MQL5 are examined.
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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 94): Using Reservoir Sampling and Linear Regression in a Custom Trailing Stop Class

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 94): Using Reservoir Sampling and Linear Regression in a Custom Trailing Stop Class

For this article we rotate to a custom MQL5 Wizard class implementation that explores Trailing Stops. Our custom class is ‘CTrailingReservoirLinReg’ that we derive by combining the Reservoir Sampling algorithm with a Linear Regression network. As has been the case throughout these series, this formulation is testable with MQL5 Wizard Assembled Expert Advisors that can be tuned with various entry signals and money management classes.
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Developing a Multi-Currency Expert Advisor (Part 32): Secrets of the Optimization Project Creation Step (II)

Developing a Multi-Currency Expert Advisor (Part 32): Secrets of the Optimization Project Creation Step (II)

The article discusses the parameters of the second stage of the automatic optimization pipeline for a multi-currency Expert Advisor. We analyze the criteria for filtering first-stage passes and the rules for forming groups of trading strategies. The article demonstrates how settings affect optimization results, discusses aspects of process reliability, and examines the balance between selection strictness and having enough candidates for the algorithm.
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Building AI-Powered Trading Systems in MQL5 (Part 11): Optimizing the UI with Frame Throttling and Partial Rendering

Building AI-Powered Trading Systems in MQL5 (Part 11): Optimizing the UI with Frame Throttling and Partial Rendering

We optimize an MQL5 canvas interface to stay responsive under rapid input without changing its appearance. The article adds a direct-buffer canvas for block region copies, caches text widths and glyph coverage, caps repaints at 60 fps (16 ms), and limits drawing to panes and regions that actually changed. As a result, hover, scroll, and popups render smoothly without full-panel redraws.
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Neural Networks in Trading: From Transformers to Spiking Neurons (Key Components)

Neural Networks in Trading: From Transformers to Spiking Neurons (Key Components)

We present to the reader an implementation of the SpikingBrain framework’s approaches based on recurrent linear attention with gates, discussed in detail in this article. Forward pass, gradient propagation, and weight update algorithms ensure efficient processing of financial time series and enable the practical implementation of the framework’s key concepts.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Iterative Forecast Refinement Models (RAFT)

Neural Networks in Trading: Iterative Forecast Refinement Models (RAFT)

The RAFT framework offers a fundamentally different approach to forecasting market dynamics — not as a one-time snapshot, but as an iterative refinement of the state in real time. It takes both local and global changes into account, maintaining a high degree of accuracy even with complex price structures.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Training Deep Spiking Models (SEW-ResNet)

Neural Networks in Trading: Training Deep Spiking Models (SEW-ResNet)

We invite you to explore the SEW-ResNet framework, which allows you to build deep spiking models without degradation issues and with effective gradient management. In this article, we demonstrate how to implement a basic spiking neuron and its algorithms using MQL5.
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Competitive Swarm Optimizer (CSO)

Competitive Swarm Optimizer (CSO)

The article discusses the Competitive Swarm Optimizer — a swarm optimization algorithm based on an extremely simple idea: agents are randomly paired, and the loser learns from the winner and is drawn toward the center of the swarm. In addition to analyzing CSO, the article describes the modernization of the test bench: visualization of the algorithms’ operation has been moved into 3D space, making it possible to clearly observe the movement of the population on the surface of the test function.
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Developing a Multi-Currency Expert Advisor (Part 31): Secrets of the Optimization Project Creation Step (I)

Developing a Multi-Currency Expert Advisor (Part 31): Secrets of the Optimization Project Creation Step (I)

The article examines two practical aspects of the Adwizard-based optimization pipeline: diagnostics and recovery after failures when generating the final Expert Advisor database, as well as preliminary selection of strategy parameter ranges before project creation. It is shown how analyzing the stages/jobs/tasks tables in SQLite and restarting stages based on their statuses help restore the process, while trial optimization narrows the search space, eliminates redundant parameters, and reduces the risk of getting stuck at local maxima.
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Neural Networks in Trading: The Adaptive Graph Diffusion Model (SAGDFN)

Neural Networks in Trading: The Adaptive Graph Diffusion Model (SAGDFN)

In this article, we explore the architecture of SAGDFN — a modern framework capable of transforming the approach to processing spatiotemporal data. It preserves key information even in complex graphs while reducing computational costs.
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Neural Networks in Trading: A Unified View of Space and Time (Extralonger)

Neural Networks in Trading: A Unified View of Space and Time (Extralonger)

The Extralonger framework demonstrates an approach to integrating spatial and temporal factors into a single model, which makes it possible to account for both local patterns and long-term cycles simultaneously. This architecture makes time series forecasting more resilient to market noise and enables data analysis across different time horizons. The article takes a detailed look at how these ideas are put into practice using OpenCL and MQL5.
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Building AI-Powered Trading Systems in MQL5 (Part 10): A Resolution-Independent Vector Icon System

Building AI-Powered Trading Systems in MQL5 (Part 10): A Resolution-Independent Vector Icon System

We replace the embedded bitmap icons in our MQL5 canvas interface with a resolution-independent vector icon system. A small set of anti-aliased primitives (strokes, discs, rings, rounded rectangles, and polygons) draws every logo and sidebar glyph procedurally, then plugs into the header, sidebar, and theme toggle. You get smaller builds, theme-aware recoloring, and icons that stay sharp at any size.