Trend Dashboard User Guide: Reading the Panel, How Advice Is Made, Market Watch Mode and Every Setting (Free and Pro)
Do you need Pro?
Pro is worth a look if you follow many symbols while you work on another chart and want to be told when a row turns to enter now, are often away from the screen and want a message on your phone, or move from the table to the charts all day and would like a click to do it.
The free edition is enough if you keep the table in view anyway, or look at it now and then and open the charts yourself. Both editions show the same panel and decide the advice card by the same rule.
One thing to know: the Market demo of Pro runs only in the Strategy Tester, where, in version 1.44, push and e-mail are not sent and clicks and the panel buttons are not expected to work. Trend Dashboard Pro
What Trend Dashboard is
Trend Dashboard is an indicator that shows, in one panel, which way each of your symbols is trending on several timeframes and how strong that trend is, and turns the picture into a short piece of advice per symbol. Each row is a symbol, each column a timeframe. A cell shows the direction as an arrow and a colour and the strength as a bar; the last column says whether the higher timeframes point one way and whether your own timeframe agrees. It reads the data only; it does not trade, and the advice is a reading of indicators, not a forecast.
The free edition, Trend Dashboard, reads direction from two moving averages. Trend Dashboard Pro reads it from a vote of up to five conditions and adds notifications with a list of what was sent, click-to-switch charts, a currency-strength row and a diagnostic log. Both editions can take their rows from your own list or from the symbols selected in Market Watch. Everything below applies to both editions unless marked Pro only.
Quick start
- Open any chart and drag the indicator onto it from the Navigator. The chart's own symbol does not matter; the rows come from the inputs.
- In the inputs, pick Language / 言語, write your symbols in Symbols (or switch Where the rows come from to Market Watch, described below), and set Your trading timeframe to one of the timeframes that are switched on (M5, M15, H1 and H4 by default; Pro adds M30).
- Click OK. The panel opens in the top-right corner. Rows show a loading mark until the terminal has delivered their history. When the rows have loaded, each one ends in an advice card or —.
- Move the panel by dragging its title area, change its size with A- and A+, and move it between corners with the corner button. Position, size, the trading timeframe and the collapsed state are remembered for that chart. 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.
If something looks wrong, see Frequently asked questions further down; the questions are written as symptoms.
A 90-second video on installing the free edition and reading the board. The Market tab and the input screens in it are diagrams, marked as such on screen.
If the player does not show here, the video is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/n7i5TjSdA8k
How a cell is read
Each cell is read from the last closed bar of that symbol and timeframe, so a reading changes only when a bar closes. Use forming bar switches this to the bar that is still forming, in which case readings can change and change back within a bar. A cell is read only once the terminal reports that symbol's history as synchronised and enough bars have been calculated (60 with the default periods).
The strength bar is the ADX: the bar is empty at 0 and full at 50 or above. When the ADX is under the value of ADX below this = flat / no trade (18 by default), the cell reads flat and shows a grey dot, whatever the other indicators say. Otherwise the direction is:
In the free edition, up when the fast EMA (20) is above the slow EMA (50), down when it is below.
Pro only. Up to five conditions each vote up or down: the fast EMA against the slow EMA, the slope of the fast EMA, +DI against -DI, the MACD main line against its signal line, and, if you switch it on, the close against the slow EMA. The first four are on by default. The cell reads up when the up votes exceed the down votes by at least Min net votes to confirm a direction (1 by default), down in the opposite case, and flat otherwise. With four conditions the difference is always even, so a 2 to 2 split reads flat, 1 and 2 behave alike, and 3 or 4 means all four have to agree. All five are readings of the same prices, so treat the setting as strictness rather than as independent confirmation.
How the advice is made
The columns always run from the shortest timeframe on the left to the longest on the right. The column you trade is highlighted in the Trade TF: chips. The columns to its right are labelled bias, and it and the columns to its left are labelled timing. If you trade the rightmost column, that column serves as the bias.
The bias of a row is the direction of the bias columns, weighted by their strength. Columns that read flat are left out. If the columns that do have a direction disagree too much (fewer than 60% on the winning side), the row shows —. Otherwise the advice card shows LONG or SHORT with a second line: enter now on a green or red card when your trading timeframe points the same way, or wait pullback on an amber card when it is flat or points the other way.
When every bias column reads flat or has no data, only your trading timeframe has a direction, and the card says so. It is drawn as a dark card with a thin border in the direction colour, with LONG or SHORT above the name of your trading timeframe followed by only, for example M15 only. It is a single-timeframe reading, not an agreement across timeframes: it is not counted as enter now, and in Pro it raises no notification. While such a card is on the page, the legend adds M15 only = no higher-TF agreement, and hovering the card names the higher timeframes that show no direction. If the trading timeframe is flat as well, the row shows —. When you trade the rightmost column there is no higher timeframe, so that column serves as the bias as described above.
