How to detect a new bar
Try this in your EA, at the beginning of the OnTick function.
// We will use the static Old_Time variable to serve the bar time.
// At each OnTick execution we will check the current bar time with the saved one.
// If the bar time isn't equal to the saved time, it indicates that we have a new tick.
static datetime Old_Time;
datetime New_Time[1];
bool IsNewBar=false;
// copying the last bar time to the element New_Time[0]
int copied=CopyTime(_Symbol,_Period,0,1,New_Time);
if(copied>0) // ok, the data has been copied successfully
{
if(Old_Time!=New_Time[0]) // if old time isn't equal to new bar time
{
IsNewBar=true; // if it isn't a first call, the new bar has appeared
if(MQL5InfoInteger(MQL5_DEBUGGING)) Print("We have new bar here ",New_Time[0]," old time was ",Old_Time);
Old_Time=New_Time[0]; // saving bar time
}
}
else
{
Alert("Error in copying historical times data, error =",GetLastError());
ResetLastError();
return;
}
//--- EA should only check for new trade if we have a new bar
if(IsNewBar==false)
{
return;
}
//--- Do we have enough bars to work with
int Mybars=Bars(_Symbol,_Period);
if(Mybars<60) // if total bars is less than 60 bars
{
Alert("We have less than 60 bars, EA will now exit!!");
return;
}
Hi oneillj,
I thought I'd replied already, but it seems to have vanished into the internet ether.
The code fragment you provided is pretty much the one I was complaining about in the first place. Why so complex? I just figured there had to be an easier way. I came up with this one, which seems to work. Please correct me if I'm wrong. (I also tried using BarsCalculated, but it was always equal to Bars, so the test always evaluated to false.)
static int LastBarCount = 0;
if (Bars(_Symbol, _Period) > LastBarCount)
LastBarCount = Bars(_Symbol, _Period);
else
return;
- www.mql5.com
static int BARS; //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ //| NewBar function | //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ bool IsNewBar() { if(BARS!=Bars(_Symbol,_Period)) { BARS=Bars(_Symbol,_Period); return(true); } return(false); }
- 2010.10.11
- Konstantin Gruzdev
- www.mql5.com
I use this...
You can also try this:
// Rates structure array for last two bars MqlRates mrate[2]; CopyRates(Symbol(), Period(), 0, 2, mrate); // NEW BAR CHECK. //--------------- static double dBar_Open; static double dBar_High; static double dBar_Low; static double dBar_Close; static long lBar_Volume; static datetime nBar_Time; // Boolean for new BAR confirmation. bool bStart_NewBar = false; // Check if the price data has changed tov the previous bar. if(mrate[0].open != dBar_Open || mrate[0].high != dBar_High || mrate[0].low != dBar_Low || mrate[0].close != dBar_Close || mrate[0].tick_volume != lBar_Volume || mrate[0].time != nBar_Time) { bStart_NewBar = true; // A new BAR has appeared! // Update the new BAR data. dBar_Open = mrate[0].open; dBar_High = mrate[0].high; dBar_Low = mrate[0].low; dBar_Close = mrate[0].close; lBar_Volume = mrate[0].tick_volume; nBar_Time = mrate[0].time; } // Check if a new bar has formed. if(bStart_NewBar == true) { // Your code. }
I use this...
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Hi All,
I'm a complete newbie to MQL5 but I've done a fair bit of coding for other platforms.
I'm wondering why it is so difficult for an EA to execute only on a new bar. I've had a look at some of the articles, including the "new bar" event handler, and it seems very difficult.
If that won't work and I have to use the "new bar" event handler, is it possible to just donwload the relevant files and copy them to the Files(?) folder, and then #include them? Is there anywhere where this is documented for people like me who basically have no idea what they are doing?
I'm working through the tutorial in https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/100, and the first thing I noticed was that the "Bars" function is used to ensure there are enough bars to perform calculations on, but the next piece of code is apparently designed to detect a new bar and is (to my understanding anyway) a very complex piece of code. Couldn't the Bars function be used to detect a new Bar? Something like if(Bars > int LastBarCount) {bool IsNewBar = true; LastBarCount = Bars;} else {IsNewBar = false;}. Would something like that work?.
One for the wishlist. Wouldn't it be good if there was an OnNewBar event that we could override, instead of OnTick? Since every indicator I've ever seen works on bars, not ticks, I think it would make everybody's lives a lot easier.
Just found another possibility: "BarsCalculated". Again not entirely sure what this means from the description but it looks like the number of bars that the EA has processed already. If that were true then all I would need to check is if(Bars > BarsCalculated), if true then go and do my processing, otherwise return? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Ian