Gold Pulse User Guide: Setup, Reading the Panel, Calendar, Levels, Support/Resistance and Every Setting (Free and PRO)
What Gold Pulse is
Gold Pulse is an indicator for gold (XAUUSD) charts. It puts the background of the gold market into one panel:
- which trading session is open and when the next one starts;
- the next high-impact US economic release;
- a macro reading of whether the US dollar, US yields and stocks are pushing against gold or behind it today;
- how much of an average day's range has already been used;
- the ATR and spread;
- the direction of two moving averages on three timeframes.
It also draws levels that are widely watched on gold, such as round numbers and the previous day's high and low, with a price tag on the right. It is an information tool. It gives no entry signals and never trades.
The free edition, Gold Pulse, has the whole panel and the basic levels. Gold Pulse PRO adds notifications, the weekly open and the Tokyo range levels, automatic support and resistance lines, a longer calendar list (up to eight events) with forecast and previous values, and a sheet that explains the macro reading. Everything below applies to both editions unless marked Pro only.
The screenshots are from an earlier version. The row under the macro verdict now shows a contribution bar instead of the colour legend seen here, and the numbers are examples.
Quick start
- Open a gold chart, any timeframe, and drag Gold Pulse onto it from the Navigator (Indicators, Market).
- In the inputs, choose Language / 言語.
- Check the six hours in the group Sessions (broker server hours). They are whole hours in your broker's server time, not your local time. The defaults are Tokyo 2 to 11, London 10 to 18 and New York 15 to 23; set them to the hours those sessions have on your broker's clock, as whole hours from 0 to 23 (the values are not checked).
- Click OK. The panel opens in the top-left corner and a thin band appears across the top of the chart with the name of the current session.
- Give the calendar a few seconds: the NEXT row first reads loading calendar and then shows the next event. Hover over most rows to see the numbers behind them; the header row and the Alerts row have no hover card.
If something looks wrong, see Frequently asked questions further down; the questions are written as symptoms.
The panel is recalculated every second by default (Refresh seconds), not on every tick. The economic calendar, and the other symbols behind the macro block, need the terminal to be connected; the calendar is read from the terminal itself, so no web access or DLL is used.
A short introduction video to Gold Pulse. It was recorded earlier, so the panel may differ slightly from the current version.
If the player does not show here, the video is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pig9chPWRCM
Reading the panel
Header row
On the left, the gold Au mark and the name GOLD PULSE (Pro: GOLD PULSE PRO) with an XAUUSD badge. Clicking the Au mark opens the About card, with the version, the licence type and where to ask for support; click it again to close it. On the right, from the outside in: collapse, size (S, M, L, XL), line thickness (a short gold line that shows the current weight of the level lines and cycles through three weights) and corner (TL, TR, BR, BL).
Drag the header, away from the buttons, to move the panel. Until you drag it, the panel keeps to its corner when the chart is resized, also after a timeframe change or a reload, and a click on the header that does not move it changes nothing (a panel saved by an earlier version first needs the corner button; see the FAQ). A dragged panel stays where you drop it until you press the corner button. Dragging stops at the edges of the chart, so the panel cannot be dragged off it. If a saved position no longer fits the chart, for example because the chart is smaller than before, the panel is pulled back onto the chart the next time the indicator starts. Position, size, corner, collapse and line thickness are remembered for each chart.
Collapsed, the panel keeps one line: the current session (or closed) and the share of the average daily range used, such as 72% ADR.
SESSION
Three chips, LONDON, TOKYO and NY; the current session is lit in gold. On the right, the next session to start and the time until it starts, for example TOKYO in 3h 51m. The same session name appears in the band at the top of the chart, which reads MARKET QUIET outside the three sessions.
The panel shows one session at a time, and where two overlap it prefers London, then New York, then Tokyo. With the default hours London (10 to 18) and New York (15 to 23) overlap, so the NY chip lights up at 18, when London closes.
The countdown on the right is independent of the lit chip: the countdown counts to the nearest opening still ahead, so before 15 it reads NY in and the time left, and from 15 it moves on to the next opening, Tokyo, while London is still shown. The session clock is the time of the last price received, so over a weekend or a market break the session row stays where it was when prices stopped.
NEXT: the next high-impact event
The NEXT row shows the next US dollar event of high importance in the terminal's economic calendar, a High tag and the time left, such as 2h 05m. The panel reads the calendar every minute, looking seven days ahead, and the countdown runs on the trade server's clock, so it keeps moving over weekends and market breaks. A finished event leaves the row at once.
When there is no event to show, the row says why:
- loading calendar (grey dot) appears until the first reading has come in; a first reading that fails keeps this text for up to a minute while the panel tries again.
- no high-impact events means the calendar was read and has nothing of high importance for USD in the next seven days.
- calendar unavailable (amber) means the calendar could not be read and there is no earlier list to fall back on, or that the last refresh failed and every event of the earlier list has already passed.
When a later refresh fails, the panel keeps the list it read last, drops the events that have passed, and marks the event on the row with a hollow dot and a grey countdown.
Hover over the row for the details: the time left, the impact, when the calendar was last read (with (refresh failed) when the last refresh failed), the window (next 7 days) and the clock (server time). Pro also shows the forecast and the previous value.
