If you're new to Cortex News AI, this guide covers everything you need: what the EA actually does, how to set it up for backtesting, how to run it live or on demo, how to add your own historical data, and how to unlock the optional AI features. By the end, you'll have everything running — and there are ready-to-use files attached at the bottom of this article so you can skip straight to testing.
1. What Is Cortex News AI?
Cortex News AI is a multi-symbol, news-driven Expert Advisor for MetaTrader 5. Instead of reading price charts the way a typical indicator-based EA does, it watches the economic calendar — releases like Non-Farm Payrolls, CPI, Interest Rate Decisions, GDP, Retail Sales, and dozens of other scheduled events — and positions around those releases the moment the real number is known.
A few things that make it different from a typical EA:
- Multi-symbol from one chart — trade Gold and several currency pairs simultaneously without attaching separate instances to separate charts
- Two entry styles — a pending-order straddle placed ahead of the release, or immediate market entry once the direction is confirmed (your choice, one input)
- A real on-chart dashboard — live win/loss stats, upcoming and active news, and the health of every connected data source
- Optional AI layer — connect Claude for an added layer of analysis on top of the core engine
- Optional secondary news source — connect Jblanked's independent news feed as a cross-check
- Built for real trading conditions — every entry runs through margin, exposure, and broker minimum-distance checks before it's placed
2. The One Thing You Need to Understand First
MetaTrader's Strategy Tester disables live internet and calendar access for every single Expert Advisor on the platform. This isn't specific to Cortex News AI — it's how MetaTrader works for any news-based EA from any developer. That means:
- Live or demo trading: Cortex News AI automatically pulls from MetaTrader's own built-in Economic Calendar. No setup, no files, it just works the moment you attach it.
- Backtesting: since the tester has no live calendar access, you need to supply historical news data yourself, as a CSV file. This is the only real difference between the two modes — the entry logic itself is identical either way.
Keep this in mind as you read the rest of this guide — it explains why backtesting needs one extra step that live trading doesn't.
3. Setting Up for Backtesting
Step 1 — Get a historical news file
You have two options:
Option A — Use the file included with this article. Scroll to the bottom of this post: attached is a ready-to-use CSV covering January – September 2026, already formatted and filtered to major currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, CAD). Just download it.
Option B — Build your own. Cortex News AI reads a plain CSV with this exact structure:
DateTime,Currency,Name,Importance,Forecast,Actual,Previous 2026.07.02 21:00,USD,Non Farm Payrolls JUN,High,110.0,57,129 2026.07.02 21:00,USD,Unemployment Rate JUN,High,4.3,4.2,4.3
| Column | What goes here |
|---|---|
| DateTime | Release time in YYYY.MM.DD HH:MM format, in UTC |
| Currency | Standard 3-letter code: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, CAD, NZD |
| Name | The event name, exactly as you'd see it on any economic calendar |
| Importance | High or Medium |
| Forecast | The consensus forecast value. Rows without a forecast are skipped — without one, there's nothing to compare the actual result against |
| Actual | The real released value (leave blank for events that haven't happened yet) |
| Previous | The prior period's value (optional) |
You can pull this data yourself from any economic calendar site, format it into this structure, and use it exactly the same way as the included file. This means you're never limited to the months we provide — build a file for any period you want to test.
Step 2 — Find your MetaTrader Common Files folder
In MetaTrader 5: File → Open Data Folder. This opens your terminal's data folder. Go up one level to the Terminal folder, then open Common\Files . The full path typically looks like:
C:\Users\<YourWindowsUsername>\AppData\Roaming\MetaQuotes\Terminal\Common\Files\
Drop your CSV file into that folder.
Step 3 — Point the EA at your file
In the EA's Inputs tab, find:
offlineCalendarFileName = CortexNewsAI_Calendar.csv
Set this to the exact filename of whichever CSV you placed in Common Files — the included file, your own custom file, or a renamed version. Filenames must match exactly, including the extension.
Step 4 — Fix the timezone offset
The included file's timestamps are in UTC. Your broker's server almost certainly isn't. Set this input:
csvUtcOffsetHours = <your broker's offset>
How to find your offset — free, no purchase or ownership needed: Download Find Broker GMT Offset, drag it onto any live or demo chart (not the tester) as a Script, and it instantly pops up your broker's exact offset. Takes about ten seconds.
