This tab contains the most important settings changes in which can cause serious troubles in the terminal operation as far as the full disconnection. The client terminal is initially configured in the way providing normal, trouble-free operation. Thus, it is highly recommended not to change any parameters in this window needlessly.

In the “Settings — Server” window, it is possible:

• to choose a server to connect to;
• to configure the proxy server;
• to specify and change passwords;
• to enable export of quotes through DDE protocol;
• to enable income of news.

Server

Practically, the entire work of the Client Terminal is based on data (news and quotes) continuously incoming from the server. If a client terminal does not receive quotes, it is impossible to trade with it. In such a mode, the terminal allows just to analyze the existing data with indicators and line studies and test expert advisors. This situation can emerge for a number of reasons, one of them is incorrect setting of the server connection.

For connecting the client terminal to the server, the exact server IP address (or domain name) and port must be known. After the program has been installed, all these data will be specified, there is usually no need to change them. However, if there is a need to connect to another server, its address and port must be given in the “Server” field. The data must be given in the following format: “[internet address of the server] : [port number]” (without spaces). For example: “192.168.0.1:443”, where “192.168.0.1” is the server address, and “443” is the port number. After the data have been input, the “OK” button must be pressed.

The newly set server address and port number are stored on the hard disk. These data do not influence the operation of the client terminal until an attempt to open a new account is made. It is this moment when the terminal starts using of these given address and port number. The new server address will be added to the list of servers during account registration, and it can be chosen. If connection to the server succeeds, the new account will be opened. Otherwise, it is recommended to check all settings and try to reconnect.

Proxy Server

Connection to internet through a proxy server can be another reason for which the server cannot be connected to. A proxy server is an intermediate between the trader’s computer and the trading server. It is mostly used by internet providers or by local networks. If a connection problem occurs, you should turn to your systems administrator or to the internet provider. If a proxy is used, the terminal must be set up in a corresponding way. Setting of “Enable proxy server” checkbox will enable proxy server support and activate the “Proxy…” button. Pressing of this button will open the window where proxy server parameters should be specified (these data can be given by the systems administrator or by internet provider):

• Server — proxy server address and type (HTTP, SOCKS5, or SOCKS4);
• Login — a user login for access to the proxy server. If login is not needed, this field must remain empty;
• Password — a password for access to the proxy server. If password is not needed, this field must remain empty.

After the parameters have been specified, it is recommended to press the “Test” button to check how the settings work. If they have been tested successfully, the “OK” button must be pressed in order the settings to be effective. Error message means that the proxy server was set up incorrectly. To find out about the reasons, the system administrator or internet provider must be contacted again.

Account and Login

Client terminal can connect to the server and work only using an account. There are login (the account number), master and investor passwords in the Client Terminal. To be authorized, one needs an account number and one of two passwords. The master password allows the full access to the account, while the investor one gives only a limited access. Being authorized with the investor password gives the right to look through charts, perform technical analysis and test expert advisors, but not trade. Investor password is a convenient tool showing the trading process at this given account.

After the account has been opened and if “Keep personal settings and data at startup” option is enabled, its data (number, master and investor passwords) will be stored at the hard disk. At the program restart, these data will be used to connect the account automatically. If the option is disabled, a password must be entered manually at each restart of the terminal. Also if you disable this option, the information about previously used account and saved passwords will be deleted upon the next restart of the terminal.

The current account number and password are specified in the fields of “Login” and “Password”. Data of another account can be input in these fields, then, after the “OK” button has been pressed, the terminal will try to authorize it. If authorization was not successfully completed, the data given should be checked and re-authorized. If this does not help, the Technical Support service should be contacted.

Having pressed the “Change” button, one can specify new passwords in the window appeared. Doing so, one has to know the current password. It can be found in the message sent from the server after registration of a demo account. The new password is input in the corresponding field. If the “Change investor (read only) password” option is enabled, the investor (not master) password will be changed.

Data Export through DDE Protocol

Quotes delivered to the terminal can be exported to other applications through “DDE” (Dynamic Data Exchange) protocol. To enable export of quotes, the “Enable DDE server” option must be enabled and the “OK” button must be pressed. Data delivery will start immediately. More details about export of quotes can be found in the corresponding section.

News

Terminal allows to receive financial news promptly. They start to income just after connection to the server. No news issued when the terminal was disconnected will income in it. To enable news delivering, it is necessary to flag “Enable news”. In the “Terminal” window, the “News” tab will appear in which news will be delivered as they are issued.

Charts show the dynamics of symbol price changes. Charts settings and history data parameters are grouped in this tab.

Changing of parameters in this tab will not cause any global changes in operation of the terminal.

• Show trade Levels
  Lines of open and pending orders placed directly in the chart visualize where exactly the position was opened, when the pending order, Stop Loss or Take Profit will trigger. This option saves traders’ work and helps to avoid some mistakes caused by human emotions. For it to be enabled, the “Show trade levels” must be checked, and the “OK” button must be pressed. At that, the lines corresponding with open prices of positions and orders will appear in the chart. Of course, if no order or position are opened, no levels will be shown in the chart. This option is active for open positions or orders only. No closed position will come within its action.

• Use “Alt” Key to Drag Trade Levels
  This option is implemented for convenience of managing pending orders and stop levels on a chart. On default, with this option disabled, the orders and stop levels are moved using a mouse (drag’n’drop). In case many objects are attached to a chart, you can accidentally move one of them instead of a trade level. In this case, enable this option. After that, you’ll still be able to move the trade levels using a mouse, but you’ll need to hold the “Alt” key for that.

• Show OHLC
  Charts show the price dynamics, but it is often very difficult to determine exact parameters of the bar by eye. The “Show OHLC” option is very helpful in such situations. It places an additional information line in the upper left corner of each chart. Here, besides the symbol name and chart period, prices of the last bar are listed. They are formatted as follows: OPEN, HIGH, LOW and CLOSE (OHLC) — open price of the bar, the highest price of the bar, the lowest price of the bar, and close price of the bar, respectively. Thus, the exact value of the last bar can always be seen.
• Show ask line
  Bars in the terminal are built and shown only for Bid prices. However, for opening of long positions and closing of short ones, Ask price is always used. But it is not shown in the chart in any way, it cannot be seen. To control over one’s trading activities more attentively, one can enable the “Show Ask line” parameter. After this command has been executed, an additional horizontal line corresponding with Ask price of the last bar will appear in the chart.
• Show period separators
  Date and time of each bar are shown on the chart horizontal axis. The chosen timeframe is the value of this horizontal scale. The “Show period separators” option draws additional vertical lines in the chart that correspond with a larger timeframe. So, for charts having timeframe from M1 to H1, daily separators are built, for H4 — weekly, for D1 — monthly, and for W1 and MN1 — yearly ones.
• Color print
  Terminal allows to print not only black-and-white, but also colored charts. The latter ones are more appropriate for analysis than black-and-white ones. This option can be enabled by setting of the “Color print” checkbox and then pressing the “OK” button. After that, if the printer allows it, all charts will be printed in color.
• Save deleted charts to reopen
  Terminal allows to restore charts deleted from the workspace. If the “Save deleted charts to reopen” option is enabled, at deleting of a chart, its template will be saved in the /DELETED directory. Later on, any deleted chart can be restored with the “File — Open deleted” menu command. For example, it is possible to restore the four-hour chart of EURUSD after it has been deleted. The restored chart will also be a four-hour one, and all its settings with imposed objects (indicators, line studies) will be restored, as well.
• Max bars in history and in charts
  Bars stored in history and those shown in charts differ from each other. This difference is determined by the fact that any amount of bars can be kept in the hard disk provided that it has enough space. But the amount of bars shown in the chart is limited by the computer resources. To calculate values of technical and custom indicators, bars shown in the chart are used, as well. When a great amount of indicators and data to be shown are used simultaneously, computer free resources (central processor load and free RAM) can exhaust very soon. To avoid such problems, one can specify the amount of data shown in the charts independently. To do so, one must choose the suitable value from the pop-up list or enter it manually in the “Max bars in chart” field. The amount of bars to be stored in the hard disk is specified in the “Max bars in history” field. In future, this value will be used for testing expert advisors. Any amount of bars can be specified here.

Settings for working with graphical objects are grouped in this tab. Graphical objects are all line studies placed in the toolbar having the same name and in the “Insert” menu. They consist of: technical indicators (including custom indicators), line studies, geometrical figures, texts, and icons. Parameters collected in this tab facilitate the work with graphical objects and cannot cause critical changes in the terminal operation.

• Show Properties after Creation
  All graphical objects possess certain properties. For example, it can be thickness and color of the trend line, period of the indicator signal line, etc. The most traders use standard settings of all graphical objects, but it is sometimes necessary to set them up individually. The “Show properties after creation” option allows to set up objects immediately after they have been imposed. It is suitable when there are many objects having individual settings on the chart.
• Select Object after Creation
  Unlike indicators, such objects as line studies, text, icons, and geometrical figures are positioned in charts manually. After an object has been imposed, there can a need occur to move it, for example, to precise the position of the trend line. To do so, the necessary object must be selected first. The “Select object after creation” option allows to do it immediately after the object has been imposed in the chart.
• Select Object by Single Mouse Click
  Graphical objects in the terminal can be selected by single or double clicking of the left mouse button. This option allows to switch between methods of objects selection. If it is enabled, all objects will be selected by a single click. At that, the double click calls the window of the object properties. If this option is disabled, all objects will be selected by a double click.
• Magnet Sensitivity
  The terminal allows to “magnet” (anchor) checkpoints of objects to different bar prices to locate them more precisely. In the “Magnet sensitivity” field, the sensitivity of this option in pixels can be defined. For example, if the value of 10 is specified, the object will automatically be anchored to the bar if a checkpoint of the object is located within a radius of 10 pixels from the nearest bar price (OHLC). To disable this option, it is necessary to input parameter 0.

Settings used for orders opening are grouped in this tab.

Parameters input here facilitate opening of orders and cannot cause critical changes in the terminal operation.

• Symbol by Default
  The “Symbol by default” option allows to define the symbol value in the “Order” window automatically when a trading operation is performed. The “Automatic” parameter means that the active chart symbol will be set in this field, the “Last used” — the symbol of the latest trade operation. For the same symbol to be set repeatedly, the “Default” parameter must be enabled, and the necessary symbol chosen from the list.
• Lots by Default
  In the similar way, the initial amount of lots can be defined (“Lots by default” option): “Last used” is a parameter used in the previous operation, and “by default” is a constant, manually set value.
• Deviation
  The symbol price can change within the ordering time. As a result, the price of the prepared order will not correspond with the market one, and position will not be opened. The “Deviation” option helps to avoid this. Maximum permissible deviation from the value given in the order can be specified in this field. If prices do not correspond, the program will modify the order by itself what allows to open a new position.
• One click trading — special terms and conditions should be accepted to use this option. The “One click trading” option allows performing trade operations with a single mouse click without additional confirmation from the trader (without showing the trade dialog window). The one click trading feature is implemented in the following parts of the terminal:

• the quick trading pane on the chart;
• trade levels on the chart;

• trade commands in the chart context menu;

• the “Trading” tab in the “Terminal” window.

Terms and Conditions for Using One-Click Trading Function

When “One click trading” option is used for the first time, Terms and Conditions for using this function are displayed to users.

If you accept the conditions, tick “I Accept these Terms and Conditions” option and click “ОК”. If you do not accept the conditions, click “Cancel” and do not use “One Click Trading” function.

Settings of working with Expert Advisors are grouped in this tab.

Expert Advisors in the terminal are programs written in MetaQuotes Language 4 and allowing to analyze and trade in the automatic mode (auto trading). The description of how to create and use experts is given in the “Auto Trading” section. The given section describes only settings common for all experts:

• Allow Auto Trading — this option allows to enable or disable the performing of trade operations by Expert Advisors and scripts. If it is disabled, scripts and Expert Advisors will work, but they won’t be able to trade. This limitation can be useful for testing the analytical capacity of an Expert Advisor in the real-time mode (not to be confused with testing of Expert Advisors on history data). Automated trading can also be allowed or disabled using button on the toolbar.
  The option enables/disables autotrading for the entire terminal. If you disable it, no Expert Advisor will be allowed to trade, even if you enable autotrading in the EA settings. If you enable it, the Expert Advisors will be allowed to trade, if autotrading is enabled in their settings.

• Disable Auto Trading when the account has been changed — this option represents a protective mechanism disabling trading by Expert Advisors and scripts when the account is changed. It is useful, for example, when one changes demo account for a real one.
• Disable Auto Trading when the profile has been changed — a large amount of information about the current settings of all charts in the workspace is stored in profiles. Particularly, profiles contain information about Expert Advisors attached. Expert Advisors included into the profile will start working when a new tick incomes. Having enabled this option, one can hinder the trading by the Expert Advisors launching when the profile has been changed.
• Disable Auto Trading when the charts symbol or period has been changed — if this option is enabled, then when the period or symbol of a chart is changed the expert advisor, which is attached to it, will be automatically prohibited to perform trade operations.

• Allow DLL imports (potentially dangerous, enable only for trusted applications)
  To enlarge their functionality, expert advisors can use DLLs (dynamic-links libraries). If it is enabled, such libraries can be used without any limitations. If this option is disabled, no expert can use external DLLs. It is recommended to disable import when working with unknown experts.
• Allow WebRequest for listed URL
  The WebRequest() function in MQL4 is used for receiving and sending information to websites using GET and POST requests. To allow an MQL4 application to send such requests, enable this option and manually explicitly specify the URLs of trusted websites. For security reasons, the option is disabled on default.
  To delete an address from the trusted list, select it and press “Delete” button.

The client terminal supports sending of notifications about various events to mobile devices powered by iOS and Android using push messages. With this feature, a trader can track all the updates.

Push notifications are short messages of up to 255 characters. Such notification are delivered immediately and are never lost.

There are two ways to send push notifications from the client terminal:

Through an MQL4 application

The MQL4 language provides a special SendNotification function which allows MQL4 programs to send push notifications to a MetaQuotes ID specified in the terminal settings.

Through the signals function

The client terminal allows you to create signals for alerting you of events in the market. This feature is available in the Signals tab of the Terminal window. One of the event notification types is push notifications.