Reading the panel
Top row and title
The buttons at the top right are, from the right, collapse (_, or [] while collapsed), the corner (TL, TR, BR, BL; each press moves the panel to the next corner clockwise), and A+ and A-, which step the size through the four presets. In Pro, the note button (♪, green when on) switches notifications on and off; to its left, the list button (three short bars, or the number of unread notifications) opens the alert list described under Notifications; and the button further left sets how symbol names are matched (Auto and the fixed suffixes, see below). A framed label such as MW or 1/3 shows that the rows come from Market Watch and which page is shown; it is not a button. In the free edition, a framed label Alerts: PRO at the left of the same row says only that notifications exist in Pro; it is not a button either, and it is left out when the row is too narrow for it.
Below it are the title and the timeframe chips. Click a chip to make that timeframe your trading timeframe. Click the green dot in front of the title to open the About card. Double-click the title area to send the panel back to the corner set in Start corner.
Rows
Each cell shows ▲ for up, ▼ for down or · for flat, followed by the strength bar in the same colour; brighter means stronger. A cell whose data has not arrived yet shows …, and a cell that has no data at all shows a short grey dash. The advice card on the right is described above. A row that is still loading shows loading instead of a card. Thirty seconds after a row has been prepared, one of two things happens. If only some of its timeframes could be read, the row gets its advice from those timeframes, and the missing ones count as flat. If nothing could be read, the row shows no data. This applies in both symbol modes.
Summary line and legend
The line under the rows reads, for example, Trading M15 → bias H1/H4 · enter now LONG 2 / SHORT 1. The two numbers count the rows showing enter now, across the whole list and not only the page on screen. Cards marked only are not counted. When the list has pages, all 31 in front of the numbers says how many symbols they cover. Pro adds !2 not found when symbols from your list could not be found at your broker. The legend below repeats the marks: Up, Down, Flat, and loading, no data or the only card when such rows are on the page.
Currency strength (Pro only)
Under the rows, Strength: shows the major currencies that appear in your symbols, strongest first. Each currency is scored from the trading-timeframe cells of the pairs that contain it: an up cell counts for the first currency of the pair and against the second, weighted by strength, and the scores are averaged. The colour of a chip deepens with the score. The score reads the first six letters of each symbol name as two currency codes of three letters each, and skips names shorter than six characters. Gold quoted in dollars therefore counts toward the USD score, as a pair whose second currency is USD, when its symbol name starts with XAUUSD, so a rising gold counts against the dollar; a gold symbol named GOLD or GOLD# is left out. Cells that are flat or without data count as zero.
Collapsed
Collapsed, the panel keeps its top row and the title with the timeframe chips. The rows are hidden, but in Pro every symbol is still checked and notifications keep coming, and an open alert list stays visible under the title.
About card and rating card
The About card shows the version, the licence type and where to get support (the Comments tab of the product page), with a button to rate the product. After some real use a card may ask for a rating; it appears at most three times in the free edition and twice in Pro, weeks apart, and never in the Strategy Tester. Don't ask again, or Show a one-time rating reminder (after a while) set to false, stops it.
Choosing the symbols
Your own list
By default the rows come from Symbols, a comma-separated list. Brokers name the same instrument differently, so each name is looked up. The free edition tries the name as written, then with Suffix to try if symbol missing, then with a fixed list of common suffixes such as # and m, and knows that XAUUSD and GOLD, and XAGUSD and SILVER, are the same metal. A name it cannot find is left out without a message.
Pro only. With the suffix button on Auto, Pro searches your broker's complete symbol list for names that start with the one you wrote, or with a known alias for gold, silver, the main indices, oil or bitcoin, followed by something that looks like a suffix, and prefers a symbol you can trade. The other settings of the button, ·, #, . and m, allow only plain names or only that suffix. A name that is not found is written to the Experts log and counted on the summary line. The input Suffix to try if symbol missing only sets the button's first mode, and only for #, . and m; any other value leaves it on Auto.
In both editions the symbols found are added to Market Watch, and if none of the names is found the panel shows the chart's own symbol.
From Market Watch
Set Where the rows come from to SRC_MARKET_WATCH and the rows become the symbols selected in Market Watch, in the same order and under the broker's exact names. Nothing is renamed, merged or matched, so EURUSD and EURUSD# are two rows. When two symbols on the page share the same root, a short note at the end of the legend says so, for example EURUSD: 2 separate symbols in Market Watch; it states only that they are two entries, not whether they are the same contract.
The panel checks the selection every few seconds (Market Watch: re-sync check (seconds), 5 by default) and follows what you add, remove or reorder. The reload chip checks at once. New symbols are prepared four per refresh (eight on the first pass). With the default two-second refresh, a list of 100 symbols therefore takes about a minute to prepare, and 300 about two and a half minutes. Each row then has the 30 seconds described under Rows before it gets its advice or is marked no data. In this mode the name column widens to fit the longest name; a name that still does not fit is shortened in the middle, and the full name appears when you hover over it. In Pro the suffix button becomes the MW label.
