Thermometre Spread Cost by Hour

The same strategy can be profitable at one hour and lose money at another, only because of the spread. On gold it may eat 2 % of a normal 5-minute move in the afternoon and 7 % around the daily rollover; on some indices, more than 50 % at night. Thermometre measures it on your broker and your symbol.

What it shows

In a window below the chart, 24 bars, one per server hour: cost = median spread / median range of a 5-minute bar in that hour, in %.

• Green = cheap (up to 5 %), amber = normal, red = expensive (from 10 %). Both limits are adjustable, and the current hour has a white border.
• On the right: the cost at this moment (current spread / 5-minute ATR), the average for this hour and the cheapest hour of the day.
• The full table (spread, 5-minute range and cost per hour) is printed in the Experts tab.

Why real ticks

MetaTrader stores the minimum spread of each bar, so the bar spread makes a broker look cheaper than it is. Thermometre reads the broker's real ticks (bid and ask) of the last 20 days with the market open, 4 samples per hour, and takes the median, so one spike does not distort the result. It measures again every day by itself.

How to use

1. Attach it to any chart of the symbol (any timeframe).
2. Wait a few seconds while it measures ("Measuring... day x of 20").
3. Compare hours, symbols or brokers: open the same symbol on two terminals.

Panel in English or Spanish.

Important

• It is an indicator: it never trades.
• It shows past costs; spreads can widen at any moment (news, low liquidity).
• It samples ticks at the start of each quarter hour, so in the hour right after the daily break it reads a little high: a prudent measure, never a flattering one.
• The first time, MetaTrader may need to download the tick history: the measure can take longer.

Inputs

• Measure: panel language; days with the market open to measure (20); ticks per sample (100).
• Colours: green up to %; red from %.
• Panel: window height; cheap, normal, expensive and text colours.

Thermometre is made by Stratum Economics: trading software that is measured, not promised.