iMA() has a bug with with price mode; e.g. MODE_OPEN actually uses the CLOSE
Hi, I have an indicator calling iMA() to return a moving average. If I use MODE_CLOSE in the code, it uses the LOW prices. [...]
It's a bug in your code, not in MT4, albeit it's abetted by a very unwise development decision in MT4.
The documentation of the applied price parameter (https://docs.mql4.com/constants/prices) for the iMA() function (https://docs.mql4.com/indicators/iMA) says that you should use PRICE_OPEN, PRICE_CLOSE etc, not MODE_OPEN, MODE_CLOSE.
MODE_OPEN etc are used with a different set of functions; see https://docs.mql4.com/constants/series.
It wasn't wise for the MT4 developers to have two different enumerations, with overlapping purposes/meanings, and with different values. I know of a very widely-used indicator which incorrectly uses MODE_OPEN etc instead of PRICE_OPEN, leading to some unintended behaviour of the indicator which is believed to be a "feature" rather than a bug.
Many thanks, yes indeed I should use PRICE_Close. Thanks jjc and all.
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Hi, I have an indicator calling iMA() to return a moving average.
If I use MODE_CLOSE in the code, it uses the LOW prices.
If I use MODE_OPEN in the code, it uses the CLOSE prices.
I can tell this by setting the period to 1 and seeing what prices the moving average tracks.
Here is the line of code I am using.
// moving average
ma[i] = iMA(Symbol(),0,MA_Period,0,MA_Type,MODE_OPEN,i); // as of Oct 20, 2011, MODE_OPEN actually calculates on the CLOSE price. THIS IS ABUG.
I don't know if other indicators suffer the same problem, but I am now very wary of everything inside MT4. I am using build 402.
Please provide a comment in regard to this issue.
Thanks,
saltminer