Click the row to open the calendar sheet beside the panel, titled USD HIGH-IMPACT · NEXT 7 DAYS. It lists the events with their date and time in server time and the time left; the line under the title says when the calendar was last read. The free edition lists the first three events, Pro up to eight, with a count of any further ones. Click the row again, or the cross in the corner, to close it.
WHAT'S MOVING GOLD
This block is a reading of three drivers that usually push gold the other way: the US dollar, US 10-year yields and stocks. Each driver is today's move from today's open. A driver rising by more than 0.03% counts as a headwind for gold, one falling by more than 0.03% as a tailwind, and anything in between as neutral. The dollar is the average move of up to seven major pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD), taken in the direction of the dollar, and counts twice; the yield symbol and the stock index count once each. The weighted sum gives the verdict next to GOLD: HEADWIND (red), TAILWIND (green) or MIXED (amber), and on the right how many drivers are headwinds, for example 2 of 3 bearish.
Below the verdict, one chip per driver (USD, 10Y, and RISK-ON or RISK-OFF for the stock index) with a coloured dot, and a contribution bar: headwinds grow to the left of the centre mark, tailwinds to the right, and the length of each piece is the driver's weight. Hover over the verdict, a chip or the bar for the percentages and the score.
The pairs and symbols are found by name in your terminal, including names with a short broker suffix such as EURUSD#. The stock index is Risk symbol (S&P 500 CFD), blank = off, US500 by default. The yield has no default, because few brokers offer one; if yours does, enter its name in US 10Y yield symbol (broker-specific), blank = off. If none of the drivers can be found, the block is not shown. The reading describes today's conditions; it is not a forecast.
Some brokers have no US 10-year yield symbol but list a 10-year Treasury note (T-Note) futures contract or CFD. That is a price, and a bond's price moves the opposite way to its yield. To use it, enter its name in US 10Y yield symbol (broker-specific), blank = off and turn on 10Y symbol is a bond price (T-Note futures/CFD): invert it, the last input; leave that input off when the symbol is a yield. Its move from today's open is then read inverted, so a falling bond price counts as a rising yield, a headwind for gold. If your broker has neither, leave the 10Y symbol blank: the verdict then works from the dollar and the stock index. Gold Pulse cannot load a yield from the internet instead, because an indicator from the MQL5 Market cannot download data from the internet.
With that input on, the chip reads 10Y inv, and its arrow and dot keep the yield view: a rising bond price shows a down arrow and, once its move is past the 0.03% band, a green dot. Hovering the chip shows US 10Y (bond price) with the price's own move and how it is read, for example Bond price +0.17%, Read as yield down and On gold tailwind. The contribution bar's hover names the row 10Y price and the Pro macro sheet US 10Y (bond price), both with the price's own move. The same 0.03% band applies: a one-basis-point change in the 10-year yield moves a T-Note futures price by about 0.06%, so such a move still counts. A bond price moves less in percent than a yield quote, so its strength mark on the Pro macro sheet usually sits one step lower.
TODAY'S RANGE
How far gold has travelled today, high minus low of today's daily bar, as a percentage of the ADR, the average range of the last 20 completed days (ADR averaging days). The bar is amber below 100% and red from 100%. The line below gives both numbers in price, for example 155.3 today / ADR(20) 114.7. Days follow the broker's daily bars.
ATR and Spread
ATR(14) is the average true range of the chart's own timeframe, from the last closed bar, in price. Spread is the current spread in points, green up to 30, amber up to 60 and red above. Points are the symbol's smallest price step, so on a gold symbol quoted with two decimals 30 points is 0.30 in price. The colour limits are fixed in points, so on a symbol quoted with three decimals they stand for a tenth of that.
TREND BIAS
For M15, H1 and H4, the 20 EMA is compared with the 50 EMA on the last closed bar: an up arrow when the faster one is above, a down arrow when it is below, and a sideways arrow when they are equal or not yet available. The summary on the right reads all up, all down, or for example 2 of 3 up. The three timeframes are fixed; the two periods are inputs.
Alerts
The last row names the notifications. In the free edition it carries a PRO tag and does nothing when clicked. In Pro it reads ON; the notifications themselves are switched on and off in the inputs.
Levels on the chart
Gold Pulse draws horizontal lines at the levels below, each with a tag to the right of the last bar that gives its name, its price and its distance from the current price, such as PDH 2361.40 +8.2. Round numbers (RND) are solid amber lines at the multiple of Round step ($) just above and just below the price, so they move as the price crosses one. The previous day's high and low (PDH, PDL), the previous close (PDC, off by default) and today's open (OPEN) are dotted lines taken from the broker's daily bars. Pro adds this week's open (WOPEN), the Tokyo range (ASIA-H, ASIA-L) and, when switched on, automatic support and resistance lines (next section).
The Tokyo range is the high and low of the Tokyo session hours of the current day, drawn as two lines. While the Tokyo session is running, the lines follow each new high or low; after it closes they stay fixed for the rest of the day.
