Fractal Formation Question

Hello, question about the formation of fractals.

Assume the following:

1). A series of five consecutive candle sticks. The last candlestick has formed and closed.

2). The third candle stick has a fractal arrow on it. Will this arrow become permanent now that the fifth bar has closed?

I am trying to understand at what point a fractal will no longer repaint due to changes in price. I realize that a fractal can change on the candle to the left of the current price bar. Just trying to figure out when a fractal becomes permanent and is no longer subject to change.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

In MT4, once the 5th bar is complete, the fractal is fixed, yes.

However, the concept of the fractal is much more flexible than the ideal 5-bar rule. Bill Williams, who coined the term fractal to describe these important pivot points in the market, has a table of all sorts of variations on the fractal theme, some requiring 7-10 bars to form. This is to account for bar-formations which happen to have the same high/low values. So, don't become tied down to an overly rigid definition of the fractal. Unfortunately, MT4's standard fractal indicator only shows the pure, "ideal" 5-bar fractal, but in practice, there's room for small variations on the theme. Indeed, you can consider any local minimum/maximum in grouping of price bars as an effective "fractal."