Gold Pulse User Guide: Setup, Reading the Panel, Calendar, Levels 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, and the direction of two moving averages on three timeframes. It also draws the levels most traders watch 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, 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, then 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. 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.
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.
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. A dragged panel stays where you drop it until you press the corner button. 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: it 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. 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.
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 completed 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 completed 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) and the Tokyo range (ASIA-H, ASIA-L).
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.
When two tags would sit closer than Tag collision gap (points), the second tag is left out and only its line is drawn. The line button in the header changes the weight of all lines and the size of the tags; round numbers are always one step heavier.
Pro only: notifications
Pro can notify on six occasions. They 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, and always in the Experts log. The texts are in English and start with Gold Pulse:.
Session open. When the session shown on the panel changes, for example Gold Pulse: London session open. It follows the panel, so with the default hours New York is announced at 18, when London closes. 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, 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.
The macro notification needs the macro block to be shown, and the two calendar notifications need the NEXT row to be shown; switching those rows off switches their notifications off as well. The first reading after the indicator starts does not announce a session or a macro change. Right after the terminal itself starts, before it has connected, one session notification can still appear.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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). 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. 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. | 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 completed 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 completed 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. | Free and Pro |
| Tag collision gap (points) | 60 | Minimum distance in points between two price tags. A tag closer than this to one already placed is not shown; its line stays. | 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 session shown on the panel changes to Tokyo, London or New York. It follows the panel, so with the default hours New York is announced when London closes, not at the New York open. | 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 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. | 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. Needs the macro block to be shown. | 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. Needs the NEXT row (Show next high-impact event countdown) to be on. | 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. Switching it off also stops the macro alert. | 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. | 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. Switching it off also stops the news alert. | 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, so do not leave it blank. The free edition and Pro use different defaults so both can run on one chart. | Free and Pro |
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 six notifications and their settings, the weekly open and Tokyo range levels, 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.
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.
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 ($), or lower Touch distance (points). 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 Show next high-impact event countdown (economic calendar) is on (the news notification needs it), that the day is allowed by Alert days (weekend filter), and the Experts log for a line with held by the alert-days filter.
Panel corner and Panel size are ignored.
They apply only until the panel has a saved position on that chart; after that, use the corner and size buttons. A panel restored from a saved position does not follow its corner when the chart is resized until the corner button is pressed.
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 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 position 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. It turns on mouse-move events for its chart and switches them off when removed, which can stop the mouse handling of another panel product on the same chart, including the other Gold Pulse edition, until that product is re-attached. It uses no DLL and no web request.
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 2.31 and Gold Pulse PRO 2.31.