The notifications setup window includes the following options:

• Enable Push notifications — to allow the client terminal to send notifications, enable this option.

• Notify of trade operations — if this option is enabled, the client terminal will automatically send notifications about successful trade operations to a specified MetaQuotes ID. Notifications about unsuccessful operations (for example, an order is rejected due to incorrect parameters) are not sent.

After setting up the options, enter one or more MetaQuotes IDs, separated by commas. You can specify up to 4 MetaQuotes IDs; the notifications will be sent to all of the devices simultaneously.

To find your MetaQuotes ID, open your mobile terminal and go to Settings -> Messages. This page in the terminal for iPhone looks as follows:

To test the function notification sending, click Test. If your notification is successfully sent, you see an appropriate message, and the notification will arrive on your mobile device.

In this tab, the electronic mailbox is set up. Later on, these settings will be used to send message by the expert advisor command or by a triggered alert.

To start setting up of email, the “Enable” must be enabled and the following fields must be filled out:

• SMTP Server — address of the SMTP server and port used. This server will be utilized to send the message. The record must be made in the following format “[server web address] : [port number]”. For example, “smtp.your_email_provider.com:25” where “smtp.your_email_provider.com” is the server web address, “25” is the port number.
• SMTP Login — a login to be authorized on the trade server. Normally, it is an electronic mailbox. Example: your_name@your_email_provider.com
• SMTP Password — a password to be authorized (mailbox access password).
• From — the email address, from which the message will be sent. In this field, there must be name and emailing address on the mail server, the SMTP of which will be utilized. The name usually coincides with the first part of the electronic address, but the name can be omitted. Example: your_name, your_name@your_email_provider.com
• To — the email address, to which the messages will be sent. The “Your Name” part of the address can be omitted. Generally, in the “To” field, any really existing email can be specified. Example: any_name, your_name@your_email_provider.com

The “Test” sends a test message using the settings specified to test their workability. If it has been tested successfully, the “OK” button must be pressed to apply these settings. In case the test did not succeed, it is recommended to check all settings again, restart the terminal and resend the test message.

Terminal allows to publish reports about the account status in internet automatically. To do so, one has to set up internet connection parameters through FTP (File Transfer Protocol). This can be done in the “FTP” tab:

The following parameters are available on this tab:

• FTP server — FTP server address the report to be sent to. Example: ftp.your_domain_name.com;
• FTP path — name of the FTP server directory where the report will be placed. The path (starting with the root directory) for sending reports must be given in this field. Example: /report_shots;
• FTP login — login for authorization at the FTP server;
• FTP password — password for access to the FTP server;
• Passive mode — switch between active and passive mode of data transfer.
  In active mode, a free port (from dynamic range of 1024 to 65535) is allotted in the client terminal to which the server will connect in order to set connection for transferring of data. The FTP server connects to the client’s port with the given number using TCP port 20 from its part to transfer data. In passive mode, the server informs the client about the TCP port number (from the dynamic range of 1024 to 65535) to which the client can connect to set up data transfer.
   
  The main difference between active and passive FTP mode is the part that opens connection for data transferring. In active mode, it is the client who has to accept connection from the FTP server. In passive mode, the client initiates connection, and the server accepts it.
• Enable automatic publishing of reports via FTP — enable support reports publishing. If disabled, other fields are inaccessible;

• Account — the account number the report for which should be published;
• Refresh every — periodicity of sending reports to the web server (in minutes).

The “Test” button sends report about the current account status using the specified settings that allows to check their workability. If it has been tested successfully, the “OK” button must be pressed to activate these settings. If the test did not succeed, it is recommended to check all settings again and retest.

The client terminal publishes common reports on default. In order to publish a detailed report, you should rename the “StatementDetailed.htm” file located in the /TEMPLATES directory into “Statement.htm”.

Signals of system events can be set up in the terminal (not to be mixed up with alerts). It is a very convenient tool informing about changes in the terminal status. Signals can be set up in this tab. For this to be done, the “Enable” option must be enabled first. At that, a table containing the list of system events and corresponding actions will become active.

System events are:

• Connect — connection to the server. Signal of successful connection to the server;
• Disconnect — no connection to the server. Signal of interrupted connection to the server;
• Email Notify — notifying by email. If this signal has triggered, it is recommended to check the “Terminal — Mailbox” window;
• Timeout — a certain time range is predefined for performing trade operations. If this range has been exceeded for some reason, the operation will not be performed, and this signal will trigger;
• OK — trade operation has been successfully performed. No errors occurred when performing this operation;
• News — receiving of news. If this signal has triggered, it is recommended to check the “Terminal — News” window;
• Expert Advisor — this signal triggers when an expert advisor is performing a trade operation;
• Alert — performing the Alert() function by an expert advisor;
• Requote — price changed during preparation of a trade operation;
• Trailing Stop — triggering of the order of the same name.

If there is a need to disable any of the signals, it is necessary to double-click on its name or icon with the left mouse button. Another double click will activate it again. After the signal has been triggered, the file specified in the “Action” field of the corresponding event will run. A double click on the file name allows to change the file. After double-clicking a pop-up list of available files to be assigned for the event will appear. You can also choose any other file by using the “Choose other…” item in the list. Selection of any file from this list and further Enter button pressing means that it is assigned to the corresponding event. To confirm all changes made, one has to press the “OK” button.

The MQL5.community provides unique services to traders and MQL4/MQL5 developer, including the possibility to subscribe to trading signals provided by professional traders.

Specify your MQL5.community account in order to subscribe to trading signals:

• Login — your account at MQL5.community.
• Password — password to the specified account.

Link “register” opens the window of quick registration of an account at MQL5.community.

In this window specify a desired login for your account and email address. Once you click “Register” an account will be created and a message containing password to the account will be sent at the specified email.

Use this tab to configure “Signals” service in the client terminal.

Signals service is the part of integration of the trading terminal and MQL5.community website. It allows anyone to become a provider and sell trading signals or subscribe to them and follow the strategy of an experienced trader.

Any traders can subscribe to the signals of another experienced trader (provider) to copy his or her trade operations.

Find more about the service in Signals section.

The name of the signal you are currently subscribed to is displayed at the top of the tab. If there is no subscription, the settings below will be uneditable.

• Agree to the terms of use of the Signals service — agree to the terms to start using the service. Read the rules carefully. If you agree, check the box next to the option. If you do not agree with the rules, do not use the Signals service.

• Enable realtime signal subscription — trading operations will be copied to your account only after this option is enabled. No operations will be copied to the account in case the option is disabled. The settings below will become editable only after enabling this option.
• Copy Stop Loss and Take Profit levels — Stop Loss and Take Profit placed at the provider’s account will be also placed on your trading account if this option is enabled. These orders are executed at the broker’s side. It means that they are executed regardless of whether the client terminal has been launched or not. Also, execution can be performed at completely different brokerage companies (if subscriber and provider have different brokers).
  Therefore, it is guaranteed that a position will be closed when copying Stop orders in case a specified profit and loss levels have been reached.

• Synchronize positions without confirmations — automatic synchronization without additional confirmation. When subscribing to a signal, trading states of the Subscriber’s and Provider’s accounts are synchronized. This can be a primary synchronization when activating the subscription or a re-synchronization during copying.
  If pending orders or non-signal positions (opened manually or by an Expert Advisor) are detected at the Subscriber’s account during synchronization, the dialog offering to close the positions and remove the orders is displayed. If during the initial synchronization, a provider account has floating (unfixed) profit, a user will see a dialog window offering to wait for better conditions to start copying. In both cases, synchronization is not performed and copying of signals is stopped until the user makes the decision by clicking the appropriate dialog button.
  If the platform is working around the clock without constant external control (for example, runs on VPS), confirmation requests to perform synchronization are left unanswered and thus can prevent signals from being copied. When this option is enabled, synchronization is always performed automatically without the need for Subscriber’s confirmation.

• If there are custom positions/orders, they are left on the account, while the system starts/proceeds copying the Provider’s trades.
• If the Provider has a floating profit, the platform does not wait for better entry conditions and starts copying immediately.

• Use no more than [A] % — percentage value of your deposit that can be used for following provider’s signals. For example, if your balance is 10 000 USD and 90% is specified here, then 9 000 USD will be used for following the signals. This affects the calculation of volumes of the deals performed when following the signals. The volume is calculated proportionally. See “Signal Subscribers” section for more information. It is strongly not recommended to change the deposit load if you already have positions opened according to a signal. This will lead to correction of volume of the open positions (volume increase or partial close by reopening the positions at the current market price).
• Stop if equity is less than [B] — this parameter allows you to limit losses when using trading signals. If equity drops below a specified level, copying of trade signals will be automatically terminated, all positions will be closed and all pending orders will be removed. 0 means no limitations.
• Deviation/Slippage [C] spreads — this setting is similar to deviation set when orders are placed from the terminal. This is the value of the permissible deviation of the executed order price from the price initially requested by the client terminal when copying a trading operation. This value is displayed as a part of the current spread on the symbol used in trading operation.
  The order is executed if the deviation is less or equal to the specified parameter. If the deviation exceeds the specified value, the terminal will increase the acceptable deviation by 0,5 of the spread and make another attempt to perform the trade operation. If the requote is received again, the accounts of the subscriber and provider will become unsynchronized. Later the terminal will try to synchronize them again.

The main menu of the terminal is located under the program heading and represents a set of sub-menus.

Commands managing signal windows, toolbars, and the program interface language, are grouped in this window.

Some of these commands are duplicated in the “Standard” toolbar. The following commands are available in the menu:

• Languages — call the sub-menu managing languages of the Client Terminal. Having selected a desired language, one can switch the terminal interface to this language. For the changes to take effect, the program must be restarted;
• Toolbars — call the sub-menu managing toolbars. Active toolbars are checked. Selection of a toolbar allows to enable or disable it.
  The “Customize…” command allows to assign any buttons for any toolbars. At that, a new window containing the list of toolbar elements available. The “Insert” and “Remove” buttons allow to add or remove an element from the toolbar. The “Up” and “Down” buttons are intended for defining the location of a button in the toolbar. To reset the toolbar to appear as initially, one has to press the “Reset” button.
• Status Bar — enable/disable status bar located in the lower part of the terminal window. This data bar contains (from left to right): menu managing profiles, time and prices of the bar selected, and indicator of server connection and amounts of incoming/outgoing traffic. Having pressed on the current profile name, one can open the menu managing profiles. One can store or remove profiles in this menu, as well as download those previously stored.
  The sub-menu for managing profiles can also be called by the “File — Profiles” menu command.
• Charts Bar — enable/disable the chart window names (tabs) bar located in the lower part of the workspace. Using this bar, one can switch among open charts fast.
• Market Watch — open/close the “Market Watch” signal window where the current quotes are published.
  The same action can be performed by accelerating buttons of Ctrl+M or by pressing the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.
• Data Window — open/close the “Data Window”. Prices of the bar selected and information about indicators imposed are published in this window.
  The same action can be performed with accelerating buttons of Ctrl+D or by the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.
• Navigator — open/close the “Navigator” window. Lists of open accounts, technical indicators, experts, custom indicators and scripts are located in the form of tree in this window.
  The same action can be performed with accelerating buttons of Ctrl+N or by the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.
• Terminal — open/close the “Terminal” window. One can manage orders and signals in this window, look through the account history, news, emails, journal of events and that of expert advisors.
  The same action can be performed with accelerating buttons of Ctrl+T or by the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.
• Strategy Tester — open/close the “Tester” window. This window is intended for testing and optimization of expert advisors.
  The same action can be performed with acceleration keys of Ctrl+R or the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.
• Full Screen — enable/disable the full screen mode. As soon as this option is enabled, toolbars and status bar will be disabled and all signal windows will be closed. The client terminal heading, main menu, workspace (charts) and the charts windows tabs remain in the screen. The repeated execution of the command returns the terminal to the initial appearance.
  The same action can be performed with F11 button or by the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.

Charts

Commands managing the chart and technical indicators imposed in it are collected in the “Charts” menu.

The following commands are available in this menu:

• Indicators List — call window managing indicators imposed in the active chart. The full list of indicators imposed (including Custom Indicators) is given in the window appeared. Having selected an indicator, one can change its settings or remove it from the chart.
  The same action can be performed by the chart context menu command of the same name or by accelerating keys of Ctrl+I;
• Objects — call sub-menu managing imposed objects. The following commands are available in the sub-menu:

• • Objects List — call window managing the imposed objects. Objects include line studies, signs, shapes, and texts. The selected object can be modified (the “Edit” button) or deleted by pressing of the button of the same name in this window. Besides, the “Show” command moves the active chart to the imposed object location;
  • Delete Last — delete the last imposed object from the chart.
    The same action can be performed by pressing the Backspace button;
  • Delete All Selected — delete all selected objects from the chart window.
    The same action can be performed by pressing the Delete button;
  • Delete All Arrows — delete all objects from the chart window;
  • Unselect All — unselect all the objects imposed in the chart;
  • Undo Delete — return the deleted object back into the chart.
    The same action can be performed by accelerating keys of Ctrl+Z;

• Bar Chart — display the chart as a sequence of bars.
  Execution of this command is the same as pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar or accelerating keys of Alt+1;
• Candlesticks — display the chart as a sequence of “candlesticks”.
  Execution of this command is the same as pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar or accelerating keys of Alt+2;
• Line Chart — display the chart as a broken line connecting close prices of bars.
  Execution of this command is the same as pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar or accelerating keys of Alt+3;
• Foreground Chart — put the chart as a “foreground”. If this function is enabled, all analytical objects (technical indicators and graphical objects) will be placed “behind the chart”, not over it;
• Timeframes — choose the chart timeframe. After this command has been executed, a sub-menu will appear where the active chart timeframe can be selected.
  The chart timeframe can also be changed with help of the “Timeframes” toolbar;
• Template — call the template managing sub-menu. From this sub-menu, one can impose any template into the active chart. Moreover, a new template can be stored based on the active chart, or an existing one can be deleted. More details about working with templates can be found in the “Profiles and Templates” section.
  The sub-menu managing templates can also be called by pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbaror by the chart context menu command of the same name;

• Refresh — refresh history data. At that, all missing data within the existing history will be downloaded. The same action can be performed by the chart context menu command of the same name.

