r/metatrader

Post
Hi everyone,
I trade XAUUSD (Gold) on MT5, mostly on M5, and I’m trying to build a clean session-based framework for liquidity / inducement / session high-low analysis. I’m currently stuck on the timezone and session alignment part and would really appreciate guidance from someone experienced with MT5 session mapping.
My issue
I want to mark the previous day’s session highs and lows for:
Asian session high / low
London session high / low
New York session high / low
Killzones
But I’m confused about which timezone I should anchor them to so that the levels are correct and consistent on my MT5 chart.
My setup
Instrument: XAUUSD
Platform: MetaTrader 5
Timeframe: mostly M5, sometimes H1
My local timezone: Pakistan (UTC+5)
From comparing chart time to local time, my broker/server time appears to be GMT+3 / UTC+3
Where I’m confused
I’m seeing three different “clocks” involved and I’m not sure which one I should use for session highs/lows:
Broker / MT5 server time
This is the actual time printed on my MT5 chart candles.
Pakistan local time (UTC+5)
This is my local time, but obviously the chart isn’t necessarily built on this clock.
New York / ICT-style session time
A lot of SMC / ICT material defines Asia, London, and New York using New York session logic rather than broker time.
What I want to know
For XAUUSD on MT5, if my broker/server time is UTC+3, what is the best professional way to define and mark the sessions for previous day session highs/lows?
Specifically, I need help with these questions:
Should I mark Asia / London / New York highs and lows using broker/server time, so that the session levels match my MT5 candles exactly?
Or should I define them using New York time / ICT session time and then convert them onto the broker chart?
For someone trading gold on M5 and using session liquidity / inducement concepts, which approach is cleaner and more consistent?
If broker time is UTC+3, what exact time ranges would you personally use for:
Asian session
London session
New York session
Do you define them as full session ranges, or do you use killzone-style narrower windows when marking previous day session highs/lows?
My goal
I want one fixed framework so that every day I can correctly mark:
Previous Asia High / Low
Previous London High / Low
Previous New York High / Low
without constantly second-guessing whether I should be using:
broker time,
Pakistan time,
or New York / ICT session time.
If anyone here trades XAUUSD on MT5 and already has a clean way of handling this, I’d really appreciate if you could share:
your preferred session definitions,
what timezone you anchor them to,
and why.
Thanks a lot — I’m trying to build a proper, repeatable session map for gold rather than just eyeballing it.

After the strategy has been running live on a demo account for a week—during which news like US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) missed expectations—it is time for the first analysis. I would recommend running a strategy on a demo account for 1–3 months before copying to a live account. In this initial analysis, I will review some of the things I have noticed and highlight what I intend to focus on moving forward.

News
There are several places where you can monitor the news that affects the currency pairs you trade in the forex market. Sites such as MyFxBook or FTMO’s calendar feature are good options, and both are free to use. News events are divided into three categories; I would recommend focusing only on those classified as having "High" impact. High-impact news can be dangerous, as the market moves very unpredictably in a short in a short amount of time and spreads widen significantly (something backtests do not account for).

For example, if you are trading the USD, you should pay attention to NFP, PPI, and CPI.

Example of how high-impact news affects the market.

Fluctuations like these are best avoided. That is why I have noted that the following pairs—AUD/CAD, EUR/USD, and GBP/USD—exhibit very large, unpredictable fluctuations.

Number of trades
Since the Martingale strategy relies on opening multiple, increasingly large trades, it is also important to consider how many trades the various pairs have been involved in. On MyFxBook, I can see from the history that four pairs have engaged in six trades within a single trading sequence. This can be a warning sign, though not necessarily a bad thing if it happens only rarely. If it occurs too frequently, the pair may be too volatile to continue trading.

Sorting by lot size on MyFxBook.