The status line under the rows counts the rows of the page on screen, for example watch 24/31 · ready 24 · loading 2 · partial 1 · no data 1, leaving out the states that are zero. Market Watch: max rows (0 = 100, up to 300) sets how many symbols are taken from the top of Market Watch. At 0, the default, it takes the first 100; enter a number to take that many, up to 300. The number of symbols left out is shown as (N over the row limit).
Every symbol is recalculated on every refresh, on screen or not, and each one keeps its own history and indicator buffers in the terminal. A long list therefore uses a lot of memory: with hundreds of rows the terminal's memory use can reach several gigabytes. Keep the list to what you actually watch, or set a limit.
Pages
When the rows do not fit the chart's height, they are split into pages. The status line then carries ◀ and ▶ with the page number, and the label at the top shows the page as well. The page does not limit the analysis: the summary counts and the Pro notifications always cover every symbol.
Notifications (Pro only)
The free edition sends no notifications. Pro checks every row on each refresh, including rows on other pages and while the panel is collapsed. With Alert when LONG/SHORT "enter now" appears on, it notifies whenever a row becomes LONG or SHORT with enter now, coming from wait pullback, —, a card marked only, or the opposite side. A card marked only never notifies by itself. With Alert when bias direction flips on (off by default), it also notifies when the bias of a row turns from up to down or back between two refreshes; a turn that passes through no direction at all is not announced. While every higher timeframe reads flat or has no data, the row has no bias, so a flip is announced only after the higher timeframes show a direction and later turn. When you trade the rightmost column, that column's own direction is the bias.
It stays quiet, and only records the starting state, on these checks:
- the first check after attaching or after a change of the inputs;
- the first check after you click a timeframe chip;
- the first time a symbol becomes readable, which includes symbols newly added in Market Watch mode.
A change to the Market Watch list does not reset the rows that stay on it, so they keep notifying. Rows that are still loading or have no data never notify.
The text reads, for example, [Trend Dashboard Pro] EURUSD LONG setup (M15) or [Trend Dashboard Pro] EURUSD flip -> UP (M15), with the trading timeframe in brackets. Four routes carry it:
- Popup alert shows each one as a line in the terminal's Alert window. When more than five are raised on the same refresh, the first four are shown and one more line gives the number of the rest.
- Sound alert plays Sound file once on each refresh that raised notifications, however many rows changed.
- Push notification sends to the MetaTrader app on your phone. The MetaQuotes ID must be set in the terminal options.
- Email sends an email. The email settings must be filled in. The subject is Trend Dashboard Pro, or Trend Dashboard Pro: N alerts when it carries several, and each line adds the closed bar and the direction of each higher timeframe.
Everything raised on the same refresh goes out as one push and one email. MQL5 limits push notifications per second and per minute, so Pro sends at most once a second and nine times a minute on each route. A message that cannot go yet is kept and sent at the next free slot, together with anything raised in the meantime. A push that carries several notifications is kept within 255 characters and ends with the number of notifications left out. Pro records whether each push and email was accepted; a failed send is not retried.
The list button opens the alert list under the legend. It shows the newest notifications of this session first, as many rows as Alert list: rows shown when opened (1-12) sets. Each row shows the server time, the symbol and the event, for example LONG enter now · M15 or bias flip ▲. On the right it shows what happened to each route, such as push ok, push queued while it waits for a free slot, or mail ERR with the MetaTrader error number. Hover a row to see the full record: the text, the closed bar, the time it was raised, the direction of each higher timeframe and the result of every route.
While the list is closed, the button shows how many notifications arrived since you last opened it, and it turns red when the delivery of one of them failed. The list is kept in memory only and starts empty each time the indicator starts. Every notification and every send is also written to the Experts log, in lines starting with [TDP ALERT] and [TDP SEND].
The note button mutes notifications without stopping the checks; while it is off, nothing is added to the alert list. Its state is saved for the chart and takes precedence over Master alert switch in the inputs, so use the button to silence a panel you have already used. If you change the input in the Inputs dialog, the button takes the new value.
Click to switch (Pro only)
Click an advice card or a symbol name to switch the chart to that symbol on your trading timeframe, or click a cell to switch to that symbol and that column's timeframe. Switching the chart reloads the indicator on it, which does not change the rows but does take the notification baseline again. If you prefer to keep the chart as it is, set Click opens a NEW chart to true; a new chart opens instead, with the template named in Template applied to the opened chart if you give one.
A 50-second demo of Pro: the list, a notification, and a click that switches the chart. The click-to-switch part was recorded with a recording build and is marked as such on screen.
