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News Lines Utility – Economic Calendar Lines and Event Panel - expert for MetaTrader 5

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Published:

21 October 2026, 21:53

Screenshot 2026-10-22 075006.png (62.79 KB)

NewsLines_v1.30.mq5 (48.25 KB) view

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News Lines – Economic Calendar Lines & Event Panel

Version 1.30 · Expert Advisor (utility, does not trade) · MetaTrader 5

1. Overview

News Lines puts the economic calendar where you actually look: on the price chart. Every scheduled release appears as a vertical line at its exact time, coloured by importance. Hover over a line to see the event names, forecast, previous and actual values. A compact panel lists what is coming in the next hours and what was released in the past hours, and can be moved, resized, collapsed and scrolled.

The product is a utility. It does not open, modify or close any trades and does not require trading permissions.

Key features

Feature	Description
Colour-coded lines	Red = high impact, orange = medium impact, dark yellow = low impact (all colours adjustable)
Tooltips	Hover over a line to see time, currency, event title, forecast, previous and actual value. Events at the same minute share one line and one tooltip
History and future	Lines are drawn for the whole visible chart, including the empty area to the right of the last bar (scheduled events)
All timeframes	M1 to MN1, any symbol
Two news sources	MT5 built-in Economic Calendar or Forex Factory weekly JSON feed – switchable with one button
Event panel	Upcoming events (default next 36 h) and past events (default last 36 h), with countdown timers
Draggable and resizable	Drag by the header, resize from the bottom-right corner, collapse to a title bar, scroll with the wheel or the draggable scrollbar
Quick-filter buttons	Labels on/off, Impact High/All, Group cycle, Source switch, font size A− / A+
Instrument groups	Gold & Silver, Forex Majors, Indices, Oil & Gas – each group has its own currency list and title keywords that you can edit
Click-to-focus	Click an event in the panel to show only that event on the chart, at every occurrence. One click on Reset restores everything
Optional labels	Rotated text labels next to the lines, hidden by default, toggled by a button. Labels sit behind the panel
Strategy Tester support	Works in visual mode with your own CSV history or a clearly-labelled sample schedule; actual values are hidden until release time (no look-ahead)
Remembers your settings	Panel position, size, font size and button states are kept between timeframe changes and restarts
No DLL	Does not use any DLL imports

2. How it works

Step	What happens
1	The EA loads events from the selected source (MT5 calendar or Forex Factory feed).
2	Events are filtered by impact level and by the active group (currencies + keywords).
3	Lines are created for the visible chart range plus one screen-width on each side, so scrolling stays filled. The range is recalculated shortly after you scroll or zoom.
4	The panel shows events within the configured window around the current server time.
5	The data is refreshed automatically (default every 15 minutes) so new forecast and actual values appear.

If more than the maximum number of lines would be drawn (default 1000), the lowest-impact lines are dropped first.

3. News sources

	MT5 Economic Calendar	Forex Factory feed
Provider	MetaQuotes calendar built into MetaTrader 5	Free weekly JSON feed (FairEconomy mirror of the Forex Factory calendar)
History	Full history – lines go back as far as the chart does	Current week and next week only
Future	As far as the broker's calendar has events scheduled (usually several weeks)	Current week and next week
Actual values	Yes	Not provided by the feed
Setup	None	Add the web address to the WebRequest allowed list (see Section 4)
Tester	Not available in the tester (see Section 8)	Not available in the tester (see Section 8)
Notes	Requires a connected terminal; some brokers provide limited calendar data	The feed is a third-party service. The EA keeps a local copy and falls back to it if a download fails. Downloads are limited to once every 5 minutes at most

Use the Source button in the panel to switch at any time. The panel and lines update immediately.

4. Installation and setup

Copy the .ex5 file to MQL5\Experts (or install from the Market) and restart or refresh the Navigator.
Drag News Lines onto a chart. Allow algorithmic trading is not required for display, but the EA must be allowed to run.
Only for the Forex Factory source: open Tools → Options → Expert Advisors, tick Allow WebRequest for listed URL, and add the address https://nfs.faireconomy.media . Without this, the footer of the panel shows the reason for the failed download.
Only one Expert Advisor can run per chart. If you already run a trading EA on a chart, attach News Lines to a second chart of the same symbol.