Profit
By going to MyFxBook -> Settings (see image below) and selecting all the traded pairs, I can compare the profits generated by the different pairs. Ideally, you do not want to see any single pair standing out too much. While high profits are fine, excessive gains can indicate either an excessive number of trades or positions that are too large. A good pair and a sound strategy do not require trading every day.

Shows the distribution of profit among the various parties.

Evaluation
Based on the evaluation above, I would categorize the pairs into three groups, depending on the likelihood of them proceeding and being copied to a live account:
Temporarily excluded: AUD-CAD, EUR-USD & GBP-USD
Under observation: EUR-CHF
Candidates to proceed: GBP-CHF & AUD-NZD

A lot can change over the next three weeks; this is just what the results so far have revealed.

My rules for this series.
-All questions must be asked and answered (if possible), publicly in the thread.
-I'm not allowed to change anything in the strategy without publishing it on Reddit first.
-All expenses would be added up on an ongoing basis.

i have a MT5 EA, which is working quite good (i can share investor details for my question to be answered). what i want is is there a way like excel or something that gets the trade Data of of mT5 make a nice dashboard or something so i can see how the bot is performing. something like to show daily performance or weekly or monthly with a click

Hi everyone,
I’m from a medical background and relatively new to algo trading, so I’d really appreciate some guidance from people with more experience in MT5 strategy development and optimization.
I’m currently trying to build an MT5 Expert Advisor based on an SMC strategy. I used Claude to help write the initial script, and I’ve been testing it in MetaTrader 5 using MT5 historical data.
At the moment, I have a working version of the EA with a defined set of strategy parameters, and I’ve already run both backtesting and some forward testing.

The problem is that the results are not good at all:
Very high drawdown
Low Sharpe ratio
Very low profit / weak overall performance

So I’m trying to understand how to properly optimize the parameters and improve the strategy in a structured way rather than just randomly changing inputs.
What I’m looking for help with:
How would you approach optimizing an MT5 EA like this?
Specifically, how do you decide which parameters to optimize first, and how do you avoid overfitting?
What metrics should I prioritize during optimization?
For example, should I focus more on drawdown, Sharpe ratio, profit factor, net profit, recovery factor, etc.?
How do you structure proper forward testing in MT5?
I’ve done some testing already, but I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly. I’d like to understand the best way to split backtest vs forward test periods and validate whether the strategy has any real robustness.
For an SMC-based EA specifically, what usually matters most?
For example:
entry confirmation rules
stop-loss / take-profit logic
session filters
risk management
trailing stop / break-even logic
trade frequency filters
My current workflow
EA built in MT5
Strategy type: SMC
Initial code generated with Claude, then tested in MetaTrader
Using MT5 historical data for backtesting
Also ran a small amount of forward testing
My current issue
I feel stuck because I can generate results, but I don’t yet know how to improve them systematically. I’m especially struggling with:
reducing drawdown
improving Sharpe / consistency
figuring out whether the strategy logic is bad vs the parameters just being poorly tuned
understanding how to do a proper optimization + forward validation cycle
If anyone is experienced with MT5 optimization, walk-forward testing, or building profitable EAs, I’d really appreciate your advice.
If it helps, I can also share:
the strategy parameters
backtest results
forward test results
and the logic of the EA
Thanks in advance.

What is the purpose of the series? :
Showing the way from an idea to a strategy to something runs automatically with minimal manual intervention. From data collection on an unrealistically large account and finally, the series should end with some currency pairs being copied to a smaller $500 account. It would be reviewed how to split the pairs from the master account and later reassemble them. This series is for inspiration only and does not constitute financial advice; remember to conduct your own tests and research.

About me :
As my username suggests, I am a hobby trader who has been profitable trading forex for the last 5 years using a bot/EA and the last 3 years experimenting with copy trading. My past results are publicly available on MyFxBook.

The selected strategy and why?
RSI + Martingale. RSI was chosen as the starting signal for the trades and martingale as shelling. Martingale is a much maligned strategy as it is often run directly on a small live account, without any safety net. In this series, it would later be used the same with a copy trading tool that would act as its safety net.

