How to match my local computer's time with icmarkets mt4 server's time?

[FX MT4]

ICMarkets Denisha chat support says this:

Please note that IC Markets’ server time and charts are GMT + 2 or GMT + 3 (when daylight savings is in effect)

To align the daily chart candles with New York close (5pm ET) IC Markets server time and charts are GMT + 2 or GMT + 3 when daylight savings is in effect.

Unfortunately you will not be able to match your local time with the server time.

Unfortunately, the chart time on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms reflects server time, which cannot be changed.

I ask her:

what region to choose from? 

she says:

Unfortunately no, we do not provide such information.

Our server is located in Cyprus which is GMT+3

my local computer Date 11 march 2024 Time 14:02, 

Adjust for daylight saving time automatically ON,  

Time zone UTC+2 Helsinki Kyiv  

***There is no Cyprus to choose from***

what is UTC+? for this Cyprus?

icmarkets mt4 server time Date 11 march 2024 Time 15:02 

How to match my local computer's time with icmarkets mt4 server's time?

What and how to do it?

[Eleni Anna Branou]

ICMarkets servers are located in New York as most brokers' servers are.

What you are trying to do is meaningless, just trade with the candles you see on your charts, your local computer time is irrelevant.

[Sergey Golubev]

mt4user2024:
...

Unfortunately you will not be able to match your local time with the server time.

Unfortunately, the chart time on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms reflects server time, which cannot be changed.

...

You have this thread in Russian forum with some indicators and some advices:
https://www.mql5.com/ru/forum/463825

--------------------

And I am moving your thread to MT4/MQL4 section of the forum (same as your thread in Russian forum).

[William Roeder]

Chart times are broker times.

1. How can MetaQuotes know all brokers' (they come and go daily) Time zone and Daylight savings time (if they use it and including historical changes for back testing)? Do you have that information for just you and your broker? Only then, with code, can you convert session times to broker's time to UTC to local time. You can use offset inputs, but then you must maintain them correctly, through all three DST changes when they occur.
             When is the time zone problem going to be fixed? - General - MQL5 programming forum (2020)

2. Foreign Exchange (FX) market opens 5 PM New York (NY)/Eastern Time (ET) Sunday and ends 5 PM NY Friday. Some brokers start after (6 PM is common) and end before (up to 15 minutes) due to low volatility.
             Checking for Market Closed - Expert Advisors and Automated Trading - MQL5 programming forum (2016)

   Swap is computed 5 PM ET. No swap if no open orders at that time.

3. Brokers use a variety of time zones. Their local time, with or without Daylight Savings Time (DST), London, UTC, London+2, UTC+2, NY+7.

   Only with NY+7 does the broker's 00:00 equals 5 PM ET and the start of a daily bar (and H4) is the start of a new FX day.

   GMT/BST brokers, means there is a 1 or 2 hour D1/H4 bar on Sunday (depending on NY DST), and a short Friday bar. (Problems with indicators based off of bars.)

   GMT+2 is close but doesn't adjust for NY DST.

   EET is closer, except when their DST doesn't match NY's. Last Sunday of March and 1:00 on the last Sunday of October vs second Sunday in March and return at 2:00 AM EDT to 1:00 AM EST on the first Sunday in November.

4. Non-NY+7, means the chart daily bar overlaps the start, and converting broker time to NY time requires broker to UTC to NY timezone conversions.

   ---

5. If you search the web, you will find differing answers. Those are all wrong (half the year) because they do not take DST into account (or that it changed for the US in 2007 [important when testing history.])

   ---

6. Then there are (non-24 hour markets) with H4 candles that start on odd hours.
             Why My XAUUSD 4H candles start with 1 hour shift? - Currency Pairs - General - MQL5 programming forum (2019)
             H4 first opened candle - MT5 - General - MQL5 programming forum (2020)

   And H1 on the half hour.

7. See also Dealing with Time (Part 1): The Basics - MQL5 Articles (21.10.01)
   and Dealing with Time (Part 2): The Functions - MQL5 Articles (21.10.08)

[nowenn]

Eugene Andry:

ICMarkets Denisha chat support says this:

Please note that IC Markets’ server time and charts are GMT + 2 or GMT + 3 (when daylight savings is in effect)

To align the daily chart candles with New York close (5pm ET) IC Markets server time and charts are GMT + 2 or GMT + 3 when daylight savings is in effect.

Unfortunately you will not be able to match your local time with the server time.

Unfortunately, the chart time on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms reflects server time, which cannot be changed.

I ask her:

what region to choose from? 

she says:

Unfortunately no, we do not provide such information.

Our server is located in Cyprus which is GMT+3

my local computer Date 11 march 2024 Time 14:02, 

Adjust for daylight saving time automatically ON,  

Time zone UTC+2 Helsinki Kyiv  

***There is no Cyprus to choose from***

what is UTC+? for this Cyprus?

icmarkets mt4 server time Date 11 march 2024 Time 15:02 

How to match my local computer's time with icmarkets mt4 server's time?

What and how to do it?

Since your local time is UTC+2 and IC Markets server time is GMT+3, you are already seeing a 1-hour difference due to the DST adjustment.

Always remember that the server time is one hour ahead of your local time.

Use that to figure out what to do on your end to sync, but this is an uphill battle if you are going for accuracy because computer to computer time synchronization is a whole field onto itself: Network Time Protocol (NTP)