Market Structure Buy Sell Signals
- Indicators
- Version: 1.0
- Activations: 5
ALMA Market Structure Buy Sell Signals
ALMA Market Structure Buy Sell Signals is a MetaTrader 5 indicator that combines an adaptive ALMA trend wave, BOS and CHoCH market structure analysis, confirmed swing Buy and Sell markers, smart candle coloring and a dynamic -2.5 standard deviation target.
The indicator is designed to provide several layers of price-structure information directly on the chart without automatically opening or managing trades.
Its main purpose is to help traders evaluate trend direction, confirmed swing points, structural breaks and the current relationship between price and a statistical downside target.
How It Works
The indicator combines five analytical modules.
1. ALMA Trend Wave
The primary trend wave is calculated using the Arnaud Legoux Moving Average applied to Close prices.
The calculation uses:
Wave Period
ALMA Offset: 0.85
ALMA Sigma: 6
When Close is above or equal to the ALMA wave, the wave uses the bullish color.
When Close is below the ALMA wave, the wave uses the bearish color.
An optional background fill is displayed between current price and the trend wave to make the active relationship easier to identify.
The default Wave Period is 21.
2. Smart Candle Coloring
The indicator can apply custom candle colors directly on the chart.
A candle is classified as an inside candle when:
High is less than or equal to the previous High
and
Low is greater than or equal to the previous Low.
The supplied logic also uses the consolidation color when the previous candle was an inside candle.
For other candles:
Close greater than or equal to Open is displayed using the bullish candle color.
Close below Open is displayed using the bearish candle color.
3. Market Structure BOS and CHoCH
The market structure engine detects confirmed swing highs and swing lows using a configurable symmetric pivot period.
The default Structure Sensitivity is 7.
Once a structure high or low has been confirmed, the indicator monitors closing prices for a break of that level.
Bullish Structure Break
When Close crosses above the most recent confirmed structure high, the indicator creates a bullish structure event.
If the previous structural direction was bearish, the event is classified as CHoCH.
Otherwise it is classified as BOS.
Bearish Structure Break
When Close crosses below the most recent confirmed structure low, the indicator creates a bearish structure event.
If the previous structural direction was bullish, the event is classified as CHoCH.
Otherwise it is classified as BOS.
Each structure event is displayed with a short horizontal level and a BOS or CHoCH label.
4. Confirmed Major Swing Buy and Sell Signals
A separate pivot calculation is used for the major swing markers.
The default Signal Swing Sensitivity is 10.
BUY Signal
A BUY marker is displayed after a major swing low has been confirmed by the required number of bars on its right side.
The marker is positioned below the original swing-low candle.
SELL Signal
A SELL marker is displayed after a major swing high has been confirmed by the required number of bars on its right side.
The marker is positioned above the original swing-high candle.
The vertical marker offset uses ATR(14) from the pivot-confirmation bar multiplied by 0.3.
These BUY and SELL labels represent confirmed major swing points. They are not automatic trade entries and the indicator does not open positions.
5. Standard Deviation Target
The indicator also calculates a dynamic downside statistical reference level.
Mean:
SMA of Close over the selected SD Calculation Period.
Standard Deviation:
Population standard deviation of Close over the same period.
Target:
Mean - 2.5 x Standard Deviation
The default SD Calculation Period is 20.
The current target is displayed as a configurable horizontal line extending from approximately 30 bars behind the current candle to 10 bars ahead.
Main Features
- ALMA-based dynamic trend wave
- Bullish and bearish wave coloring
- Price-to-wave background fill
- Smart bullish, bearish and inside-candle coloring
- Confirmed swing-based market structure detection
- Break of Structure labeling
- Change of Character labeling
- Confirmed major swing BUY markers
- Confirmed major swing SELL markers
- Separate structure and signal sensitivity controls
- ATR-based swing marker positioning
- Dynamic -2.5 standard deviation target
- Adjustable colors, line styles and display options
- Efficient incremental MetaTrader 5 calculation
Practical Starting Settings
Wave Period: 21
Wave Line Thickness: 2
Fill Opacity: 90
Structure Sensitivity: 7
Signal Swing Sensitivity: 10
SD Calculation Period: 20
SD Line Thickness: 2
SD Line Style: Dashed
These values are practical starting settings and can be adjusted according to the symbol, timeframe and type of market structure being analyzed.