• Grid — show/hide grid in the chart window.
  The same actions can be performed by the chart context menu command of the same name and by pressing of the accelerating keys of Ctrl+G;
• Volumes — show/hide volumes in the chart.
  The same actions can be performed by the chart context menu command of the same name or by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+L;
• Auto Scroll — enable/disable automatic shifting of the chart to the left after a new bar has started to form. If this option is enabled, the last bar will always be shown in the chart.
  Execution of this command is the same as pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar;
• Chart Shift — shift the chart from the left window border to the shift label of the chart. The shift label of the chart (a grey triangle in the upper part of the window) can be moved with the mouse horizontally within 10 to 50% of the window size.
  Execution of this command is the same as pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar;
• Zoom In — zoom in the chart.
  The same action can be performed by pressing of the “+” key or the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, as well as by moving the cursor to the right, the left mouse button being pressed on the horizontal scale;
• Zoom Out — zoom out the chart.
  The same action can be performed by pressing of the “-” key or the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, as well as by moving the cursor to the left, the left mouse button being pressed on the horizontal scale;
• Step by Step — shift the chart by one bar to the left.
  The same action can be performed by pressing of F12;
• Properties… — setting up the chart parameters. At this command execution, the chart setup window will appear.
  The same actions can be performed by the chart context menu command of the same name or by pressing of F8.

There are four toolbars in-built into the terminal. The main commands used in the terminal are duplicated in the toolbars in form of buttons. Normally, the toolbars are placed under the main menu, but they can easily be moved in any program window area. Toolbars can be shown or hidden by the “View — Toolbars” menu command. All toolbars are customizable, what allows to place only necessary, often used commands in them. To set up a toolbar, one has to open its context menu (right mouse-button click) and execute the “Customize…” command.

All commands are grouped in toolbars according to their functions:

The securities (symbols) for which the Client Terminal gets quotes from the server are listed in the “Market Watch” window.

The data are represented in this window as a table having several fields. The “Symbol” field contains the security name, the fields of “Bid”, “Ask”, and “Time” show the corresponding prices and time of their income from the server. Values of the “Maximum” and “Minimum” fields are calculated on basis of price changes within a day. The “Market Watch” window can be opened/closed by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+M, by the “View — Market Watch” menu command, or by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.

This window allows to place market and pending orders and open new charts. At the right mouse button click in the “Market Watch” window, the context menu will appear where the following commands are available:

• New Order — open the “New Order” window where one can prepare and place a market or a pending order for the symbol selected. At the order preparation, one can specify the Stop Loss and Take Profit levels. More details can be found in the “Positions Opening” section.
  The “New Order” window can also be opened by double clicking on the security name in the “Market Watch” window, by the “Tools — New Order” menu command, by the “Terminal — Trade — New Order” window context menu command, the  button of the “Standard” toolbar, or by pressing of F9;
• Chart Window — open the chart of the symbol selected. More details about working with chart windows are given in the section of the same name.
  The symbol chart can also be opened by the “File — New Chart” and “Window — New Window” menu commands and by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar;
• Tick Chart — open the tick chart of the symbol selected. Unlike normal charts, the tick chart is located directly in the “Market Watch” window. The tick chart of the selected symbol can also be viewed by switching to the tab of the same name in the same window. The tick data comes only when the account is connected. Thus, if an account was not active for a certain period of time, the tick chart may appear empty in the beginning. The tick data is stored separately for each server;

• Depth Of Market — open the depth of market of the symbol selected;
• Specification — open symbol parameters;

• Hide — delete (hide) the symbol from the list. To minimize the traffic, it is recommended to hide unused securities from the quotes window by this command or by pressing of the Delete button.

• Hide All — delete all symbols from the list. This command does not apply to securities for which there are open positions or the charts of which were opened in the current working session;
• Show All — show the list of all available securities. After this command has been executed, quotes will income for all these symbols;
• Symbols — call the window of the same name where there is a list of all available symbols. Symbols are grouped in the window according to their types. The “Show Symbol” command allows to add necessary symbols to the quotes window, and that of “Hide Symbol” — to delete a symbol from it. The “Properties” window command allows to view the symbol parameters;
• Sets — open the sub-menu that manages the symbol sets. The current set of symbols can be stored in this sub-menu, as well as delete or select an already existing one. This is very comfortable when working with securities of different types;

• Spread — show/hide column that displays spread — the difference between the bid and ask prices;

• High/Low — add the highest and the lowest values of the daily price to the quotes displayed;
• Time — show time of incoming quotes;
• Auto Arrange — automatic arranging of columns when changing the window size.
  Auto Arrange can also be enabled by pressing A button;
• Grid — show/hide the grid separating columns.
  The grid can also be shown by pressing G button;
• Popup Prices — open an additional quotes window. You can also open this window by pressing F10 on your keyboard. The list of symbols in this window is the same as that in the “Market Watch” window at the moment of the command execution. This means that changes in the symbol list in the “Market Watch” window does not influence that in the “Popup Prices”. It is an information window, but trading operations can also be performed from it. To do so, one has to double-click with the left mouse button on the desired security. In the context menu of this window, there are commands allowing to set up data displaying parameters, enable the full screen mode, or locate the window over all others.

Contract Specification

The symbol contract specification window contains the terms of a symbol trading. To view the symbol properties, click “Specification” in its context menu in the “Market Watch” window.

The window displays the following parameters set by a broker:

• Spread — spread in points. If the spread is floating, the parameter is equal to 0.
• Digits — number of decimal places in the price of the symbol;
• Stops level — channel of prices (in points) from the current price, inside which one cannot place Stop Loss, Take Profit and pending orders. When placing an order inside the channel, the server will return the “Invalid Stops” message and will not accept the order;
• Freeze Level — level for freezing orders that are close to the current price. When an order price is as close to the market price as the value specified here or less than that, modification, deletion or closing of the corresponding position or order is prohibited;
• Contract size — number of units of the commodity, currency or financial asset in one lot;
• Margin currency — currency in which the margin requirements are calculated;
• Profit calculation mode — Forex, Contracts or Futures;

• Margin calculation mode — Forex, Contracts, Futures; Contracts Index, Contracts Leverage;

• Margin hedge — margin charged from hedged orders for 1 lot;
• Margin percentage — determines what part of the base margin size value calculated according to the symbol type is charged;
• Trade — permission to trade with this instrument: “Full access” allows to close and open positions; “Close only” allows only closing; “Disabled” — full prohibit to trade;
• Execution — execution type of the symbol: Instant, Request or Market;
• GTC mode — expiration mode of orders:

• Pendings are good till cancel — pending orders are preserved as a trade day changes;
• Good till today including SL/TP — orders that are valid only during one trading day. With the end of the day, all levels of Stop Loss and Take Profit, as well as pending orders are deleted.
• Good till today excluding SL/TP — when a trade day changes, only pending orders are deleted, Stop Loss and Take Profit levels are preserved.

• Minimal volume — minimal volume of a deal for the symbol;
• Maximal volume — maximal volume of a deal for the symbol;
• Volume step — step of volume changes.
• Swap type — type of swap calculation:

• in points — the specified number of points of the security price.
• in the base currency — the specified amount in the base currency of the symbol.
• in percentage terms — as a percentage per annum. The percentage is taken from the position price (per 1 lot) and divided by 360, since the swap is calculated daily;
• in the margin currency — the specified amount in the symbol margin currency.

• Swap long — swap for Buy positions.
• Swap short — swap for Sell positions;

• 3-days swaps — the day of triple swap charge;

• First trade — a day of beginning of symbol trading;
• Last trade — a day of end of symbol trading.

The lower part shows information about quoting and trading sessions of the symbol. Sessions are specified for every day of week.

Depth of Market

The depth of market displays the current market for a trading symbol. This tool provides the ability of quick and easy order management.

To open the Depth of Market window of a financial instrument, click “ Depth of Market” in the context menu of the Market Watch.

List of Prices

The main part of DOM is occupied by the list of prices. The upper part (colored in red) displays Ask prices, while the lower part (colored in blue) displays Bid prices. The best depth of market prices are the current Bid and Ask for the symbol. The next level is set as the closest level allowing placing Buy Limit and Sell Limit orders considering stop level for the symbol. Further levels are set according to the symbol’s price step.

The Trading column displays trader’s current trade requests and stop levels (Stop Loss and Take Profit). For example:

• BL 10 — Buy Limit order of 10 lots;
• SL 5 — Sell Limit order of 5 lots;
• BS 1 — Buy Stop order of 1 lot;
• SS 3 — Sell Stop order of 3 lots;
• sl 1 — Stop Loss level of 1 lot;
• tp 2 — Take Profit level of 2 lots.

Trading Commands

Traders can send market and pending orders.

Pending Orders

Buttons for placing pending orders are located at the right side of Trading column. The order is placed at the price with a pressed button.

• — if this button is pressed in the Bid prices area, a Buy Limit order at a specified price will be placed; in case it is pressed in the Ask prices area, a Buy Stop order will be placed;
• — if this button is pressed in the Ask prices area, a Sell Limit order at a specified price will be placed; in case it is pressed in the Bid prices area, a Sell Stop order will be placed.

Trading Settings

The lower part of DOM contains trade operation settings:

• sl — Stop Loss level is set for placed limit orders. This parameter is specified in points from the current price;
• vol — the volume of created market and limit orders in lots;
• tp — Take Profit level is set for placed limit orders. This parameter is specified in points from the current price.

Market Orders

Market order commands are located below:

• Sell — make a Sell deal in the size specified in “vol” field at the best available price.
• Close — this button is enabled only if there is an open position for a selected financial instrument. It allows you to close the entire position at the best available price.
• Buy — make a Buy deal in the size specified in “vol” field at the best available price.

Context Menu

Depth of Market has an adaptive context menu. The set of command varies depending on where it is called.

• Buy Limit/Sell Limit — place a Buy Limit or Sell Limit order at the price, at which the context menu is called. If you open the menu in the area of sell offers, the menu suggests the Sell Limit command, in the buy offers area it suggests the Buy Limit command.
• Sell Stop/Buy Stop — place a Sell Stop or Buy Stop order at the price, at which the context menu is called. If you open the menu in the area of sell offers, the menu suggests the Buy Stop command, in the buy offers area it suggests the Sell Stop command.
• Take Profit — this command appears if the user has an open position for the selected symbol and a Take Profit is set for that position. Using this command the Take Profit can be moved to the price, at which the command is called.
• Stop Loss — this command appears if the user has an open position for the selected symbol and a Stop Loss is set for that position. Using this command the Stop Loss can be moved to the price, at which the command is called.

• Alert — create an alert for a selected price. If the context menu is called in the area of sell offers, it creates “Ask > selected price” alert, in the buy offers area it creates “Bid < selected price” alert. Alerts created from the depth of market are automatically set to expire in one hour.

If the context menu is opened at the line of a limit order, a Stop Loss or a Take Profit, additional commands appear:

• Modify — open the window of modification of a selected order;
• Delete/Cancel — cancel a selected order.

This window is intended for displaying of price information (OHLC), date and time of the bar, and the indicators (including custom ones) used. “Data Window” is an information window and it does not allow to perform any actions. The desired information about a certain bar and the imposed indicators can be obtained here promptly. To do so, it is sufficient to place the cursor over the necessary bar.

Context menu commands of this window allow:

• Copy — copy data from this window into the clipboard for further use in other applications.
  The same action can be performed by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+C;
• Last Data — show/hide the latest data column. At that, an additional column containing the last bar data will appear in the window;
• Auto Arrange — set up the column size automatically when the window size changes;
• Grid — show/hide grid to separate columns;
• Show — show/hide information fields. Any of the bar prices (OHLC), date or volume can be selected in the sub-menu that appears. If the element has not been checked, it will not be shown.

This window allows to get a quick access to various features of the terminal. This window can be opened/closed by pressing accelerating keys of Ctrl+N, by the “View — Navigator” menu command, or by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.

The list of features is listed as a tree and contains five groups: “Accounts”, “Indicators”, “Expert Advisors”, “Custom Indicators”, and “Scripts”.

Accounts

The “Accounts” group includes the list of open accounts. Using a context menu, one can open a new demo account or delete the old one.

• Open an Account — An unlimited amount of demo accounts can be opened from the terminal. To do so, one has to execute the “Open an Account” context menu command or press the Insert button. More details about opening of accounts can be found in the corresponding section.
• Login to Trade Account — to authorize an existing account (whether a demo or a real one), one has to execute the “Login to Trade Account” command or double-click with the left mouse button on the desired account line.

• Login to Web Terminal — the web terminal allows trading on financial markets and conducting technical analysis just using a web browser. The web platform is safe to use – any transmitted information is securely encrypted.

• Login to MQL5.community — open the settings of the trading platform to login to MQL5.community and get additional services.
• Change Password — open the window of changing the password of the trade account.

• Delete — delete a selected account. The same action can be performed by pressing the Delete key.
• Add to Favorites — add the selected account to favorites.

• Register as Signal — register a selected account in the “Signals” service. After executing this command, you’ll go to the signal registration page at MQL5.community. The selected account and the right broker server will be automatically specified in the registration form.

• Register a virtual server — this command allows you to allocate a virtual server for the terminal’s continuous round-the-clock operation. Unlike renting ordinary VDS or VPS from third-party companies, you are able to select the server that is the closest to your broker minimizing the network latency when sending orders from the terminal to the trade server.

Indicators

This group contains indicators — the main tools for analyzing the price dynamics:

• Built-in technical indicators divided into four categories: Trend, Oscillators, Volumes, Bill Williams.
• Indicators downloaded from the source code library at MQL5.community. Displayed in Downloads sub-category.
• Indicators purchased from the Market — the store of applications for the trading platform. Displayed in Market sub-category.
• Built-in examples of indicators with the source codes. Displayed in Exmaples sub-category.
• Custom indicators located in /MQL4/Indicators folder; displayed according to the structure of sub-folders they are stored in.

The Navigator shows only executable indicator files (*.EX4).

