SMC Algo Spartan for MT4 and MT5: User Guide and Trading Manual

1. Introduction

SMC Algo Spartan is a smart money concepts indicator for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. It finds the swing highs and lows on your chart, names every break of structure as a BOS (the trend continues) or a CHoCH (the trend turns), marks the order block each break leaves behind, and prints a buy or sell arrow when price comes back into a live block and a candle rejects it. Each arrow carries a plan: an entry, a stop and two targets, drawn with their prices.

This guide covers version 1.00 on both platforms: installation, how the indicator decides, how to read the chart, all 44 inputs, alerts and three ways to trade with it.

Key features: - Market structure with BOS (dotted) and CHoCH (solid) lines and labels, teal for breaks up and orange for breaks down - Order blocks marked at every break, up to four live per side, ended by the close that goes through them - Retest arrows on closed bars, one per block, in the direction of the structure by default - A plan for every arrow: entry, stop beyond the block plus 0.2 ATR, TP1 at 1R and TP2 at 2R - Four alert events through popup, sound, push notification and e-mail - Same calculation on MT4 and MT5: identical inputs, swings, breaks, blocks, arrows and levels

Get the indicator (a free demo is available on both pages): 

MetaTrader 5: SMC Algo Spartan MT5 

MetaTrader 4: SMC Algo Spartan MT4

TIP: The indicator draws and alerts. It does not place trades. Decide your position size from the stop distance before you act on an arrow, and try every change of settings on a demo account first.

2. How the Indicator Works

Swings

A swing high is a high that no candle within Swing length bars on either side goes beyond (5 by default); a swing low is the mirror image. A swing is confirmed only when those bars to its right have closed, so at the default it appears five bars after the candle that made it. Each swing can be broken once.

Breaks: BOS and CHoCH

A candle that closes above the last swing high breaks structure up; a close below the last swing low breaks it down. A wick beyond the level is not a break. If the structure already pointed the way of the break, it is a BOS, drawn dotted. If it pointed the other way, it is a CHoCH, drawn solid, and the structure turns. The line runs from the swing to the breaking candle, with its label in the middle.

Figure 1. Illustration of the rule. Bearish breaks are the mirror image, in orange.

Order blocks

At each break the indicator looks back to the last opposite swing (at most 100 bars) and marks one candle as the order block: the candle with the lowest low before a break up, or the highest high before a break down. The block is that candle's high-to-low range, drawn as a box that extends to the right on every new bar while the block lives.

A bullish block ends on the first close below its bottom; a bearish block on the first close above its top. At most four blocks live on each side; a fifth removes the oldest.

Retest arrows

A buy arrow prints on a candle that, on its close: has its low at or below the top of a live bullish block marked on an earlier bar; closes above its open; does not close below the block's bottom; and, with Only trade in direction of structure on, comes while the structure is up. Each block gives one arrow at most, and a candle gives one buy arrow at most. A sell arrow is the mirror image.

The plan

Each arrow draws four lines, 20 bars long, with their prices at the right end:

• entry: the arrow candle's close (dotted grey),
• sl: for a buy, the lower of the block's bottom and the candle's low, minus 0.2 x ATR(14); for a sell, the higher of the block's top and the candle's high, plus 0.2 x ATR(14) (red),
• tp1: entry plus one times the risk for a buy, minus for a sell (green),
• tp2: two times the risk (cyan).

Figure 3. Illustration of the arrow rule and the default levels.

NOTE: Every break, block, arrow, level and alert is decided on a closed bar. The forming bar is never calculated, so an arrow appears when its bar has closed, in practice when the next bar opens, and once printed it does not move or disappear. What changes later is by design: a live block's box grows to the right, a block disappears (or turns grey) when a close goes through it, and the oldest drawings are removed beyond the limits described in section 6.

3. Installation from the MQL5.com Market

1. Open the product page for your platform: MT5 or MT4.
2. Click Buy (or Free Demo to test first) and complete the purchase with your MQL5.com account.
3. In MetaTrader, log in to the same MQL5.com account under Tools > Options > Community.
4. The indicator installs automatically. Find it in the Navigator under Indicators > Market. If it is not there yet, restart MetaTrader or right-click the Navigator and choose Refresh.
5. Drag it onto a chart, review the inputs and click OK.

