Articles with MQL5 programming examples

In the part VIII of the series of articles dedicated to creating graphical interfaces in MetaTrader, we will consider complex composite controls like calendars, tree view, and file navigator. Due to the large amount of information, there are separate articles written for every subject. The first chapter of this part describes the calendar control and its expanded version — a drop down calendar.

This article considers BookEvent - a Depth of Market event, and the principle of its processing. An MQL program, handling states of Depth of Market, serves as an example. It is written using the object-oriented approach. Results of handling are displayed on the screen as a panel and Depth of Market levels.

In this article, we will consider the emission of indicators - a new approach to the market research. The calculation of emission is based on the intersection of different indicators: more and more points with different colors and shapes appear after each tick. They form numerous clusters like nebulae, clouds, tracks, lines, arcs, etc. These shapes help to detect the invisible springs and forces that affect the movement of market prices.

In this article we will implement an algorithm that applies the Box and Jenkins Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model by using Powells method of function minimization. Box and Jenkins stated that most time series could be modeled by one or both of two frameworks.

In this article, I will consider the toolkit for managing composite graphical objects - controls for managing an extended standard graphical object. Today, I will slightly digress from relocating a composite graphical object and implement the handler of change events on a chart featuring a composite graphical object. Besides, I will focus on the controls for managing a composite graphical object.

The article considers the use of the CCanvas class in MQL applications. The theory is accompanied by detailed explanations and examples for thorough understanding of CCanvas basics.

This article is a continuation and development of my previous article "Visual Testing of Profitability of Indicators and Alerts". Having added some interactivity to the parameter changing process and having reworked the study objectives, I have managed to get a new tool that does not only show the prospective trade results based on the signals used but also allows you to immediately get a layout of deals, balance chart and the end result of trading by moving virtual sliders that act as controls for signal parameter values in the main chart.

The article is intended for beginners in baking "multi-layered" cakes.

The article is concerned with the problem of re-counting of the indicator value in the MetaTrader 4 Client Terminal when the null bar changes. It outlines general idea of how to add to the indicator code some extra program items that allow to restore program code saved before multiple re-counting.

The previous articles contain the implementation of the classes for creating constituent parts of the main menu. Now, it is time to take a close look at the event handlers in the principle base classes and in the classes of the created controls. We will also pay special attention to managing the state of the chart depending on the location of the mouse cursor.

This article presents an alternative method of GUI creation based on layouts and containers, using one layout manager — the CGrid class. The CGrid class is an auxiliary control that acts as a container for other containers and controls using a grid layout.

In the article, I will start developing the functionality for working with the Depth of Market. I will also create the class of the Depth of Market abstract order object and its descendants.

In this update of the library, the Table control (the CTable class) will be supplemented with new options. The lineup of controls in the table cells is expanded, this time adding text edit boxes and combo boxes. As an addition, this update also introduces the ability to resize the window of an MQL application during its runtime.

In the previous articles, we started creating a large cross-platform library simplifying the development of programs for MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4 platforms. In the sixth part, we trained the library to work with positions on netting accounts. Here we will implement tracking StopLimit orders activation and prepare the functionality to track order and position modification events.

A new version of the graphics library for creating scientific charts (the CGraphic class) has been presented recently. This update of the developed library for creating graphical interfaces will introduce a version with a new control for creating charts. Now it is even easier to visualize data of different types.

The article describes custom averaging functions of higher quality developed by the author: JJMASeries(), JurXSeries(), JLiteSeries(), ParMASeries(), LRMASeries(), T3Series(). The article also deals with application of the above functions in indicators. The author introduces a rich indicators library based on the use of these functions.

This time we are going to create a multi-currency Expert Advisor with a trading algorithm based on work with the pending orders Buy Stop and Sell Stop. This article considers the following matters: trading in a specified time range, placing/modifying/deleting pending orders, checking if the last position was closed at Take Profit or Stop Loss and control of the deals history for each symbol.

Step-by-step instructions of how to organize data transfer from Matlab to MetaTrader 4 using DDE.

In this article, I am going to improve the classes of indicator buffer objects to work in the multi-symbol mode. This will pave the way for creating multi-symbol multi-period indicators in custom programs. I will add the missing functionality to the calculated buffer objects allowing us to create multi-symbol multi-period standard indicators.