The following commands can be executed in the context menu:

• Attach to Chart — apply a selected indicator to the active chart. The same action can be performed by a double click on the indicator. Besides, using the Drag’n’Drop method one can apply an analytical tool to any chart or a subwindow of already attached indicator.
• Modify — open the source code file (*.MQ4) of a selected indicator in MetaEditor. The same action can be performed by selecting an indicator and pressing the Enter key.
• Delete — delete a selected custom indicator. This action deletes both its executable file (*.EX4) and its source code file (*.MQ4). The same action can be performed by clicking the Delete key.

• Buy from the Market — go to the Market — the store of applications for the trading platform.

• Order your own Program — go to ordering a development of an MQL4 program at the “Freelance” service at MQL5.community.
• Create in MetaEditor — go to the creation of a custom indicator. The execution of this command opens MQL4 Wizard in MetaEditor where an indicator can be created. The same action can be performed by clicking the Insert key.
• Add to Favorites — add a selected indicator to favorites.
• Set hotkey — assign a hotkey to the selected indicator.
• Refresh — re-read the information about existing compiled indicators from the hard disk. The execution of this command is necessary when copying already compiled files to the corresponding folder of the client terminal.
• Online library — go to “Code Base” section, where you can easily download programs published in the corresponding section of the MQL5.community website.

Expert Advisor

The “Expert Advisors” group contains the list of all available expert advisors. Expert Advisors in the terminal are programs allowing to automate analytical and trading activities. To create and modify them, the built-in editor, MetaEditor, is used. More details about creation and working with experts can be found in the “Auto Trading” section.

The “Create” context menu command allows to create a new expert, “Modify” — to modify an existing one, and “Delete” — to delete an expert from the terminal. The “Attach to a Chart” command or double-click with the left mouse button allow to impose the expert into the active chart. After that, when a new tick incomes, the expert will start working. Experts can be imposed into any chart with the “Drag’n’Drop” technique.

Hot Keys

Hot keys can be assigned to call any elements of the “Navigator” window, except for those in the “Accounts” group.

To set a hot key for an element, one has to execute the “Set hotkey” command of this element’s context menu. The hot keys set have a higher priority being compared to those predefined. For example, Ctrl+O is predefined to call the terminal setting window. If this pair of keys is set to call the On Balance Volume indicator, the terminal setting window will not be called by pressing of Ctrl+O anymore.

Favorites Tab

The “Favorites” tab is intended for a quick access to objects mostly used.

In this tab, for example, only necessary accounts, indicators, scripts, and experts can be placed. This allows to accelerate the trader’s work, especially, if there is a need to act promptly. To move a necessary object into the “Favorites” tab, one has to execute the corresponding context menu command. If the object is not necessary anymore, it can be deleted from the tab using the “Delete from favorites” context menu command.

Attention: All objects included in the “Favorites” can function without any limitations. All managing commands placed in the context menu can also be called

This is a bar that contains tabs of charts that are currently open in the terminal. It is located below the chart window:

This bar is used for switching between charts currently open in the terminal by clicking on their tabs. Besides the name of the financial security the tab shows the chart period. You can close a chart by clicking with the mouse wheel on the chart tab.

The context menu of the bar tabs contains the following commands:

• Close — close the selected chart. The same action can be performed by pressing the middle mouse button at the chart tab;
• Maximize — maximize the active chart window to the whole viewing area;
• Minimize — minimize the active chart. In this case only chart window header will remain in viewing area;
• Restore — show the active chart in a window mode;
• Windows — call the chart managing window. The same action can be performed by pressing Alt+W key combination;

• Tile Windows — arrange chart windows as a tile. The same action can be performed by pressing Alt+R key combination.

Chart Managing Window

This window allows to manage open charts.

The window contains the list of charts that are currently open. In order to move to one of them, one should click twice on it in the list, or select it and press the “Activate” button. The “Close” button is used for closing a chart selected in the list.

“Terminal” is a multifunctional window allowing to access to various terminal features. This window allows to control over trading activities, view news and account history, set up alerts, and work with the internal mail and system journal. The window can be opened by the “View — Terminals” menu command, by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+T, or the  button of the “Standard” toolbar. There are several tabs in the window:

“Tester” is a multifunctional window that allows to test strategies and optimize parameters of expert advisors. When being tested, the expert is passed on the modeled data one time what allows to estimate its profitability and effectiveness. For optimization purposes, the mechanical trading system is passed many times in order to find out such parameters of the expert at which its profitability is the highest.

The window can be called by the “View — Strategy Tester” menu command, by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+R, or the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.

There are several tabs in this window:

• Settings — settings of testing and optimization. The parameters of expert advisors, period to be tested, the method of bars modeling, and many other things, can be set up in this tab;
• Results — the results of trade operations performed by the expert, as well as the direction of balance changes;
• Graph — displaying of testing results in a graph;
• Report — the detailed testing report. Many indications of testing and effectiveness of experts can be found here: the amount of bars modeled, the total profit, the most profitable and unprofitable positions, the amount of profit and loss trades, etc.;
• Journal — a log where all actions and internal messages of the expert are recorded;
• Optimization Results — information about every pass, including inputs, profitability, drawdowns, and other data;
• Optimization Graph — the results of expert optimization as a graph. Besides each pass profitability, the amount of profit and loss trades is displayed in the graph.

As in the “Terminal” window, some tabs of the “Tester” window are hidden if they are empty. So, initially, only the tabs of “Settings” and “Journal” can be seen in this window. The tabs of “Results”, “Graph”, and “Report”, will only appear after an expert has been tested. After it has also been optimized, the tabs of “Optimization Results” and “Optimization Graph” will appear. More detailed information about testing experts can be found in the section of the same name.

Working with Charts

A chart shows the price changes for a security with the time. Charts are necessary for performing technical analysis, working of expert advisors and testing thereof. Up to ninety-nine charts can be opened in the terminal at the same time.

The client terminal allows to:

• open up to 99 chart simultaneously;
• set up their representation form and information shown;
• print charts;
• impose and delete various objects and indicators;
• recover deleted charts;
• use chart templates.

A chart shows the price changes for a security with the time. Charts are necessary for performing technical analysis, working of expert advisors and testing thereof. Up to ninety-nine charts can be opened in the terminal at the same time.

A new chart can be opened by executing of the “File — New Chart” menu, “Window — New Window” menu command, or by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar. The list of securities available will appear at performing any of the above actions. Having selected the necessary symbol from this list, one can open its chart. New charts can also be opened from the “Market Watch” window, holding Ctrl and dragging the element of the list (the symbol) from the window into any point of the workspace of the terminal, or having executed the “Chart Window” command of the context menu. All new charts are opened with the DEFAULT.TPL template created during the terminal installation. This template cannot be deleted, but it can be modified.

History data used for drawing of charts are stored on the hard disk. At opening of a chart, the data are downloaded from the disk and the last missing data are spooled from the trading server. If there are no history data for the symbol on the hard disk, the latest 512 bars of history will be downloaded. To spool the earlier data, one has to move the chart to the desired area. After the chart has been opened, information about the current quotes starts to income to the terminal. Thus, the further price changes will be shown in the real-time mode. This information will be stored in the history file and used at the reopening of this chart in future.

Offline Charts

Client terminal allows to work with offline charts. These charts are opened on basis of data saved on the hard disk in HST format. They are not updated from the server. These charts turn out as very useful for working with non-standard securities or periods.

To open a new chart in offline mode, one has to execute the “File — Open Offline” menu command. Then, a symbol must be selected in the window that appears, and the “Open” button must be pressed. The OFFLINE.TPL template is applied to the chart automatically. At that, the “(offline)” inscription will appear added in the heading of the offline chart.

At testing an expert, the data file in FXT format is created and used. It differs from a standard chart, but it can be opened offline.

Appearance and properties of each chart in the terminal can be set up individually. To do so, one has to execute the “Charts — Properties…” menu command, the chart context menu command of the same name, or press F8. These actions result in appearing of the “Properties” window that can be used for setting of the color of various elements of the chart (the “Colors”) tab:

• Background — chart background color;
• Foreground — color of axes, scales, OHLC line;
• Grid — chart grid color;
• Bar Up — bar up, shades and fringing of the Bull Candle body;
• Bar Down — bar down, shades and fringing of the Bear Candle body;
• Bull candle — color of the Bull Candle body;
• Bear candle — color of the Bear Candle body;
• Line graph — line chart and doji;
• Volumes — volumes and levels of open positions;
• Ask line — color of the Ask line;
• Stop levels — levels of stop orders (Stop Loss and Take Profit).

The changes made are automatically shown in the left part of the window in the preview chart. Except for manual setting of various color elements of the chart, one can choose pre-defined color diagrams in the field of the same name. There are three color diagrams available in the terminal: “Yellow on Black”, “Green on Black”, and “Black on White”. After a color diagram has been chosen, the chart elements described above will change in the chart in the left part of the window. Custom color diagrams can be stored in templates.

Other chart settings can be defined in this window, as well. To do so, one has to switch to the “Common” tab and select the desired options:

• Offline chart — turn the chart offline. This option stops receiving and drawing of price data for the given chart. In future, after this option is disabled, price data will be drawn in the chart again. After the chart has been opened offline, (the “File — Open offline” menu command), this option will be enabled automatically.
• Chart on foreground — place the chart in the “foreground”. If this function is enabled, all analytical objects will be placed “under” the price chart.
  This command is the same as that of “Charts — Foreground chart”.
• Chart shift — shift the chart from the right border of the window to the shift mark. The chart shift mark (a gray triangle in the upper part of the window) can be moved with the mouse horizontally within 10 to 50% of the window size.
  This option can also be enabled with the  button of the “Charts” toolbar or by the “Charts — Chart Shift” menu command.
• Chart autoscroll — allow/forbid to shift the chart to the left automatically after the new bar has started to form. If this option is enabled, the latest bar will always be shown in the chart.
  This option can also be enabled by the  button of the “Charts” toolbar and by the “Charts — Auto Scroll” menu command.
• Scale fix One to One — fix the chart scale as “one to one” (the size of one pip of the vertical axis in pixels is equal to the distance between the bars axes in pixels). At that, the “Scale fix” option will be enabled automatically, and a scroll bar will appear at the right side of the window that allows to move the chart vertically. This mode is necessary for precise constructions.
• Scale fix — fix the current chart scale. If the scale has not been fixed, the chart will be automatically scaled vertically. This option disables automatic scaling and fixes the current scale. When this option is selected, the fields of additional scaling parameters “Fixed maximum” and “Fixed minimum” are activated.
• Bar chart — display the chart as a sequence of bars.
  This action can also be performed with the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, by the “Charts — Bar Chart” menu command or by pressing of accelerating keys of Alt+1.
• Candlesticks — display the chart as a sequence of candlesticks.
  This action can also be performed with the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, by the “Charts — Candlesticks” menu command, or by pressing of accelerating keys of Alt+2.
• Line chart — display the chart as a broken line that connects the points of bar close prices.
  This action can also be performed by the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, by the “Charts — Line Chart” menu command, or by pressing of accelerating keys of Alt+3.
• Show OHLC — show/hide OHLC line. If this action is done, an additional data line will appear in the upper left part of the window. Except for symbol name and chart period, the latest bar prices are listed in it. Price are recorded in the following format: OPEN, HIGH, LOW and CLOSE (OHLC) — bar open price, the highest bar price, the lowest bar price, and bar close price, respectively. Thus, precise value of the latest bar can always be seen. This option influences the data line of sub-windows of indicators, as well.
• Show Ask line — show/hide Ask price level of the latest quote. Bars are drawn and shown only on Bid prices in the terminal. However, at opening of long positions and closing of the short ones, the Ask price is always used. It is not shown in the chart in any way, so it cannot be seen. To control one’s trading activities more precisely, one can enable the “Show Ask line” parameter. After this command has been executed, an additional horizontal line will appear in the chart that correspond with the Ask line of the latest bar.
• Show period separators — show/hide period separators. Date and time of each bar are displayed on the horizontal axis of the chart. And this horizontal scale interval is the selected timeframe. The “Show period separators” option draws additional vertical lines in the chart that correspond with the larger period (timeframe) borders. So, daily separators will be drawn for charts with periods of M1 to H1, weekly ones — for H4, monthly ones — for D1, and yearly ones — for W1 and MN1.
• Show grid — show/hide grid in the chart window.
  The same actions can be performed by the chart context menu and “Charts” menu command of the same name, as well as by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+G.
• Show volumes — show/hide the volume chart in the lower part of the window. This option does not function when the scale is fixed.
  The same actions can be performed by the chart context menu and “Charts” menu command of the same name, as well as by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+L.
• Show object descriptions — show/hide object descriptions in the chart. If this option is enabled and there are descriptions of objects imposed into the chart available, they will be shown directly in the chart.

Charts allow to analyze price changes at the market and are used for graphical analysis, building of various indicators and line studies. Charts are a very valuable instrument for analyzing of financial markets, that is why a great attention is paid to them. Chart management means:

• Chart Type
  A symbol chart can be of three types:

• • Bar Chart — the sequence of bars.
    To make a chart of this type, one has to press the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, accelerating keys of Alt + 1, the corresponding option of the Charts Setup window, or execute the “Charts — Bar Chart” menu command.
  • Candlesticks — the sequence of candlesticks.
    To make a chart of this type, one has to press the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, accelerating keys of Alt + 2, the corresponding option of the Charts Setup window, or execute the “Charts — Candlesticks” menu command.
  • Line Chart — a broken line connecting the bar close prices.
    To make a chart of this type, one has to press the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, accelerating keys of Alt + 3, the corresponding option of the Charts Setup window, or execute the “Charts — Line Chart” menu command.