If the player does not show here, the video is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VQgiCPccrHc
Diagnostic log (Pro only)
With Log each model's vote + raw values to Experts journal on, each cell writes one line to the Experts log whenever its closed bar changes. The line starts with [TDP] and lists the values and vote of each condition, the ADX, the net vote and the result, so you can check any cell by hand. Limit the log to this symbol keeps the log to one symbol. Conditions that are switched off print as zero.
Free and Pro
Both editions share the panel, the advice rule, the Market Watch mode, the pages and the loading states, and both read every cell from the last closed bar by default. They differ in how a direction is decided: the free edition uses one pair of moving averages with the ADX threshold, while Pro uses a vote of four conditions by default, five if you switch the last one on, with the same threshold. The free edition shows M5, M15, H1 and H4 by default and Pro adds M30.
Pro adds the notifications and the alert list, click-to-switch, the currency-strength row, the diagnostic log and the broker-wide symbol search with the suffix button, and it tells you when a symbol from your list was not found. The free edition has no notifications of any kind and leaves out missing symbols silently. The two editions keep separate saved settings and separate chart objects, so they can run on the same chart. Removing one of them does not switch off the chart's mouse-move events, so the other keeps working. This holds from 3.54 and 1.44; earlier versions switched the events off, which stopped the other one's buttons and dragging until it was reloaded.
Switching from the free edition
Pro has the same panel as the free edition, with the Pro features and a different way of deciding direction. 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 Trend Dashboard and open its settings to see the Inputs tab. Then remove it from the chart with Delete in the same list.
- Drag Trend Dashboard PRO from the Navigator onto the chart.
- In its Inputs tab, set what you noted: the symbols, Your trading timeframe, the timeframes shown and the trend periods. If you want the panel somewhere else, set Start 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, trading timeframe, page or collapsed state, and the terminal keeps the inputs of each indicator separately. Every input of the free edition exists in Pro under the same name and with the same default, except that the M30 column (InpM30) is on by default in Pro. The corner, size and margin defaults are the same (top right, size M), but the Pro panel is somewhat larger, so a free panel you never moved sits inside the area of a fresh Pro panel. Pro decides direction by a vote of four conditions by default instead of one pair of moving averages, so a cell can read differently in Pro than it did in the free edition; the group Trend models (confluence) lets you switch conditions off. The notifications are on by default (popup and sound on, push and e-mail off); change them in the group Alerts (PRO).
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-right corner, so they overlap at first: set Start corner of one of them to another corner before you attach it. Only Pro sends notifications.
Frequently asked questions
A row shows a dark card marked M15 only.
None of the higher timeframes of that row shows a direction, so the card shows the direction of your trading timeframe alone, named in the card (M15 in this example). It is not an agreement across timeframes, it is not counted as enter now, and in Pro it raises no notification. Hover the card and it names the higher timeframes, none of which shows a direction at that moment.
A push notification did not arrive.
Open the alert list and look at the right side of that row. push ok means MetaTrader accepted the message; push queued means it is waiting for a free slot under the sending limit; push ERR with a number is the MetaTrader error code. In MQL5's error table, 4517 means the terminal's notification settings are missing (no MetaQuotes ID, or push notifications not enabled), 4518 means notifications were sent too often, 4515 is a send that failed and 4516 a message the terminal would not take. Check that the MetaQuotes ID is set and push notifications are enabled in the terminal options. Several notifications raised together arrive as one message.
I changed Your trading timeframe (or Master alert switch) in the inputs and nothing changed.
From Trend Dashboard 3.54 and Pro 1.44, a value you change in the Inputs dialog wins over what the panel has saved for it, and replaces the saved copy. For each chart the panel remembers the value these inputs had when it last started; if the value is different now, you have changed it. This covers Your trading timeframe, the six timeframe switches (changing a switch puts the trading timeframe back to the input), Start size and, in Pro, Master alert switch and Suffix to try if symbol missing (when the change alters the starting mode of the suffix button). An input you have left alone does not override what you set with the chips and buttons on the panel. Start corner is the exception: it is used only until the panel has a saved position. The first start after updating only records the current values and moves nothing. On earlier versions the saved value always wins; use the chips and buttons on the panel instead.
The panel shows one row with the chart's symbol.
None of the names in Symbols was found at your broker, or Market Watch mode found no selected symbols. Check the exact names in Market Watch. Pro writes each missing name to the Experts log.
Some rows stay on loading.
The terminal has not delivered the history for that symbol and timeframe yet. Thirty seconds after the row was prepared (in Market Watch mode a long list is prepared a few symbols per refresh), it either shows no data or gets its advice from the timeframes it could read. Check that the symbol has history at your broker for every timeframe that is switched on.
Market Watch has more than 100 symbols, but the panel lists only 100 of them.
With Market Watch: max rows at 0, the default, the first 100 symbols are taken. Enter a larger number, up to 300, to take more. The status line shows how many were left out. A longer list takes longer to prepare and uses more of the terminal's memory.
Start corner and Start size are ignored.
