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Pipstone Learn

Install an indicator in MT5

Lesson 13.2 Free

Install an indicator in MT5

Pipstone's free indicators are .ex5 files for MetaTrader 5. Put one in the data folder, refresh the Navigator, attach it to a chart, change its inputs one at a time and save the layout as a template. Then check it works.

Indicators describe what price did. They do not tell you what to trade, and they do not predict what price will do next.

Lesson 13.1 set up MetaTrader 5 with a demo account. This one adds Pipstone’s free indicators to it. Nothing here asks you to place a trade: an indicator is something you read, and the next three lessons are about reading them honestly.

  1. 1 What you are installing

    An indicator is a small program that draws on a chart: lines, boxes, markers or a panel of numbers. In MT5 a ready-to-use indicator is a file ending in .ex5.

    Pipstone’s free indicators are coach tools. They describe what price did. They have no buy or sell signals, no entry, stop or target levels and no win rates. Lessons 13.3 to 13.5 teach what each one draws and what it does not tell you.

    Three things to know before you install anything:

    • Get them only from the Pipstone Learn indicators page. It lists the md5 of every file, a fingerprint you can check your download against. If the page says “Downloads open soon”, the files are not out yet. Do not install an .ex5 someone sent you in a chat, even if it has the same name.
    • They are for MT5 on a computer (Windows or macOS). The MT5 phone app does not run custom indicators, and MT4 versions are not available yet.
    • An indicator cannot place trades. MT5 does not let an indicator send orders. A program that trades is an Expert Advisor (EA), and it lives in a different folder. That is one reason an indicator file goes in the Indicators folder and nowhere else.

    Quick check

    1. Question 1 · Multiple choice

      Where should you get Pipstone's free indicator files?

  2. 2 Put the file in the data folder

    MT5 keeps its programs in its data folder. You put the file there once.

    1. In MT5, open File → Open Data Folder. A file window opens on your computer.
    2. Open MQL5, then Indicators.
    3. Paste the .ex5 file you downloaded into that Indicators folder. You can make a subfolder (for example “Pipstone”) to keep them together.
    4. Close the file window and go back to MT5.

    Not MQL5 → Experts and not MQL5 → Scripts: those are for other kinds of program, and an indicator placed there will not show up where you expect it.

    Quick check

    1. Question 2 · Spot the mistake

      A student installs an indicator. Which step is the mistake?

  3. 3 Refresh the Navigator and attach it to a chart

    The Navigator is MT5’s list of accounts, indicators, EAs and scripts. Open it with View → Navigator or Ctrl+N.

    1. In the Navigator, right-click Indicators and choose Refresh. MT5 only reads the folder when it starts or when you refresh, so a newly pasted file is invisible until then.
    2. Open the Indicators branch (and your subfolder, if you made one). The indicator is listed by its file name.
    3. Drag it onto a chart, or double-click it with the chart selected.
    4. A window with the indicator’s settings opens. Leave everything as it is for now and click OK.

    The indicator draws on the chart, or in a small window under it (a sub-window), depending on the indicator.

    None of Pipstone’s free indicators needs “Allow DLL imports”. If an indicator ever asks you to allow DLL imports, it is not one of these files.

    Quick check

    1. Question 3 · Multiple choice

      You pasted the file into MQL5 → Indicators, but it is not in the Navigator. What do you do first?

  4. 4 Inputs, one change at a time

    Inputs are the indicator’s settings: periods, colours, which parts to show, alert options. To change them, right-click the chart, open Indicators List (Ctrl+I), pick the indicator and click Edit, then open the Inputs tab.

    • Start with the defaults. The lessons describe the default behaviour.
    • Change one input at a time, and look at what changes on the chart. Change five at once and you cannot tell which one did what.
    • Alerts stay off by default. If you switch one on, it describes what happened on the chart (a range break, a sweep). It is not a call to act.

    The broker clock input. The session indicators (Session Liquidity Map and Trading Session) and the SMC toolkit’s Asian/PDH/PDL lines have an input called InpBrokerGMTOffset, the number of hours your broker’s server clock is ahead of GMT. The default is 2. To find yours, look at the time shown at the top of Market Watch (the server time) and compare it with the current GMT time: if the server shows 16:00 when it is 13:00 GMT, the offset is 3. Many servers change their clock for summer time, so check it again when the clocks change. A wrong offset puts every session box in the wrong hours.

    To remove an indicator, select it in the Indicators List and click Delete.

    Quick check

    1. Question 4 · Multiple choice

      The Trading Session boxes start three hours away from the real London open. Which input do you check?

    2. Question 5 · Spot the mistake

      Which of these is the mistake when changing inputs?

  5. 5 Save the layout as a template

    A template saves a chart’s indicators, their inputs and the chart colours, so you do not set them up again on every chart.

    1. Set up one chart the way you want it.
    2. Right-click the chart and choose Templates → Save Template. Give it a name.
    3. On another chart, right-click and choose Templates, then the name you saved. The same indicators appear with the same inputs.

    If you save a template with the name default, MT5 uses it for every new chart you open. Keep a plain one too: one template per way of looking at the market is easier to reason about than one chart with every indicator stacked on it.

    Quick check

    1. Question 6 · Multiple choice

      You set up a chart with two indicators and want the same setup on other charts. What do you use?

  6. 6 Check it works

    Before you rely on an indicator for reading a chart, check these:

    • It is in the Navigator under Indicators. Not there: refresh the Navigator, then check the file is in MQL5 → Indicators.
    • It draws something. Some indicators need history to work with. Scroll the chart back or switch timeframe and give MT5 a moment to load data.
    • No error messages. Open the Toolbox (View → Toolbox or Ctrl+T) and look at the Experts tab. Indicators write their messages there.
    • Session boxes sit in the right hours. If they do not, set InpBrokerGMTOffset (step 4).
    • The currency strength indicators can see the pairs they need. They read up to 28 major pairs. If your server does not offer some of them, the panel marks a currency N/A instead of guessing (lesson 13.5).

    Check your understanding

    1. Question 7 · Multiple choice

      An indicator is attached but draws nothing. Where do you look for its messages?

0 of 7 questions right. Answer them all to complete the lesson.