Tags are placed in a fixed order: round numbers, PDH and PDL, PDC, OPEN, then (Pro) WOPEN, the Tokyo range and the support and resistance lines. A tag that would overlap one already placed is not drawn: its line stays, and its name is added at the end of the tag it would overlap, for example PDH 4145.86 -35.7 · SUP(7) (two names at most). Overlap is judged on screen, by the height of one tag at the current zoom and tag size, so zooming in can bring a hidden tag back and zooming out can hide more. Tag collision gap (points) still sets the minimum distance in price. The line button in the header changes the weight of the lines and the size of the tags; round numbers are always one step heavier, and the Pro support and resistance lines always stay one pixel.
Pro only: automatic support and resistance
Off by default. Turn it on with Auto support/resistance lines in the input group PRO: auto support / resistance.
The levels come from the swing highs and lows of S/R timeframe (swings of closed bars), H1 by default (M15, H4 and D1 can be chosen), whatever the chart's own timeframe. With N the value of Swing size: bars on each side (fractal) (5 by default), a swing high is a bar whose high is above the highs of the N bars after it and not below those of the N bars before it; a swing low is the mirror. A swing is used only once all those bars have closed, so it cannot change later. Taking the swings in the order they were confirmed, one that lies within Merge distance (x ATR14 of the S/R timeframe) of an existing level (0.5 by default, half an ATR(14)) joins the nearest such level, and any other swing starts a new level. A level's price is the average of its swings, and its strength is the number of swings that joined it. Retire a level after N bars without a new swing (250, counted in bars of the S/R timeframe) drops a level that has gone that long without a new swing. The levels are rebuilt from the last 1,500 bars at each new bar of the S/R timeframe; if that history is not loaded yet, they appear on a later refresh.
Only levels made of at least Minimum swings per level (strength) swings (2 by default) are used. Lines above and below price (strongest first, 1-8) (2) sets how many are shown on each side: above the current price the strongest are resistance, below it the strongest are support. Among equal strength the nearer comes first, and a level changes side when the price crosses it. Because the strongest are taken first, a strong level further away can be shown instead of a weaker one nearby; lower the minimum or raise the number of lines to see more. The lines are dashed and one pixel wide, in Resistance colour (above price) and Support colour (below price); the line button does not thicken them, because MT5 draws any thicker line solid. Their tags give the name, the price and the distance from the current price, like the other levels, for example RES(7) 4296.23 +114.6: the number in brackets is the strength, and support tags start with SUP. Hovering a line or its tag shows, for example, Resistance - 7 swing touches (H1). When a support or resistance tag would overlap an earlier tag, its name and its hover text are added to that tag, as described in the section above.
With Alert on S/R touch on, a notification goes out when the price comes within S/R alert distance (points, 0 = touch distance) of one of the selected levels (the ones the lines show; the lines themselves may be switched off), for example Gold Pulse: resistance RES(7) touched @ 4296.23 (12 pts). At 0 the distance is Touch distance (points) of the key levels; any other value is a distance for these levels alone, and when it differs from the touch distance the notification reads, for example, Gold Pulse: approaching resistance RES(7) @ 4296.23 - 163 pts away (alert distance 300 pts), so a larger value gives an earlier warning. The same level stays quiet until the price has moved more than twice that distance away. These notifications use the same channels, cooldown and alert days as the key-level notifications, and appear in the Alert log as S/R, with their text in the line's colour. Their daily limit is their own, S/R alerts per server day, own count (0 = no limit) (50), counted apart from the key-level limit, so switching them on does not use that limit up; when it is reached, one PAUSED row reads S/R alerts paused · daily limit of 50 reached. A level that a rebuild adds or moves right next to the price is remembered without a notification.
Pro only: notifications
Pro can notify on the six occasions below, and on the support and resistance touches of the section above. The six are switched on or off in the group PRO: alerts, where the calendar-refresh notification shares the switch of the event notification, and each notification appears in the terminal's Alert window (Popup), as a push to the MetaTrader app if Push is on and a MetaQuotes ID is set in the terminal, by e-mail if E-mail is on and the terminal's e-mail settings (Tools, Options, Email) are filled in, as a sound if Sound is on, and always in the Experts log. The texts are in English and start with Gold Pulse:.
- Session open. When the hours of a session begin, for example Gold Pulse: London session open. Each session is judged on its own hours, so with the default hours New York is announced at 15 although the panel shows London until 18, and two sessions that open at the same hour give two notifications.
- ADR reached. Once per daily bar, when today's range reaches ADR alert threshold (%), 100% by default.
- Level touch. When the price comes within Touch distance (points) of a drawn level other than the support and resistance lines, for example Gold Pulse: PDH touched @ 2361.40 (12 pts). The same level stays quiet until the price has moved more than twice that distance away, so a price that swings around a level can notify several times, and round numbers produce most of these notifications. The Tokyo range is checked only after the Tokyo session has closed, and a daily or weekly open that has just appeared at the price is remembered without a notification.
- Macro shift. When the verdict changes between HEADWIND, TAILWIND and MIXED, judged once a minute and only when every driver had price data.
- Before a high-impact event. Once per event, Minutes before event to alert before it (15 by default).
- Calendar not refreshed. When a calendar that was working can no longer be refreshed, at most once an hour, together with the time of the list still shown.