Start corner applies only until the panel has a saved position on that chart; use the corner button afterwards. Start size applies only until then as well, except that changing it in the Inputs dialog resizes the panel and keeps its position; use A- or A+ afterwards. Double-clicking the title area returns the panel to the corner set in Start corner.
Does the free edition send alerts?
No. Notifications are part of Pro only.
All settings
The table is generated from the source of the published versions of both editions, so it lists every input as the terminal shows it. The last column says which edition has it. The six timeframe switches have no description in the source and may appear in the input window under their variable names, InpM5 to InpD1.
General
Language, the symbol list and its suffix, and the rating reminder.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Language / 言語 | LANG_EN | Language of the panel texts, the About and rating cards and the Pro notifications. LANG_JP also switches the font to Yu Gothic UI. The title, the buttons, the timeframe names, LONG and SHORT, the Experts log lines and the input names stay in English. Choices: LANG_EN, LANG_JP | Free and Pro |
| Symbols (used when Symbol source = Manual list) | EURUSD,GBPUSD,USDJPY,AUDUSD,USDCAD,XAUUSD | Comma-separated symbols for the rows when Where the rows come from is SRC_MANUAL_LIST. Each name is matched to what your broker calls it (see Choosing the symbols). The symbols found are added to Market Watch. If none is found, the panel shows the chart's own symbol. | Free and Pro |
| Suffix to try if symbol missing (e.g. # on some brokers) | (empty) | Free: a suffix tried after the plain name, before the built-in list of common suffixes, and dropped from the row names of the manual list. Pro: the starting mode of the suffix button; only #, . and m are recognised, and any other value leaves the button on Auto. In Market Watch mode the row names are never changed; the suffix is only stripped when the panel works out whether two rows share the same root for the note under the legend. Pro keeps the button's last mode per chart, which takes precedence over this input until you change this input to a different starting mode. | Free and Pro |
| Show a one-time rating reminder (after a while) | true | Shows a card asking for a rating after some real use. Despite the word one-time, it can appear up to three times in the free edition and twice in Pro, weeks apart. false stops it; the rating button on the About card stays available. | Free and Pro |
Timeframes
Which of the six fixed timeframes become columns, and which one you trade. Columns are always in the order M5, M15, M30, H1, H4, D1. The six switches are declared on one line in the source, so the input window may show them under their variable names (InpM5 and so on).
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| InpM5 | true | Adds an M5 column. | Free and Pro |
| InpM15 | true | Adds an M15 column. | Free and Pro |
| InpM30 | Free: false / Pro: true | Adds an M30 column. Off in the free edition and on in Pro by default. | Free and Pro |
| InpH1 | true | Adds an H1 column. | Free and Pro |
| InpH4 | true | Adds an H4 column. | Free and Pro |
| InpD1 | false | Adds a D1 column. If all six are off, the panel uses M15 alone. | Free and Pro |
| Your trading timeframe | 15 Minutes | The timeframe you trade. Columns to its right become bias, it and the columns to its left become timing. The list offers every MetaTrader timeframe, but only one of the enabled columns works; any other choice silently makes the first column the trading timeframe. The Trade TF chips on the panel change it too, and the chip you clicked last is saved per chart and takes precedence over this input, until you change this input (or one of the timeframe switches) in the Inputs dialog; the new value then wins. | Free and Pro |
Trend models (confluence)
How each cell's direction and strength are read. In the free edition only the EMA periods, the ADX period, the ADX threshold and the forming-bar switch exist, and they are listed under the group Trend definition. The model switches, the vote margin and the MACD periods are Pro only.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model 1: EMA cross (fast vs slow) | true | Condition 1: the fast EMA above the slow EMA votes up, below votes down. | Pro only |
| Model 2: EMA slope (fast rising/falling) | true | Condition 2: the fast EMA higher than one bar earlier votes up, otherwise down. | Pro only |
| Model 3: ADX +DI vs -DI | true | Condition 3: +DI above -DI of the ADX votes up, otherwise down. | Pro only |
| Model 4: MACD (main vs signal) | true | Condition 4: the MACD main line above its signal line votes up, otherwise down. | Pro only |
| Model 5: Price vs slow EMA | false | Condition 5, off by default: the close above the slow EMA votes up, otherwise down. If every condition is switched off, condition 1 is used. | Pro only |
| Min net votes to confirm a direction | 1 | How far the up votes must exceed the down votes (or the reverse) for a direction. With the four default conditions the difference is always even, so 1 and 2 behave alike and 3 or 4 means all four agree; a 2 to 2 split reads flat. Values of 0 or below are not checked and make a 2 to 2 split read up. | Pro only |
| Free: Fast EMA (direction) / Pro: Fast EMA period | 20 | Period of the fast EMA. Free: direction is fast EMA above or below slow EMA. Pro: used by conditions 1 and 2. | Free and Pro |
