In addition to news items sourced from the FF calendar, you can have your own items plotted on MT4 charts, by creating custom events (or 'auxiliary data'). Here's how:
Press Esc to make the 'F5 screen' disappear, and then press F8.
Click the Insert button (or press the Ins key) to add a new record. The enter the parameters as follows:
Rec Type – this is simply a 6 character identifier to keep all items of the same type together, for your viewing convenience. (e.g. For option expiry times, you might decide to type 'OPTION').
Date, Time – this is your broker's MT4 date/time, and will determine the candle above or below which the symbol will be plotted. (Hint: if using the pop-up calendar button, click 'Today' to bring the current month immediately into view.)
Currency – choose from any one of the following:
a) enter ALL is you want the event symbol to be plotted on all currency charts; or
b) enter a 3 character currency ID, to have the symbol plotted on only charts pertaining to that currency. For example, enter GBP to have the symbol plotted only on GBP-related charts; or
c) enter a 6 character pair ID, to have the symbol plotted only on charts for that pair. For example, enter GBPUSD to have it plotted only on GBPUSD charts.
Spacing – enter a value between 1 and 9, positive or negative. The higher the value, the further away from the top or bottom of the candle the symbol will be plotted. (This value is them multiplied by the VertSpacing value on the Plot_News indicator, to determine the actual location). Entering a positive value means that the symbol will be plotted on the same side (above or below) the candle as any news events sourced from FF calendar, which runs the risk that symbols might overwrite each other, making them difficult to view. Entering a negative value (use a leading minus sign) means that your custom event will be safely plotted on the opposite side of the candle, away from any news events.
Symbol – type the number corresponding to the Wingdings symbol that you wish to appear. Use the horizontal scroll bar to view all of the symbols in the graphic.
Color – enter the number corresponding to the color in which you want the symbol to be plotted. (It's best to choose 1, 2, or 3, for low, medium or high impact events, respectively. Events plotted using colors 4 thru 11 will NOT be automatically removed from your MT4 chart, if/when you de-attach the Plot_News indicator).
Show on charts – check ON the timeframes of the charts on which you wish the symbol to be plotted. Leave the others checked OFF.
Text1, Text2 – these are the two lines of event description that will be displayed in the information 'bubble' when you hover the mouse cursor near the top of the plotted symbol. Avoid using the ampersand (&) character as it can cause problems with MT4. Any other characters from the keyboard are valid. Up to 50 characters may be entered into each description line.
Click OK to save the item, or Cancel to reject it.
-- When you click the Insert button to add a new item, you're confronted with empty fields. Pressing F7 will recall the entries made in the item most recently added, so that you need to make only the required changes, before clicking OK. Note that you must change at least one of the Rec Type, Date, Time or Currency fields, as these are used to uniquely identify each item (otherwise you'll get an 'Adding this record creates a duplicate key entry' error message).
-- You can modify an existing item by clicking the Change button (or by pressing the Enter key). Then make your desired changes and click OK to save them.
-- You can delete an existing item by clicking the Delete button (or by pressing the Del key). Then confirm the deletion by clicking OK, as prompted.
NOTE: You must have the 'Include auxiliary data (swaps, Sundays, etc)' checkbox checked ON, on the 'F5 screen', if you want the custom events to be output to the news.csv file, and therefore plotted. See the blue area in the screenshot below. Custom events are NOT output to files generated by any of the other export options.
Press Esc to make the 'F5 screen' disappear, and then press F8.
Click the Insert button (or press the Ins key) to add a new record. The enter the parameters as follows:
Rec Type – this is simply a 6 character identifier to keep all items of the same type together, for your viewing convenience. (e.g. For option expiry times, you might decide to type 'OPTION').
Date, Time – this is your broker's MT4 date/time, and will determine the candle above or below which the symbol will be plotted. (Hint: if using the pop-up calendar button, click 'Today' to bring the current month immediately into view.)
Currency – choose from any one of the following:
a) enter ALL is you want the event symbol to be plotted on all currency charts; or
b) enter a 3 character currency ID, to have the symbol plotted on only charts pertaining to that currency. For example, enter GBP to have the symbol plotted only on GBP-related charts; or
c) enter a 6 character pair ID, to have the symbol plotted only on charts for that pair. For example, enter GBPUSD to have it plotted only on GBPUSD charts.
Spacing – enter a value between 1 and 9, positive or negative. The higher the value, the further away from the top or bottom of the candle the symbol will be plotted. (This value is them multiplied by the VertSpacing value on the Plot_News indicator, to determine the actual location). Entering a positive value means that the symbol will be plotted on the same side (above or below) the candle as any news events sourced from FF calendar, which runs the risk that symbols might overwrite each other, making them difficult to view. Entering a negative value (use a leading minus sign) means that your custom event will be safely plotted on the opposite side of the candle, away from any news events.
Symbol – type the number corresponding to the Wingdings symbol that you wish to appear. Use the horizontal scroll bar to view all of the symbols in the graphic.
Color – enter the number corresponding to the color in which you want the symbol to be plotted. (It's best to choose 1, 2, or 3, for low, medium or high impact events, respectively. Events plotted using colors 4 thru 11 will NOT be automatically removed from your MT4 chart, if/when you de-attach the Plot_News indicator).
Show on charts – check ON the timeframes of the charts on which you wish the symbol to be plotted. Leave the others checked OFF.
Text1, Text2 – these are the two lines of event description that will be displayed in the information 'bubble' when you hover the mouse cursor near the top of the plotted symbol. Avoid using the ampersand (&) character as it can cause problems with MT4. Any other characters from the keyboard are valid. Up to 50 characters may be entered into each description line.
Click OK to save the item, or Cancel to reject it.
-- When you click the Insert button to add a new item, you're confronted with empty fields. Pressing F7 will recall the entries made in the item most recently added, so that you need to make only the required changes, before clicking OK. Note that you must change at least one of the Rec Type, Date, Time or Currency fields, as these are used to uniquely identify each item (otherwise you'll get an 'Adding this record creates a duplicate key entry' error message).
-- You can modify an existing item by clicking the Change button (or by pressing the Enter key). Then make your desired changes and click OK to save them.
-- You can delete an existing item by clicking the Delete button (or by pressing the Del key). Then confirm the deletion by clicking OK, as prompted.
NOTE: You must have the 'Include auxiliary data (swaps, Sundays, etc)' checkbox checked ON, on the 'F5 screen', if you want the custom events to be output to the news.csv file, and therefore plotted. See the blue area in the screenshot below. Custom events are NOT output to files generated by any of the other export options.
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