My rules for this series.
-All questions must be asked and answered (if possible), publicly in the thread.
-I'm not allowed to change anything in the strategy without publishing it on Reddit first.
-All expenses would be added up on an ongoing basis.

Trading pairs in the test phase:
AUD-CAD, AUD-NZD, EUR-CHF, EUR-USD, GBP-CHF, GBP-USD & NZD-CAD. In order not to overexpose a single currency, each currency must be repreciated no more than 2 times. This would reduce the vulnerability to news for individual currencies. The selected pairs also have the same value between them, which is between 0.9 & 1.35, which is a good starting point for this series.

Broker :
I am using a broker I have previous experience with, and which offers advantages beneficial for this series. The account starts as a $1,000,000 demo account with 1:500 leverage. This account would ONLY be for data collection, as I need to be able to see how much the different pairs need to move, and I wouldn't want one pair to ruin the entire data collection.

Setting :
RSI sell = 70
RSI buy = 30
RSI period = 9
Multiply = 1.6
TP Pips = 6
Step Pips = 10
Trading timeframe = 5min
This is a default setting for data collection only. I would recommend people backtest themselves to find their settings.

Expenses :
Bot = Available for free in several places on the web. Usa MQL5 og Google.
VPS = 5$/month.

Total = -$5

The associated account for this series is publicly available on my MyFxBook profile. All trades would be confirmed through them.

I’m researching how traders think about the future with AI. I’ve noticed algorithmic trading and AI are getting exponentially better at finding patterns and predicting markets.
I’m building tools to help humans stay relevant and make better decisions as AI gets better at trading. So I’m asking:
How do YOU think about staying competitive when AI can do this better? What do you think is the human edge that machines don’t have?
Would love to hear from people actually trading about what the future looks like for humans in this industry.
Any thoughts?

How do u have a strategy? Everyone says make one, stick to one, keep back testing. How do I make a strategy first? I can only draw support and resistance and take a shot. 1:3
Please enlighten me, You will have a green day!

Greed is slowly killing my trading dream and I hate admitting it.

I don’t think my issue is strategy anymore. I wait for setups, I know what I’m supposed to do… then greed shows up and suddenly one clean trade turns into just one more and moving SL, holding too long, trying to make back what I already had.

The worst part is I can literally see myself doing it while it’s happening.

Some days I’m green and still end red because I convince myself I can squeeze more out of the market. Other days I force trades because I’m thinking about the result instead of the setup.

Starting to realise trading isn’t me vs the market, it’s me vs myself.

Anyone else been through this and actually fixed it? What changed?

Developed a trend-following algo (long only, higher timeframes H2-H4) that's already showing solid results on BTC-USD over the long run, but I have doubts about some functions/indicators - would really appreciate feedback from those in the know :)

Brief overview:

0. The algorithm's goal is to safely capture large trending moves in the traded asset. Returns - multiples above simple spot buying, risk - significantly lower than the asset's peak drawdowns. Designed for scaling capital over time and diversifying across low-correlation assets. Profitable runs don't happen often - the goal is not to miss them and to extract maximum profit.

1. Entry pattern is simple - price on the working timeframe closes above a specific MA + filter conditions are met = opens long at the next candle open.

2. Pyramiding along the trend -adding positions with fixed % risk - entry logic stays the same - to maximize profit. Max positions - 20 (but depends on the specific asset chosen).

3. Fixed % stop-loss, take-profit, moving stop-loss to breakeven, dynamic risk per trade in % - individual for each position (from 0.2% to 1%).

4. Exits - long holding periods and slow exits (using Chandelier Exit as it adapts to ATR + additional confirmation) - if price closes below it, by default 1 position is closed. The goal is not to exit too early and capture the trending move as fully as possible.