| Free: Slow EMA (direction) / Pro: Slow EMA period | 50 | Period of the slow EMA (conditions 1 and 5 in Pro). The larger of this and three times the ADX period, plus 10, is the number of calculated bars a cell needs before it is read. | Free and Pro |
| Free: ADX period (strength) / Pro: ADX/DI period (also strength bar) | 14 | Period of the ADX. The ADX sets the length of the strength bar (full at 50) and the flat threshold; Pro also uses its +DI and -DI for condition 3. | Free and Pro |
| ADX below this = flat / no trade | 18.0 | A cell whose ADX is below this value reads flat, whatever the EMAs or the votes say. | Free and Pro |
| MACD fast EMA | 12 | Fast EMA period of the MACD for condition 4. | Pro only |
| MACD slow EMA | 26 | Slow EMA period of the MACD for condition 4. | Pro only |
| MACD signal SMA | 9 | Signal period of the MACD for condition 4. | Pro only |
| Use forming bar (false = last closed) | false | false reads every cell from the last closed bar, so a reading changes only when a bar closes. true reads the forming bar, so cells, advice and Pro notifications can change and change back within a bar. | Free and Pro |
Alerts (PRO)
Pro only. Notifications when a row turns to enter now, or when the bias of a row changes direction. The free edition sends no notifications.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master alert switch | true | Starting state of the notification switch (the note button on the panel). The button's last state is saved per chart and wins over this input, so to silence a panel you have already used, press the button. If you change this input in the Inputs dialog, the new value wins and the button follows it. | Pro only |
| Popup alert | true | Shows each notification in the terminal's Alert window, one line per notification. When more than five are raised on the same refresh, the first four are shown and one more line gives the number of the rest and points to the alert list. | Pro only |
| Sound alert | true | Plays the sound file below once per refresh that raised notifications, however many rows changed. | Pro only |
| Push notification (MetaQuotes ID) | false | Sends notifications to the MetaTrader app on your phone. The MetaQuotes ID must be set in the terminal options. Everything raised on the same refresh goes out as one message, sent at most once a second and nine times a minute to stay inside the MQL5 sending limit; a message that cannot go yet waits for the next free slot. The result of each send is shown in the alert list and written to the Experts log, and a failed send is not retried. | Pro only |
| Email (configure in Terminal options) | false | Sends notifications by email. The email settings must be filled in the terminal options. Everything raised on the same refresh goes out as one email, with the same pacing as push notifications; the subject is Trend Dashboard Pro, or Trend Dashboard Pro: N alerts when it carries several, and each line adds the closed bar and the direction of each higher timeframe. | Pro only |
| Sound file | alert.wav | Sound file played for notifications, from the terminal's Sounds folder. | Pro only |
| Alert when LONG/SHORT "enter now" appears | true | Notifies whenever a row becomes LONG or SHORT enter now from any other state, including a switch between LONG and SHORT. A card marked with your trading timeframe and only (no higher timeframe shows a direction) is not enter now and does not notify. | Pro only |
| Alert when bias direction flips | false | Notifies when the bias of a row turns from up to down or the reverse between two refreshes. A change that passes through no direction at all is not announced. While every higher timeframe reads flat or has no data, the row has no bias; only when you trade the rightmost column does that column's own direction serve as the bias. | Pro only |
Interaction (PRO)
Pro only. What a click on a row, a cell or an advice card does.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Click a row/cell to switch chart symbol(+TF) | true | A click on an advice card or a symbol name switches the chart to that symbol on your trading timeframe; a click on a cell switches to that symbol and that column's timeframe. | Pro only |
| Click opens a NEW chart (keeps your styled charts) instead of switching this one | false | true opens a new chart for the click instead of switching the chart the panel is on. | Pro only |
| Template applied to the opened chart (your colors/indicators), e.g. "MyStyle" | (empty) | Name of a chart template applied to a chart opened by a click (only with the setting above). .tpl is added when missing. | Pro only |
Currency strength (PRO)
Pro only. The row of currency chips under the symbol rows.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Show currency-strength row (FX majors) | true | Shows the currency-strength row: each of the eight major currencies that appears in your symbols, scored from the trading-timeframe cells of the pairs that contain it and sorted strongest first. | Pro only |
Diagnostics
Pro only. A log line per cell in the Experts log, for checking how each direction was reached.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Log each model's vote + raw values to Experts journal | false | Writes one line per cell to the Experts log whenever its closed bar changes: each condition's values and vote, the ADX, the net vote and the result. Cells without data are not logged. | Pro only |