NOTE: A free demo version is available for testing. Market demos run in the Strategy Tester: start a visual test to see the structure, blocks, arrows and levels on history. Alerts never fire in the tester, so the demo shows everything except alerts.

4. Reading the Chart

Everything on the chart, from left to right in time:

• Structure lines and labels. Dotted lines labelled BOS and solid lines labelled CHoCH, teal for breaks up and orange for breaks down. The colour of the newest label is the current structure.
• Order blocks. Green boxes are live bullish blocks, red boxes live bearish blocks. A box that still reaches the latest bars is alive; a block that was closed through is gone (or grey, if you keep mitigated blocks).
• Arrows. A green arrow under a candle is a buy retest; a magenta arrow over a candle is a sell retest.
• Plans. Next to each recent arrow, the entry, sl, tp1 and tp2 lines with their prices. The last five plans stay on the chart.

A four-question read works on any chart: what colour is the newest label, where are the live blocks against price, what does the newest arrow's plan say, and what would make the next arrow print.

On MetaTrader 4 the chart looks the same. The only visible difference is that the order block border is drawn with four lines instead of a rectangle outline.

5. Colours and Background

The block fills and borders are shaded over your chart's own background colour (the fill at 85 percent transparency, the border at 50 percent, a kept mitigated block at 88 percent), so they read on dark and light chart themes. If you change the chart background while the indicator runs, the shading follows. Every colour can be changed in the Colors group.

6. Input Parameters Reference

All 44 inputs, in the order of the settings dialog. MetaTrader 5 shows the groups as headings; MetaTrader 4 shows them as separator lines with the same names.

Market Structure (BOS / CHoCH)

Input	Default	What it does
Swing length	5	Bars on each side a swing high or low must beat. Smaller finds more, smaller swings and confirms sooner; larger keeps the bigger turns and confirms later
Show structure lines + labels	true	Draws the break lines and their labels. Off hides them; breaks are still detected and still create blocks
Show BOS	true	Draws the continuation breaks
Show CHoCH	true	Draws the breaks that turn the structure

Order Blocks

Input	Default	What it does
Show order blocks	true	Marks order blocks. Off also stops the arrows and plans, which come only from blocks
Create OB only on CHoCH (reversal)	false	Marks blocks only at a change of character; continuation breaks leave none
Only trade in direction of structure	true	Buy arrows only while the structure is up, sell arrows only while it is down. Off shows retests against the structure too
Max active OB per side (1-20)	4	Live blocks kept per side; a new one beyond this removes the oldest
Remove OB when mitigated	true	Removes a block on the close that goes through it. Off keeps it, stopped at that bar, in the mitigated colour

Signals

Input	Default	What it does
Show entry arrows	true	Draws the buy and sell arrows. Off hides the arrows only; plans and alerts still follow the same retests

SL / TP

Input	Default	What it does
Show SL/TP with arrows	true	Draws the entry, stop and target lines for each arrow
ATR length	14	ATR period behind the stop buffer
SL buffer (x ATR)	0.2	Extra distance beyond the block or candle for the stop, in ATR
TP1 risk:reward	1.0	TP1 distance in multiples of the entry-to-stop risk
TP2 risk:reward	2.0	TP2 distance in multiples of the risk
Show TP2	true	Draws the second target
SL/TP line length (bars)	20	How many bars to the right the plan lines run
Max trades kept on chart (1-50)	5	Plans kept on the chart; a new one beyond this removes the oldest
Show price in labels	true	Prints the price after entry, sl, tp1 and tp2; off prints the names only

