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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Introduction to MQL5 (Part 22): Building an Expert Advisor for the 5-0 Harmonic Pattern

Introduction to MQL5 (Part 22): Building an Expert Advisor for the 5-0 Harmonic Pattern

This article explains how to detect and trade the 5-0 harmonic pattern in MQL5, validate it using Fibonacci levels, and display it on the chart.
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Using the MQL5 Economic Calendar for News Filter (Part 4): Accurate Backtesting with Static Data

Using the MQL5 Economic Calendar for News Filter (Part 4): Accurate Backtesting with Static Data

This article implements a static, CSV-based news source for the Strategy Tester, so historical economic news events can be preloaded and queried during backtesting. It replaces live calendar calls in tester mode with a fast in-memory search, preserves the live logic for trading, and delivers deterministic, repeatable results with explicit control over included events, enabling reliable validation of news-aware filters, stop suspension, and trade-blocking rules.
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Developing a multi-currency Expert Advisor (Part 15): Preparing EA for real trading

Developing a multi-currency Expert Advisor (Part 15): Preparing EA for real trading

As we gradually approach to obtaining a ready-made EA, we need to pay attention to issues that seem secondary at the stage of testing a trading strategy, but become important when moving on to real trading.
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MQL5 Trading Tools (Part 5): Creating a Rolling Ticker Tape for Real-Time Symbol Monitoring

MQL5 Trading Tools (Part 5): Creating a Rolling Ticker Tape for Real-Time Symbol Monitoring

In this article, we develop a rolling ticker tape in MQL5 for real-time monitoring of multiple symbols, displaying bid prices, spreads, and daily percentage changes with scrolling effects. We implement customizable fonts, colors, and scroll speeds to highlight price movements and trends effectively.
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Optimizing Trend Strength: Trading in Trend Direction and Strength

Optimizing Trend Strength: Trading in Trend Direction and Strength

This is a specialized trend-following EA that makes both short and long-term analyses, trading decisions, and executions based on the overall trend and its strength. This article will explore in detail an EA that is specifically designed for traders who are patient, disciplined, and focused enough to only execute trades and hold their positions only when trading with strength and in the trend direction without changing their bias frequently, especially against the trend, until take-profit targets are hit.
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Neural networks made easy (Part 78): Decoder-free Object Detector with Transformer (DFFT)

Neural networks made easy (Part 78): Decoder-free Object Detector with Transformer (DFFT)

In this article, I propose to look at the issue of building a trading strategy from a different angle. We will not predict future price movements, but will try to build a trading system based on the analysis of historical data.
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MQL5 Trading Tools (Part 31): Creating an Interactive Tools Palette in MQL5

MQL5 Trading Tools (Part 31): Creating an Interactive Tools Palette in MQL5

We turn the Tools Palette sidebar from a static shell into an interactive MQL5 system. The article implements flyout menus per category, a chart event handler, a multi-click drawing engine (one-, two-, and three-click tools), and mouse interactions including drag, bottom-edge resize, scrolling, hover states, and live theme toggling. You will be able to select a tool and place chart objects directly from the palette for analysis
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Trading with the MQL5 Economic Calendar (Part 8): Optimizing News-Driven Backtesting with Smart Event Filtering and Targeted Logs

Trading with the MQL5 Economic Calendar (Part 8): Optimizing News-Driven Backtesting with Smart Event Filtering and Targeted Logs

In this article, we optimize our economic calendar with smart event filtering and targeted logging for faster, clearer backtesting in live and offline modes. We streamline event processing and focus logs on critical trade and dashboard events, enhancing strategy visualization. These improvements enable seamless testing and refinement of news-driven trading strategies.
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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 43): Reinforcement Learning with SARSA

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 43): Reinforcement Learning with SARSA

SARSA, which is an abbreviation for State-Action-Reward-State-Action is another algorithm that can be used when implementing reinforcement learning. So, as we saw with Q-Learning and DQN, we look into how this could be explored and implemented as an independent model rather than just a training mechanism, in wizard assembled Expert Advisors.
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How can century-old functions update your trading strategies?

How can century-old functions update your trading strategies?