| Limit the log to this symbol (empty = all) | (empty) | Limits the log above to symbols whose name contains this text. Empty logs all. | Pro only |
Position & size
Where the panel first appears, its first size, and how often everything is recalculated. The corner applies only until the panel has a saved position on that chart; the size too, unless you change it in the Inputs dialog.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start corner | C_TR | The corner the panel snaps to the first time it runs on a chart (C_TL top left, C_TR top right, C_BR bottom right, C_BL bottom left). Once the panel has a saved position, changing this input does not move it. Double-clicking the panel's title area returns the panel to this corner. Choices: C_TL, C_TR, C_BR, C_BL | Free and Pro |
| Start size | SZ_M | The size the panel starts with (SZ_S, SZ_M, SZ_L, SZ_XL). Afterwards the A- and A+ buttons change it, and that choice is saved per chart. Changing this input in the Inputs dialog resizes the panel on a chart that already has a saved state; its position is kept. Choices: SZ_S, SZ_M, SZ_L, SZ_XL | Free and Pro |
| Corner margin (px) | 16 | Distance in pixels between the panel and the chart edges when it snaps to a corner. With paging it is also left free above and below when the rows are fitted to the chart height. | Free and Pro |
| Extra right gap for the price scale (px) | 64 | Extra pixels between the panel and the price scale in the right corners, applied only while the price scale is shown. The panel is fully readable without it; the default of 64 simply moves the panel 64 pixels further left. Set 0 to put it next to the scale. | Free and Pro |
| Refresh seconds | 2 | Seconds between recalculations (1 or more). Every symbol and every timeframe is read again at each refresh, and Pro checks notifications at the same moment. | Free and Pro |
Symbol source
Whether the rows come from the Symbols input or from the symbols selected in Market Watch. This group sits at the end of the list so that settings saved on existing charts keep their values.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the rows come from | SRC_MANUAL_LIST | SRC_MANUAL_LIST takes the rows from the Symbols input. SRC_MARKET_WATCH takes the symbols selected in Market Watch, in that order and under the broker's exact names, and follows changes to the selection. Choices: SRC_MANUAL_LIST, SRC_MARKET_WATCH | Free and Pro |
| Market Watch: re-sync check (seconds) | 5 | How often, in seconds, Market Watch mode checks whether the selection changed (1 or more). The reload button on the panel checks at once. | Free and Pro |
| Market Watch: max rows (0 = 100, up to 300) | 0 | Maximum number of Market Watch symbols taken, from the top of the list. 0 means 100, and values above 300 are treated as 300. Symbols left out are counted on the status line. | Free and Pro |
Alert list (PRO)
Pro only. The list of this session's notifications that the list button next to the note button opens. This group sits at the end of the list so that settings saved on existing charts keep their values.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alert list: rows shown when opened (1-12) | 5 | How many rows the alert list shows when you open it with the list button, from 1 to 12 (values outside are brought into that range). The list shows the newest notifications of this session first and keeps the same height however many there are. | Pro only |
What it does not do, and where it stops
It does not trade and does not promise results. The advice is a reading of moving averages, the ADX and, in Pro, the DI and MACD, all computed from the same prices. It works only while the terminal is running and connected, and it recalculates on a timer (every two seconds by default) rather than on every tick.
A row whose history is still incomplete after 30 seconds gets its advice from the timeframes it could read, counting the missing ones as flat. When all bias columns are flat or without data, the card shows the trading timeframe alone, marked only, and is neither counted nor notified. Settings saved on the chart take precedence over the inputs for the trading timeframe, the panel position and size and, in Pro, the note and suffix buttons, unless you have changed the matching input since the previous start; Start corner never overrides a saved position.
Apart from drawing, it adds the symbols of your list to Market Watch, saves its panel state in the terminal's global variables, keeps the rating card's state in a small file in the terminals' shared Common\Files folder, and turns on mouse-move events for its chart. It leaves them on when it is removed, so other programs on the same chart keep their mouse handling; versions up to 3.53 and 1.43 switched them off, which could stop another panel product on the same chart until that product was reloaded. If it is removed in the middle of a drag, it gives the chart's mouse scrolling back. When it is removed, it deletes every chart object whose name starts with its prefix. It uses no DLL and no web request.
What the Pro edition adds
Trend Dashboard Pro adds 24 settings across six areas: the four extra trend models and the vote margin, the alert channels and what triggers them, what a click does, the currency-strength row, a per-cell diagnostic log, and the alert list. The table below lists every one exactly as it appears in the Inputs tab. All of them are also in the table above, marked Pro only.
