MQL5 Programming Articles

This paper proposes a new conception to describe the window interface of MQL programs, using the structures of MQL. Special classes transform the viewable MQL markup into the GUI elements and allow manage them, set up their properties, and process the events in a unified manner. It also provides some examples of using the markup for the dialogs and elements of a standard library.

If you have newly switched to MQL5, then this article will be useful. First, the access to the indicator data and series is done in the usual MQL4 style. Second, this entire simplicity is implemented in MQL5. All functions are as clear as possible and perfectly suited for step-by-step debugging.

In this article, we will create the basic functionality of a scalping Market Depth tool. Also, we will develop a tick chart based on the CGraphic library and integrate it with the order book. Using the described Market Depth, it will be possible to create a powerful assistant tool for short-term trading.

The MetaTrader 5 Client Terminal offers a wide range of opportunities for optimization of Expert Advisor parameters. In addition to the optimization criteria included in the strategy tester, developers are given the opportunity of creating their own criteria. This leads to an almost limitless number of possibilities of testing and optimizing of Expert Advisors. The article describes practical ways of creating such criteria - both complex and simple ones.

The article considers the possibility to apply Bayesian optimization to hyperparameters of deep neural networks, obtained by various training variants. The classification quality of a DNN with the optimal hyperparameters in different training variants is compared. Depth of effectiveness of the DNN optimal hyperparameters has been checked in forward tests. The possible directions for improving the classification quality have been determined.

We all know the saying "Better to see once than hear a hundred times". You can read various books about Paris or Venice, but based on the mental images you wouldn't have the same feelings as on the evening walk in these fabulous cities. The advantage of visualization can easily be projected on any aspect of our lives, including work in the market, for example, the analysis of price on charts using indicators, and of course, the visualization of strategy testing. This article contains descriptions of all the visualization features of the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester.

Global variables of the terminal provide an indispensable tool for developing sophisticated and reliable Expert Advisors. If you master the global variables, you will no more be able to imagine developing EAs on MQL5 without them.

This article is about traditional and unusual algorithms of averaging packed in simplest and single-type classes. They are intended for universal usage in almost all developments of indicators. I hope that the suggested classes will be a good alternative to 'bulky' calls of custom and technical indicators.

This article is a follow-up to the previous one called "Reversal patterns: Testing the Double top/bottom pattern". Now we will have a look at another well-known reversal pattern called Head and Shoulders, compare the trading efficiency of the two patterns and make an attempt to combine them into a single trading system.

The article provides the analysis of the following patterns: Flag, Pennant, Wedge, Rectangle, Contracting Triangle, Expanding Triangle. In addition to analyzing their similarities and differences, we will create indicators for detecting these patterns on the chart, as well as a tester indicator for the fast evaluation of their effectiveness.

The article describes how to add the ability to work with Microsoft SQL Server database server to MQL5-based Expert Advisors. Import of functions from a DLL is used. The DLL is created using the Microsoft .NET platform and the C# language. The methods used in the article are also suitable for experts written in MQL4, with minor adjustments.

In this article, we develop and tests several strategies based on the Donchian channel using various indicator filters. We also perform a comparative analysis of their operation.

Is it possible to trade on a real MetaTrader 5 account today? How to organize such trading? The article contains the theory of these questions and the working codes used for copying trades from the MetaTrader 5 terminal to MetaTrader 4. The article will be useful both for the developers of Expert Advisors and for practicing traders.

The article familiarizes the reader with exponential smoothing models used for short-term forecasting of time series. In addition, it touches upon the issues related to optimization and estimation of the forecast results and provides a few examples of scripts and indicators. This article will be useful as a first acquaintance with principles of forecasting on the basis of exponential smoothing models.

The article covers everything you can do with strings in MQL5. It should be of interest primarily to novice MQL5 programmers, while experienced developers will have a good opportunity to summarize and systematize their knowledge.

Ever wanted to access tweets and/or post your trade signals on Twitter ? Search no more, these on-going article series will show you how to do it without using any DLL. Enjoy the journey of implementing Twitter API using MQL. In this first part, we will follow the glory path of authentication and authorization in accessing Twitter API.

In this article I will discuss the development of Expert Advisor, based on the book "New Trading Dimensions: How to Profit from Chaos in Stocks, Bonds, and Commodities" by Bill Williams. The strategy itself is well known and its use is still controversial among traders. The article considers trading signals of the system, the specifics of its implementation, and the results of testing on historical data.

When developing indicators, Expert Advisors and scripts, developers often need to create various pieces of code, which are not directly related to the trading strategy. In this article, we consider a way to create Expert Advisors using earlier created blocks, such as trailing, filtering and scheduling code, among others. We will see the benefits of this programming approach.