Colors

Input	Default	What it does
Bullish OB fill	#4CAF50	Fill of bullish blocks (green, shaded over the background)
Bullish OB border	#4CAF50	Border of bullish blocks
Bearish OB fill	#F23645	Fill of bearish blocks (red)
Bearish OB border	#F23645	Border of bearish blocks
Mitigated OB (if kept)	#787B86	Grey of a block kept after it was closed through
Bullish BOS/CHoCH	#089981	Teal of breaks up and their labels
Bearish BOS/CHoCH	#FF9800	Orange of breaks down and their labels
Buy arrow	#00E676	Buy arrows (green)
Sell arrow	#E040FB	Sell arrows (magenta)
Entry line	#787B86	Dotted entry line and its label
SL line	#F23645	Stop line and its label
TP1 line	#4CAF50	TP1 line and its label
TP2 line	#00BCD4	TP2 line and its label (cyan)

MetaTrader

Input	Default	What it does
Bars to calculate (0 = all)	5000	How many recent bars the calculation covers. 0 covers the whole history and takes longer to load
Keep object limits (500 lines, 500 labels, 200 boxes)	true	Removes the oldest drawings beyond these counts. Off keeps every drawing in the window
Label font size	8	Size of the BOS, CHoCH and price labels, from 6 to 20

Alerts

Input	Default	What it does
Enable alerts	true	Master switch for every alert
Alert: buy (bullish OB retest)	true	Alert on each buy retest
Alert: sell (bearish OB retest)	true	Alert on each sell retest
Alert: bullish CHoCH	true	Alert when the structure turns up
Alert: bearish CHoCH	true	Alert when the structure turns down
Channel: popup window	true	MetaTrader's alert window, which plays its own sound
Channel: sound	true	Plays a sound when the popup is off
Channel: push notification	false	Sends to the MetaTrader mobile app
Channel: e-mail	false	Sends to the address set in the terminal

7. Alert Configuration

Each alert names the event, the symbol, the timeframe and the close of the bar that triggered it:

BUY (bullish OB retest) on <symbol> <timeframe> @ <close> SELL (bearish OB retest) on <symbol> <timeframe> @ <close> Bullish CHoCH on <symbol> <timeframe> @ <close> Bearish CHoCH on <symbol> <timeframe> @ <close>

For example: BUY (bullish OB retest) on EURUSD H1 @ 1.12253 . An e-mail carries the subject SMC Algo Spartan <symbol> <timeframe> .

Push notifications: install the MetaTrader app on your phone, copy its MetaQuotes ID into Tools > Options > Notifications on the desktop terminal, enable notifications, press Test, then set Channel: push notification to true.

E-mail: fill in the SMTP server, login and addresses under Tools > Options > Email, press Test, then set Channel: e-mail to true.

Rules that apply to every channel: - Alerts are evaluated on closed bars only and each event fires once per bar. - No alert fires for bars in history when the indicator loads, and none fires in the Strategy Tester. - Alerts fire only while the terminal is running and the chart is open. - With several charts open, each chart alerts for its own symbol and timeframe.

8. Trading Strategies

These are three ways to use the indicator, not recommendations. Test any of them on a demo account before using it with real money.

Strategy 1: Retests with the higher timeframe

Trade on one timeframe and read the structure on the next one up with the same indicator (H1 with H4, M15 with H1). Take only arrows whose direction matches the newest label on both charts. Enter after the arrow's close, put the stop where the plan draws it, size the position so that the stop equals your fixed risk per trade, and decide one rule for TP1 before the entry: take half and move the stop to the entry, or close at TP1, or hold for TP2.

Strategy 2: Reversals only

Set Create OB only on CHoCH (reversal) to true. Blocks are then marked only where the structure turns, and every arrow is the first retest after a change of character. Fewer arrows means more waiting; use the CHoCH alerts to know when a new reversal block exists.

Strategy 3: Structure map with your own entries

Switch Show entry arrows and Show SL/TP with arrows off and keep the structure and blocks. The chart becomes a map of breaks and live zones for your own entry method, with the CHoCH alerts telling you when the structure turns. This suits traders who already have an entry trigger and want the structure marked consistently.

TIP: Keep a log of the arrows you take and skip, with the higher-timeframe structure at the time. After fifty entries the log tells you more about your own use of the indicator than any count in a guide.