This article considers the Rademacher and Walsh functions. We will explore ways to apply these functions to financial time series analysis and also consider various applications for them in trading.
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Cross-validation and basics of causal inference in CatBoost models, export to ONNX format

Cross-validation and basics of causal inference in CatBoost models, export to ONNX format

The article proposes the method of creating bots using machine learning.
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Neural networks made easy (Part 45): Training state exploration skills

Neural networks made easy (Part 45): Training state exploration skills

Training useful skills without an explicit reward function is one of the main challenges in hierarchical reinforcement learning. Previously, we already got acquainted with two algorithms for solving this problem. But the question of the completeness of environmental research remains open. This article demonstrates a different approach to skill training, the use of which directly depends on the current state of the system.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Dual Clustering of Multivariate Time Series (DUET)

Neural Networks in Trading: Dual Clustering of Multivariate Time Series (DUET)

The DUET framework offers an innovative approach to time series analysis, combining temporal and channel clustering to uncover hidden patterns in the analyzed data. This allows models to adapt to changes over time and improve forecasting quality by eliminating noise.
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Low-Frequency Quantitative Strategies in MetaTrader 5 (Part 3): A Regime-Adaptive Mean-Reversion Swing Trading System

Low-Frequency Quantitative Strategies in MetaTrader 5 (Part 3): A Regime-Adaptive Mean-Reversion Swing Trading System

The article describes and codes MR Swing in MQL5, a mean‑reversion swing approach that combines a 200‑day hysteresis channel with Value Charts, DVO, and SVAPO. We document entry/exit rules for bull and bear regimes and show five‑year backtests on six high‑liquidity Nasdaq stocks. The complete EA code and backtest configurations are provided for reproducibility.
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Category Theory in MQL5 (Part 22): A different look at Moving Averages

Category Theory in MQL5 (Part 22): A different look at Moving Averages

In this article we attempt to simplify our illustration of concepts covered in these series by dwelling on just one indicator, the most common and probably the easiest to understand. The moving average. In doing so we consider significance and possible applications of vertical natural transformations.
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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 49): Reinforcement Learning with Proximal Policy Optimization

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 49): Reinforcement Learning with Proximal Policy Optimization

Proximal Policy Optimization is another algorithm in reinforcement learning that updates the policy, often in network form, in very small incremental steps to ensure the model stability. We examine how this could be of use, as we have with previous articles, in a wizard assembled Expert Advisor.
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A Generic Optimization Formulation (GOF) to Implement Custom Max with Constraints

A Generic Optimization Formulation (GOF) to Implement Custom Max with Constraints

In this article we will present a way to implement optimization problems with multiple objectives and constraints when selecting "Custom Max" in the Setting tab of the MetaTrader 5 terminal. As an example, the optimization problem could be: Maximize Profit Factor, Net Profit, and Recovery Factor, such that the Draw Down is less than 10%, the number of consecutive losses is less than 5, and the number of trades per week is more than 5.
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Propensity score in causal inference

Propensity score in causal inference

The article examines the topic of matching in causal inference. Matching is used to compare similar observations in a data set. This is necessary to correctly determine causal effects and get rid of bias. The author explains how this helps in building trading systems based on machine learning, which become more stable on new data they were not trained on. The propensity score plays a central role and is widely used in causal inference.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Contrastive Pattern Transformer

Neural Networks in Trading: Contrastive Pattern Transformer

The Contrastive Transformer is designed to analyze markets both at the level of individual candlesticks and based on entire patterns. This helps improve the quality of market trend modeling. Moreover, the use of contrastive learning to align representations of candlesticks and patterns fosters self-regulation and improves the accuracy of forecasts.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Controlled Segmentation (Final Part)

Neural Networks in Trading: Controlled Segmentation (Final Part)

We continue the work started in the previous article on building the RefMask3D framework using MQL5. This framework is designed to comprehensively study multimodal interaction and feature analysis in a point cloud, followed by target object identification based on a description provided in natural language.
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MQL5 Trading Tools (Part 9): Developing a First Run User Setup Wizard for Expert Advisors with Scrollable Guide

MQL5 Trading Tools (Part 9): Developing a First Run User Setup Wizard for Expert Advisors with Scrollable Guide