System requirements

Item	Requirement
Platform	MetaTrader 5 (build with Economic Calendar support)
Account	Any (demo / real, hedging / netting)
Symbols / timeframes	All
Internet	Required for the calendar and for the Forex Factory feed
DLL imports	Not required
Trading permission	Not required

5. The panel

Layout

Area	Content
Header	Title, A− / A+ (font size), − / + (collapse / expand). Drag the header to move the panel
Toolbar	Labels, Impact, Group, Source buttons (and Reset while an event is focused). Wraps to a second row on narrow panels
List	UPCOMING section (soonest first) and PAST section (most recent first). Columns: date/time, countdown, currency, event title. With a wide panel, forecast / previous / actual are shown on the right
Footer	Status (source, event count, errors) and time zone. Drag the triangle in the bottom-right corner to resize

The coloured bar at the left of each row shows the impact. Rows starting within 30 minutes are highlighted.

Buttons and mouse actions

Control	Action
Labels: On / Off	Show or hide text labels on the chart (off by default)
Impact: High / All	High only (default), or also medium and low impact (subject to the Allow inputs)
Group: …	Cycles Default → Gold & Silver → Forex Majors → Indices → Oil & Gas
Source: MT5 / FF	Switches between the MT5 calendar and the Forex Factory feed
A− / A+	Decrease / increase the panel font size
− / +	Collapse the panel to its header / expand it
Click an event row	Focus: only this event (same currency and title) is shown on the chart at every occurrence. Click the row again to clear
Reset	Clears the focus and restores the normal filters
Mouse wheel over the list	Scrolls the list
Scrollbar	Drag the thumb, or click the track to jump
Drag header	Moves the panel
Drag bottom-right corner	Resizes the panel

While the mouse is over the panel, chart scrolling by mouse is paused so that the panel can be used without moving the chart.

Colours

Colour	Impact
Red	High
Orange	Medium
Dark yellow	Low

6. Instrument groups

A group is a filter made of a currency list and an optional keyword list. An event is shown if its currency is in the list and (the keyword list is empty or the event title contains at least one keyword; matching ignores upper/lower case). Events can belong to several groups.

Group	Default currencies	Default keywords
Default	Set by Currency filter input (chart symbol currencies, all, or custom list)	–
Gold & Silver	USD	non-farm, payroll, employment, unemployment, jobless, cpi, inflation, pce, ppi, retail sales, gdp, fed, fomc, federal funds, interest rate, ism, powell, treasury
Forex Majors	USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, CAD, AUD, NZD	(empty = all events of these currencies)
Indices	USD, EUR, GBP, JPY	non-farm, payroll, employment, unemployment, cpi, ppi, gdp, retail sales, pmi, ism, fed, fomc, ecb, boe, boj, interest rate, rate decision, consumer confidence, ifo, zew, sentiment
Oil & Gas	USD, CAD	crude, oil, natural gas, eia, api, baker hughes, rig count, gasoline, distillate, cushing, refinery, opec, non-farm, fomc, fed, cpi, gdp

All lists can be edited in the input settings, separated by commas.

7. Input parameters

News source

Parameter	Default	Description
News source	MT5 built-in Economic Calendar	Source used at start-up (can be switched with the panel button)
FF feed: this week	feed address	Address of the current-week JSON feed
FF feed: next week	feed address	Address of the next-week JSON feed
Refresh interval (minutes)	15	How often data is refreshed. The Forex Factory feed is never downloaded more often than every 5 minutes

Start-up state

Parameter	Default	Description
Start group	Default	Group active at start-up
Start showing ALL impact levels	false	false = High only
Start with labels visible	false	Labels hidden by default
Ignore remembered state/position	false	Set to true to re-apply these inputs and the initial panel position/size

The buttons are remembered between sessions. If you change one of the start-up inputs, the new value is applied at the next start.

