How to Use Raw Tick Recorder – Full User Guide
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How to Use Raw Tick Recorder – Full User Guide

8 July 2025, 17:18
The Hung Ngo
The Hung Ngo
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A complete guide to collecting raw bid/ask ticks with millisecond precision – ideal for backtesting, latency checks, and machine learning.

📥 Download Trial Version

📂 The demo version (EX5,EX4) for live chart testing is attached below this blog post.
It works only on demo accounts and cannot be used on live trading accounts.

🔹 What Is Raw Tick Recorder?

Raw Tick Recorder is a utility tool (not a trading EA) designed for MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4. It records every tick (bid/ask) your broker sends and writes it to local files in various formats, including:

  • .csv – human-readable format (Excel, Python)

  • .bin – high-performance binary for programmatic use

  • .bi5 – compressed format used by Dukascopy / Tickstory

This tool is ideal if you want to:

  • Build tick-level backtests

  • Compare brokers’ feed quality or latency

  • Train machine learning models with clean historical data

  • Archive quotes for compliance or research

🔧 How to Install and Run

1. Download the EA

  • If you purchased the EA, install from Market > Purchased in MetaTrader 5 (MetaTrader 4).

  • If you are testing: download the free demo from the Market page or from the link attached to this blog post.

2. Attach to a Chart

  • Open MetaTrader 5 (MetaTrader 4)

  • Choose the symbol (e.g., EURUSD, XAUUSD...) you want to record

  • Drag Raw Tick Recorder to the chart

  • Adjust parameters if needed (see below)

📌 One EA per chart = One symbol recorded.
Want to record multiple symbols? Open more charts.

⚙️ Input Parameters Explained

Parameter Description Default
SaveToCSV Export .csv file true
SaveToBinary Export .bin or .bi5 true
BinaryFormat Choose .bin , .bi5 , or BOTH BOTH
ConvertToGMT Save timestamps in GMT false
BufferSize Number of ticks to buffer before writing 1000
FlushIntervalSeconds Backup flush (in seconds) 30
OutputFolder Custom folder to save data TickData
🛈 You can hover over each input in MT5 to read detailed tooltips.

🗂 Output Folder Structure

By default, files are saved to:

Terminal/Common/Files/TickData/<Symbol>/

Depending on format:

  • .csv and .bin : One file per session (appends on restart)

  • .bi5 : Automatically split hourly, stored under:

    TickData/<Symbol>/YYYY/MM/DD/<Hour>h_ticks.bi5

A daily metadata .json file is also generated containing:

  • Symbol info

  • Broker

  • Digits

  • Configuration used

📈 Example Use Cases

  • Quants & ML engineers: collect clean raw input for models

  • Manual traders: verify broker spreads and spikes

  • Backtesters: use .bi5 with Tickstory/JForex

  • Prop firms: validate feed quality and quote delays

🐍 Bonus: Python Parser

Included with your download is a simple script:

read_bin_to_csv.py

This helps convert .bin and .bi5 files into clean .csv for further processing. You can edit it to suit your workflow (Pandas, NumPy, etc.).

❗ Important Notes

  • This EA does not trade or open orders

  • It is 100% MQL5 native – no DLLs, no WebRequest, no network access

  • It is safe to restart – appends to previous data

  • Resource usage is minimal: under 1% CPU, <20MB RAM

🛠 Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
No files created Check if AutoTrading is enabled, and chart is active
Time zone mismatch Set ConvertToGMT = true
Files not saving Ensure folder MQL5/Files/TickData exists and is writable
Too many files Use .bin only (smaller), or lower flush frequency

🧠 Final Notes

Raw Tick Recorder gives you full control over your tick data pipeline — from clean acquisition to custom output.
You no longer have to rely on questionable broker history or third-party feeds.

🔗 Official Product Links