In this article, we develop an MQL5 First Run User Setup Wizard for Expert Advisors, featuring a scrollable guide with an interactive dashboard, dynamic text formatting, and visual controls like buttons and a checkbox allowing users to navigate instructions and configure trading parameters efficiently. Users of the program get to have insight of what the program is all about and what to do on the first run, more like an orientation model.
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The MQL5 Standard Library Explorer (Part 4): Custom Signal Library

The MQL5 Standard Library Explorer (Part 4): Custom Signal Library

Today, we use the MQL5 Standard Library to build custom signal classes and let the MQL5 Wizard assemble a professional Expert Advisor for us. This approach simplifies development so that even beginner programmers can create robust EAs without in-depth coding knowledge, focusing instead on tuning inputs and optimizing performance. Join this discussion as we explore the process step by step.
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Neural networks made easy (Part 51): Behavior-Guided Actor-Critic (BAC)

Neural networks made easy (Part 51): Behavior-Guided Actor-Critic (BAC)

The last two articles considered the Soft Actor-Critic algorithm, which incorporates entropy regularization into the reward function. This approach balances environmental exploration and model exploitation, but it is only applicable to stochastic models. The current article proposes an alternative approach that is applicable to both stochastic and deterministic models.
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Graph Theory: Traversal Depth-First Search (DFS) Applied in Trading

Graph Theory: Traversal Depth-First Search (DFS) Applied in Trading

This article applies Depth-First Search to market structure by modeling swing highs and lows as graph nodes and tracking one structural path as deeply as conditions remain valid. When a key swing is broken, the algorithm backtracks and explores an alternative branch. Readers gain a practical framework to formalize structural bias and test whether the current path aligns with targets like liquidity pools or supply and demand zones.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Hybrid Graph Sequence Models (Final Part)

Neural Networks in Trading: Hybrid Graph Sequence Models (Final Part)

We continue exploring hybrid graph sequence models (GSM++), which integrate the advantages of different architectures, providing high analysis accuracy and efficient distribution of computing resources. These models effectively identify hidden patterns, reducing the impact of market noise and improving forecasting quality.
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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 24): Moving Averages

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 24): Moving Averages

Moving Averages are a very common indicator that are used and understood by most Traders. We explore possible use cases that may not be so common within MQL5 Wizard assembled Expert Advisors.
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The MQL5 Standard Library Explorer (Part 3): Expert Standard Deviation Channel

The MQL5 Standard Library Explorer (Part 3): Expert Standard Deviation Channel

In this discussion, we will develop an Expert Advisor using the CTrade and CChartObjectStdDevChannel classes, while applying several filters to enhance profitability. This stage puts our previous discussion into practical application. Additionally, I’ll introduce another simple approach to help you better understand the MQL5 Standard Library and its underlying codebase. Join the discussion to explore these concepts in action.
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Neural Networks Made Easy (Part 86): U-Shaped Transformer

Neural Networks Made Easy (Part 86): U-Shaped Transformer

We continue to study timeseries forecasting algorithms. In this article, we will discuss another method: the U-shaped Transformer.
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Alternative risk return metrics in MQL5

Alternative risk return metrics in MQL5

In this article we present the implementation of several risk return metrics billed as alternatives to the Sharpe ratio and examine hypothetical equity curves to analyze their characteristics.
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Trading with the MQL5 Economic Calendar (Part 3): Adding Currency, Importance, and Time Filters

Trading with the MQL5 Economic Calendar (Part 3): Adding Currency, Importance, and Time Filters

In this article, we implement filters in the MQL5 Economic Calendar dashboard to refine news event displays by currency, importance, and time. We first establish filter criteria for each category and then integrate these into the dashboard to display only relevant events. Finally, we ensure each filter dynamically updates to provide traders with focused, real-time economic insights.
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Feature Engineering for ML (Part 1): Fractional Differentiation — Stationarity Without Memory Loss

Feature Engineering for ML (Part 1): Fractional Differentiation — Stationarity Without Memory Loss