Alert log
The right part of the Alerts card on the panel, with the three-bar button, opens the Alert log: the last 20 notifications that actually went out, newest first, each with its server time, its kind (SESSION, ADR, LEVEL, MACRO, NEWS, CALENDAR, S/R) and where it was delivered (popup, push ok, push ERR with the error number, or log only). Hovering a row shows its full text in the strip below. While the log is closed, the button shows how many notifications arrived since you last opened it, outlined in red if a push among them was refused. The log is kept in memory only, like everything else about notifications.
Limits on level-touch notifications
Level touches are the most frequent notification, so two inputs in the group PRO: alert limits and channels hold them back. Both are judged before any channel, so a touch held back is neither shown, pushed, mailed nor played, and it is not announced later. The cooldown also covers the support and resistance touches; the daily limit counts the other level touches only, as the support and resistance touches have their own (section above).
- Key-level alert cooldown, same level and side (minutes, 0 = off), 60 by default. After a level has been announced, a touch of the same level from the same side of the price is not announced again for that many minutes. The Experts log notes each one with touched again within 60 min from the same side - not announced.
- Key-level alerts per server day (0 = no limit), 50 by default. After that many level notifications in one server day, the rest of the day's level touches are not sent. The Alert log then shows one amber row tagged PAUSED, level alerts paused · daily limit of 50 reached, sent nowhere (log only); hovering it says when it was noted and that level alerts resume at 00:00 server time. This row is not counted as an alert.
The settings line under the title of the Alert log shows e-mail on and sound on when those channels are switched on, and counts what each limit held back, support and resistance touches included, such as 12 held back by the 60-min cooldown or 3 held back by the daily limit (nothing is shown while the count is zero). Session, ADR, macro, event and calendar notifications are not limited. With the default 50, a busy day can reach the limit in the afternoon or evening by the server clock; raise it, or set it to 0, if you want every touch.
E-mail and sound
E-mail (off by default) sends each notification with the notification text as the subject and the server time and symbol in the body; it uses the e-mail account set in the terminal and is not sent in the Strategy Tester. Sound (off by default) plays Sound file (alert.wav by default, from the terminal's Sounds folder); notifications raised in the same second play one sound. A push or e-mail that the terminal refuses, or a sound file it cannot play, is not retried; a line starting with [GP SEND] in the Experts log gives the channel and the error number.
The macro and calendar notifications work whether or not the macro block and the NEXT row are shown. The first reading after the indicator starts does not announce a session or a macro change. Session, ADR, level, support and resistance, and macro notifications are judged only once the terminal is connected and a fresh price has arrived; until then the Experts log notes waiting for a live quote. So a terminal that has just started cannot announce a session from the last price it had before it was closed.
Alert days (weekend filter) decides when notifications may go out: every day, Monday to Friday by the server clock (the default), or only while your broker's trading session for the symbol is open. A notification held back is written to the Experts log with held by the alert-days filter and is not sent later, so nothing piles up for Monday morning.
What a notification has already announced is kept in memory only, and so are the cooldown and the day's counts. Changing the timeframe, re-attaching the indicator or restarting the terminal starts afresh, and a condition that still holds, such as a range above the ADR threshold or a price next to a level, is announced again.
Pro only: calendar details and the macro sheet
The calendar sheet in Pro lists up to eight events and adds the columns FCST and PREV, the forecast and previous values as the terminal's calendar publishes them, without units (percent, thousands or millions are not shown). A value that has not been published reads -, and a published zero reads 0 with that event's own number of decimals, such as 0.0 or 0.00; every value is shown with the decimals the calendar gives for its event. The hover card on the NEXT row shows the same two values for the next event, leaving out any that are not published.
Clicking the verdict bar opens the macro sheet, MACRO DETAIL - WHAT MOVES GOLD. It restates the verdict and the score and shows one line per driver with today's move, a three-step strength mark, its effect on gold and its weight, followed by the move of each dollar pair, signed towards gold. Click the bar again or the cross to close it.
Free and Pro
Both editions share the panel, the session band, the calendar row with its three-event sheet, the macro verdict with its chips and contribution bar, the range, ATR, spread and trend rows, the hover cards, and the round-number, previous-day and daily-open levels. Pro adds the notifications and their settings, the weekly open and Tokyo range levels, the automatic support and resistance lines, the calendar sheet with up to eight events and the forecast and previous values, and the macro sheet. The two editions use different object names by default, so they can run on the same chart.
Switching from the free edition
Pro has the whole free panel and adds the notifications, the weekly open and Tokyo range levels, the automatic support and resistance lines and the deeper calendar and macro sheets. Nothing is carried over from the free edition: the two keep separate saved settings, so Pro starts from its own inputs. Three steps move you over.
- Note the inputs you changed in the free edition: right-click the chart, choose Indicator List (or press Ctrl+I), select Gold Pulse and open its settings to see the Inputs tab. Then remove it from the chart with Delete in the same list.
- Drag Gold Pulse PRO from the Navigator onto your gold chart.
- In its Inputs tab, set what you noted, such as the session hours, the risk and yield symbols and the level options. If you want the panel somewhere else, set Panel corner.
