RelicusRoad Fractals MT4
- Indicators
- Version: 2.306
- Updated: 25 September 2026
RelicusRoad Fractals is a fractal indicator for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 that marks swing highs and swing lows at two strengths, a Fast test of 7 bars on each side and a Slow test of 15 bars on each side.
A 7-bar window on each side already filters out many small wiggles, and the Slow test asks for more than twice that, so its thicker arrows pick out the swings that held over a much wider stretch of the chart. Both strengths are shown together, so minor and larger swings can be told apart at a glance.
How it works
A bar is a high fractal when no bar within the window to its left has a higher high and no bar within the window to its right has a high that is higher or equal. On a tie, the newer bar takes the mark. Low fractals are the mirror image. The test runs at two fixed strengths:
- Fast: the high or low must stand out against 7 bars on each side.
- Slow: the high or low must stand out against 15 bars on each side.
Because the test needs bars on the right, an arrow can only appear once those bars exist. The newest possible Fast arrow is 7 bars back and the newest possible Slow arrow is 15 bars back. Every Slow fractal also passes the Fast test, since the 15-bar window contains the 7-bar window, so a Slow arrow always sits on a bar that also carries a Fast arrow. Only the chart timeframe is used.
What it draws
- Fast high arrows: thin red arrowheads at the exact high of the swing bar.
- Fast low arrows: thin green arrowheads at the exact low of the swing bar.
- Slow high arrows: thick red arrowheads, drawn over the thin Fast arrow on the same bar.
- Slow low arrows: thick green arrowheads, drawn over the thin Fast arrow on the same bar.
- Empty right edge: the newest 7 bars carry no arrows while their windows are still incomplete.
- Clean chart: no lines, boxes or text labels are added.
Reading the chart
With the default colors, Fast and Slow arrows share the same glyph and color and differ only in width, 1 for Fast and 3 for Slow. A thin arrow on its own is a minor swing. A thick arrow marks a swing that also held against 15 bars on each side, which is the kind of point many traders use for structure and stop placement.
Give Slow arrows a different color if you want the two strengths to be easier to tell apart at a glance.
Arrows are delayed by design. A swing high that printed five bars ago has no Fast arrow yet, because two more bars must close before the 7-bar test on its right side is complete.
Inputs
Fast arrows:
- Fast High Color: red by default.
- Fast Low Color: green by default.
- Fast High Size: arrow width, 1 by default.
- Fast Low Size: arrow width, 1 by default.
Slow arrows and history:
- Slow High Color: red by default.
- Slow Low Color: green by default.
- Slow High Size: arrow width, 3 by default.
- Slow Low Size: arrow width, 3 by default.
- History: how many recent bars are calculated, 3000 by default and capped at 5000.
Recommended use
Works on forex, gold (XAUUSD), indices, stocks and crypto, on any chart timeframe. Attach it to the timeframe you want to map; the arrows always describe the swings of that chart. The indicator recalculates when a new bar opens, not on every tick.
Common questions
Can I change the 7-bar and 15-bar windows? No. Both strengths are fixed in this build. Only colors, arrow widths and History can be changed.
Can a Fast arrow disappear? Yes, briefly. A new Fast arrow is first tested while the newest bar is still forming, and it is tested again over the following bars, so it can appear and then be removed one bar later. Once a bar has 7 closed bars on its right and has been tested with them, its Fast arrow no longer changes.
Can a Slow arrow be out of date on a live chart? It can. A Slow arrow is tested once, when the fifteenth bar to its right opens. If that bar later goes beyond the swing, the arrow stays until the chart is reloaded.
Can it read fractals from a higher timeframe? No. It works on the chart timeframe only.
About and support
Two-strength fractal detection is the swing engine underneath several RelicusRoad Pro modules, offered here on its own for traders who map structure with fractals. It runs standalone and needs no other RelicusRoad product.
Questions and support are handled in the product comments and through the mql5.com messaging system.
