TradePad. Instructions and opportunities

TradePad is an advisor-utility for manual and semi-automatic trading for the MetaTrader 5 trading terminal. There are many similar solutions on the market, but nevertheless, the utility contains a number of useful tools necessary for everyday work, which will be discussed below. A trader has access to the following tools in his arsenal:

• "Trading levels markup tool" for calculating risk and potential profit when opening a position or placing a pending order;
• "Hotkey manager" for managing trading operations, switching between periods of the main chart, switching between utility tools;
• "Orders manager" for managing pending orders - installing a single or group (network) of pending orders, group deletion both by order type and all types on a single symbol or on a trading account;
• "Positions manager" for managing position/positions (depending on the account type) - group closing of all positions - only profitable/unprofitable, short/long or all. Position support - trailing stops and moving the position to the break-even level;
• "MultiCharts" indicator for visual monitoring of several trading symbols, as well as receiving trading signals;
• "Information module" for reviewing trading statistics for any period of history with the ability to generate an extended HTML report, display specifications of a trading symbol, information about a trading account;

Before we begin to describe each tool individually, I will start with the main thing - with a description of the external parameters of the utility and the main form of the application.

1. External parameters

As you can see, there are not many external parameters; I’ll tell you more about each one.

• Broker company name - the short name of your broker, for example - MQ. Used in PUSH notifications: "(MQ) - Market closed!"; "(MQ) - [EURUSD] - Trailing stop activated!"; "(MQ) - EURUSD profit: 200 USD [tp]", etc. This parameter can be used when several terminals from different brokers are working. If you set the value to '?' (default), the full company name will be displayed. You can leave this field empty;
• Color scheme - interface color scheme. The application interface supports two color schemes - dark and light;
• Allow algorithmic trading - permission for algorithmic trading;
  
• Confirm manual trade operations - confirmation of trade operations. When performing trading operations, the user will receive requests to confirm these operations.
• Off - confirmations are disabled;
• Open position - issue a request to open a position;
• Close and delete operations - issue a request to close a position and delete orders;
• Reverse position - issue a request to reverse a position;
• All operations - issue a request for any operations;
• Enable dragging of marking lines with - allow dragging of marking lines with the Shift or Ctrl key;
• Filling markup areas with color - allow the areas of markup of trading levels to be filled with color;
• Unique ID(0..255) - a unique panel identifier from 0 to 255, required if several copies of the panel are used simultaneously on one terminal. Each copy has its own UID;

2. Main form

The main form of the application consists of three tabs - Trade, Setup stops, Options. Let's talk in more detail about each of them and interface elements.

"Trade" tab and window control buttons.

1. Close application button - removes the application from the chart;
2. Button for switching window state - expand/collapse;
3. "Options" - shows the application settings window;
4. Shows/hides the tool for marking trading levels;
5. Shows the information module;
6. Opens the MultiCharts indicator;
7. Shows "Pending Order Manager";
8. Shows "Position Manager";
9. Executes the command to execute a sell transaction and displays the bid price (Bid);
10. Lowest demand price for the current day (Bid Low);
11. Lot volume management: can be specified using the arrows to the right and left of the field, or using the keyboard;
12. Current spread;
13. The highest offer price for the current day (Ask High);
14. Executes the command to complete a buy transaction and displays the offer price (Ask);
15. Change in instrument price. Shows the percentage difference between the last price of an instrument and the closing price of the previous session. If the main chart period is selected up to and including Daily, the price change for the current day will be shown. And accordingly, if the period of the main chart is Weekly, then the price change for the current week will be shown. The same is true for the Monthly period - this is the price change for the current month.

Depending on the quotes, the buttons for performing trading operations are painted in different colors:

• Blue - if the current price is higher than the previous one;
• Red - if the current price is lower than the previous one;
• Gray - if the price has not changed in the last 15 seconds;
• Black - if the trading operation is prohibited;

"Setup stops" tab

On this tab, the Take Profit and Stop Loss values are set; you can also specify the ratio of StopLoss to TakeProfit. Values can be specified using the arrows to the right of the input field, or using the keyboard.

1. Managing the Take Profit value;
2. Stop Loss value management;
3. Managing the value of the Stop Loss to Take Profit ratio;
   

"Options" tab

Here you can specify additional options when placing an order, such as:

1. Expert ID (magic);
2. Commentary on the order;

3. Settings

The detailed settings window with allowed algorithmic trading (Allow algorithmic trading=Yes) looks like this:

If algorithmic trading is not allowed (Allow algorithmic trading=No), then the Algotrading and Scheduler tabs are not available:

I’ll tell you more about each tab and the interface elements located on them.

"General" tab

On this tab, you have the opportunity to enable/disable PUSH - notifications generated by the application during operation by toggling the "Push notifications" element.

The next element - "Track all orders and positions" enables/disables tracking of positions and orders with different identifiers (magics). When turned off, the application will only track “its” positions and orders with the identifier specified earlier (Main form-> Options tab-> Expert ID). To track positions and orders with different identifiers, check the "Track all orders and positions" element and specify all identifiers separated by commas in the Expert ID's field.

On this tab, you can set the risk percentage for automatic calculation of the lot volume when using the tool for marking trading levels.

Save the current settings by clicking on the "Apply" button.

"Hotkeys" tab

Here you can set hotkeys for most trading operations, switching periods of the main chart, as well as calling various application tools.

To set a key, click the "Set" button or double-click on the selected operation. The "Reset" button resets the key. The "Clear" button removes a set of hot keys. After changes, save the set by clicking on the "Save" button.

