ADX Cross Indicator used in custom EA

[Point Zero]

Hello,

This is my first post. I am programming a custom EA that uses ADX Cross indicator which prints in the chart arrows to signal buys and sells. Like the following:

I added another buffer to the Indicator in order to be able to read the signal, which was one of three: BUY, SELL or NOTHING.

I run the backtest on a chart and the signals where not the same as painted in the chart. The original code of the Indicator is the following:

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//|                                                   ADXcrosses.mq4 |
//|                      Copyright © 2004, MetaQuotes Software Corp. |
//|                                        http://www.metaquotes.net |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright "Copyright © 2004, MetaQuotes Software Corp."
#property link "http://www.metaquotes.net"

#property indicator_chart_window
#property indicator_buffers 2
#property indicator_color1 Blue
#property indicator_color2 Red
//---- input parameters
extern int ADXcrossesPeriod = 10;
//---- buffers
double ExtMapBuffer1[];
double ExtMapBuffer2[];
//----
double b4plusdi, b4minusdi, nowplusdi, nowminusdi;
int    nShift;   
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator initialization function                         |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int init()
  {
//---- indicators
    SetIndexStyle(0, DRAW_ARROW, 0, 1);
    SetIndexArrow(0, 233);
    SetIndexBuffer(0, ExtMapBuffer1);
//----
    SetIndexStyle(1, DRAW_ARROW, 0, 1);
    SetIndexArrow(1, 234);
    SetIndexBuffer(1, ExtMapBuffer2);
//---- name for DataWindow and indicator subwindow label
    IndicatorShortName("ADXcrosses(" + ADXcrossesPeriod + ")");
    SetIndexLabel(0, "ADXcrUp");
    SetIndexLabel(1, "ADXcrDn"); 
//----
    switch(Period())
      {
        case     1: nShift = 1;   break;    
        case     5: nShift = 3;   break; 
        case    15: nShift = 5;   break; 
        case    30: nShift = 10;  break; 
        case    60: nShift = 15;  break; 
        case   240: nShift = 20;  break; 
        case  1440: nShift = 80;  break; 
        case 10080: nShift = 100; break; 
        case 43200: nShift = 200; break;               
      }
//----
    return(0);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custor indicator deinitialization function                       |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int deinit()
  {
//----
    return(0);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator iteration function                              |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int start()
  {
    int limit;
    int counted_bars = IndicatorCounted();
//---- check for possible errors
    if(counted_bars < 0) 
        return(-1);
//---- last counted bar will be recounted
    if(counted_bars > 0) 
        counted_bars--;
    limit = Bars - counted_bars;
//----
    for(int i = 0; i < limit; i++)
      {
        b4plusdi = iADX(NULL, 0, ADXcrossesPeriod, PRICE_CLOSE, MODE_PLUSDI, i - 1);
        nowplusdi = iADX(NULL, 0, ADXcrossesPeriod, PRICE_CLOSE, MODE_PLUSDI, i);
        b4minusdi = iADX(NULL, 0, ADXcrossesPeriod, PRICE_CLOSE, MODE_MINUSDI, i - 1);
        nowminusdi = iADX(NULL, 0, ADXcrossesPeriod, PRICE_CLOSE, MODE_MINUSDI, i);  
        //----
        if(b4plusdi > b4minusdi && nowplusdi < nowminusdi)
            ExtMapBuffer1[i] = Low[i] - nShift*Point;
        //----
        if(b4plusdi < b4minusdi && nowplusdi > nowminusdi)
            ExtMapBuffer2[i] = High[i] + nShift*Point;
      }
//----
    return(0);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+

My EA is executed each time a bar closes, not each tick. And the signals where different, and late. Why can that be?

Should I extract the logic from the Indicator to the EA?

Thank you

[Simon Gniadkowski]

Does the Indicator re-paint ?

[William Roeder]

for(int i = 0; i < limit; i++)
      {
        b4plusdi = iADX(NULL, 0, ADXcrossesPeriod, PRICE_CLOSE, MODE_PLUSDI, i - 1);

when I==0 I-1 is the FUTURE. you want I+1.