What does not carry over. Everything stays with the edition that saved it. Pro does not read the free edition's saved panel position, size, corner, collapsed state or level-line thickness, and the terminal keeps the inputs of each indicator separately. Every input of the free edition exists in Pro under the same name and, apart from Chart object prefix (gp_ and gpp_), with the same default, so you only need to re-enter the ones you changed. Pro adds thirty inputs: Weekly open (PRO), Asian range box (PRO) and the groups PRO: alerts, PRO: alert limits and channels and PRO: auto support / resistance. The notifications are on by default, with the popup on and the push notification off, while the support and resistance lines and their notification are off; PRO: alerts sets which events notify and Alert days (weekend filter) sets on which days. The rating card keeps its state separately for each edition.
If you keep both on one chart. The two editions use separate saved settings and separate chart objects, so both can run on the same chart. Both start in the top-left corner at the same size, so they cover each other at first: set Panel corner of one of them to another corner before you attach it. Both draw the round-number, previous-day and daily-open levels, so those lines appear twice. Only Pro sends notifications.
Frequently asked questions
The session shown is off by an hour or more.
The session hours are in your broker's server time. Compare your broker's server time with the time where you are and move the six session inputs by the difference. The inputs are fixed hours, so when daylight saving time changes the offset between your broker's clock and a financial centre, adjust them again.
The NY chip is not lit although New York has opened.
With the default hours London and New York overlap from 15 to 18, and the panel shows London during the overlap. NY lights up when London closes. The countdown on the right already reads TOKYO in and the time left by then, because it counts to the nearest opening still ahead. In Pro the New York session-open notification still comes at 15.
The NEXT row says calendar unavailable.
The terminal's economic calendar could not be read. Check that the terminal is connected; the panel keeps trying every minute and switches back as soon as a reading succeeds. The hover card and the calendar sheet show when the calendar was last read.
The macro block is missing.
None of the drivers was found in your terminal. Check that the major USD pairs are available at your broker, and enter your broker's name for the stock index in Risk symbol (S&P 500 CFD), blank = off. The block is also hidden when Show 'what moves gold' macro block is off.
The line thickness input has no effect.
Once the line button on the panel has been used on a chart, the weight chosen there is remembered for that chart and replaces the input. Values above 3 are treated as 3.
Pro: level touch notifications come too often.
Round numbers cause most of them. Switch off Round numbers, raise Round step ($), lower Touch distance (points), or use the limits in the group PRO: alert limits and channels. On a gold symbol with three decimals, check the touch distance: 30 points there is 0.03 in price.
Pro: a notification came again after I changed the timeframe.
What has been announced is kept in memory only, so a condition that still holds is announced again after the indicator restarts.
Pro: no notification before an event.
Check that Alert before high-impact event is on, that the day is allowed by Alert days (weekend filter), and the Experts log for a line with held by the alert-days filter.
Pro: no support or resistance lines appear.
Check that Auto support/resistance lines is on. The levels need the history of the S/R timeframe, so on a new chart they can take a moment to appear. Only levels made of at least Minimum swings per level (strength) swings are shown, so one side can have none. A line whose tag would overlap an earlier tag is still drawn, and its name is at the end of that tag.
My broker has no US 10Y yield symbol.
Leave the input US 10Y yield symbol (broker-specific), blank = off empty; the verdict then works from the dollar and the stock index. If your broker lists a 10-year T-Note futures contract or CFD, you can use it instead with the last input turned on, as described under WHAT'S MOVING GOLD above.
Panel corner and Panel size are ignored.
Panel corner applies only until the panel has a saved position on that chart; after that, use the corner button. Panel size also applies when you change it later in the Inputs dialog, and the panel keeps its position. A panel that you dragged stays where you dropped it until you press the corner button. A panel saved by an earlier version stays where it was, also when the chart is resized, until you choose its corner with the corner button.
All settings
The table is generated from the shipped source of both editions, so it lists every input as the terminal shows it. The last column says which edition has it.
General
How the panel looks, where it sits and how often it refreshes. None of these change a calculation.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language / 言語 | LANG_EN | Language of the panel headings, the hover cards, the calendar and macro sheets and the rating card. LANG_JP also switches the font to Yu Gothic UI. The session chips, the band at the top of the chart, the level tags, the collapsed line, the trend summary and every notification stay in English. Choices: LANG_EN, LANG_JP | Free and Pro |
| Panel corner | C_TL | The corner the panel sits in the first time it runs on a chart. After that the corner button on the panel decides, and the choice is remembered for that chart. Choices: C_TL, C_TR, C_BR, C_BL | Free and Pro |
| Panel size | SZ_L | The panel size the first time it runs on a chart (S, M, L, XL). After that the size button decides, and the choice is remembered for that chart. Changing this input later in the Inputs dialog also resizes a panel whose size was saved; its position is kept. Choices: SZ_S, SZ_M, SZ_L, SZ_XL | Free and Pro |
| Corner margin (px) | 14 | Distance in pixels between the panel and the edge of the chart when the panel snaps to a corner. | Free and Pro |
| Extra right gap for the price scale (px) | 64 | Extra distance in pixels to the left when the panel sits in a right-hand corner and the price scale is shown. With the price scale hidden it is not applied. Set 0 if the panel sits further from the right edge than you like. | Free and Pro |
| Refresh seconds | 1 | How often, in seconds, the panel, the levels and the alerts are recalculated (minimum 1). The panel does not recalculate on every tick. | Free and Pro |
| One-time rating reminder (after 30 min use) | true | Allows a small card asking for a rating to appear by itself: at most three times (Pro: twice), the first time no earlier than 45 minutes after the first start and after 45 minutes of use (Pro: three hours of use), and only once the product has been of use to you: you have opened a hover card (Pro: or a notification other than the session open has been sent), or seven days have passed since the first start. false switches it off. The About card behind the gold Au mark stays available either way. | Free and Pro |
Sessions (broker server hours)
The session hours in the broker's server time, as whole hours. The values are not checked, so keep them between 0 and 23. A session whose closing hour is later than its opening hour runs from the opening hour up to, not including, the closing hour; if the closing hour is earlier, it runs through midnight; with equal hours it never starts. They drive the session row, the band at the top of the chart, the Tokyo range (Pro) and the session alert (Pro).