Integer differentiation forces a binary choice between stationarity and memory: returns (d=1) are stationary but discard all price-level information; raw prices (d=0) preserve memory but violate ML stationarity assumptions. We implement the fixed-width fractional differentiation (FFD) method from AFML Chapter 5, covering get_weights_ffd (iterative recurrence with threshold cutoff), frac_diff_ffd (bounded dot product per bar), and fracdiff_optimal (binary search for minimum stationary d*).
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Data Science and ML (Part 43): Hidden Patterns Detection in Indicators Data Using Latent Gaussian Mixture Models (LGMM)

Data Science and ML (Part 43): Hidden Patterns Detection in Indicators Data Using Latent Gaussian Mixture Models (LGMM)

Have you ever looked at the chart and felt that strange sensation… that there’s a pattern hidden just beneath the surface? A secret code that might reveal where prices are headed if only you could crack it? Meet LGMM, the Market’s Hidden Pattern Detector. A machine learning model that helps identify those hidden patterns in the market.
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Integrate Your Own LLM into EA (Part 5): Develop and Test Trading Strategy with LLMs (II)-LoRA-Tuning

Integrate Your Own LLM into EA (Part 5): Develop and Test Trading Strategy with LLMs (II)-LoRA-Tuning

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence today, language models (LLMs) are an important part of artificial intelligence, so we should think about how to integrate powerful LLMs into our algorithmic trading. For most people, it is difficult to fine-tune these powerful models according to their needs, deploy them locally, and then apply them to algorithmic trading. This series of articles will take a step-by-step approach to achieve this goal.
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Neural Networks Made Easy (Part 85): Multivariate Time Series Forecasting

Neural Networks Made Easy (Part 85): Multivariate Time Series Forecasting

In this article, I would like to introduce you to a new complex timeseries forecasting method, which harmoniously combines the advantages of linear models and transformers.
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Developing a multi-currency Expert Advisor (Part 18): Automating group selection considering forward period

Developing a multi-currency Expert Advisor (Part 18): Automating group selection considering forward period

Let's continue to automate the steps we previously performed manually. This time we will return to the automation of the second stage, that is, the selection of the optimal group of single instances of trading strategies, supplementing it with the ability to take into account the results of instances in the forward period.
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Developing a quality factor for Expert Advisors

Developing a quality factor for Expert Advisors

In this article, we will see how to develop a quality score that your Expert Advisor can display in the strategy tester. We will look at two well-known calculation methods – Van Tharp and Sunny Harris.
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MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 67): Using Patterns of TRIX and the Williams Percent Range

MQL5 Wizard Techniques you should know (Part 67): Using Patterns of TRIX and the Williams Percent Range

The Triple Exponential Moving Average Oscillator (TRIX) and the Williams Percentage Range Oscillator are another pair of indicators that could be used in conjunction within an MQL5 Expert Advisor. This indicator pair, like those we’ve covered recently, is also complementary given that TRIX defines the trend while Williams Percent Range affirms support and Resistance levels. As always, we use the MQL5 wizard to prototype any potential these two may have.
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Sending Messages from MQL5 to Discord, Creating a Discord-MetaTrader 5 Bot

Sending Messages from MQL5 to Discord, Creating a Discord-MetaTrader 5 Bot

Similar to Telegram, Discord is capable of receiving information and messages in JSON format using it's communication API's, In this article, we are going to explore how you can use discord API's to send trading signals and updates from MetaTrader 5 to your Discord trading community.
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Neural Networks in Trading: Node-Adaptive Graph Representation with NAFS

Neural Networks in Trading: Node-Adaptive Graph Representation with NAFS

We invite you to get acquainted with the NAFS (Node-Adaptive Feature Smoothing) method, which is a non-parametric approach to creating node representations that does not require parameter training. NAFS extracts features of each node given its neighbors and then adaptively combines these features to form a final representation.
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News Filtering with MetaTrader 5 Economic Calendar and CSV Fallback

News Filtering with MetaTrader 5 Economic Calendar and CSV Fallback

This article presents a self-contained news filter module for MetaTrader 5 built on the platform's economic calendar API. It implements symbol-to-currency mapping, pre- and post-event trading pauses, and optional position size reduction on high-impact days, with a CSV-based fallback for the Strategy Tester. A demo EA and live chart dashboard show integration and verification in both live and backtest environments.