This article is intended primarily for the programmers who have already learned the language but have not fully mastered the program development yet. It reveals some debugging techniques and presents a combined experience of the author and many other programmers.

In this article, we will study the reverse martingale technique and will try to understand whether it is worth using, as well as whether it can help improve your trading strategy. We will create an Expert Advisor to operate on historic data and to check what indicators are best suitable for the reversing technique. We will also check whether it can be used without any indicator as an independent trading system. In addition, we will check if reversing can turn a loss-making trading system into a profitable one.

In early 2011 we released the first version of the MQL5 Wizard. This new application provides a simple and convenient tool to automatically generate trading robots. Any MetaTrader 5 user can create a custom Expert Advisor without even knowing how to program in MQL5.

There are 21 time frames available in MetaTrader 5 for analysis. You can take advantage of special chart objects that you can place on the existing chart and set the symbol, time frame and some other properties right there. This article will provide detailed information on such chart graphical objects: we will create an indicator with controls (buttons) that will allow us to set multiple chart objects in a subwindow at the same time. Furthermore, chart objects will accurately fit in the subwindow and will be automatically adjusted when the main chart or terminal window is resized.

The article aims to describe the main features of Forex trading as simply and quickly as possible, as well as share some basic ideas with beginners. It also attempts to answer the most tantalizing questions in the trading community along with showcasing the development of a simple indicator.

The article explores the advantages and disadvantages of trading in flat periods. The ten strategies created and tested within this article are based on the tracking of price movements inside a channel. Each strategy is provided with a filtering mechanism, which is aimed at avoiding false market entry signals.

This is the first article in a series related to reversal patterns in the framework of algorithmic trading. We will begin with the most interesting pattern family, which originate from the Double Top and Double Bottom patterns.

This article covers general principles of development of graphical controls. We are going to prepare tools for a quick and convenient work with graphical objects, analyze an example of creation of a simple control for entering text or numeric data as well as the ways of using it.

There are a lot of measures that allow determining the effectiveness and profitability of a trade system. However, traders are always ready to put any system to a new crash test. The article tells how the statistics based on measures of effectiveness can be used for the MetaTrader 5 platform. It includes the class for transformation of the interpretation of statistics by deals to the one that doesn't contradict the description given in the "Statistika dlya traderov" ("Statistics for Traders") book by S.V. Bulashev. It also includes an example of custom function for optimization.

The article describes the Fibo levels-based trading system developed by Joe DiNapoli. The idea behind the system and the main concepts are explained, as well as a simple indicator is provided as an example for more clarity.

Everyone who uses trading robots or signal subscriptions sooner or later recognizes the need to rent a reliable 24/7 hosting server for their trading platform. We recommend using MetaTrader VPS for several reasons. You can conveniently pay and manage the subscription through your MQL5.community account.

There has been a recent rise of interest in the cluster analyses of the FOREX market. MQL5 opens up new possibilities of researching the trends of the movement of currency pairs. A key feature of MQL5, differentiating it from MQL4, is the possibility of using an unlimited amount of indicator buffers. This article describes an example of the creation of a multi-currency indicator.

The complex codes consist of a set of simple codes. If you are familiar with them, it doesn't look so complicated. In this article, we will consider how to create an indicator with multiple indicator buffers. As an example, the Aroon indicator is analyzed in details, and two different versions of the code are presented.

The number of trading robots used on the currency markets has significantly increased recently. They employ various concepts and strategies, however, none of them has yet succeeded to create a win-win sample of artificial intelligence. Therefore, many traders remain committed to manual trading. But even for such specialists, robotic assistants or, so called, trading panels, are created. This article is yet another example of creating a trading panel from scratch.

When making trading decisions, we often have to analyze charts on several timeframes. At the same time, these charts often contain graphical objects. Applying the same objects to all charts is inconvenient. In this article, I propose to automate cloning of objects to be displayed on charts.

The article thoroughly explains the idea behind the Hurst exponent, as well as the meaning of its values and the calculation algorithm. A number of financial market segments are analyzed and the method of working with MetaTrader 5 products implementing the fractal analysis is described.

This is the third article about the concept of pending requests. We are going to complete the tests of pending trading requests by creating the methods for closing positions, removing pending orders and modifying position and pending order parameters.

This article deals with the theory and practical use of the algorithm for forecasting time series, based on the empirical decomposition mode. It proposes the MQL implementation of this method and presents test indicators and Expert Advisors.

The next version of the Easy And Fast library (version 3) is presented in this article. Fixed certain flaws and added new features. More details further in the article.

The article covers the problem of development of active control panels in MQL5. Interface elements are managed by the event handling mechanism. Besides, the option of a flexible setup of control elements properties is available. The active control panel allows working with positions, as well setting, modifying and deleting market and pending orders.