• Saving
  The client terminal allows to save history data of the active chart as a text file in formats of “CSV”, “PRN”, and “HTM”.
  To save them in one of these ways, one has to execute the “File— Save As” menu command or press accelerating keys of Ctrl + S. Besides, the chart can be saved as a picture in BMP or GIF format. To do so, one has to execute the “File—Save As Picture…” menu command. The same actions can be performed by the chart context menu command of the same name.
• Print
  To print the active chart in color, one has to flag “Color print” in the chart settings, then execute the “File — Print…” menu command, the chart context menu command of the same name, press the  button of the “Standard” toolbar or accelerating keys of Ctrl+P. If the “Color Print” is disabled, or there is no color printer available, the chart will bee printed as black-and-white.
• Full Screen
  Execution of the “View — Full Screen” menu command or pressing of F11 will switch the chart to the full screen mode. Only chart windows, main menu and chart switching bar will remain in the display. One can return to the initial mode using the same command.
• Attaching of MQL4 Programs
  Before MQL4 starts to execute, it must be attached to the chart. To do so, one has to select the desired MQL4 program in the “Navigator” window and double-click on it or execute the “Attach to a chart” command of the context menu. The “Drag’n’Drop” technique can be used, as well.
• Working with Indicators
  Indicator is a mathematical manipulation with price and/or volumes of a security in order to forecast future price changes. Decisions about how and when to open or close a position are made on basis of signals from technical indicators. Indicators can be imposed into a chart by the “Insert — Indicators” menu commands or those of indicators managing sub-menu that can be opened by pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar. The “Drag’n’Drop” technique allows to impose indicators from the “Navigator” window into any open window, as well. The list of indicators imposed into the chart can be viewed in the “Data Window” by executing of the “Charts — Indicators List” menu command, the chart context menu command of the same name, or by pressing accelerating keys of Ctrl+I.
  More details about working with technical indicators can be found in the section of the same name.
• Working with Objects
  To analyze the market, one can impose various graphical objects into the chart. To do it, one has to use the “Insert” menu commands or buttons of the “Line Studies” toolbar. Line Studies, geometrical shapes, signs, and texts, are grouped in the menu.
  More details can be found in the “Graphical Objects” section.
• Period Change
  The client terminal allows to use nine different data periods, from a minute to a month long. This variety of periods is necessary for analyzing the market with technical indicators and line studies.
  The desired period of the chart can be chosen with help of the “Period” toolbar, the  button of the “Charts” toolbar, the “Charts — Period” menu, or by executing of the chart context menu command.
• Zooming
  Charts can be zoomed horizontally, increasing or decreasing thereby the amount of bars shown in the screen simultaneously.
  To do it, one can use the buttons of / of the “Charts” toolbar, keys of “+”/”-“, the commands of “Zoom In”/”Zoom Out” of the chart context menu and of the “Charts” menu.
  To zoom out a chart vertically, one can hold any point of vertical axis with the left mouse button and move it down. Double click on vertical axis or pressing of “5” in the keypad restores the scale.
   
  Besides, the chart can be zoomed precisely by defining of upper and lower borders in the Charts Setup window with the “Scale fix” option. The “Scale fix One to One” option of the same window allows to set the “one-to-one”, i.e., one pip of vertical axis will correspond with one bar of the horizontal one.
• Scrolling, Auto Scrolling, and Shifting of the Chart
  Scrolling is moving of price data to the right/left in the chart that can be performed by cursory keys of the keyboard. Besides, the chart can be scrolled with F12 (the “Step by Step” mode — scrolling the chart by one bar to the left) or Shift+F12 (scrolling the chart by one bar to the right), or with the mouse: one moves the cursor to the right/left when holding the left mouse button pressed on any point of the chart. Using the fast navigation box, one can have shown the necessary area of the chart having specified the specific date and time. If the chart has been scrolled to the area where there are no price data, the missing bars will be downloaded automatically.
   
  If the chart scale has been fixed, it can be scrolled vertically, as well. To do so, one has to move the mouse up/down while holding the slider on the vertical scale. To get the chart back into the visibility range, one has to press “5” in the keypad or double-click in the area of the chart price scale.
   
  Auto scroll is intended for users to have the latest bars before their eyes constantly. If this option is enabled, the chart will be automatically scrolled to its end part. This function can be enabled by pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar or by the “Charts — Auto Scroll” menu command.
   
  The “Chart Shift” option shifts the latest bar from the right screen border to the chart shift mark. The chart shift mark (a gray triangle in the upper part of the window) can be moved horizontally with the mouse within 10 to 50% of the window size. The chart shift can be enabled by the  button of the “Charts” toolbar or by the “Charts — Chart Shift” menu command.
• Chart Positioning
  Normally, the chart datum point is located in the left part of the window. The specific time bar is anchored to it that can be moved through scrolling or with the use of fast navigation box. When a timeframe is changed, there will be an attempt to calculate the new anchoring bar corresponding with that of the previously used timeframe. I.e., the timeframe that is the nearest to this given point will be shown at the left side of the window. The datum point (a gray triangle at the lower border of the chart) can be moved within the chart window using the mouse. It appears only if the “Auto Scroll” is disabled. This mechanism is convenient when analyzing a certain period of time for different timeframes.

• Working with Templates
  Templates represent the chart window parameters stored in the memory. The following is saved in a template: chart type, period, scale, all settings of line studies, technical and custom indicators, and experts. Templates allow to unify the appearance of many charts easily and fast.
  The menu that manages templates can be called by the “Charts — Template” menu command, the chart context menu command of the same name and the  button of the “Charts” toolbar. The “Save Template…” menu command allows to store a new template, and that of “Remove Template” — to delete an existing one.
  More details can be found in the “Templates and Profiles” section.
• Working with Profiles
  Profiles represent a convenient way of working with chart groups. At opening of a profile, each chart with all its settings will be found in the same place where it was when the profile was being stored.
  The menu that manages profiles can be opened by the “File — Profiles” menu command, by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar, or by clicking with the mouse in the status bar containing the name of the current profile.
  More details can be found in the “Templates and Profiles” section.
• Data Updating
  Data must be updated if any errors or “holes” occur in the price chart. In order to update the price data, one has to execute the “Charts — Refresh” menu command or the chart context menu command of the same name. After all these actions have been performed, the missing bars will be downloaded from the server automatically and drawn in the chart.

Use of Mouse

The chart is directly managed with the mouse as follows:

• clicking with the left mouse button on any point in the chart window and holding of it with the subsequent horizontal moving of the cursor result in the chart scrolling;
• clicking with the left mouse button on the chart vertical scale and holding of it with the subsequent vertical moving of the cursor result in vertical chart scaling, and the double click with the mouse on the chart vertical scale will rescale the chart;
• clicking with the left mouse button on the chart horizontal scale (but not the fast navigation box) and holding of it with the subsequent horizontal moving of the cursor will result in the chart rescaling;
• clicking with the right mouse button on any point in the chart window results in calling of the chart context menu (described below);
• double-clicking with the left mouse button on elements of technical indicators (lines, signs, histogram bars, etc.) calls the setup window of the corresponding indicator;
• clicking with the right mouse button on elements of a technical indicator calls the context menu of the indicator;
• single or double, depending on the terminal settings, clicking with the left mouse button on an object (line studies, texts or arrows) will select the object;
• clicking with the left mouse button on the selected object and holding of it with the subsequent moving allows to move the selected object;
• Ctrl + clicking with the left mouse button on a selected trend line with the subsequent moving allows to draw a parallel trend line (create a channel);

• click with the mouse wheel on a chart tab in the switch panel closes the chart;

• clicking with the middle mouse button in the chart window switches cursor to the “crosshair” mode;
• clicking with the right mouse button on a selected object will open its context menu;
• placing of cursor on the bar close price or on an element of an object or indicator will call the prompt.

Chart Management with Context Menu Commands

Some commands of the context menu are intended for chart management:

• Expert Advisors — sub-menu that manages expert advisors. Expert advisor is an MQL4 program that is executed with every new tick and allows to automate analytical and trading activities. Commands that manage the expert imposed into the chart are grouped in this menu, too. Using this sub-menu, one can change the expert properties, remove it, or start testing it.
  More details are given in the “Expert Advisors” section.
• Remove Script — remove an executable script. Script is a program written in MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4) and intended for a single performing of some actions.
• Indicators List — window that manages technical indicators attached to the chart window. Technical indicator is a mathematical manipulation of the symbol price and/or volumes in order to forecast future price changes. On signals received from technical indicators, decisions are made about how and when to open or close a position.
• Objects List — window that manages graphical objects. Graphical objects are those objects in the terminal that are imposed manually. They are intended for analytical purposes.
• Timeframes — sub-menu that manages the chart periods.
  Periods of charts can also be managed by the “Charts” menu and toolbar commands of the corresponding names.
• Template — sub-menu that manages templates. Template is a set of chart window parameters that can be used for other charts.
  This sub-menu can also be called by the “Chart” menu command of the same name.
• Refresh — refresh history data. At that, all data missing within the available history and new ones will be downloaded.
  The same action can be performed by the “Charts” menu command of the same name.
• Auto Arrange — set the height of all indicators windows as default.
  The same action can be performed by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+A.
• Grid — show/hide grid.
  The same action can be performed by the “Charts” menu command of the same name or by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+G.
• Volumes — show/hide volumes chart.
  The same actions can be performed by the “Charts” menu command of the same name or by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+L.
• Zoom In — zoom in the chart horizontally by one step.
  The chart can also be zoomed in by the “Charts” menu command of the same name, by pressing of “+” or the  button of the “Charts” toolbar.
• Zoom Out — zoom out the chart by one step.
  The chart can also be zoomed out by the “Charts” menu command of the same name, by pressing of “-” or the  button of the “Charts” toolbar.
• Delete Indicator Window — delete indicator window from the chart. Some indicators are drawn in special sub-windows and have their own scaling. This command allows to delete such a sub-window.
  More details about working with technical indicators can be found in the corresponding section.
• Save As Picture — save the chart as a picture (GIF or BMP).
  The same action can be performed by the “File — Save As Picture…” menu command.
• Print Preview — preview the chart image before printing.
  The same action can be performed by the “File — Print Preview” menu command or by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.
• Print… — print the chart. If the “Color print” option is checked in the program settings, chart can be printed in color.
  The same action can be performed by the “File — Print…” menu command, accelerating keys of Ctrl+P, or the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.
• Properties… — call the charts setup window.
  The same action can be performed by pressing of F8.

The “Charts” menu and the context menu of the chart displaying window allow calling lists of applied graphical object, indicators and Expert Advisors. Thus object properties can be modified or objects can be deleted from the chart.

List of Indicators

This window can be opened using the “ Indicators List” command of the “Charts” menu or the context menu of the chart window, or using the “Ctrl+I” hotkeys. This window allows managing indicators applied to the chart.

The window contains the list of indicators that are currently applied to the chart. Indicators are divided into two groups: those plotted in the main chart window and those plotted in a separate window. When one of indicators is selected, the “Properties” and “Delete” buttons become active. The “Properties” button opens the window of indicator parameters. The “Delete” button deletes an indicator from the chart.

List of Objects

This window can be opened using the “ Objects List” command in the “Objects” sub-menu of the “Charts” menu or the context menu, or by pressing the “Ctrl+B” hotkeys. The window allows managing various graphical objects imposed to the chart.

This window shows the list of all objects currently imposed to the chart. These objects are represented in a table with the following fields:

• Object — type of object. If a check is placed in the “Object” field, this object will be selected in the chart;
• Name — object name. This name is formed out of the period of a chart the object is imposed to, object type and the unique identifies that is automatically assigned to each object. This name can be changed in the object properties;
• Description — object description. It can also be changed in the object properties;
• Window — number of the window, in which the object is applied. 0 denotes the main chart window, further figures denote order numbers of indicator sub-windows from upside down.

The “Objects” window contains the following commands:

• Show — move the chart to the selected object;
• Properties — edit properties of a selected object;
• Delete — delete a selected object;
• List all — any object can be set as hidden (OBJPROP_HIDDEN property) from an MQL4 application. Such objects are displayed on a chart and not displayed in the object list on default. If you click the “List all” button, hidden objects will be displayed in the list.

Use Ctrl+A hotkeys to select all objects.

The client terminal is integrated into MQL5.community to provide traders with access to powerful and useful services. One of these services is MQL5 Charts. It allows to publish screenshots of the client terminal online. In just a few clicks you can publish a screenshot, get the link to share it with your fellow traders or send it to one of the popular social networks (Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte, Google+, etc.).

You even do not need to have MQL5.community account to publish screenshots. If your account is not specified in the terminal settings, a screenshot will be published anonymously and you will just get the links to it.

However, publication with binding to MQL5.community account provides a number of obvious advantages: you will be able to create your own images gallery and manage it via “Charts” tab of your MQL5.community profile.

Making a Screenshot

To make a screenshot of a chart, execute “ Save As Picture” command in its context menu. After that the following window will appear:

The following options will be available:

• Active workspace — save the entire window of the client terminal.
• Active chart (as is) — save the current chart in its current size.
• Active chart — specify the size of the saved chart (in pixels).
• Post image online in MQL5 Charts service and get the link — if this option is disabled, the chart will be saved on a user’s PC. When clicking “ОК”, the standard file saving window will appear. If this option is enabled, the chart will be saved online in MQL5 Charts service. Comments to the chart can be added in the empty field below.

Publishing Charts Online in MQL5 Charts

Enable “Post image online in MQL5 Charts service and get the link” option to publish a screenshot of the client terminal online. Text comments can be added to the published image. A new browser window with the published image will be opened immediately after clicking “OK” button:

The following data is located at the top of the chart display window:

• Automatically generated header — current chart symbol and period, publication date and trade server name.
• Views — number of screenshot views.
• Commands for publishing screenshots in social networks — VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Evernote, Pinterest, LinkedIn, LiveJournal. Clicking one of these buttons will take you to the appropriate web resource. If you are already authorized in a social network, a screenshot will be published immediately via your profile.

The screenshot itself comes next. The comment field is located below. If a comment has not been added during the publication, automatically generated caption containing the current chart symbol and period is displayed.

Various links to the screenshot are displayed at the bottom:

• Link to this page — a link to the screenshot view page.
• Image — a direct link to the image.
• HTML — a link for insertion in HTML page source code.
• bbCode — a link for insertion in an editor supporting bbCode markup language (used by many web resources, forums, etc.).

A date of the screenshot publication is displayed at the bottom of the window. When hovering the mouse pointer over this line, delete button appears. Thus, any published screenshot can be deleted.

Screenshots Gallery in MQL5.community Profile

As noted above, if a user has specified his/her MQL5.community account in the terminal settings, a screenshot is bound to that account during the publication. Each user has “Charts” section in MQL5.community profile where all images published by that user are stored:

Clicking on a miniature copy of an image, you will go to the display window. “Charts” tab allows to easily manage your image gallery and share screenshots with other community members and friends in social networks.

To perform instant trade operations directly on a chart, a special panel is available. To activate it execute the “ One Click Trading” command in the chart context menu.