The first demonstration of testing results of a strategy based on 0.1 lot is becoming a standard de facto in the Forum. Having received "not so bad" from professionals, a beginner sees that "0.1" testing brings rather modest results and decides to introduce an aggressive money management thinking that positive mathematic expectation automatically provides positive results. Let's see what results can be achieved. Together with that we will try to construct several artificial balance graphs that are very instructive.

The MQL5 programming language primarily targets the creation of automated trading systems and complex instruments of technical analyses. But aside from this, it allows us to create interesting information systems for tracking market situations, and provides a return connection with the trader. The article describes the MQL5 Standard Library components, and shows examples of their use in practice for reaching these objectives. It also demonstrates an example of using Google Chart API for the creation of charts.

The article describes construction of fractal lines of various types using trend lines and fractals.

The optimization process can require significant resources of your computer or even of the MQL5 Cloud Network test agents. This article comprises some simple ideas that I use for work facilitation and improvement of the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester. I got these ideas from the documentation, forum and articles.

In order to develop an expert to participate in Automated Trading Championship 2010, let's use a template of ready expert advisor. Even novice MQL5 programmer will be capable of this task, because for your strategies the basic classes, functions, templates are already developed. It's enough to write a minimal amount of code to implement your trading idea.

In this article, I will create a separate class for the shadow object, which is a descendant of the graphical element object, as well as add the ability to fill the object background with a gradient fill.

In practical work a trader can face the following situation: it is necessary to get "alert" or a text message on a display (in a chart window) indicating about an appeared signal of an indicator. The article contains an example of displaying information about graphical objects created by an external indicator.

The second article of the "Custom Graphical Controls" series introduces a control library for handling the main problems arising in interaction between a program (Expert Advisor, script, indicator) and a user. The library contains a great number of classes (CInputBox, CSpinInputBox, CCheckBox, CRadioGroup, CVSсrollBar, CHSсrollBar, CList, CListMS, CComBox, CHMenu, CVMenu, CHProgress, CDialer, CDialerInputBox, CTable) and examples of their use.

The article describes a way of programming without using templates but keeping the style of programming iherenet to them. It tells about implementation of templates using custom methods and has a ready-made script attached for creating a code on the basis of specified templates.

In this article, I will complete working with chart object classes and their collection. I will also implement auto tracking of changes in chart properties and their windows, as well as saving new parameters to the object properties. Such a revision allows the future implementation of an event functionality for the entire chart collection.

This article explains the idea of multi-mode trading robot programming in MQL5. Every mode is implemented with the object-oriented approach. Instances of both mode classes hierarchy and classes for testing are provided. Multi-mode programming of trading robots is supposed to take into account all peculiarities of every operational mode of an EA written in MQL5. Functions and enumeration are created for identifying the mode.

Since I published the article "Alert and Comment for External Indicators", I have been receiving requests and questions regarding the possibility of developing an external informer operating based on indicator lines. Having analyzed the questions, I have decided to continue with the subject. Getting data stored in indicator buffers turned out to be another area of interest to users.

In this article, I will start the improvement of the indicator buffer objects and collection class for working in multi-period and multi-symbol modes. I am going to consider the operation of buffer objects for receiving and displaying data from any timeframe on the current symbol chart.

Developing a system of SMS notifications that informs you of the status of your EA so that you are always aware of any critical situation, wherever you may be.

An anti-aliasing algorithm of the CCanvas class is the base for all constructions where anti-aliasing is being used. The article contains information about how this algorithm operates, and provides relevant examples of visualization. It also covers drawing shades of graphic objects and has a detailed algorithm developed for drawing shades on canvas. The numerical analysis library ALGLIB is used for calculations.

The article regards spindle chart plotting and its usage in trading strategies and experts. First let's discuss the chart's appearance, plotting and connection with japanese candlestick chart. Next we analyze the indicator's implementation in the source code in the MQL5 language. Let's test the expert based on indicator and formulate the trading strategy.

This is the final article, devoted to transferring an indicator code into an Expert Advisor code. Here the author transforms on a certain example a code of an Expert Advisor so, that this EA is presented in a single file without calling custom indicators.

This article is intended to get its readers acquainted with a possible variant of using graphical objects of the MQL5 language. It analyses an indicator, which implements a panel of managing a simple spectrum analyzer using the graphical objects. The article is meant for readers acquianted with basics of MQL5.