Articles on strategy testing in MQL5

This is a continuation of the previous article considering the idea of social groups. The article explores the evolution of social groups using movement and memory algorithms. The results will help to understand the evolution of social systems and apply them in optimization and search for solutions.

The article presents the Artificial Showering Algorithm (ASHA), a new metaheuristic method developed for solving general optimization problems. Based on simulation of water flow and accumulation processes, this algorithm constructs the concept of an ideal field, in which each unit of resource (water) is called upon to find an optimal solution. We will find out how ASHA adapts flow and accumulation principles to efficiently allocate resources in a search space, and see its implementation and test results.

In this article, we present the Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm (AOA) based on simple arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These basic mathematical operations serve as the foundation for finding optimal solutions to various problems.

In this article, we will change the mouse pointer to enable the interaction with the control indicator to ensure reliable and stable operation.

We enhance the manual backtesting EA with real-time lot adjustment, an order module for buy/sell stops and limits, and a Trade Manager to modify TP/SL and close positions individually. The article explains control setup with CButton/CBmpButton/CEdit, logic in OnTick, and workarounds for Strategy Tester input constraints. Readers can reuse these components to speed up testing workflows and implement robust trade management.

The article considers an optimization method based on the principles of the body's immune system - Micro Artificial Immune System (Micro-AIS) - a modification of AIS. Micro-AIS uses a simpler model of the immune system and simple immune information processing operations. The article also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of Micro-AIS compared to conventional AIS.

In this article, we will look at how to fix two errors in the code. However, I will try to explain them in a way that will help you, beginner programmers, understand that things don't always go as you expect. Anyway, this is an opportunity to learn. The content presented here is intended solely for educational purposes. In no way should this application be considered as a final document with any purpose other than to explore the concepts presented.

Today we will learn a technique that can help us a lot in different stages of our professional life as a programmer. Often it is not the platform itself that is limited, but the knowledge of the person who talks about the limitations. This article will tell you that with common sense and creativity you can make the MetaTrader 5 platform much more interesting and versatile without resorting to creating crazy programs or anything like that, and create simple yet safe and reliable code. We will use our creativity to modify existing code without deleting or adding a single line to the source code.

Despite what was shown in the previous article, all of this may seem simple at first. In reality, several problems remain, along with many tasks that still need to be completed. You, dear reader, may imagine that everything is easy and straightforward. Out of inexperience, you may simply accept whatever is presented to you. And that is a mistake you should try to avoid. Even worse is trying to use something without truly understanding what exactly you are using. Beginners often pass through a copy-and-paste stage. If you do not want to remain stuck at that stage forever, you should learn how to use certain tools. One of the tools most often used by programmers is documentation. The second is testing, supported by log files. Here we will see how to do this.

The article explains how to establish a reproducible process for developing and testing trading systems in MetaTrader 5: from formalizing entry and exit rules and risk management to post-optimization validation. It is based on the "Pardo Method": splitting historical data into in-sample and out-of-sample periods, forward testing, multiple markets/timeframes, and selecting stable parameter "plateaus" instead of isolated peaks. Using the examples of PardoSystem and the PardoEA / Breakout_Bounce Expert Advisors (EAs), this article demonstrates a practical test plan for the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester.

One point to note: although the service code is not included in this article and will only be provided in the next one, I'll explain it since we'll be using that same code as a springboard for what we're actually developing. So, be attentive and patient. Wait for the next article, because every day everything becomes more interesting.

The article presents a new approach to solving optimization problems by combining ideas from bacterial foraging optimization (BFO) algorithms and techniques used in the genetic algorithm (GA) into a hybrid BFO-GA algorithm. It uses bacterial swarming to globally search for an optimal solution and genetic operators to refine local optima. Unlike the original BFO, bacteria can now mutate and inherit genes.

We have been working on just the indicators for a long time now, but now it's time to get the service working again and see how the chart is built based on the data provided. However, since the whole thing is not that simple, we will have to be attentive to understand what awaits us ahead.

The main purpose of this article is to introduce and explain the C_ChartFloatingRAD class. We have a Chart Trade indicator that works in a rather interesting way. As you may have noticed, we still have a fairly small number of objects on the chart, and yet we get the expected functionality. The values present in the indicator can be edited. The question is, how is this possible? This article will start to make things clearer.

In this article, we will implement a control indicator so that it can be integrated into the message system we are developing. Although it is not very difficult, there are some details that need to be understood about the initialization of this module. The material presented here is for educational purposes only. In no way should it be considered as an application for any purpose other than learning and mastering the concepts shown.

In this article, I will show how to use an indicator to track open positions on the trading server in the simplest and most practical way possible. I am doing this step by step to show that you do not necessarily have to move all of this into an Expert Advisor. Many of you have probably become used to doing that for one reason or another. In fact, that is not really justified, because as this implementation evolves, it will become clear that you can create or implement different types of indicators for this purpose.