Default group – currency filter

Parameter	Default	Description
Currency filter	Currencies of the chart symbol	Chart symbol currencies / All currencies / Custom list
Custom currencies	USD,EUR,GBP,JPY	Used when Custom list is selected

Impact levels allowed

Parameter	Default	Description
Allow HIGH impact	true	Master switch for high-impact events
Allow MEDIUM impact	true	Shown only when the Impact button is set to All
Allow LOW impact	true	Shown only when the Impact button is set to All

Group settings

Parameter	Default	Description
Gold & Silver – currencies / keywords	see Section 6	Edit to fine-tune
Forex Majors – currencies / keywords	see Section 6
Indices – currencies / keywords	see Section 6
Oil & Gas – currencies / keywords	see Section 6

Chart lines

Parameter	Default	Description
Draw lines on chart	true	Master switch for lines
High / Medium / Low colour	Red / Orange / dark yellow	Line and label colours
Line style	Dash	Style of the vertical lines
Line width	1	Width of the lines
Label font size	8	Font size of the chart labels
Label max characters	32	Longer labels are shortened
Max lines drawn	1000	Lowest-impact lines are dropped first when exceeded
Limit history in days	0	0 = as far as the chart goes
Lines selectable	false	Enable if tooltips do not appear in your build

Panel

Parameter	Default	Description
Show panel	true	Show or hide the event panel
Panel: hours back	36	Past window in the panel
Panel: hours ahead	36	Upcoming window in the panel
Panel time zone	Local PC time	Local time or broker server time. Chart lines always use server time
Initial X / Y	20 / 40	Initial position in pixels
Initial width / height	460 / 400	Initial size in pixels (minimum width 340)

8. Strategy Tester

The calendar and web access are not available inside the Strategy Tester, so the EA uses its own tester data.

Mode	Behaviour
Non-visual	The EA starts, prints one message to the journal and does nothing else. No lines, no panel, no errors
Visual	Full panel and lines using tester data (below)

Tester data

Priority	Data	Notes
1	File NewsLines_history.csv in the Common\Files folder (or MQL5\Files)	Your own history. Format below
2	Built-in sample schedule	Recurring pattern of typical events (payrolls, CPI, FOMC, ECB, crude inventories, jobless claims, ISM, sentiment). Titles end with "(sample)" and the footer states that this is not real data

CSV format – one event per line, separated by semicolons, time in broker server time. Lines that do not start with a digit (headers, comments) are ignored.

2025.01.10 15:30;USD;High;Non-Farm Payrolls;160K;227K;143K 2025.01.14 15:30;USD;High;CPI m/m;0.3%;0.3%;0.4% 2025.01.15 10:00;EUR;Low;Sentiment Index

Column	Content
1	Date and time yyyy.mm.dd hh:mm (server time)
2	Currency code
3	High , Medium or Low (or 3 / 2 / 1)
4	Event title
5–7	Forecast, previous, actual (optional)

In the tester, actual values are hidden until the event time has passed, so the display does not reveal the future.

9. Frequently asked questions

Question	Answer
Does it trade?	No. It only displays information.
Why can't I see lines to the right of the last bar?	Enable Chart Shift or scroll the chart to open empty space on the right. On higher timeframes the empty area covers more days.
The lines show no tooltip.	Set Lines selectable to true.
The footer says the Forex Factory download failed.	Add the feed address to Tools → Options → Expert Advisors → Allow WebRequest for listed URL. The footer text shows the exact error.
The MT5 calendar shows no data.	The terminal must be connected to the broker. Some brokers provide limited calendar data.
Labels are hidden behind candles.	Labels are drawn in the chart background so that the panel is always above them.
Can I use it together with a trading EA?	Only one EA can run per chart. Attach News Lines to a second chart of the same symbol.
Times look different from my local time.	Chart lines use broker server time. The panel can show local or server time (input Panel time zone).
How do I reset the panel position?	Set Ignore remembered state/position to true.

10. Limitations

Item	Detail
One EA per chart	MetaTrader restriction.
Forex Factory feed	Covers the current and next week only and contains no actual values. It is a third-party service whose availability the author cannot guarantee.
MT5 calendar	Depends on the data supplied by the broker's terminal connection. Values are shown as plain numbers without units.
Strategy Tester	Real historical news is only available through your own CSV file; otherwise the sample schedule is used.
High-DPI screens	Panel text is sized in pixels; use A− / A+ to adjust.

11. Disclaimer

This product displays information from third-party sources and is provided as a visual aid. It does not provide trading signals or investment advice. Economic data may be delayed, incomplete or incorrect. Trading involves risk; you are responsible for your own decisions.

12. Version history

Version	Changes
1.30	Strategy Tester support (CSV history / sample schedule), actual values hidden until release in the tester, quiet non-visual mode
1.20	Click-to-focus on an event and Reset button, source switch button, draggable scrollbar, instrument groups, font size buttons, label toggle, high-impact-only default
1.00	First release

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