"MultiCharts" tab

On this tab, you create lists of symbols for the MultiCharts tool, which you need to monitor and receive trading signals for automatically placing pending orders. Simply select a symbol from the "Market Watch" list, specify the required period, select from the list of "Symbol sets" the set to which you want to add a trading pair and add it to the "Selected trading pairs" list using the button   In order to remove a trading pair from the "Selected trading pairs" list, select it in the list and click on the button   After all changes, save the list of symbols by clicking on the "Save" button. I’ll tell you about the capabilities of the “MultiCharts” tool a little later.

"Algo Trading" tab

On this tab you can configure the parameters of pending orders, as well as the parameters of the confirmation filter for a trading signal when received from the "MultiCharts" tool. The tab contains other tabs - "Orders settings" and "Signal confirmation params". Let's talk about them in more detail.

"Orders settings" tab

As you can see, here are elements for filling in the parameters of pending orders.

1. Volume - initial order volume;
2. Placing distance - distance from the current price at which the initial order will be placed;
3. Stop Loss - Stop Loss level;
4. Orders count - number of orders;
5. Take Profit -   level   Take Profit;
6. Orders offset - distance between orders;
7. Expiration - expiration of a pending order: GTC - the order is valid indefinitely until it is explicitly cancelled; Today - the order is valid until the end of the day;
8. Lot volume step - step of changing the lot volume for subsequent orders;

"Signal confirmation parameters" tab

Here are elements for managing the parameters of the confirmation filter - the Trend filter indicator.

Confirmation period - period from 1 Hour to Monthly for which the filter is calculated. If confirmation is not needed, then select the option - Without confirmation.

Confirmation trend filter MA type - indicator type for filter calculation:

• SMA - simple moving average;
• EMA - exponential moving average;
• DEMA - double exponential moving average;
• TEMA - triple exponential moving average;

4. Trading levels markup tool

First of all, it is a tool for assessing risk and potential profit.

Helps you set Take Profit and Stop Loss levels when opening positions and placing orders , calculate the lot volume depending on the set risk percentage and Stop Loss level.

The tool is called by the button (3) on the main form of the application or by a hotkey, if it is installed.

Button (4) opens the window for setting the risk percentage value.

Control elements are located at the levels

1. Fixing levels - allows you to fix a level at a certain price;
2. Reverse - changes the order type to the opposite Sell->Buy, Sell Stop->Buy Limit, Sell Limit-> Buy Stop and vice versa ;
3. Setting a pending order;

5. Positions manager

The positions manager displays up-to-date information on open positions on the current symbol, and gives you the ability to manage them:

• group operations - closing by position type (Long/Short); closing at profit (Profitable/Losing); closing all positions;
• reversing a position (not available on hedging accounts);
• position support - trailing stops and moving Stop Loss to the break-even level;

The type of position manager form depends on the account type.

For a hedging account, the form looks like this:

The Short and Long tabs display all aggregate information on the corresponding positions.

(1) Closing all long positions (Buy);

(1) - closing all positions depending on the selected type (2) - All, Losing, Profitable;

(3) - fixed trailing stop;

(4) - settings and activation of the breakeven level;

(5) - total profit for all open positions on the current symbol;

For a netting account:

(1) - closing a position;

(2) - position reversal;

(3) - cancel Stop Loss;

(4) - cancel Take Profit;

"Actions" tab

Several types of trailing are available - fixed, based on technical indicators - Parabolic SAR, Moving Average, ATR.

Switching the "Show indicator on chart" element controls the display on the chart of the technical indicator selected as the basis for the trailing calculation.

6. Orders manager

Gives you the opportunity to place both single orders and groups of orders (grids). There is a group deletion of orders by order type, both on the current symbol and on the account.

The manager form contains the "Actions" and "Grids builder" tabs. The "Actions" tab contains elements for managing order properties and deleting orders.

The "Grids builder" tab contains elements for setting up a group of orders.

7. Information module

Designed to review trading statistics for any period of history with the ability to create an extended HTML report; review of the specification of the trading symbol; trading account information;

"Trade statistics" tab

Review of trade statistics. Select a history period from the drop-down list or set a time interval. Generate a report by clicking on the "Report" button. A report saving form will appear where you can select the information you need to include in the report:

• Include positions list - add a list of positions to the report;
• Include orders list - add a list of orders to the report;
• Include deals list - add a list of deals to the report;
• Netto profit by symbols - add netto profit by symbols to the report;
• Show deal markers - show deal markers in the report on the balance chart;

Specify a name for the report and save by clicking the "Save" button. The report file will be saved in the Reports folder:

...Data Folder/MQL5/Files/TradePad/ Unique ID/Account number/Reports, where Unique ID is an external application parameter Unique ID(0..255), Account number is your trading account number.

Using a filter, you can generate an overview of statistics for any symbols and any identifiers available in history.

It is also possible to see the netto profit by symbols. To do this, just click on the "Details" button.

"Account information" tab

Information about your trading account is collected here.

"Symbol specification" tab 

Specification of a trading instrument.

8. MultiCharts

A tool for multi-currency monitoring and generation of trading signals from your chosen trading pairs. This tool allows you to show up to 6 charts of different trading pairs for one set.

Open the settings window using the button 

The "General" tab contains elements for managing the properties of the main chart - the Default and Advanced switches, which hide (Advanced mode)/show (Default mode) the price scale and time scale of the main chart, as well as the properties of the charts of the MultiCharts tool.

• Prices scale - show the price scale;
• Dates scale - show the time scale;