5. During low-volatility or choppy markets, additional protection comes from drawdown compression on account balance and stop-loss drawdown compression (using statistical patterns to go defensive when the market is awful, and restore risk when trend signs appear).

Questions and areas I'd like to improve:

1. Filtering entries during chop/ranging markets. Anyone have recommendations for good chop/low-volatility filters with reasonable lag that: filter out chop effectively, allow reasonably early trend detection + can be adapted to different trending assets. Timeframe H2-H4.

2. Filtering pyramiding entries. During position scaling, filters are also needed - the logic being that price shows signs of consolidation and trend continuation (typically looks like rally-consolidation-rally-consolidation...) and the goal is to reduce the number of entries during an already ongoing trending move.

https://preview.redd.it/otmv2texc99h1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=086d27619f852e854537c3de1d0dc3b277a3fa7a

In investing, profits and losses are part of the game but blindly sticking to the wrong direction only keeps you further away from the right one

Before I trust my engine on anything fancier, I ran it on the most well-understood rule there is — the 200-day MA trend filter — specifically to check the plumbing against results this group already knows cold. Posting the numbers and my assumptions; I’m after critique of the methodology, not the signal.

Rule: long while price > 200-day MA, else flat. Positions act on next day’s close. One fixed rule, zero parameters fit to data.
Data: Polygon daily bars, ~2 years (free-tier cap — yes, I know that’s the elephant; see below).
Costs: equities ~0.03%/side, crypto 0.40%/side (Kraken taker). Charged only on days it switches.
Results (strategy vs buy & hold, net of fees):
SPY → +24.9% vs +50.4% · max DD −5.2% vs −9.1% · 3 trades
QQQ → +39.9% vs +78.0% · max DD −8.5% vs −12.2% · 3 trades
NVDA → +53.7% vs +118.8% · max DD −17.4% vs −20.2% · 3 trades
BTC → −22.9% vs −33.8% · max DD −33.7% vs −51.2% · 18 trades
Textbook, as expected: underperforms B&H on return in a bull tape, cuts max drawdown on every asset, and BTC whipsaws the line 18x so fees eat it alive. Nothing here should surprise anyone — that’s the point. If the engine were wrong, this is where it’d show.
Where I know the method is thin (rank these / add what I’m missing):
• ~2yr window is a single mostly-up regime — useless for judging trend, fine only as a plumbing check. Longer history is next.
• No param sensitivity yet (150/200/250d, dual-MA, channel breakout).
• Daily-close fills, flat per-side cost, no intraday slippage model.
• Liquid hand-picked names = selection bias baked in.
What I’m actually asking:
1. For a long/flat system, how do you prefer to report risk-adjusted return when cash days deflate vol and inflate Sharpe? Sortino, Calmar, exposure-adjusted?
2. Flat taker fee per switch for crypto — reasonable, or do you model maker/limit fills?
3. Minimum history you’d want before a daily trend result earns any weight?

Until I’m able to acquire dual citizenship, there’s no choice but to use an offshore broker. Has anybody here used Coinexx or plexytrade? If so, what are your experiences? Withdrawals?

Hey reddit, I'm a senior software developer and since long time ago I felt the process of analysing, sharing MT5 backtests and strategies with other members was always a hassle, screenshots, downloading html reports etc, so I decided to build StrategyLens.

StrategyLens is free, allows you to analyse your strategies and create portfolios in local, everything stays in your computer, no cloud information is sent unless you decide to share the strategy with other people which has a feature to create a link to share, in that case it does upload raw data of the trades only to the cloud) (never the EA input params).

It has been built also to be mobile friendly, and has some features like prop firm deterministic evaluation based on your strategy.

Feel free to check out, can also be installed as a PWA (Progressive Web App) to act like a desktop application or mobile phone app (ios safari - Add to Home)

Just upload a .htm/html/xlsx MT5 Backtest Report to see your strategy analytics in action.

Feedback is also appreciated.

See you at the charts!