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo open (server hour) | 2 | Hour (0-23, server time) when the Tokyo session starts. It also starts the window of the Tokyo range (Pro). | Free and Pro |
| Tokyo close | 11 | Hour (0-23, server time) when the Tokyo session ends; the session runs up to, not including, this hour. The Tokyo range (Pro) is final from this hour on. | Free and Pro |
| London open | 10 | Hour (0-23, server time) when the London session starts. Where London overlaps another session, the panel shows London. | Free and Pro |
| London close | 18 | Hour (0-23, server time) when the London session ends. With the default hours the NY chip lights up only from this hour, because London is shown during the overlap. | Free and Pro |
| New York open | 15 | Hour (0-23, server time) when the New York session starts. The countdown on the session row counts to this hour until it is reached, even when London is still shown; from this hour on it counts to the next opening. In Pro the New York session-open notification comes at this hour. | Free and Pro |
| New York close | 23 | Hour (0-23, server time) when the New York session ends. Outside all three sessions the band at the top reads MARKET QUIET. | Free and Pro |
Volatility
The averaging lengths behind the TODAY'S RANGE and ATR rows.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADR averaging days | 20 | Number of completed daily bars averaged for the ADR (average daily range, high minus low) in the TODAY'S RANGE row. | Free and Pro |
| ATR period | 14 | Period of the ATR shown on the panel. The ATR is taken on the chart's own timeframe, from the last closed bar. | Free and Pro |
Trend bias (multi-TF)
The two moving averages compared on M15, H1 and H4 in the TREND BIAS row.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast EMA | 20 | Period of the faster EMA (close) in the TREND BIAS row. A timeframe reads up when the fast EMA is above the slow one on the last closed bar. | Free and Pro |
| Slow EMA | 50 | Period of the slower EMA (close) in the TREND BIAS row. | Free and Pro |
Key levels
Which horizontal levels are drawn on the chart, and how their lines and price tags look.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round numbers | true | Draws the round-number level just above and just below the current price (tag RND), as solid amber lines. | Free and Pro |
| Round step ($) | 10.0 | Spacing of the round numbers in price units (10.0 gives 2350, 2360 and so on). 0 turns the round numbers off. | Free and Pro |
| Prev-day High/Low | true | Draws the previous day's high (PDH) and low (PDL), from the broker's daily bar. | Free and Pro |
| Prev-day Close | false | Draws the previous day's close (PDC). Off by default. | Free and Pro |
| Daily open | true | Draws today's open (OPEN), from the broker's daily bar. | Free and Pro |
| Weekly open (PRO) | true | Pro only. Draws this week's open (WOPEN). | Pro only |
| Asian range box (PRO) | true | Pro only. Draws the high and low of the Tokyo session (ASIA-H and ASIA-L) as two dotted lines, not as a box. While the Tokyo session is still running the lines move with each new high or low; touch alerts for them start once it has closed. | Pro only |
| Level line thickness (1-5) | 1 | Starting line thickness of the levels. Values above 3 are treated as 3. The line button on the panel cycles 1, 2, 3 and also enlarges the price tags; once used, the thickness chosen there is remembered for that chart and replaces this input. The dashed support and resistance lines of Pro always stay one pixel. | Free and Pro |
| Tag collision gap (points) | 60 | Minimum distance in points between two price tags. Tags are also kept at least one tag height apart on screen, so this value is the minimum in price. A tag closer than that to one already placed is not drawn; its line stays, and its name is added at the end of the tag already placed (two names at most). | Free and Pro |
PRO: alerts
Pro only. Which events send a notification, and how. Every notification is also written to the Experts log. The texts are in English.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alert on session open | true | Notifies when the hours of the Tokyo, London or New York session begin, each session on its own hours. With the default hours New York is announced at 15, its opening hour, although the panel shows London until 18. Two sessions that open at the same hour give two notifications. | Pro only |
| Alert when ADR % crossed | true | Notifies once per daily bar when today's range reaches the threshold below, as a percentage of the ADR. | Pro only |
| ADR alert threshold (%) | 100.0 | Threshold for the ADR alert, in percent of the ADR. 100 means today's range equals the average. | Pro only |
| Alert on key-level touch | true | Notifies when the price comes within the touch distance of a drawn level. The automatic support and resistance lines have their own switch, Alert on S/R touch. The same level does not notify again until the price has moved more than twice the touch distance away. A daily or weekly open, or a Tokyo range that has just become final, is only remembered, not announced, on the pass where it appears. | Pro only |
| Touch distance (points) | 30 | Touch distance in points. On a gold symbol quoted with two decimals, 30 points is 0.30 in price; with three decimals it is 0.03. It is also the distance of the support and resistance notification while S/R alert distance is 0. | Pro only |
| Alert on macro verdict flip | true | Notifies when the macro verdict changes between HEADWIND, TAILWIND and MIXED. Judged once per new M1 bar of the chart symbol, and only when every driver had price data. Works with the macro block hidden too. | Pro only |
