News Spread Risk Dashboard (Spike and Gap Monitor) - indicator for MetaTrader 5

Overview

News Spread Risk Dashboard is a lightweight chart-overlay indicator designed to help traders immediately recognize dangerous market conditions where spread expansion can destroy entries, exits, and risk control—especially during high-impact news, rollover, session transitions, and illiquid periods (weekend open, holidays, thin books).

Instead of guessing whether the market is “safe to trade,” the indicator continuously measures the real Ask–Bid difference and visualizes spread risk as a clean, compact panel on the chart.

What You Get on the Chart

The dashboard shows a rolling snapshot of spread conditions:

• Current Spread (live)
• Min (Window) spread
• Max (Window) spread
• Avg (Window) spread
• Status line: Stable or RISK with the reason

The background automatically switches color when a warning condition is detected—so the signal is visible at a glance.

Why This Matters (Practical Use Cases)

Spread spikes often occur exactly when traders are most vulnerable:

• News releases: spreads widen before and after the event
• Liquidity gaps: session open/close, rollover, holidays
• Fast markets: sudden volatility can cause spread “bursts”
• Scalping & tight stops: even small spikes can invalidate trade logic

This dashboard is a risk filter: it helps you decide when to wait, reduce size, widen stops, or skip entries.

Warning Logic (Two Modes)

You can choose how the warning triggers:

1) Relative Spike Detection (Recommended)

The indicator warns when the live spread becomes a multiple of its own recent behavior:

• Warning if Current ≥ Avg × Risk Multiplier
• Example: Multiplier 1.5 means “warn when spread is 1.5× the recent average”

This is robust across different symbols because it adapts to normal spread conditions.

2) Absolute Threshold (Fixed Limit)

The indicator warns when the live spread reaches a fixed limit:

• Warning if Current ≥ Threshold
• Supports Symbol-Specific Thresholds (per instrument)
  • Example format:
    EURUSD:3.0,GBPUSD:3.5,USDJPY:2.5,USDCAD:3.2,XAUUSD:30.0,US30:8.0

This is ideal if you already know exactly what spread level makes a setup invalid for each market.

Display Units (Forex, Crypto, Metals, Indices)

To keep readings meaningful, the indicator supports multiple display modes:

• Smart Auto
  • Forex: pips
  • Non-Forex: price difference (Ask–Bid)
• Price Difference (always)
• Spread Percentage (universal risk metric)
• Classic Pips (forced)
• Raw Points (forced)

Alerts (Optional)

When a risk condition is detected, you can enable alerts with a cooldown to prevent spam:

• Popup alert
• Sound alert
• Push notification

Performance & Stability

• Uses a millisecond timer for smooth updates (useful for crypto and fast feeds)
• Stores samples in a rolling window (default 300 seconds)
• Includes a minimum sample interval and a safety cap to prevent “array explosion”
• Debug logging can be enabled for diagnostics (not recommended for live)

Recommended Settings

• Start with:
  • Display Mode: Smart Auto
  • Warning Mode: Relative
  • Risk Multiplier: 1.5 to 2.0
  • Window: 300 seconds
• If you trade specific symbols consistently, enable Symbol-Specific Thresholds and tune values per instrument.

Notes / Limitations

• This indicator measures spread behavior, not slippage or execution quality directly.
• Spread values depend on your broker’s feed and symbol contract specification.
• For very illiquid symbols, consider increasing the minimum sample interval or reducing update speed.