9. Troubleshooting

No arrows for a long time. Normal on many charts: an arrow needs a live, unused block on the side of the structure, a candle reaching into it and a close the right way. Switching Only trade in direction of structure off or using a smaller Swing length shows more.

No order blocks or arrows at all. Check that Show order blocks is true; arrows come only from blocks. Very short histories need a few swings before the first break can happen.

Arrows but no plan lines. Show SL/TP with arrows is false, or the chart has fewer bars than the ATR length at that point.

Drawings near the left edge differ from another chart. The calculation starts at the first bar of the Bars to calculate window. Use the same value on charts you compare.

Old drawings disappear. The chart keeps at most 500 lines, 500 labels and 200 boxes and removes the oldest first, and keeps the last five plans. Set Keep object limits to false or raise Max trades kept on chart to keep more.

Slow loading on a long chart. Bars to calculate (5000) limits the work to recent history; 0 calculates everything and takes longer.

No push notification or e-mail. Check the channel is true in the inputs and the terminal passes its Test under Tools > Options > Notifications or Email. A popup proves the indicator is firing. Alerts fire only on closed bars, only while the terminal runs, never in the tester.

Not in the Navigator. Restart or refresh, and check the terminal is logged in with the MQL5.com account you bought with (Tools > Options > Community). Look under Indicators > Market.

10. FAQ

Q: Does it repaint? A: No break, block, arrow, level or alert is decided on a forming bar, and none changes once printed. A swing is confirmed a fixed number of bars after it forms (five at the default), which is a delay, not a repaint. Live block boxes grow to the right and dead blocks are removed, by design.

Q: Which timeframes can I use? A: Any, from M1 to monthly. The swing length counts bars, so the swings are shorter in time on lower timeframes. The ATR in the stop buffer is the chart's own timeframe.

Q: Which markets? A: Any symbol, because it reads open, high, low and close only. The charts measured for the trading guide covered forex, gold and silver, Bitcoin and Ether, stock indices and crude oil. Prices print in the symbol's own digits.

Q: What differs between MT4 and MT5? A: Only one detail of the drawing: MT4 draws a block's border with four lines instead of a rectangle outline. The calculation, inputs, arrows and levels are the same.

Q: Why is there no win rate? A: A win rate depends on how the trade is managed after the entry, which the indicator does not do. The same arrow can reach TP1 and fail at TP2, or the reverse with a different buffer, so a single figure would describe a management rule you may not use. Test your own rule on a demo account.

Q: Do alerts work in the Strategy Tester? A: No, and not for history either. The demo, which runs in the tester, shows the structure, blocks, arrows and levels but no alerts.

Q: Can I run it on several charts? A: Yes. Each chart has its own copy, drawings and alerts, and every alert names its symbol and timeframe.

Q: Does it place trades or work as a trading robot? A: No. It is an indicator: it draws and alerts, and every order is yours.

11. Support and Contact

Product pages:

MetaTrader 5: SMC Algo Spartan MT5 

MetaTrader 4: SMC Algo Spartan MT4

Developer: Kestutis Balciunas, profile forexobroker on MQL5.com. Use the Message button on the profile or the product page.

Getting help: 1. Post general questions in the Comments section of the product page, so the answer helps other users too. 2. Send a private message for anything about your account or purchase. 3. Include your platform (MT4 or MT5) and build, broker, symbol and timeframe, any inputs you changed, a screenshot of the chart, and any message from the Experts tab.

Updates arrive through the MQL5 Market. A free demo version is available for testing before purchase.

12. Risk Disclaimer

Trading foreign exchange, contracts for difference, crypto assets and other leveraged instruments carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Leverage amplifies both profits and losses, and you can lose more than your deposit.

SMC Algo Spartan is an analysis tool. It does not place, modify or close orders, and no arrow, level or alert is a recommendation to trade. The counts in this guide describe what the indicator drew on real prices; they are not trading results and do not predict future results. Use a stop loss, practise on a demo account first, and only trade with capital you can afford to lose. The developer accepts no liability for trading decisions made with this tool.