The one click trading panel can be shown or hidden by clicking  to the left of the OHLC line.

Using this panel you can instantly send market buy and sell orders with a specified volume.

There are means to print out charts in the client terminal. A hart can be printed in black-and-white or in color. To print it in color, one has to enable the “Color print” option in the client terminal settings window. After that, the chart will be printed out in color if the printing device allows it. Otherwise, the chart will be printed out in black-and-white format.

The present printing device sometimes needs to be set up. To do so, one has to execute the File — Print Setup…” menu command.

To make sure that all desired elements are included into the printing area, one can execute the “Print Preview” command of the same menu, the same command of the chart context menu, or press the  button of the “Standard” toolbar.

The printing itself will be performed by the “File — Print…” menu command, by the same command of the chart context menu, by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar, or accelerating keys of Ctrl+P.

Some charts become useless at some stages of work, and they need to be deleted. This can be done by the “File — Close” menu command or by pressing of accelerating keys of Ctrl+F4. At that, the templates of deleted windows will be stored if “Save deleted charts to reopen” is enabled in the client terminal settings window. These templates can be used in future. So, if a chart has been deleted occasionally, it can be restored. To do so, one has to execute the “File — Open Deleted” menu command and select a symbol from the list. After that, the chart window of the selected symbol will be fully restored with all its settings and objects imposed into it.

A template is a set of chart window parameters that can be applied to other charts. The following can be stored in a template:

• chart type and color;
• color diagram;
• chart scale;
• OHLC line shown or hidden;
• the attached expert advisor and its parameters;
• the imposed custom and technical indicators with their settings;
• line studies;
• separators of days.

When a template is imposed into a chart, the stored settings, as they are, will be attached to the security and period. For example, one can create a template that includes indicators of MACD, RSI, and Moving Average, and then use it for other charts. In this case, charts windows will have the same view for different symbols and periods.

Templates are stored in the /TEMPLATES directory as TPL files. A template created once can be used unlimited amount of times. A basic template (DEFAULT.TPL) is created during installation of the terminal. It will be applied automatically for creation a new chart window. In future, it can be changed by using of the active chart window properties.

To create a new template, one has to execute the “Charts — Template — Save Template…” menu command, the chart context menu command of the same name, or by pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar. As a result, a new template will be created on basis of the data of active chart window. The same actions must be performed to modify a template, but an existing template should be selected instead of entering of a new filename. To impose a template into the chart window, one has to select the desired file in the templates managing menu or in any available folder in the “Open” window that can be called by the “Charts — Template — Load Template…” menu command. The “Charts — Template — Remove Template” menu command and the chart context menu command of the same name allow to delete templates.

Profiles

Profiles offer a convenient way of working with groups of charts. When a profile opens, each chart with its settings is placed exactly in the same location where it was before, at the profile saving. All changes in all chart windows of the given list are automatically saved in the current profile. The list of all chart windows of the current profile can be found in the “Window” menu. The name of the current profile is displayed in one of the status bar windows and checked in the profile managing menu. When the terminal is installed, the profile by default (DEFAULT) is created. Initially, four basic currency pairs are stored in it: “EUR/USD”, “USD/CHF”, “GBP/USD”, and “USD/JPY”.

Profiles are managed from a single menu that can be called by the “File — Profiles” menu commands, by pressing of the  button of the “Standard” toolbar, or by clicking with the mouse button on the current profile name in the status bar window. To use another profile, one has to select the desired name from the list in this menu. At that, the new profile will be opened and become the current. The “Save Profile” command saves the current profile in its state by the moment of the beginning of the command execution under a new name. The new profile is a copy of the previous one and becomes the current. One can delete profiles using the “Remove Profile” command.

The “Next Profile” command and Ctrl + F5 open all available profiles one by one, and the “Previous Profile” and accelerating keys of Shift + F5 allow to search profiles in the reverse direction.

A pre-defined profile can be assigned to a trade account in the client terminal. This profile must have a name that coincides with the number of the trade account. If there is a corresponding profile when switching to the given trade account, it will be opened automatically. If there is no pre-defined profile, the current profile will remain active.

Analytics

Technical indicators and line studies are built into the terminal for analytical purposes. These objects are imposed directly into the chart and allow to forecast further price changes. At that, indicators are imposed automatically, and line studies are attached manually. This is why, when working with line studies, one has to draw them properly. Parameters of indicators can be set up manually, as well. Technical indicators can have different settings for different symbols or periods.

The use of technical indicators and line studies allows to open and close reasonable trade positions, place and modify pending orders. Moreover, using of analytical means allows to perform systematic trading activities and reduces in that way the influence of human emotions. Along with technical indicators, custom indicators written in MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4) can be used for analytical purposes. No line studies or similar tools can be written in MQL4.

Graphical objects are objects in the terminal that are imposed manually into the chart. These objects are used for analytical purposes. They include:

• Line Studies — lines and various geometrical shapes to be imposed into the price or indicators charts. They include support/resistance lines, trendlines, as well as Fibonacci, Gann, Andrews’ tools, etc. More details about line studies can be found in the section of the same name;
• Shapes — geometrical shapes (rectangle, triangle, and ellipse) that allow to mark various areas in the price chart;
• Arrows — arrows and signs that allow to mark the most significant points in the chart;
• Text — text intended for adding of comments to the chart;
• Text Label — text intended for adding of comments and anchored to the chart window coordinates. Text label does not move when the chart is scrolled.

All objects are grouped in the “Insert” menu and in the “Line Studies” toolbar. Having selected an object in the list and set a point in the chart (or in an indicator window), one can impose the tool.

After the object has been created, it can be moved or modified. To do so, one has to select the object first. If the “Select object by single mouse click” parameter is set in terminal settings, one has to click once with the left mouse button on any element of the object. If not, the double-click should be used. The object can be considered as selected if square markers or frames appear. The markers are intended for moving of objects and changing their drawing parameters. Thus, for example, to change the Fibonacci Fan location, one has to hold its central marker with the left mouse button and move the cursor. And moving of any of the extreme markers will result in changing of the object drawing parameters. Terminal allows to create copies of various object very fast. To do so, one has to select the object and, holding Ctrl pressed, move it with the central marker.

All objects imposed into the chart become unnecessary sooner or later, and they can be removed by commands of the context menu. Besides, the Backspace key allows to remove objects in series. In future, all removed objects can be restored. To do so, it is necessary to execute the “Undo Delete” command of the object context menu, the “Charts — Objects — Undo Delete” menu command, or use accelerating keys of Ctrl+Z.

Object Properties

Every object has its specific properties. Properties can differ depending on the object. To manage the properties of an object, one has to select the object and execute its context menu command of “Properties…”, the “Charts — Objects — Objects List” menu command. After that, the window of the object name will appear that contains several tabs. General object settings are placed in the “Common” tab.

The following is available here:

• Name — the object unique name within one chart that is set for the object automatically. It can be changed if another name is entered in this field. Such names make it easy to mark the object out among many others of the same type;
• Description — description/text contents of the object that also serve for marking it out among many others of the same type. Besides, these descriptions can be shown in the chart if the “Show object descriptions” option is enabled in the chart settings;
• Style — object lines style. Color, forms and thickness of lines can be chosen here;
• Draw object as background — draw object in the background, behind the chart. Being enabled, this option provides filling of the objects like shapes or channels (excluding Fibonacci Channel) with color.

Coordinates of the object control points in the chart can be changed in the “Parameters” tab. Time coordinates of the object control points should be entered in the “Time” fields, and coordinates of anchoring to vertical axis of a chart of indicator should be given in the “Value” fields. An object can have from one to three coordinates.

For some objects, additional options are used in the “Parameters” tab:

• Angle in degrees — angle of the object slope anticlockwise in degrees;
• Scale — ratio between units of vertical (pips) and horizontal (bars) axes of the object. Normally, the number of pixels in a unit of the horizontal axis (time) differs from that of the vertical axis (prices) when chart are drawn. One-to-one scale brings them to the same value. For certain objects, changing of this parameter changes the ratio;
• Arrow code — object code;
• Ray — show the object trendlines as rays;
• Anchor — one of the chart corners at which the text label is anchored;
• X-distance — horizontal distance between the anchor corner of the window and the text label in pixels;
• Y-distance — vertical distance between the anchor corner of the window and the text label in pixels.

The object visualization mode for different timeframes can be changed in the “Visualization” tab. The object will then be shown only for the selected timeframes. This can be useful when the tool has different settings for different timeframes. The “Fibo Levels” tab is specifically used only for Fibonacci tools. The list of the tool levels is given here in form of a table. The values of the levels can be changed or deleted (the “Delete” button). A new level can be added by pressing of the “Add” button. At that, if “(%$)” is entered in the “Description” field, the price value corresponding with this level will be shown in the chart. The “Defaults” button resets the initial values. The “Style” field that allows to set up the color, appearance, and thickness of levels of the object is located in the lower part of the tab. 

Line studies are lines and various geometrical shapes that can be imposed into a price or indicator chart. They include support/resistance lines, trend lines, as well as Fibonacci’s, Gann’s, and Andrews’ tools, etc.

Line studies are collected in the “Insert” menu and in the “Line Studies” toolbar in terminal. To impose an object, one has to press the corresponding toolbar button (the buttons are given in the leftmost column of the table) or execute a menu command.

	Menu Command	Description
	Horizontal Line	Horizontal line can be used to mark various levels, particularly, those of support/resistance. One point must be set for this object to be imposed.
	Vertical Line	Vertical line can be used to mark various borders in the time axis and to compare signals of indicators to price changes. One point must be set for this object to be imposed.
	Trendline	Trendline helps to explore trends in price changes. Two points must be set through which a trendline will be drawn.
	Trendline by Angle	Trendline by angle helps to explore trends in price changes. Unlike for a simple trendline, an angle must be set for this line to be drawn. Two points must be set through which a trendline will be drawn.
	Linear Regression Channel	Linear regression is a statistical analysis tool used for forecasting of future values on basis of available data. If the trend is ascending, one can logically suppose that the next bar will be a bit higher than the preceding one. The linear regression method allows to have a statistical demonstration of such logical conclusions. Two points must be set for this tool to be drawn.
	Equidistant Channel	Lines of the equidistant channel are always parallel. Two points must be set for this tool to be drawn.
	Standard Deviation Channel	Standard deviation is the way of volatility measuring based on statistical methods. Standard deviation influences the width of this channel. Two points must be set for this tool to be drawn.
	Gann Line	Gann Line represents a trendline drawn at an angle of 45 degrees. Two points must be set for this tool to be drawn.
	Gann Fan	Gann Fan represents a set of trendlines drawn from one point at different angles. Gann considered the trendline of 1×1 (45 degrees) for a very important one. If the price curve is above this line, the market should be considered as bull market, if it is below, it is bear market. Gann supposed the ray of 1×1 to be a powerful supporting line at an ascending trend, and breaking of this line — to be an important turn signal. One point must be set for Gann Fan to be drawn.
	Gann Grid	Lines of the Gann Grid are drawn at an angle of 45 degrees. Two points must be set for this tool to be drawn.
	Fibonacci Retracement	Leonardo Fibonacci is considered to have discovered a number sequence where each successive number represents a sum of two preceding ones: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc. Each number is approximately 1.618 times more than the preceding one, and each number makes approximately 0.618 of the successive one. The tool can be drawn on two points that determine the trendline. At that, horizontal lines that meet the trendline at Fibonacci levels (retracement) as 0.0%, 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, 100%, 161.8%, 261.8%, and 423.6% are drawn automatically.
	Fibonacci Channel	To draw this tool, a channel is used the width of which is taken as one. Then, at the distances defined by the Fibonacci sequence, parallels are drawn starting with the distance of 0.618 of the channel width, then 1.000, 1.618, 2.618, 4.236, etc. Two points and the basic channel width must be set for this tool to be drawn.
	Fibonacci Time Zones	Fibonacci Time Zones represent a row of vertical lines placed at Fibonacci intervals from each other: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc. It is considered that significant price changes should be expected near these lines. The tool can be drawn on two points that define the unit interval.
	Fibonacci Fan	Fibonacci Fan is drawn on two points that define the trendline. Then an “invisible” vertical line is drawn through the second point. Then three trendlines are drawn from the first point, these trendlines meeting the invisible vertical line at Fibonacci levels of 38.2%, 50%, and 61.8%. It is considered that significant price changes should be expected near these lines.
	Fibonacci Arcs	The tool named Fibonacci Arcs is drawn on two points that define the trendline. Then three arcs having the centers in the second point are drawn, these arcs meeting the trendline at Fibonacci levels of 38.2%, 50%, and 61.8%. It is considered that significant price changes should be expected near these arcs.
	Fibonacci Expansion	Fibonacci Expansion is drawn on three points that circumscribe two waves. Then three lines meeting the third, “presumptive”, wave at Fibonacci levels of 61.8%, 100%, and 161.8%, are drawn. It is considered that significant price changes should be expected near these lines.
	Andrews’ Pitchfork	This tool is drawn on three points and represents the parallel trendlines. The first trendline starts at the selected leftmost point (it is an important peak or trough) and is drawn precisely between two rightmost points. This line is the pitchfork “helve”. Then, the second and the third trendlines outgoing from the above-mentioned rightmost points (significant peak and trough) are drawn in parallel to the first trendline. These lines are the pitchfork “teeth”. Andrews’ Pitchfork is interpreted as support/resistance lines are normally interpreted.
	Cycle Lines	This tool represents a row of vertical lines placed at equal intervals. Normally, a unit interval corresponds with one cycle. At that, completed lines are considered to describe future cycles. The tool is drawn on two points that define the unit interval.

Technical indicator is a mathematical manipulation of a security price and/or volumes aimed at forecasting of future price changes. Decisions about how and when to open or close positions can be made on basis of signals from technical indicators. According to their functionalities, indicators can be divided into two groups: trend indicators and oscillators. Trend indicators help to assess the price direction and detect the turn moments synchronously or with a delay. Oscillators allow to find the turning moments ahead or synchronously.

Indicators are imposed into the chart from the “Navigator” window by means of Drag`n`Drop technique, by execution of the “Insert — Indicators” menu command, or by pressing of the  button of the “Charts” toolbar. A technical indicator can be drawn in a separate indicator window that has a specific vertical scale (for example, MACD)

or it can be imposed directly into the price chart (for example, Moving Average).

