Liquidity Pool Radar is a MetaTrader 5 indicator that maps the price levels where stop-losses cluster, flags the moment price sweeps them and snaps back, and tells you whether that sweep landed on an abnormally wide spread. This manual explains every part of it: the engine, the panel, the chart objects, every input, and how to actually trade with it.
1. The idea in one minute
Stop-losses do not spread out evenly. They pile up in the same places: just above equal highs and just below equal lows, where most traders put them. Those piles are liquidity pools. Price is drawn toward them, and a common pattern is a quick spike through a pool that grabs the stops and then reverses. That is a liquidity sweep.
Liquidity Pool Radar does three things:
- Maps the pools in real time, so you see where the stops are sitting.
- Detects the sweep the moment price wicks a pool and closes back on the other side.
- Checks the spread at that exact bar. If the sweep happened while the spread was in the top of its own historical range, a thin, low-liquidity moment where fills are poor and fakeouts are common, it flags it as a HUNT.
That third step is what no other liquidity tool does, and it is the reason a clean reversal and a messy low-liquidity spike stop looking the same.
2. Installation
- Copy LiquidityPoolRadar.ex5 into MQL5\Indicators of your terminal's data folder (File → Open Data Folder).
- In MetaTrader, refresh the Navigator (right-click → Refresh).
- Drag Liquidity Pool Radar onto any chart, review the inputs, and click OK.
It works on any symbol and any timeframe and scales itself with ATR, so you do not need to re-tune it per instrument.
3. How the engine works
Liquidity pools
The indicator finds swing highs and swing lows (a bar higher or lower than the bars on both sides). Swings that fall close together are merged into a single pool, and the pool's strength counts how many swings formed it. Two swings at the same level become x2, three become x3, and so on. A strong cluster (x2, x3, x4) means a lot of stops are stacked there, a bigger magnet than a single touch. Clusters are drawn thicker and labelled (for example LIQ x3).
Only valid, untested pools are drawn. When price closes clean through a level, that pool is spent and its line is removed, so the chart always shows the liquidity that is still in play, not a graveyard of old levels. Pools are also limited to a band around current price (default plus/minus 1.5%), because liquidity 5% away is not actionable.
Sweeps
A sweep is flagged when a bar's wick pierces a pool by a minimum amount and the bar closes back on the origin side (a rejection). A sweep of a pool above prints a down arrow; a sweep of a pool below prints an up arrow.
The spread lens
For every bar, MetaTrader records the spread. Liquidity Pool Radar builds a distribution of the recent spread history and asks, for the current bar and for each sweep: where does this spread sit in its own range? A spread in the top 5% is abnormal for that instrument, regardless of whether it is gold at 30 points or an index at 8. When a sweep lands on such a bar, the arrow turns red and reads HUNT.
If the broker does not record meaningful spread history for a symbol (some feeds report a flat or near-zero spread), the lens has nothing to measure and honestly reports SPREAD N/A instead of inventing signals.
4. Reading the panel
The panel sits in the top-left corner (you can move it with InpPanelY).
- Title and symbol/timeframe — which chart the panel belongs to.
- Spread line — the current spread in points and its percentile, e.g. Spread: 28 pts | p72. It shows n/a when the lens has no reliable data.
- The gauge — a bar with three zones: green (calm), orange (elevated), red (hunt zone). A white needle marks where the current spread sits. This is the fastest read on whether conditions are clean or messy right now.
- Status word — CALM, ELEVATED, or HUNT ZONE (or SPREAD N/A), colored to match the gauge. It always agrees with the percentile and the needle.
- Stats line — Pools, Sweeps, Hunts: how many pools are active, how many sweeps have been marked, and how many of those were hunts.
- Above / Below — the nearest untested pool above and below price, with its exact level, its distance from price, and its strength, e.g. Above 4351.69 (+16.04) x1.
- Legend — red = stops above, blue = stops below.
5. Reading the chart
- Red lines — liquidity above the market (stops above equal highs).
- Blue lines — liquidity below the market (stops below equal lows).
- LIQ x2 / x3 labels — a cluster of that strength. The higher the number, the bigger the stop pile.
- Gold arrow — a normal sweep (price wicked a pool and snapped back on a calm spread).
- Red arrow with HUNT — a sweep that landed on an abnormally wide spread. The market was thin; treat the move with more caution.
6. Inputs reference
Swing / pool detection
- InpHistoryBars (600) — how far back to scan when the indicator loads.
- InpSwingLookback (3) — bars on each side needed to confirm a swing. Lower = more, smaller pools; higher = fewer, more significant pools.
