MQL5 Programming Articles

In this article, we will consider the class of displaying text messages. Currently, we have a sufficient number of different text messages. It is time to re-arrange the methods of their storage, display and translation of Russian or English messages to other languages. Besides, it would be good to introduce convenient ways of adding new languages to the library and quickly switching between them.

In this new article from our series for learning how to design trading systems, I will present the Commodities Channel Index (CCI), explain its specifics, and share with you how to create a trading system based on this indicator.

After the upgrade of the MATLAB package in 2015, it is necessary to consider a modern way of creating DLL libraries. The article uses a sample predictive indicator to illustrate the peculiarities of linking MetaTrader 5 and MATLAB using modern 64-bit versions of the platforms, which are utilized nowadays. With the entire sequence of connecting MATLAB considered, MQL5 developers will be able to create applications with advanced computational capabilities much faster, avoiding «pitfalls».

It is impossible to get a truly stable algorithm if we use optimization based on historical data to select parameters. A stable algorithm should be aware of what parameters are needed when working on any trading instrument at any time. It should not forecast or guess, it should know for sure.

This is a continuation of the idea of processing and analysis of optimization results. This time, our purpose is to select the 100 best optimization results and display them in a GUI table. The user will be able to select a row in the optimization results table and receive a multi-symbol balance and drawdown graph on separate charts.

Expert Advisor Visual Wizard for MetaTrader 5 provides a highly intuitive graphical environment with a comprehensive set of predefined trading blocks that let you design Expert Advisors in minutes. The click, drag and drop approach of Expert Advisor Visual Wizard allows you to create visual representations of forex trading strategies and signals as you would with pencil and paper. These trading diagrams are analyzed automatically by Molanis’ MQL5 code generator that transforms them into ready to use Expert Advisors. The interactive graphical environment simplifies the design process and eliminates the need to write MQL5 code.

In this article, we will consider an example of developing a user interface with button controls. To convey the idea of interactivity to the user, buttons will change their colors when the cursor hovers over them. With the cursor being over a button, the button color will be slightly darkened, getting significantly darker when the button is clicked. Furthermore, we will add tooltips to each button, thus creating an intuitive interface.

The article reveals how the "Rope" indicator is created based on "The Small Encyclopedia of Trader" by Erik L. Nayman. This indicator shows the direction of the trend using the calculated values of bulls and bears over a specified period of time. The article also contains principles of creating and calculating indicators along with the examples of codes. Other subjects covered include building an Expert Advisor based on the indicator, and the optimization of external parameters.

We continue the development of the library functionality featuring trading using pending requests. We have already implemented sending conditional trading requests for opening positions and placing pending orders. In the current article, we will implement conditional position closure – full, partial and closing by an opposite position.

The article describes the process of creation of a universal indicator based on all oscillators available in the terminal, with its own graphical interface. The GUI allows users to quickly and easily change settings of each oscillator straight from the chart window (without having to open its properties), as well as to compare their values and to select an optimal option for a specific task.

The scope of use of fractional differentiation is wide enough. For example, a differentiated series is usually input into machine learning algorithms. The problem is that it is necessary to display new data in accordance with the available history, which the machine learning model can recognize. In this article we will consider an original approach to time series differentiation. The article additionally contains an example of a self optimizing trading system based on a received differentiated series.

In this article, we will consider such issues as including sound files in the file of the Expert Advisor, and thus adding sound notifications to trade events. The fact that the files will be included means that the sound files will be located inside the Expert Advisor. So when giving the compiled version of the Expert Advisor (*.ex5) to another user, you will not have to also provide the sound files and explain where they need to be saved.

In this article, we continue to dwell on reversing techniques. We will try to reduce the maximum balance drawdown till an acceptable level for the instruments considered earlier. We will see if the measures will reduce the profit. We will also check how the reversing method performs on other markets, including stock, commodity, index, ETF and agricultural markets. Attention, the article contains a lot of images!

The article considers new types of indicators with more complex structural implementation. It also describes the development of pseudo-3D indicator types and dynamic infographics.

This article describes a special algorithm allowing to gain access to elements by their unique keys. Any base data type can be used as a key. For example it may be represented as a string or an integer variable. Such data container is commonly referred to as a dictionary or an associative array. It provides easier and more efficient way of problem solving.

The article deals with the methods of indicators computational algorithms optimization. Everyone will find a method that suits his/her needs best. Three methods are described here.One of them is quite simple, the next one requires solid knowledge of Math and the last one requires some wit. Indicators or MetaTrader5 terminal design features are used to realize most of the described methods. The methods are quite universal and can be used not only for acceleration of the linear regression calculation, but also for many other indicators.

In this article, we are going to continue developing the CWindow class by adding methods, which will allow managing the form by clicking on its controls. We will enable the program to be closed by a form button as well as implement a minimizing and maximizing feature for the form.

