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In the near future I will begin trading. Looking at all the different brokers the trading platform used is MetaTrader 4 or 5, which is fine.

I believe it is possible to carry out back testing using mql 4 or 5. However to save time I intend to continue using my own back testing engine which I have created.

What I would like to know is if it is possible to write code in mql 4 or 5 to annotate charts? Is so can you please tell me where I can find a good example for me to learn from.

mHelpMe
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1 Answers1

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MT4 or MT5 dilemma?

For the sake of rapid prototyping, MT4 is for many reasons the safer choice.

Backtesting engine being run externally to the MT4 is possible.

MT4 code-execution engine allows to integrate process-to-process communications with external systems ( fully distributed heterogeneous multi-process & multi-platform system, be it called a Cloud or a Grid-computing or a MATRIX ).

One can similarly equip MT4 with a remote console and type manually commands or run script-batches of such command from a remote terminal CLI.

In the very same way one may operate a remote Backtesting engine on MT4 grounds via the same process-to-process messaging framework.

Chart annotations? Yes, of course!

MT4 code-execution engine, using a C-family MQL4 language, has a feature-rich palette for chart annotations. Both [TimeDOMAIN,PriceDOMAIN] grid-locked and a screen-layout PixelDOMAIN [x,y] grid-locked. As a starting point, use the MQL4 language reference, Chapter on ( visual ) Objects.

Samples for inspiration?

As just a teaser,

check the MT4 possibilities:

<aMouseRightCLICK>.openPictureOnAnotherTab to see full HiRes picture details

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or

enter image description here

user3666197
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  • thanks for the detailed response - very helpful. Just wonder why you say mql4 is a safer option than mql5? – mHelpMe Aug 09 '14 at 16:00
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    MQL5 is a bit "lost paradise", which MetaQuotes, Inc., launched years ago, but with a long lasting minimum community adoption, the less the Broker-side ( who pay Licen$e Fee$ ) will to operate MT5-Server(s). Next to this also the MQL5 language requires, compared to MQL4, a way more complex know-how to design & implement ideas for a rather small MT5-ready market. – user3666197 Aug 09 '14 at 16:53