Before you give up and decide to abandon learning SQL, allow me to remind you, dear readers, that here we are still using only the most basic elements. We have not yet looked at some of SQL's capabilities. Once you understand them, you will see that SQL is far more practical than it seems. Although, most likely, we will eventually change the direction of what we are building, because the creation process is dynamic. We will show a little more about creating different things in SQL, because this is truly important and useful for you. Simply thinking that you are more capable than an entire community of programmers and developers will only lead to wasted time and opportunities. Do not worry, because what comes next will be even more interesting.

Before we proceed to the second stage of development, we need to revise some ideas. Do you know how to make MQL5 do what you need? Have you ever tried to go beyond what is contained in the documentation? If not, then get ready. Because we will be doing something that most people don't normally do.

In this article, we will explore the development of a fully customizable Price Data export script using MQL5, marking new advancements in the simulation of the Price Man CGI Model. We have implemented advanced refinement techniques to ensure that the data is user-friendly and optimized for animation purposes. Additionally, we will uncover the capabilities of Blender 3D in effectively working with and visualizing price data, demonstrating its potential for creating dynamic and engaging animations.

Before we can move forward, we need to fix a few things. These are not actually the necessary fixes but rather improvements to the way the class is managed and used. The reason is that failures occurred due to some interaction within the system. Despite attempts to find out the cause of such failures in order to eliminate them, all these attempts were unsuccessful. Some of these cases make no sense, for example, when we use pointers or recursion in C/C++, the program crashes.

The article develops a multi-symbol basket EA that standardizes prices, derives PCA weights with native MQL5 matrices, forms a synthetic spread, and trades z-score deviations from a rolling mean. It validates symbols and synchronized history, stabilizes component orientation, maps signed weights to leg directions, and applies broker-aware volumes, stops, and netting rules. Basket entries run with rollback protection and chart status, with a reproducible testing procedure.

In this article, we will complete the first phase of construction. Although this part is fairly quick to complete, I will cover details that were not discussed previously. I will explain some points that many do not understand. Do you know why you have to press the Shift or Ctrl key?

Although the modules already interact with each other properly, an error occurs when trying to use the mouse pointer in the replay service. We need to fix this before moving on to the next step. Additionally, we will fix an issue in the mouse indicator code. So this version will be finally stable and properly polished.

We extend the supply and demand framework with a strategy layer that converts zone interactions into decisions. Qualified zones pass sequential checks for interaction proximity, approach behavior, higher‑timeframe alignment, and price action before execution is handed to a dedicated trade manager. This architecture improves control, maintainability, and future extensibility without changing the underlying zone engine.

A simple grid trading strategy becomes a resilient system thanks to three components: an entry filter based on RSI divergence, a strict limit on the number of grid levels, and an independent risk manager that monitors equity on every tick and blocks trading when the daily limit or maximum drawdown is reached. The article examines the mathematics behind the classic martingale trap, the implementation of pivot point and RSI divergence detection in MQL5, the complete code for the CRiskManager class with protection against floating losses, and the architecture of the grid itself, with TP based on the weighted average entry price.

In this article, we will finally solve the problems with the simulation of ticks on a one-minute bar so that they can coexist with real ticks. This will help us avoid problems in the future. The material presented here is for educational purposes only. Under no circumstances should the application be viewed for any purpose other than to learn and master the concepts presented.

The article outlines the complete process of creating a multi-currency Expert Advisor using the Adwizard library for MetaTrader 5: from setting up the environment for creating optimization projects to obtaining the final multi-currency Expert Advisors, which combine multiple instances of a simple trading strategy. We will walk through setting up the necessary input parameters, conventions for convenient file names, and launching three instances of the final Expert Advisors on different trading accounts with different parameters.

After a break in development and improvement of the service used for replay/simulator, we are resuming work on it. Now that we've abandoned the use of resources like terminal globals, we'll have to completely restructure some parts of it. Don't worry, this process will be explained in detail so that everyone can follow the development of our service.

This article presents a reproducible MetaTrader 5 workflow: collect history, engineer nine context features, label simulated EMA crossover trades, train with FLAML, and export to ONNX with fixed opset and plain probabilities. The Expert Advisor loads the model natively, mirrors the Python feature contract, and uses a tunable confidence threshold as a trade filter. Readers can swap signals and features to reuse the same pipeline.

In previous articles, we mentioned that sometimes we need to set a value for the ZOrder property. But why? The reason is that many pieces of code that add objects to a chart simply do not use, or more precisely do not define, a value for this property. The point is that I am not here to say what every programmer should or should not do, or how they should or should not write their code. I am here to show you, dear reader, and everyone who truly wants to understand how these processes work internally, what actually happens behind the scenes.