EconomicStopper Economic Calendar Countdown MT5

Know exactly how long until the next release, and what came out.

EconomicStopper shows the time to each economic release as a countdown, lists the upcoming events with their importance, and shows the actual value and the surprise against the forecast after the release. Everything is in one panel on the chart. It reads the economic calendar built into MetaTrader 5, so it needs no DLL and no web requests.

How it behaves over time

1. More than 5 minutes before: the timer counts down every second and the bar shortens.
2. 5 minutes before: the timer turns to the caution color. You can get an alert, e-mail or push notification here.
3. 1 minute before: the timer turns red and the panel frame and the lamp blink together.
4. At the release: the panel switches to "After" and counts the time since the release. The value line shows "Waiting for the actual".
5. When the actual arrives: the actual and the surprise appear, for example "vs forecast +31K above". Above is green, below is red, as forecast is white.
6. After the release: it keeps counting for 180 seconds (adjustable), then moves to the next event.

Features

1. Release time to the second: the timer uses the PC clock in 0.1-second steps and does not wait for ticks.
2. Choose the events: by importance, country and (optionally) part of the event name. Major events are set by default.
3. Countdown with color stages: caution at 5 minutes, red and a blinking frame at 1 minute.
4. Actual and surprise after the release (above, below, as forecast). If the forecast is missing, it compares with the previous value.
5. Stop your EA around releases: it sets a global variable FXH_ECO_STOP (1 = inside the stop window) and an indicator buffer (iCustom, buffer 0). Add this to your EA and call it at the top of OnTick, and it will not open new orders from N minutes before to N minutes after a release:

   bool NewsStop()
   {
      if(!GlobalVariableCheck("FXH_ECO_STOP")) return false;
      if(TimeLocal() - (datetime)GlobalVariableGet("FXH_ECO_ALIVE") > 60) return false;   // indicator not running
      return GlobalVariableGet("FXH_ECO_STOP") > 0.5;
   }
   // OnTick: if(NewsStop()) return;

6. List of upcoming events up to 7 days ahead.
7. Alerts, e-mail and push notifications: before the release, at the release and when the actual arrives.
8. Resizable panel: drag the corner to resize; double-click the title for a full-chart event board. Five panel styles.
9. Simulation mode: test the countdown, alerts and the EA stop signal without waiting for a real release.

Details

• Times are shown in your PC's local time.
• Event names follow the language of your MetaTrader 5 terminal.
• Importance comes from the MetaTrader 5 calendar (high, medium, low).
• In the Strategy Tester the calendar cannot be read, so the indicator runs in simulation mode there. The EA stop signal stays 0 in the tester, so it does not affect your EA's backtests.
• No DLL, no web requests.

Inputs (main)

• Countdown start (default 15 minutes before) and count after the release (default 180 seconds)
• Panel style, position, width and rows shown
• Days ahead (default 2), minimum importance, filter by country and importance or by event name
• Alerts: importance, and how to alert before the release (default 5 minutes), at the release and for the actual
• EA stop signal: from N minutes before to N minutes after (default 30 / 30), signal name
• Simulation mode

This indicator shows the economic calendar and the time to each release. It does not trade, does not give investment advice and does not promise any results. Event times and values depend on the MetaTrader 5 economic calendar and may change.