At that, indicators can be drawn not only for price data and derivatives thereof (Median Price, Typical Price, Weighted Close), but also for other indicators. For example, Moving Average for Awesome Oscillator can be drawn, and a signal line can be obtained additionally to AO in this way. To do so, one has to draw AO indicator first, and then, using Drag`n`Drop technique, impose MA into AO and select “Previous Indicator Data” option in its settings in the “Apply to” option. If the “First Indicator Data” option is selected, MA will be drawn on basis of data of the very first imposed indicator that can be other than AO.

Besides analytical parameters, one can set colors for various elements, thickness of lines, and sizes of signs used, at setting up of the indicator. Moreover, the visualization mode of the object for different timeframes can be changed in the “Visualization” tab. At that, indicator will be shown on at timeframes that have been selected. This function can be useful if the tool has different settings for different timeframes. Using the “Show in the Data Window” option in the same tab, one can control over visualization of information about indicators in the “Data Window”.

All settings can be changed. To do so, one has to select the desired indicator in the “Indicators List” window and press the “Edit” button or execute the “Properties…” command of the indicator context menu.

Indicator context menu can be called by clicking with the right mouse button on a line, sign, or diagram of the desired indicator. To remove an indicator, one has to execute the “Delete Indicator” indicator context menu command or the “Delete Indicator Window” command in the chart or indicator context menus. The “Delete Indicator Window” command closes the indicator window.

Acceleration/Deceleration Technical Indicator (AC) measures acceleration and deceleration of the current driving force. This indicator will change direction before any changes in the driving force, which, it its turn, will change its direction before the price. If you realize that Acceleration/Deceleration is a signal of an earlier warning, it gives you evident advantages.

The nought line is basically the spot where the driving force is at balance with the acceleration. If Acceleration/Deceleration is higher than nought, then it is usually easier for the acceleration to continue the upward movement (and vice versa in cases when it is below nought). Unlike in case with Awesome Oscillator, it is not regarded as a signal when the nought line is crossed. The only thing that needs to be done to control the market and make decisions is to watch for changes in color. To save yourself serious reflections, you must remember: you can not buy with the help of Acceleration/Deceleration, when the current column is colored red, and you can not sell, when the current column is colored green.

If you enter the market in the direction of the driving force (the indicator is higher than nought, when buying, or it is lower than nought, when selling), then you need only two green columns to buy (two red columns to sell). If the driving force is directed against the position to be opened (indicator below nought for buying, or higher than nought for selling), a confirmation is needed, hence, an additional column is required. In this case the indicator is to show three red columns over the nought line for a short position and three green columns below the nought line for a long position.

Calculation

AC bar chart is the difference between the value of 5/34 of the driving force bar chart and 5-period simple moving average, taken from that bar chart.

AO = SMA(median price, 5)-SMA(median price, 34)

AC = AO-SMA(AO, 5)

Where:
SMA — Simple Moving Average;
AO — Awesome Oscillator.

Accumulation/Distribution Technical Indicator is determined by the changes in price and volume. The volume acts as a weighting coefficient at the change of price — the higher the coefficient (the volume) is, the greater the contribution of the price change (for this period of time) will be in the value of the indicator.

In fact, this indicator is a variant of the more commonly used indicator On Balance Volume. They are both used to confirm price changes by means of measuring the respective volume of sales.

When the Accumulation/Distribution indicator grows, it means accumulation (buying) of a particular security, as the overwhelming share of the sales volume is related to an upward trend of prices. When the indicator drops, it means distribution (selling) of the security, as most of sales take place during the downward price movement.

Divergences between the Accumulation/Distribution indicator and the price of the security indicate the upcoming change of prices. As a rule, in case of such divergences, the price tendency moves in the direction in which the indicator moves. Thus, if the indicator is growing, and the price of the security is dropping, a turnaround of price should be expected.

Calculation

A certain share of the daily volume is added to or subtracted from the current accumulated value of the indicator. The nearer the closing price to the maximum price of the day is, the higher the added share will be. The nearer the closing price to the minimum price of the day is, the greater the subtracted share will be. If the closing price is exactly in between the maximum and minimum of the day, the indicator value remains unchanged.

A/D = SUM(((CLOSE — MINIMUM) — (MAXIMUM — CLOSE))*VOLUME/(MAXIMUM — MINIMUM), N)

Where:
CLOSE — the close price;
LOW — the minimum price of the bar;
HIGH — the maximum price of the bar;
N — the quantity of periods used in the calculation.
SUM (…, N) — the sum for N periods;
VOLUME — the volume.

“Most of the time the market remains stationary. Only for some 15–30% of time the market generates trends, and traders who are not located in the exchange itself derive most of their profits from the trends. My Grandfather used to repeat: “Even a blind chicken will find its corns, if it is always fed at the same time”. We call the trade on the trend “a blind chicken market”. It took us years, but we have produced an indicator, that lets us always keep our powder dry until we reach the blind chicken market”

Bill Williams

In principle, Alligator Technical Indicator is a combination of Balance Lines (Moving Averages) that use fractal geometry and nonlinear dynamics.

• The blue line (Alligator’s Jaw) is the Balance Line for the timeframe that was used to build the chart (13-period Smoothed Moving Average, moved into the future by 8 bars);
• The red line (Alligator’s Teeth) is the Balance Line for the value timeframe of one level lower (8-period Smoothed Moving Average, moved by 5 bars into the future);
• The green line (Alligator’s Lips) is the Balance Line for the value timeframe, one more level lower (5-period Smoothed Moving Average, moved by 3 bars into the future).

Lips, Teeth and Jaw of the Alligator show the interaction of different time periods. As clear trends can be seen only 15 to 30 per cent of the time, it is essential to follow them and refrain from working on markets that fluctuate only within certain price periods.

When the Jaw, the Teeth and the Lips are closed or intertwined, it means the Alligator is going to sleep or is asleep already. As it sleeps, it gets hungrier and hungrier — the longer it will sleep, the hungrier it will wake up. The first thing it does after it wakes up is to open its mouth and yawn. Then the smell of food comes to its nostrils: flesh of a bull or flesh of a bear, and the Alligator starts to hunt it. Having eaten enough to feel quite full, the Alligator starts to lose the interest to the food/price (Balance Lines join together) — this is the time to fix the profit.

Calculation

MEDIAN PRICE = (HIGH + LOW) / 2

ALLIGATORS JAW = SMMA (MEDEAN PRICE, 13, 8)

ALLIGATORS TEETH = SMMA (MEDEAN PRICE, 8, 5)

ALLIGATORS LIPS = SMMA (MEDEAN PRICE, 5, 3)

where:
MEDIAN PRICE — median price;
HIGH — the highest price of the bar;
LOW — the lowest price of the bar;
SMMA (A, B, C) — smoothed moving average. A parameter is for data to be smoothed, B is the smoothing period, C is shift to future. For example, SMMA (MEDIAN PRICE, 5, 3) means that the smoothed moving average will be calculated on the median price, smoothing period being equal to 5 bars and shift being 3;
ALLIGATORS JAW — Alligator’s jaws (blue line);
ALLIGATORS TEETH — Alligator’s teeth (red line);
ALLIGATORS LIPS — Alligator’s lips (green line).

Average Directional Movement Index Technical Indicator (ADX) helps to determine if there is a price trend. It was developed and described in detail by Welles Wilder in his book “New concepts in technical trading systems”.

The simplest trading method based on the system of directional movement implies comparison of two direction indicators: the 14-period +DI one and the 14-period -DI. To do this, one either puts the charts of indicators one on top of the other, or +DI is subtracted from -DI. W. Wilder recommends buying when +DI is higher than -DI, and selling when +DI sinks lower than -DI.

To these simple commercial rules Welles Wilder added “a rule of points of extremum”. It is used to eliminate false signals and decrease the number of deals. According to the principle of points of extremum, the “point of extremum” is the point when +DI and -DI cross each other. If +DI raises higher than -DI, this point will be the maximum price of the day when they cross. If +DI is lower than -DI, this point will be the minimum price of the day they cross.

The point of extremum is used then as the market entry level. Thus, after the signal to buy (+DI is higher than -DI) one must wait till the price has exceeded the point of extremum, and only then buy. However, if the price fails to exceed the level of the point of extremum, one should retain the short position.

Calculation

ADX = SUM[(+DI-(-DI))/(+DI+(-DI)), N]/N

Where:
N — the number of periods used in the calculation.

Awesome Oscillator Technical Indicator (AO) is a 34-period simple moving average, plotted through the middle points of the bars (H+L)/2, which is subtracted from the 5-period simple moving average, built across the central points of the bars (H+L)/2. It shows us quite clearly what’s happening to the market driving force at the present moment.

Signals to buy

Saucer

This is the only signal to buy that comes when the bar chart is higher than the nought line. One must bear in mind:

• the saucer signal is generated when the bar chart reversed its direction from the downward to upward. The second column is lower than the first one and is colored red. The third column is higher than the second and is colored green.
• for the saucer signal to be generated the bar chart should have at least three columns.

Keep in mind, that all Awesome Oscillator columns should be over the nought line for the saucer signal to be used.

Nought line crossing

The signal to buy is generated when the bar chart passes from the area of negative values to that of positive. It comes when the bar chart crosses the nought line. As regards this signal:

• for this signal to be generated, only two columns are necessary;
• the first column is to be below the nought line, the second one is to cross it (transition from a negative value to a positive one);
• simultaneous generation of signals to buy and to sell is impossible.

Two pikes

This is the only signal to buy that can be generated when the bar chart values are below the nought line. As regards this signal, please, bear in mind:

• the signal is generated, when you have a pike pointing down (the lowest minimum) which is below the nought line and is followed by another down-pointing pike which is somewhat higher (a negative figure with a lesser absolute value, which is therefore closer to the nought line), than the previous down-looking pike.
• the bar chart is to be below the nought line between the two pikes. If the bar chart crosses the nought line in the section between the pikes, the signal to buy doesn’t function. However, a different signal to buy will be generated — nought line crossing.
• each new pike of the bar chart is to be higher (a negative number of a lesser absolute value that is closer to the nought line) than the previous pike.
• if an additional higher pike is formed (that is closer to the nought line) and the bar chart has not crossed the nought line, an additional signal to buy will be generated.

Signals to sell

Awesome Oscillator signals to sell are identical to the signals to buy. The saucer signal is reversed and is below zero. Nought line crossing is on the decrease — the first column of it is over the nought, the second one is under it. The two pikes signal is higher than the nought line and is reversed too.

Calculation

AO is a 34-period simple moving average, plotted through the central points of the bars (H+L)/2, and subtracted from the 5-period simple moving average, graphed across the central points of the bars (H+L)/2.

MEDIAN PRICE = (HIGH+LOW)/2

AO = SMA(MEDIAN PRICE, 5)-SMA(MEDIAN PRICE, 34)

Where:
SMA — Simple Moving Average.

Everyday trading represents a battle of buyers (“Bulls”) pushing prices up and sellers (“Bears”) pushing prices down. Depending on what party scores off, the day will end with a price that is higher or lower than that of the previous day. Intermediate results, first of all the highest and lowest price, allow to judge about how the battle was developing during the day.

It is very important to be able to estimate the Bears Power balance since changes in this balance initially signalize about possible trend reversal. This task can be solved using the Bears Power oscillator developed by Alexander Elder and and described in his book titled Trading for a Living. Elder based on the following premises when deducing this oscillator:

• moving average is a price agreement between sellers and buyers for a certain period of time,
• the lowest price displays the maximum sellers’ power within the day.

On these premises, Elder developed Bears Power as the difference between the lowest price and 13-period exponential moving average (LOW – EMA).

Application

This indicator is better to use together with a trand indicator (most frequently Moving Average):

• if trend indicator is up-directed and the Bears Power index is below zero, but growing, it is a signal to buy;
• it is desirable that, in this case, the divergence of bases were being formed in the indicator chart.

Calculation

The first stage of this indicator calculation is calculation of the exponential moving average (as a rule, it is recommended to use the 13-period EMA).

BEARS = LOW – EMA

Where:
BEARS — Bears Power;
LOW — the lowest price of the current bar;
EMA — exponential moving average.

In the down-trend, LOW is lower than EMA, so the Bears Power is below zero and histogram is located below zero line. If LOW rises above EMA when prices grow, the Bears Power becomes above zero and its histogram rises above zero line.

Bollinger Bands Technical Indicator (BB) is similar to Envelopes. The only difference is that the bands of Envelopes are plotted a fixed distance (%) away from the moving average, while the Bollinger Bands are plotted a certain number of standard deviations away from it. Standard deviation is a measure of volatility, therefore Bollinger Bands adjust themselves to the market conditions. When the markets become more volatile, the bands widen and they contract during less volatile periods.

Bollinger Bands are usually plotted on the price chart, but they can be also added to the indicator chart (Custom Indicators). Just like in case of the Envelopes, the interpretation of the Bollinger Bands is based on the fact that the prices tend to remain in between the top and the bottom line of the bands. A distinctive feature of the Bollinger Band indicator is its variable width due to the volatility of prices. In periods of considerable price changes (i.e. of high volatility) the bands widen leaving a lot of room to the prices to move in. During standstill periods, or the periods of low volatility the band contracts keeping the prices within their limits.

The following traits are particular to the Bollinger Band:

1. abrupt changes in prices tend to happen after the band has contracted due to decrease of volatility.
2. if prices break through one of the bands, a continuation of the current trend is to be expected.
3. if the pikes and hollows outside the band are followed by pikes and hollows inside the band, a reverse of trend may occur.
4. the price movement that has started from one of the band’s lines usually reaches the opposite one. The last observation is useful for forecasting price guideposts.

Calculation

Bollinger bands are formed by three lines. The middle line (ML) is a usual Moving Average.

ML = SUM [CLOSE, N]/N

The top line (TL) is the same as the middle line shifted up by a certain number of standard deviations (D).

TL = ML + (D*StdDev)

The bottom line (BL) is the middle line shifted down by the same number of standard deviations.