Input Parameters
Dynamic Trend Wave
Show Trend Wave Line
Enables or disables the ALMA trend wave.
Wave Period
Controls the number of candles used by the ALMA calculation.
Wave Line Thickness
Controls the displayed line width.
Bullish Wave Color
Sets the wave color while Close is above or equal to the ALMA value.
Bearish Wave Color
Sets the wave color while Close is below the ALMA value.
Background Fill Opacity
Controls the visual intensity of the area between price and the ALMA wave.
Smart Candle Coloring
Enable Smart Candle Color Engine
Enables or disables the custom candle overlay.
Bullish Candle Color
Sets the color for bullish candles outside the consolidation condition.
Bearish Candle Color
Sets the color for bearish candles outside the consolidation condition.
Consolidation / Inside Candle Color
Sets the color for inside-bar related candles.
Market Structure
Show BOS and CHoCH Shifts
Enables or disables structural break visualization.
Structure Sensitivity
Controls the symmetric swing-pivot period used by the market structure engine.
BOS Color
Controls the color of Break of Structure events.
CHoCH Color
Controls the color of Change of Character events.
Structure Label Size
Controls the size of BOS and CHoCH text.
Major Swing Signals
Show Confirmed BUY / SELL Badges
Enables or disables confirmed major swing markers.
Signal Swing Sensitivity
Controls the pivot period used for BUY and SELL swing detection.
BUY and SELL Colors
Control the visual appearance of bullish and bearish swing markers.
Standard Deviation Target
Show -2.5 SD Next Target Line
Enables or disables the statistical target.
SD Calculation Period
Controls the SMA and standard-deviation calculation period.
SD Line Color
Sets the target-line color.
SD Line Style
Selects Solid, Dashed or Dotted.
SD Line Thickness
Controls the target-line width.
Trading Use
The indicator can be used for several forms of technical chart analysis, including:
- Market structure analysis
- BOS and CHoCH monitoring
- Trend-direction analysis
- Confirmed swing-high and swing-low identification
- Price-action analysis
- Consolidation and inside-bar visualization
- Statistical price-reference analysis
The ALMA wave can provide trend context while BOS and CHoCH identify structural continuation or directional change.
The confirmed major swing labels can be used to locate important historical turning points.
The -2.5 SD level provides an additional statistical reference rather than a guaranteed price target.
Markets and Timeframes
The indicator does not contain a hard-coded trading symbol or chart timeframe.
It can therefore be tested on different MetaTrader 5 symbols and timeframes.
Market behavior and the frequency of swing or structure events can vary considerably between instruments and chart periods, so users should evaluate the settings for their own trading environment.
Signal and Repaint Information
Market structure and major swing detection use confirmed pivots that require bars on both sides of the pivot candle.
This introduces an intentional confirmation delay.
The BUY and SELL swing labels are therefore displayed on the historical pivot candle only after the required right-side bars become available.
The currently forming candle is still used by several live calculations.
Before the current candle closes:
- ALMA values can change.
- Trend-wave color can change.
- Candle color can change.
- A current BOS or CHoCH event can change.
- A pivot currently being confirmed can change.
- The -2.5 SD target can change.
For this reason, the indicator should not be described as fully non-repainting.
Performance
ALMA Market Structure Buy Sell Signals is designed for efficient MetaTrader 5 operation.
Historical values and structure events are calculated during the initial load.
During normal real-time operation, the indicator processes only the most recent chart data required by the current calculation instead of recalculating the complete history on every tick.
Trend wave, background fill and smart candle coloring use indicator buffers rather than creating a chart object for every candle.
The indicator does not require DLL files, WebRequest, external indicators or network connections.
Risk Management
BOS, CHoCH, confirmed swing markers, trend-wave conditions and statistical targets do not guarantee future market direction.
Users should consider appropriate Stop Loss placement, position sizing and risk management when incorporating the indicator into a trading method.
Disclaimer
ALMA Market Structure Buy Sell Signals is a technical analysis indicator for MetaTrader 5.
It does not guarantee future trading results. Financial market trading involves risk, and users remain responsible for their own trading decisions and risk management.