This article suggests a variant of an adaptive system that consists of many strategies, each of which performs its own "virtual" trade operations. Real trading is performed in accordance with the signals of a most profitable strategy at the moment. Thanks to using of the object-oriented approach, classes for working with data and trade classes of the Standard library, the architecture of the system appeared to be simple and scalable; now you can easily create and analyze the adaptive systems that include hundreds of trade strategies.

In this part, we expand the trading signal searching and editing system, as well as introduce the possibility to use custom indicators and add program localization. We have previously created a basic system for searching signals, but it was based on a small set of indicators and a simple set of search rules.

The article deals with the creation of a program allowing to estimate the kernel density of the unknown probability density function. Kernel Density Estimation method has been chosen for executing the task. The article contains source codes of the method software implementation, examples of its use and illustrations.

Many traders on Moscow Exchange would like to automate their trading algorithms, but they do not know where to start. The MQL5 language offers a huge range of trading functions, and it additionally provides ready classes that help users to make their first steps in algo trading.

The first chapter of the series was about simple and multi-functional buttons. The second article will be dedicated to groups of interconnected buttons that will allow the creation of elements in an application when a user can select one of the option out of a set (group).

The article is intended to get its readers acquainted with the Box-Cox transformation. The issues concerning its usage are addressed and some examples are given allowing to evaluate the transformation efficiency with random sequences and real quotes.

Different situations happen in trader’s life. Often, the history of successful trades allows us to restore a strategy, while looking at a loss history we try to develop and improve it. In both cases, we compare trades with known indicators. This article suggests methods of batch comparison of trades with a number of indicators.

The article deals with the approaches enabling accurate simulation of walk forward optimization using the built-in tester and auxiliary libraries implemented in MQL.

In this article, we will continue the development of trading requests, implement placing pending orders and eliminate detected shortcomings of the trading class operation.

This article presents a method of programming the equidistant channel system. Certain details of building such channels are being considered here. Channel typification is provided, and a universal type of moving channels' method is suggested. Object-oriented programming (OOP) is used for code implementation.

This article focuses on general issues linked to handling software errors. Furthermore, the logging term is brought up and the examples of logging implementation with MQL5 tools are shown.

The article deals with the development of the timeseries collection of specified timeframes for all symbols used in the program. We are going to develop the timeseries collection, the methods of setting collection's timeseries parameters and the initial filling of developed timeseries with historical data.

In this article, we are going to finish the development of the base object of all library objects, so that any library object based on it is able to interact with a user. For example, users will be able to set the maximum acceptable size of a spread for opening a position and a price level, upon reaching which an event from a symbol object is sent to the program with the spread or price level-based signal.

This is the final article devoted to the patterns that occur when trading currency pair baskets. It considers combined trend-following indicators and application of standard graphical constructions.

How to find more candlestick patterns than usual? Behind the simplicity of candlestick patterns, there is also a serious drawback, which can be eliminated by using the significantly increased capabilities of modern trading automation tools.

The article describes the method of fast visual testing of trading ideas. The method is based on the combination of a price chart, a signal indicator and a balance calculation indicator. I would like to share my method of searching for trading ideas, as well as the method I use for fast testing of these ideas.

The technical analysis widely implements the indicators showing the basic quotes "more clearly" and allowing traders to perform analysis and forecast market prices movement. It's quite obvious that there is no sense in using the indicators, let alone applying them in creation of trading systems, unless we can solve the issues concerning initial quotes transformation and the obtained result credibility. In this article we show that there are serious reasons for such a conclusion.

The article describes the library allowing you to increase the efficiency of working with HTTP requests in MQL5. Execution of WebRequest in non-blocking mode is implemented in additional threads that use auxiliary charts and Expert Advisors, exchanging custom events and reading shared resources. The source codes are applied as well.

Studies related to search for the fractal behavior of financial data suggest that behind the seemingly chaotic behavior of economic time series there are hidden stable mechanisms of participants' collective behavior. These mechanisms can lead to the emergence of price dynamics on the exchange, which can define and describe specific properties of price series. When applied to trading, one could benefit from the indicators which can efficiently and reliably estimate the fractal parameters in the scale and time frame, which are relevant in practice.

In this article, we continue studying the use of CAppDialog. Now we will learn how to set color for the background, borders and header of the dialog box. Also, this article provides a step-by-step description of how to add transparency for an application window when dragging it within the chart. We will consider how to create child classes of CAppDialog or CWndClient and analyze new specifics of working with controls. Finally, we will review new Projects from a new perspective.

In previous articles, we used stochastic gradient descent to train a neural network using the same learning rate for all neurons within the network. In this article, I propose to look towards adaptive learning methods which enable changing of the learning rate for each neuron. We will also consider the pros and cons of this approach.