| Alert before high-impact event | true | Notifies once before each high-impact USD event, and once an hour at most when a calendar that was working can no longer be refreshed. Works with the NEXT row hidden too. | Pro only |
| Minutes before event to alert | 15 | How many minutes before the event the news alert fires. | Pro only |
| Popup | true | Shows each notification in the terminal's Alert window. | Pro only |
| Push | false | Also sends each notification as a push to the MetaTrader mobile app. The terminal must have a MetaQuotes ID set under Tools, Options, Notifications. | Pro only |
| Alert days (weekend filter) | Monday to Friday only (server time) | When notifications may go out. Every day; Monday to Friday by the server clock (default); or only while the broker's trading session for the symbol is open. Held notifications are written to the Experts log and are not sent later. Choices: Every day, Monday to Friday only (server time), Only while the broker trading session is open | Pro only |
Macro drivers (what moves gold)
The WHAT'S MOVING GOLD block and the NEXT row (economic calendar).
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show 'what moves gold' macro block | true | Shows the WHAT'S MOVING GOLD block. The block needs at least one driver: a major USD pair, the risk symbol or the yield symbol found in the terminal. In Pro the macro notification keeps working with the block hidden. | Free and Pro |
| Risk symbol (S&P 500 CFD), blank = off | US500 | Name of a stock index symbol used as the risk driver. The panel also accepts a symbol that starts with this name followed by a short broker suffix (US500Cash, for example). Leave blank to leave the driver out. | Free and Pro |
| US 10Y yield symbol (broker-specific), blank = off | (empty) | Name of a symbol that tracks the US 10-year yield at your broker, if there is one. Blank by default, which leaves this driver out; the verdict then uses the dollar and the stock index. A 10-year T-Note futures contract or CFD can be entered instead, with 10Y symbol is a bond price (T-Note futures/CFD): invert it turned on. | Free and Pro |
| Show next high-impact event countdown (economic calendar) | true | Shows the NEXT row with the countdown to the next high-impact USD event from the terminal's economic calendar, and makes the calendar sheet available. In Pro the event and calendar notifications keep working with the row hidden. | Free and Pro |
Identity
Naming of the indicator's chart objects.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chart object prefix | Free: gp_ / Pro: gpp_ | Prefix of every chart object the indicator creates. When the indicator is removed, all objects whose names start with this prefix are deleted. A prefix shorter than three characters (spaces not counted), a blank one included, is replaced with the default, gp_ in the free edition and gpp_ in Pro, and the Experts log says so. The two defaults differ so both editions can run on one chart. | Free and Pro |
PRO: alert limits and channels
Pro only. Limits on level-touch notifications, and the optional e-mail and sound channels. The cooldown also covers the automatic support and resistance notifications, which have their own daily limit. Session, ADR, macro, event and calendar notifications are not limited.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key-level alert cooldown, same level and side (minutes, 0 = off) | 60 | After a level has been announced, a touch of the same level from the same side of the price is not announced again for this many minutes. It applies to the automatic support and resistance notifications too. 0 switches the cooldown off. | Pro only |
| Key-level alerts per server day (0 = no limit) | 50 | After this many level notifications in one server day, the rest of the day's level touches are not sent; the Alert log shows one PAUSED row and level alerts resume at 00:00 server time. 0 means no limit. The automatic support and resistance notifications are counted separately, by S/R alerts per server day. | Pro only |
| E-mail (set up in Tools > Options > Email) | false | Also sends each notification by e-mail, using the account set in the terminal under Tools, Options, Email. Not sent in the Strategy Tester. | Pro only |
| Sound | false | Also plays the sound file below for each notification; notifications raised in the same second play one sound. | Pro only |
| Sound file (terminal Sounds folder) | alert.wav | The sound to play, by file name, from the terminal's Sounds folder. | Pro only |
PRO: auto support / resistance
Pro only. Support and resistance lines built automatically from the confirmed swing highs and lows of the S/R timeframe, and an optional notification when the price reaches one. Both are off by default.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto support/resistance lines | false | Draws the automatic support and resistance lines: dashed one-pixel lines with tags such as RES(7) or SUP(2). Off by default. The notification below works with or without the lines. | Pro only |
| S/R timeframe (swings of closed bars) | H1 | The timeframe whose swing highs and lows build the levels, whatever the chart's timeframe. Only its closed bars are used, and the levels are rebuilt from its last 1,500 bars at each new bar of this timeframe. Choices: M15, H1, H4, D1 | Pro only |
| Swing size: bars on each side (fractal) | 5 | A swing high is a bar whose high is above the highs of this many bars after it and not below those of as many bars before it; a swing low is the mirror. A swing is used only once all those bars have closed. Values are kept between 1 and 20. | Pro only |
