Bar Countdown With Symbol Info

Bar Countdown With Symbol Info is a chart utility for MetaTrader 5 that shows how much time is left until the current candle closes, together with a compact information bar for the symbol on the chart. It does not generate trading signals and does not place trades. Its purpose is to keep frequently checked information visible on the chart in a clean, readable form.

Candle countdown

The countdown shows the time remaining in the current candle of the chart timeframe, or of any other timeframe you select in the settings. When a different timeframe is selected, its name is shown next to the timer. The display adapts to the length of the period, showing minutes and seconds on intraday charts and adding hours and days on higher timeframes. Monthly candles are calculated using the actual calendar length of each month.

The countdown box can either follow the current price line on the right edge of the chart or stay fixed in any chart corner. Its color reflects the direction of the current candle: one tint when price is above the candle open and another when it is below. When the market is closed, outside of trading sessions or when no quotes have been received for a configurable time, the box shows CLOSED in a neutral color.

Symbol information bar

The information bar can show the following fields, each of which can be turned on or off: symbol, chart timeframe, current spread, bid, ask, daily change, server time with UTC offset, and market status.

The spread can be shown in points or pips, with optional warning and high levels that change its color when exceeded. The daily change is measured from the previous trading day's close and is shown both as a price difference and as a percentage. It is calculated from daily history regardless of the chart timeframe, so it shows the same value on M1 and on monthly charts. Server time is shown in 12-hour format together with the broker's UTC offset.

The bar can be placed in any chart corner, arranged horizontally or vertically, and switched to compact labels to save space. Clicking the bar collapses it to a single field, and clicking again expands it.

Appearance

Both panels use rounded, semi-transparent backgrounds with a soft top gloss, a fine edge highlight, an optional drop shadow and thin dividers between fields. Corner radius, opacity, gloss and edge strength can be adjusted. Captions and values are shown in different text colors so values are easy to read at a glance.

The indicator can automatically adapt its colors to the chart background. On dark charts it uses the dark color set, and on light charts it switches to a light color set with darker text and outlines. The change is applied immediately when the chart colors are changed. Both color sets can be customized, and the automatic switching can be turned off.

On high-DPI screens the panels are scaled automatically so they stay proportional to the text.

Technical notes

The indicator draws only chart objects and uses no indicator buffers. Objects are updated only when their content or position changes, which keeps the load on the terminal low even though the countdown position is updated on every tick. Several copies can run on the same chart, for example to show countdowns for two timeframes, by giving each copy a different object prefix in the settings. All objects are removed when the indicator is removed from the chart.

Input parameters

General: object prefix, automatic high-DPI scaling.

Glass style: corner radius, countdown opacity, information bar opacity, gloss strength, edge highlight strength, drop shadow, field dividers, automatic adaptation to the chart background.

Countdown: target timeframe, position mode (follow price or fixed), corner, horizontal and vertical margins, vertical offset from the price line, bullish, bearish and closed colors, text color, font and font size.

Information bar: show or hide, horizontal or vertical layout, compact labels, corner, margins, background tint, value and caption text colors, positive and negative colors, caption font, value font and font size.

Fields: show or hide each of the eight fields individually.

Spread: units (points or pips), warning level, high level and their colors.

Light background colors: the color set used when the chart background is light.

Market status: number of seconds without a new quote after which the market is shown as closed.

The indicator works with any symbol and timeframe available in the terminal. Market status and the countdown depend on the trading session times and quotes provided by your broker.