- InpAtrPeriod (14) — ATR period used to auto-scale everything.
- InpPoolTolATR (0.25) — how close two swings must be (in ATR units) to merge into one cluster. Raise it to group more aggressively.
- InpSweepWickATR (0.05) — how far a wick must pierce a pool to count as a sweep.
- InpMaxPools (12) — maximum pools shown at once (nearest and strongest are kept).
- InpMaxDistPct (1.5) — only show pools within this percent of price. Set 0 to remove the limit.
- InpRecentSweepBars (40) — how many bars back sweep arrows are drawn.
- InpMaxArrows (60) — maximum sweep objects kept on the chart.
Spread lens
- InpSpreadHistBars (300) — how many bars form the spread distribution.
- InpSpreadHighPct (80) — percentile that counts as ELEVATED.
- InpSpreadExtremePct (95) — percentile that counts as HUNT ZONE.
- InpHuntPercentile (95) — spread percentile at which a sweep is tagged HUNT.
Visual
- InpShowPanel (true) — show or hide the panel.
- InpHighColor / InpLowColor — pool line colors.
- InpHuntColor (red) / InpNormalSweepColor (gold) — arrow colors.
- InpLineWidth (1) — pool line thickness.
- InpPanelY (40) — panel vertical position in pixels.
- InpApplyTheme (true) — apply a clean dark chart theme on load; restored when you remove the indicator.
Alerts
- InpAlertPopup (true) — popup on a live sweep.
- InpAlertPush (false) — push to your phone (set your MetaQuotes ID in Tools → Options → Notifications).
- InpAlertEmail (false) — email (configure SMTP in Tools → Options → Email).
- InpOnlyHuntAlerts (false) — alert only on hunt sweeps, ignore normal ones.
7. How to trade with it
Liquidity Pool Radar is a decision-support map, not a signal service. Here is a sensible way to use it.
- Bias. Read the pools as magnets. If a strong cluster sits just above price, price often reaches for it before turning.
- Setup. Wait for a sweep and snap-back at a pool. That rejection is your potential reversal.
- Filter with the gauge. If the status is CALM, the reversal is more likely a genuine move. If the arrow reads HUNT (wide spread), the market was thin; wait for a confirmation candle rather than chasing.
- Protect yourself. When the gauge is red, spreads are wide across the board: entries are poor and stops are easily run. Often the best trade is to stay out until it calms down.
The tool tells you where the liquidity is and what the conditions around it look like. The decision stays yours.
8. Suggested settings by market
- Gold / indices / crypto (volatile, frequent sweeps): defaults work well. These are where the spread lens shines, because their spreads genuinely widen at session opens and rollover.
- Major FX pairs: defaults are fine; note that some brokers report little spread history on majors, in which case the lens reads N/A (that is honest, not a fault).
- Very fast scalping (M1): consider InpSwingLookback 2 for more pools, and a lower InpMaxDistPct to keep the map tight.
- Swing trading (H4+): consider InpSwingLookback 4 to 5 for fewer, more significant levels.
9. Why the spread lens sometimes shows N/A
The lens compares the current spread to the instrument's own recorded spread history. Some brokers and some symbols report a flat or near-zero spread per bar. When that history has no real variation, there is no way to say a spread is abnormally high, so the indicator shows SPREAD N/A, disables hunt flagging, and keeps the pool map fully working. It is the tool being honest rather than painting false hunts. On instruments where the spread does move (typically gold, indices, crypto), the lens activates automatically.
The spread lens is also most active on lower timeframes (M1 to M5), where the recorded spread varies bar to bar. On higher timeframes (M15, H1 and up) the per-bar spread is often uniform during calm periods, so the lens may read N/A and then light up around spread-widening events such as session opens, news and rollover. The liquidity pool map itself works fully on every timeframe regardless.
10. FAQ
Does it repaint? Pools are confirmed from closed swings and sweeps are evaluated on closed bars. The live bar can update until it closes, like any indicator.
Does it work on MT4? This build is MetaTrader 5.
Does it need a DLL or internet? No. It is native code and runs fully offline.
Is there a free version? Yes. Liquidity Pool Radar Lite draws the pool map for free. The full version adds sweep detection, the spread lens, and alerts.
Will it tell me when to buy or sell? No. It is a map of liquidity and conditions, not an entry signal. It is designed to make your own reads sharper.
Liquidity Pool Radar is a decision-support tool. It does not promise profits, and no indicator can. Trade at your own risk and manage your position sizing.