Trend models (confluence)
How each cell's direction and strength are read. In the free edition only the EMA periods, the ADX period, the ADX threshold and the forming-bar switch exist, and they are listed under the group Trend definition. The model switches, the vote margin and the MACD periods are Pro only.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Model 1: EMA cross (fast vs slow) | true | Condition 1: the fast EMA above the slow EMA votes up, below votes down. |
| Model 2: EMA slope (fast rising/falling) | true | Condition 2: the fast EMA higher than one bar earlier votes up, otherwise down. |
| Model 3: ADX +DI vs -DI | true | Condition 3: +DI above -DI of the ADX votes up, otherwise down. |
| Model 4: MACD (main vs signal) | true | Condition 4: the MACD main line above its signal line votes up, otherwise down. |
| Model 5: Price vs slow EMA | false | Condition 5, off by default: the close above the slow EMA votes up, otherwise down. If every condition is switched off, condition 1 is used. |
| Min net votes to confirm a direction | 1 | How far the up votes must exceed the down votes (or the reverse) for a direction. With the four default conditions the difference is always even, so 1 and 2 behave alike and 3 or 4 means all four agree; a 2 to 2 split reads flat. Values of 0 or below are not checked and make a 2 to 2 split read up. |
| MACD fast EMA | 12 | Fast EMA period of the MACD for condition 4. |
| MACD slow EMA | 26 | Slow EMA period of the MACD for condition 4. |
| MACD signal SMA | 9 | Signal period of the MACD for condition 4. |
Alerts (PRO)
Pro only. Notifications when a row turns to enter now, or when the bias of a row changes direction. The free edition sends no notifications.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Master alert switch | true | Starting state of the notification switch (the note button on the panel). The button's last state is saved per chart and wins over this input, so to silence a panel you have already used, press the button. If you change this input in the Inputs dialog, the new value wins and the button follows it. |
| Popup alert | true | Shows each notification in the terminal's Alert window, one line per notification. When more than five are raised on the same refresh, the first four are shown and one more line gives the number of the rest and points to the alert list. |
| Sound alert | true | Plays the sound file below once per refresh that raised notifications, however many rows changed. |
| Push notification (MetaQuotes ID) | false | Sends notifications to the MetaTrader app on your phone. The MetaQuotes ID must be set in the terminal options. Everything raised on the same refresh goes out as one message, sent at most once a second and nine times a minute to stay inside the MQL5 sending limit; a message that cannot go yet waits for the next free slot. The result of each send is shown in the alert list and written to the Experts log, and a failed send is not retried. |
| Email (configure in Terminal options) | false | Sends notifications by email. The email settings must be filled in the terminal options. Everything raised on the same refresh goes out as one email, with the same pacing as push notifications; the subject is Trend Dashboard Pro, or Trend Dashboard Pro: N alerts when it carries several, and each line adds the closed bar and the direction of each higher timeframe. |
| Sound file | alert.wav | Sound file played for notifications, from the terminal's Sounds folder. |
| Alert when LONG/SHORT "enter now" appears | true | Notifies whenever a row becomes LONG or SHORT enter now from any other state, including a switch between LONG and SHORT. A card marked with your trading timeframe and only (no higher timeframe shows a direction) is not enter now and does not notify. |
| Alert when bias direction flips | false | Notifies when the bias of a row turns from up to down or the reverse between two refreshes. A change that passes through no direction at all is not announced. While every higher timeframe reads flat or has no data, the row has no bias; only when you trade the rightmost column does that column's own direction serve as the bias. |
Interaction (PRO)
Pro only. What a click on a row, a cell or an advice card does.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Click a row/cell to switch chart symbol(+TF) | true | A click on an advice card or a symbol name switches the chart to that symbol on your trading timeframe; a click on a cell switches to that symbol and that column's timeframe. |
| Click opens a NEW chart (keeps your styled charts) instead of switching this one | false | true opens a new chart for the click instead of switching the chart the panel is on. |
| Template applied to the opened chart (your colors/indicators), e.g. "MyStyle" | (empty) | Name of a chart template applied to a chart opened by a click (only with the setting above). .tpl is added when missing. |
Currency strength (PRO)
Pro only. The row of currency chips under the symbol rows.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Show currency-strength row (FX majors) | true | Shows the currency-strength row: each of the eight major currencies that appears in your symbols, scored from the trading-timeframe cells of the pairs that contain it and sorted strongest first. |
Diagnostics
Pro only. A log line per cell in the Experts log, for checking how each direction was reached.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Log each model's vote + raw values to Experts journal | false | Writes one line per cell to the Experts log whenever its closed bar changes: each condition's values and vote, the ADX, the net vote and the result. Cells without data are not logged. |
| Limit the log to this symbol (empty = all) | (empty) | Limits the log above to symbols whose name contains this text. Empty logs all. |
Alert list (PRO)
Pro only. The list of this session's notifications that the list button next to the note button opens. This group sits at the end of the list so that settings saved on existing charts keep their values.
| Setting (as shown in MT5) | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Alert list: rows shown when opened (1-12) | 5 | How many rows the alert list shows when you open it with the list button, from 1 to 12 (values outside are brought into that range). The list shows the newest notifications of this session first and keeps the same height however many there are. |
Product pages: free edition, Pro.
Support
Post on the Comments tab of the product page (free edition, Pro). The symbol, the timeframes, what the panel showed and, for Pro, any [TDP] lines from the Experts log are enough to start.
This guide describes Trend Dashboard 3.55 and Trend Dashboard Pro 1.44.