BL = ML — (D*StdDev)

Where:
N — is the number of periods used in calculation;
SMA — Simple Moving Average;
StdDev — means Standard Deviation.
StdDev = SQRT(SUM[(CLOSE — SMA(CLOSE, N))^2, N]/N)

It is recommended to use 20-period Simple Moving Average as the middle line, and plot top and bottom lines two standard deviations away from it. Besides, moving averages of less than 10 periods are of little effect.

Everyday trading represents a battle of buyers (“Bulls”) pushing prices up and sellers (“Bears”) pushing prices down. Depending on what party scores off, the day will end with a price that is higher or lower than that of the previous day. Intermediate results, first of all the highest and lowest price, allow to judge about how the battle was developing during the day.

It is very important to be able to estimate the Bulls Power balance since changes in this balance initially signalize about possible trend reversal. This task can be solved using the Bulls Power oscillator developed by Alexander Elder and and described in his book titled Trading for a Living. Elder based on the following premises when deducing this oscillator:

• moving average is a price agreement between sellers and buyers for a certain period of time,
• the highest price displays the maximum buyers’ power within the day.

On these premises, Elder developed Bulls Power as the difference between the highest price and 13-period exponential moving average (HIGH – EMA).

Application

This indicator is better to use together with a trand indicator (most frequently Moving Average):

• if trend indicator is down-directed and the Bulls Power index is above zero, but falling, it is a signal to sell;
• it is desirable that, in this case, the divergence of peaks were being formed in the indicator chart.

Calculation

The first stage of this indicator calculation is calculation of the exponential moving average (as a rule, it is recommended to use the 13-period EMA).

BULLS = HIGH – EMA

Where:
BULLS — Bulls Power;
HIGH — the highest price of the current bar;
EMA — exponential moving average..

In the up-trend, HIGH is higher than EMA, so the Bulls Power is above zero and histogram is located above zero line. If HIGH falls under EMA when prices fall, the Bulls Power becomes below zero and its histogram falls under zero line.

Commodity Channel Index Technical Indicator (CCI) measures the deviation of the commodity price from its average statistical price. High values of the index point out that the price is unusually high being compared with the average one, and low values show that the price is too low. In spite of its name, the Commodity Channel Index can be applied for any financial instrument, and not only for the wares.

There are two basic techniques of using Commodity Channel Index:

1. Finding the divergences
   The divergence appears when the price reaches a new maximum, and Commodity Channel Index can not grow above the previous maximums. This classical divergence is normally followed by the price correction.
2. As an indicator of overbuying/overselling
   Commodity Channel Index usually varies in the range of ±100. Values above +100 inform about overbuying state (and about a probability of correcting decay), and the values below 100 inform about the overselling state (and about a probability of correcting increase).

Calculation

1. To find a Typical Price. You need to add the HIGH, the LOW, and the CLOSE prices of each bar and then divide the result by 3.

TP = (HIGH + LOW +CLOSE)/3

2. To calculate the n-period Simple Moving Average of typical prices.

SMA(TP, N) = SUM[TP, N]/N

3. To subtract the received SMA(TP, N) from Typical Prices.

D = TP — SMA(TP, N)

4. To calculate the n-period Simple Moving Average of absolute D values.

SMA(D, N) = SUM[D, N]/N

5. To multiply the received SMA(D, N) by 0,015.

M = SMA(D, N) * 0,015

6. To divide M by D

CCI = M/D

Where:
SMA — Simple Moving Average;
N — number of periods, used for calculation.

Demarker Technical Indicator is based on the comparison of the period maximum with the previous period maximum. If the current period (bar) maximum is higher, the respective difference between the two will be registered. If the current maximum is lower or equaling the maximum of the previous period, the naught value will be registered. The differences received for N periods are then summarized. The received value is used as the numerator of the DeMarker and will be divided by the same value plus the sum of differences between the price minima of the previous and the current periods (bars). If the current price minimum is greater than that of the previous bar, the naught value will be registered.

When the indicator falls below 30, the bullish price reversal should be expected. When the indicator rises above 70, the bearish price reversal should be expected.

If you use periods of longer duration, when calculating the indicator, you’ll be able to catch the long term market tendency. Indicators based on short periods let you enter the market at the point of the least risk and plan the time of transaction so that it falls in with the major trend.

Calculation

The value of the DeMarker for the “i” interval is calculated as follows:

• The DeMax(i) is calculated:
  If high(i) > high(i-1) , then DeMax(i) = high(i)-high(i-1), otherwise DeMax(i) = 0
• The DeMin(i) is calculated:
  If low(i) < low(i-1), then DeMin(i) = low(i-1)-low(i), otherwise DeMin(i) = 0
• The value of the DeMarker is calculated as:
  DMark(i) = SMA(DeMax, N)/(SMA(DeMax, N)+SMA(DeMin, N))

Where:
SMA — Simple Moving Average;
N — the number of periods used in the calculation.

Envelopes Technical Indicator is formed with two Moving Averages one of which is shifted upward and another one is shifted downward. The selection of optimum relative number of band margins shifting is determined with the market volatility: the higher the latter is, the stronger the shift is.

Envelopes define the upper and the lower margins of the price range. Signal to sell appears when the price reaches the upper margin of the band; signal to buy appears when the price reaches the lower margin.

The logic behind envelopes is that overzealous buyers and sellers push the price to the extremes (i.e., the upper and lower bands), at which point the prices often stabilize by moving to more realistic levels. This is similar to the interpretation of Bollinger Bands®.

Calculation

Upper Band = SMA(CLOSE, N)*[1+K/1000]

Lower Band = SMA(CLOSE, N)*[1-K/1000]

Where:
SMA — Simple Moving Average;
N — averaging period;
K/1000 — the value of shifting from the average (measured in basis points).

Force Index Technical Indicator was developed by Alexander Elder. This index measures the Bulls Power at each increase, and the Bulls Power at each decrease. It connects the basic elements of market information: price trend, its drops, and volumes of transactions. This index can be used as it is, but it is better to approximate it with the help of Moving Average. Approximation with the help a short moving average (the author proposes to use 2 intervals) contributes to finding the best opportunity to open and close positions. If the approximations is made with long moving average (period 13), the index shows the trends and their changes.

• It is better to buy when the forces become minus (fall below zero) in the period of indicator increasing tendency;
• The force index signalizes the continuation of the increasing tendency when it increases to the new peak;
• The signal to sell comes when the index becomes positive during the decreasing tendency;
• The force index signalizes the Bears Power and continuation of the decreasing tendency when the index falls to the new trough;
• If price changes do not correlate to the corresponding changes in volume, the force indicator stays on one level, which tells you the trend is going to change soon.

Calculation

The force of every market movement is characterized by its direction, scale and volume. If the closing price of the current bar is higher than the preceding bar, the force is positive. If the current closing price if lower than the preceding one, the force is negative. The greater the difference in prices is, the greater the force is. The greater the transaction volume is, the greater the force is.

FORCE INDEX (i) = VOLUME (i) * ((MA (ApPRICE, N, i) – MA (ApPRICE, N, i-1))

where:
FORCE INDEX (i) — Force Index of the current bar;
VOLUME (i) — volume of the current bar;
MA (ApPRICE, N, i) — any Moving Average of the current bar for N period:
Simple, Exponential, Weighted or Smoothed;
ApPRICE — applied price;
N — period of the smoothing;
MA (ApPRICE, N, i-1) — any Moving Average of the previous bar.

Gator Oscillator is based on the Alligator and shows the degree of convergence/divergence of the Balance Lines (Smoothed Moving Averages). The top bar chart is the absolute difference between the values of the blue and the red lines. The bottom bar chart is the absolute difference between the values of the red line and the green line, but with the minus sign, as the bar chart is drawn top-down.

Calculation

MEDIAN PRICE = (HIGH + LOW) / 2

ALLIGATORS JAW = SMMA (MEDIAN PRICE, 13, 8)

ALLIGATORS TEETH = SMMA (MEDIAN PRICE, 8, 5)

ALLIGATORS LIPS = SMMA (MEDIAN PRICE, 5, 3)

Where:

MEDIAN PRICE — median price;
HIGH — maximum price;
LOW — minimum price;
SMMA (A, B, C) — smoothed moving average. Parameter À — smoothed data, Â — smoothing period, Ñ — shift to future. For example, SMMA (MEDIAN PRICE, 5, 3) means that the smoothed moving average is taken from the median price, while the smoothing period is equal to 5 bars, and the shift is equal to 3 bars;
ALLIGATORS JAW — the blue line;
ALLIGATORS TEETH — the green line;
ALLIGATORS LIPS — the red line.

Ichimoku Kinko Hyo Technical Indicator is predefined to characterize the market Trend, Support and Resistance Levels, and to generate signals of buying and selling. This indicator works best at weekly and daily charts.

When defining the dimension of parameters, four time intervals of different length are used. The values of individual lines composing this indicator are based on these intervals:

• Tenkan-sen shows the average price value during the first time interval defined as the sum of maximum and minimum within this time, divided by two;
• Kijun-sen shows the average price value during the second time interval;
• Senkou Span A shows the middle of the distance between two previous lines shifted forwards by the value of the second time interval;
• Senkou Span B shows the average price value during the third time interval shifted forwards by the value of the second time interval.

Chikou Span shows the closing price of the current candle shifted backwards by the value of the second time interval. The distance between the Senkou lines is hatched with another color and called “cloud”. If the price is between these lines, the market should be considered as non-trend, and then the cloud margins form the support and resistance levels.

• If the price is above the cloud, its upper line forms the first support level, and the second line forms the second support level;
• If the price is below cloud, the lower line forms the first resistance level, and the upper one forms the second level;
• If the Chikou Span line traverses the price chart in the bottom-up direction it is signal to buy. If the Chikou Span line traverses the price chart in the top-down direction it is signal to sell.

Kijun-sen is used as an indicator of the market movement. If the price is higher than this indicator, the prices will probably continue to increase. When the price traverses this line the further trend changing is possible. Another kind of using the Kijun-sen is giving signals. Signal to buy is generated when the Tenkan-sen line traverses the Kijun-sen in the bottom-up direction. Top-down direction is the signal to sell. Tenkan-sen is used as an indicator of the market trend. If this line increases or decreases, the trend exists. When it goes horizontally, it means that the market has come into the channel.

Market Facilitation Index Technical Indicator (BW MFI) is the indicator which shows the change of price for one tick. Absolute values of the indicator do not mean anything as they are, only indicator changes have sense. Bill Williams emphasizes the interchanging of MFI and volume:

• Market Facilitation Index increases and volume increases — this points out that: a) the number of players coming into the market increases (volume increases) b) the new coming players open positions in the direction of bar development, i.e., the movement has begun and picks up speed;
• Market Facilitation Index falls and volume falls. It means the market participants are not interested anymore;
• Market Facilitation Index increases, but the volume falls. It is most likely, that the market is not supported with the volume from clients, and the price is changing due to traders’ (brokers and dealers) “on the floor” speculations;
• Market Facilitation Index falls, but the volume increases. There is a battle between bulls and bears, characterized by a large sell and buy volume, but the price is not changing significantly since the forces are equal. One of the contending parties (buyers vs. sellers) will eventually win the battle. Usually, the break of such a bar lets you know if this bar determines the continuation of the trend or annuls the trend. Bill Williams calls such bar “curtsying”.

Calculation

To calculate Market Facilitation Index you need to subtract the lowest bar price from the highest bar price and divide it by the volume.

BW MFI = RANGE*(HIGH-LOW)/VOLUME

Where:
RANGE — is the multiplication factor, which brings the difference in points down to whole numbers.

The Momentum Technical Indicator measures the amount that a security’s price has changed over a given time span.

There are basically two ways to use the Momentum indicator:

• You can use the Momentum indicator as a trend-following oscillator similar to the Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD). Buy when the indicator bottoms and turns up and sell when the indicator peaks and turns down. You may want to plot a short-term moving average of the indicator to determine when it is bottoming or peaking.
  If the Momentum indicator reaches extremely high or low values (relative to its historical values), you should assume a continuation of the current trend. For example, if the Momentum indicator reaches extremely high values and then turns down, you should assume prices will probably go still higher. In either case, only trade after prices confirm the signal generated by the indicator (for example, if prices peak and turn down, wait for prices to begin to fall before selling).
• You can also use the Momentum indicator as a leading indicator. This method assumes that market tops are typically identified by a rapid price increase (when everyone expects prices to go higher) and that market bottoms typically end with rapid price declines (when everyone wants to get out). This is often the case, but it is also a broad generalization.

As a market peaks, the Momentum indicator will climb sharply and then fall off — diverging from the continued upward or sideways movement of the price. Similarly, at a market bottom, Momentum will drop sharply and then begin to climb well ahead of prices. Both of these situations result in divergences between the indicator and prices.

Calculation

Momentum is calculated as a ratio of today’s price to the price several (N) periods ago.

MOMENTUM = CLOSE(i)/CLOSE(i-N)*100

Where:
CLOSE(i) — is the closing price of the current bar;
CLOSE(i-N) — is the closing bar price N periods ago.

Money Flow Index (MFI) is the technical indicator, which indicates the rate at which money is invested into a security and then withdrawn from it. Construction and interpretation of the indicator is similar to Relative Strength Index with the only difference that volume is important to MFI.

When analyzing the money flow index one needs to take into consideration the following points:

• divergences between the indicator and price movement. If prices grow while MFI falls (or vice versa), there is a great probability of a price turn;
• Money Flow Index value, which is over 80 or under 20, signals correspondingly of a potential peak or bottom of the market.

Calculation

The calculation of Money Flow Index includes several stages. At first one defines the typical price (TP) of the period in question.

TP = (HIGH + LOW + CLOSE)/3

Then one calculates the amount of the Money Flow (MF):

MF = TP * VOLUME

If today’s typical price is larger than yesterday’s TP, then the money flow is considered positive. If today’s typical price is lower than that of yesterday, the money flow is considered negative.

A positive money flow is a sum of positive money flows for a selected period of time. A negative money flow is the sum of negative money flows for a selected period of time.

Then one calculates the money ratio (MR) by dividing the positive money flow by the negative money flow:

MR = Positive Money Flow (PMF)/Negative Money Flow (NMF)

And finally, one calculates the money flow index using the money ratio:

MFI = 100 – (100 / (1 + MR))