| Merge distance (x ATR14 of the S/R timeframe) | 0.5 | A new swing within this many ATR(14) of an existing level joins the nearest such level, whose price becomes the average of its swings; any other swing starts a new level. Larger values merge more swings into fewer, stronger levels. The ATR is that of the S/R timeframe where the swing is confirmed. | Pro only |
| Minimum swings per level (strength) | 2 | Only levels made of at least this many swings are shown and alerted. The number of swings is the level's strength, shown in its tag: RES(7) is resistance made of 7 swings. | Pro only |
| Lines above and below price (strongest first, 1-8) | 2 | How many levels are taken above the price (resistance) and below it (support), the strongest first and, among equal strength, the nearer first. A strong level far away can therefore be shown instead of a weaker one nearby. Values are kept between 1 and 8. | Pro only |
| Retire a level after N bars without a new swing | 250 | A level that has had no new swing for this many bars of the S/R timeframe is dropped. | Pro only |
| Resistance colour (above price) | C'236,120,190' | Colour of the levels above the price (resistance): their lines, their tags and their rows in the Alert log. | Pro only |
| Support colour (below price) | C'76,201,224' | Colour of the levels below the price (support): their lines, their tags and their rows in the Alert log. | Pro only |
| Alert on S/R touch | false | Notifies when the price comes within the S/R alert distance of one of the selected levels, for example Gold Pulse: resistance RES(7) touched @ 4296.23 (12 pts). Off by default. It uses the levels the lines would show, so it also works with the lines off, and it goes through the same channels, cooldown and alert days as the key-level notification. The same level stays quiet until the price has moved more than twice that distance away. | Pro only |
| S/R alert distance (points, 0 = touch distance) | 0 | How close, in points, the price must come. 0 uses Touch distance (points) of the key levels. Any other value is a distance for these levels alone; when it differs from the touch distance, the notification reads, for example, Gold Pulse: approaching resistance RES(7) @ 4296.23 - 163 pts away (alert distance 300 pts); a larger value gives an earlier warning. | Pro only |
| S/R alerts per server day, own count (0 = no limit) | 50 | After this many S/R notifications in one server day, the rest of the day's S/R touches are not sent; the Alert log shows one PAUSED row, S/R alerts paused · daily limit of 50 reached, and S/R alerts resume at 00:00 server time. Counted apart from Key-level alerts per server day, so switching S/R alerts on does not use up the key-level limit. 0 means no limit. | Pro only |
Macro drivers: 10Y symbol type
Whether the US 10Y symbol of the WHAT'S MOVING GOLD block is a yield or a bond price.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10Y symbol is a bond price (T-Note futures/CFD): invert it | false | Turn on when the symbol in US 10Y yield symbol is a bond price, such as a 10-year T-Note futures contract or CFD, rather than a yield. A bond's price moves against its yield, so its move is then read inverted: a falling price counts as a rising yield, a headwind for gold. The chip then reads 10Y inv. Off by default; leave it off for a yield symbol. | Free and Pro |
What it does not do, and where it stops
Gold Pulse describes the market; it does not predict it and gives no trade signals. The automatic support and resistance lines mark prices where past swings gathered; they are not signals either. The macro verdict is a simple sign test of three drivers' moves since today's open, and it can differ from what moves gold on a given day. The sessions and levels follow the broker's server time and daily bars, the session clock stops with the last price over weekends and breaks, and the calendar depends on the terminal's own economic calendar being available. The ATR and spread are in the units of your symbol.
Apart from its own drawings, it writes the panel's state (position, size, corner and the like) to the terminal's global variables, keeps the rating card's state in a small file in the terminals' shared Common\Files folder, and may add the pairs and symbols it uses to Market Watch. If the chart setting that draws the chart on top of objects is on, it turns it off so the panel is visible and turns it back on when removed. While the mouse button is held on the panel or a sheet, it switches chart scrolling off, and afterwards puts the setting back as it was. It turns on mouse-move events for its chart and leaves them on when removed, so other programs on the same chart, including the other Gold Pulse edition, keep their mouse handling; versions up to 2.32 switched them off, which could stop another panel product on the same chart until that product was re-attached. It uses no DLL and no web request.
What the Pro edition adds
Gold Pulse PRO adds 30 settings: the alerts (session opens, the ADR threshold, key-level touches, macro shifts and pre-news, the limits on level touches, and e-mail and sound), the weekly open and the Tokyo (Asian) range, which are drawn as lines on the chart and are not shown on the panel, and the automatic support and resistance lines with their alert. Every one of them is in the table above, marked Pro only, exactly as it appears in the Inputs tab.
Product pages: free edition, Pro.
Support
Post on the Comments tab of the product page (free edition, Pro). The symbol, the timeframe, your broker's server time and what the panel showed is enough to start; lines from the Experts log starting with [CAL], [MACRO] or [ALERTS] help too.
This guide describes Gold Pulse 2.35 and Gold Pulse PRO 2.36.
