When is the time zone problem going to be fixed?

[antiseptic]

When will I finally be able to choose my own time zone?  No broker will let you choose.  It's just what the server says and that's it.  I don't understand why it's such a problem to have a local function that simply adds/subtracts the time?

[William Roeder]

1. It's not a simple function. Depends on your TZ and DST, your brokers TZ and if they use DST.
2. Your TZ is irrevalent. Forex is a global market, use the proper TZ (NY+7.)
3. Chart times are broker times.
   • FX opens 5pm Eastern Time (NY) Sunday and ends 5pm NY Friday. Some brokers start after (6pm is common/end before (up to 15 minutes) due to low volatility.
               Checking for Market Closed - Expert Advisors and Automated Trading - MQL5 programming forum

     Swap is computed 5pm ET. No swap if no open orders at that time.

   • Brokers use a variety of time zones. Their local time (with or without DST,) London, UTC, London+2, UTC+2, NY+7.

     Only with NY+7 does the broker's 00:00 equals 5pm ET and the start of a daily bar (and H4) is the start of a new FX day.

     GMT/BST brokers, means there is a 1 or 2 hour D1/H4 bar on Sunday (depending on NY DST,) and a short Friday bar. (Problems with indicators based off bars.)

     GMT+2 is close but doesn't adjust for NY DST.

     EET is closer except when their DST doesn't match NY's. Last Sunday of March and 1:00 on the last Sunday of October vs second Sunday in March and return at 2:00 a.m. EDT to 1:00 a.m. EST on the first Sunday in November.

   • Non-NY+7, means the chart daily bar overlaps the start, and converting broker time to NY time requires broker to GMT to NY timezone conversions.

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   • If you search the web you will find differing answers. Those are all wrong (half the year) because they do not take DST into account (or that it changed for the US in 2007 [important when testing history.])

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   • Then there are H4 candles that start on odd hours.
               Why My XAUUSD 4H candles start with 1 hour shift? - Currency Pairs - General - MQL5 programming forum

[amando]

antiseptic:
When will I finally be able to choose my own time zone?  No broker will let you choose.  It's just what the server says and that's it.  I don't understand why it's such a problem to have a local function that simply adds/subtracts the time?

You can create an indicator for your time gone bars, but the other indicators  run in default one

[Alain Verleyen]

antiseptic:
When will I finally be able to choose my own time zone?  No broker will let you choose.  It's just what the server says and that's it.  I don't understand why it's such a problem to have a local function that simply adds/subtracts the time?

It's very complicate to realize in a generic way. And it will never happen with MT4 or MT5 unless you code your own charts, which could be simpler if you want a fixed shift.

[Alessandro Pungitore]

Alain Verleyen #:
It's very complicate to realize in a generic way. And it will never happen with MT4 or MT5 unless you code your own charts, which could be simpler if you want a fixed shift.

True and this is a good starting point read the article https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/1208