Step 5 — Run it
Open Strategy Tester, select CortexNewsAI, choose your symbol and timeframe, set a date range that overlaps the CSV you're using (for the attached Jan–Sep file, anywhere in that window works), and press Start. You should see the dashboard populate with real historical trades.
4. Setting Up for Live or Demo Trading
This part is simple: there isn't a setup step. Attach Cortex News AI to a live or demo chart and it immediately connects to MetaTrader's own Economic Calendar and starts monitoring every symbol you've configured in tradedSymbols . No file to download, no folder to manage — this is the entire point of the tester/live split explained in Section 2.
5. Core Inputs at a Glance
| Input | Default | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| tradedSymbols | XAUUSD,EURUSD,GBPUSD,USDJPY,AUDUSD,NZDUSD,USDCAD | Which symbols the EA trades. Adjust to match your broker's exact symbol names — some brokers add suffixes like -ECN |
| workTimeframe | M5 | Chart timeframe the EA operates on |
| lotSize | 0.01 | Base lot size per trade |
| MarketEntry | false | false = pending-order straddle around the release; true = enter immediately at market once direction is confirmed |
| offlineCalendarFileName | — | The CSV filename used during backtesting (see Section 3) |
| csvUtcOffsetHours | 0.0 | Converts the CSV's UTC timestamps to your broker's server time |
6. Optional Add-Ons and How to Get Your API Keys
Both of these are entirely optional — Cortex News AI's core engine works fully without either one. They're billed directly by their own providers, not by us.
Jblanked — Independent Secondary News Source
If you want a second, independent news feed cross-checking the primary calendar:
- Go to jblanked.com and create a free account
- Find your API key in your account dashboard
- In the EA's Inputs, paste it into: externalApiKey
- Set useExternalCalendar = true
Claude — AI-Powered Analysis Layer
For an additional layer of AI market analysis on top of the core engine:
- Go to console.anthropic.com and create an account
- Add a payment method under Billing (this is billed per API call — there's no free tier)
- Go to API Keys and generate a new key (starts with sk-ant-... )
- In the EA's Inputs, paste it into: claudeApiKey
- Set useClaudeAnalysis = true
Important for both: MetaTrader blocks any external web request by default. Go to Tools → Options → Expert Advisors, check "Allow WebRequest for listed URL", and add:
- https://www.jblanked.com (if using Jblanked)
- https://api.anthropic.com (if using Claude)
Without this step, both features will show FAIL on the dashboard regardless of how correct your API key is.
Note: neither of these features works during backtesting — MetaTrader's Strategy Tester blocks all live web requests, the same limitation explained in Section 2. Both only activate live or on demo.
Enable WebRequest (required for Jblanked/Claude):
- In MT5, go to Tools → Options → Expert Advisors
- Check "Allow WebRequest for listed URL"
- Add these URLs (only the ones you're using):
- Click OK
Without this, both features will show FAIL on the dashboard even with a correct API key.
7. Using the Included .set Files
Attached at the bottom of this article are ready-made .set files — pre-configured input presets so you don't have to fill in every field manually.
To load one:
- Attach Cortex News AI to a chart (or open it in the Strategy Tester)
- In the Inputs tab of the properties dialog, click Load
- Select the .set file
- Click OK
All inputs from that file are applied instantly. You can still adjust individual fields afterward — loading a .set file doesn't lock anything in.
8. Troubleshooting
"My backtest shows zero trades." Almost always one of: the CSV filename in offlineCalendarFileNamedoesn't exactly match the file in your Common Files folder, the file isn't in the Common Files folder at all, or your test date range falls outside the CSV's coverage.
"Claude/Jblanked shows FAIL." If you're backtesting, this is expected — see Section 6. If you're live/demo, double-check the WebRequest URL allowlist and that your API key is pasted correctly with no extra spaces.
"My trades and stop distances look tiny on Gold." Gold's price scale is very different from a forex pair's — a "pip" means something different on XAUUSD. Review the SL/TP inputs specifically for the symbol you're trading.
"The dashboard buttons/panel look wrong." Make sure you're running the latest compiled version and that no other EA or leftover chart objects are overlapping the dashboard.
Downloads
📎 CortexNewsAI_Calendar.csv — historical news data January–September 2026
📎 Find Broker GMT Offset — free standalone script to find your broker's UTC offset - Link
📎 [.set files] — pre-configured input presets
